Digital Commons Network^™

From Burnout To Belonging: Reintroducing Joy Through Collaborative Library Culture Change, Jason D. Phillips, Chereeka Garner, Cindy Dancel

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Libraries are often expected to create joy for others, yet many library workers continue to experience burnout, dissatisfaction, and disconnection. This session explores how one academic library implemented a staff-led, administration-supported approach to rebuilding workplace culture through collective, low-cost, and capacity-aware strategies. Centered on the work of an internal advisory group, this model creates structured opportunities for feedback, collaboration, and shared decision-making while introducing small, intentional interventions that foster connection, recognition, and belonging. Rather than relying on individual resilience or one-time morale boosts, this approach emphasizes sustainable, iterative practices that respond to staff needs and organizational realities. Attendees will leave …

C.S.A. Assessment - Tamp Family Health Center Portal, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This C.A.S. assessment evaluates how the Tampa Family Health Centers website influences userattention, cognitive processing, information accessibility, navigation efficiency, and digital user experience.The assessment examines whether the platform supports intentional engagement and informed decision-making while minimizing cognitive overload, distraction, confusion, and unnecessary attentional demands.

TFHC serves as a healthcare access portal providing appointment scheduling, patient resources, providerinformation, healthcare services, MyChart access, payment services, and community health resources.These functions make attention management and information clarity critical to successful user outcomes.

Zeus Network And The Commercialization Of Conflict: A Critical Analysis Of Exploitation, Representation, And Reality Television, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examines Zeus Network as a prominent example of the commercialization of conflict within contemporary digital media. Through reality based programming that frequently emphasizes confrontation, public humiliation, emotional volatility, and interpersonal disputes, the network has cultivated a profitable entertainment model built upon spectacle and controversy. Drawing upon conflict theory, critical race theory, and media sociology, this paper investigates whether Zeus functions as a platform for cultural representation and economic opportunity or as a system that monetizes dysfunction for audience consumption. Particular attention is given to the portrayal of Black women and Black communities, whose experiences often become central to …

Expanding The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform Through Artificial Influence Assessment (Aia): Rationale, Development, And Measurement Design, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how individuals access information, make decisions, and interact with digital environments. The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform (C.A.S.) was developed to assess attention related harms, cognitive safety, digital autonomy, and platform influence across digital systems (Clark, 2026). However, the growth of generative AI, conversational agents, and algorithmic decision support technologies has introduced new forms of influence that may not be fully captured by existing assessment domains. This paper proposes the Artificial Influence Assessment (AIA) as an expansion of the C.A.S. framework designed to measure AI mediated influence on cognition, behavior, autonomy, and information processing. Drawing on …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

Co-Working With Machines: How Service Robots Shape Frontline Employee Experiences And Well-Being, Cynthia Mejia, Hannah A. Crandell, Emily Broker, Mindy Shoss

Rosen Research Review

The research by Mejia, Crandell, Broker, and Shoss reveals the complex realities faced by restaurant workers navigating the rise of service robots. Through in-depth interviews with 42 frontline employees, the study uncovers how robot adoption affects collaboration, productivity, emotional well-being, and perceptions of job security. While robots reduce physical strain and offer entertainment value, they also spark frustration, resentment, and fears of displacement. This research offers hospitality leaders a human-centered roadmap for integrating service robots in ways that support—not replace—the workforce.

Private Money, Public Risk: Why Florida’S Sb 178 Undermines Equity, Ethics, And Accountability In K–12 Athletics, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper critically evaluates Florida Senate Bill 178, which would require the Florida High School Athletic Association to adopt bylaws allowing coaches to use personal funds to support student athletes, once reported and presumed not to be an impermissible benefit. While the bill is framed to help students who lack essential items, it introduces serious structural risks that outweigh its intended benefits. By relying on private contributions within a public educational system, SB 178 threatens equity, transparency, and ethical governance.

The bill encourages uneven financial assistance that varies based on a coach’s personal means and the socioeconomic conditions of individual …

C.A.S. Full Assessment Report: State Of Florida Government Portal, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate the cognitive overhead, transparency, and attentional integrity of

official State of Florida digital interfaces using the Cognitive Attentional Standards (C.A.S.) platform.

While the Florida Digital Bill of Rights (FDBR) establishes strict regulatory guardrails for consumer data

transparency, tracking opt-outs, and attentional safeguards, the State of Florida explicitly exempts its own

government agencies, public universities, and non-profit entities from complying with these rules.

This assessment serves to investigate the tension between legislative intent and government execution. By

analyzing public sector websites through the C.A.S. platform, this project will establish a “state-enforced vs.

state-executed” …

The Attention Safeguard Models: Governing Digital Harm Without Restricting Lawful Speech, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital platforms increasingly govern contemporary social, civic, and psychological life through systems optimized for attention capture, amplification, and monetization. While lawful expression remains protected under the First Amendment, the infrastructural mechanisms that determine how speech circulates have produced a range of attention‑based harms, including cyberbullying, engagement farming, compulsive doom scrolling, emotional dysregulation, and civic polarization. This research paper introduces the Attentional Safeguards Model (ASM), coined and formalized by Delante Clark, as a novel governance framework that mitigates such harms by regulating systems of amplification rather than restricting expression itself. Building on attention economy theory, technological mediation, constitutional free‑speech doctrine, …

Bilingualsim In The Workplace: How Work Attitudes Influence Burnout And Turnover Intentions, Andrea Del Aguila

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Understanding whether language status functions as a risk or protective factor for employee well-being and retention is essential for developing organizational policies that support workers from varied demographic backgrounds. This study examined how work attitudes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work engagement are seen among bilingual and monolingual workers and how these outcomes relate to employee burnout and turnover intentions. An outside researcher from Talent Metrics Consulting collected data via an online survey utilizing previously validated measures of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, burnout, work engagement, and turnover intentions. Participants were recruited through online advertising and social sampling obtaining …

Developing A System Dynamics Framework For Sustained Digital Transformation, Quintal Battle

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Despite significant organizational investments, more than 70% (Ellmer et al., 2025) of digital transformation initiatives fail. The existing literature evaluates transformation mechanisms as separate factors rather than as interacting, evolving feedback systems. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing and validating a system dynamics framework for sustained digital transformation. Guided by three research questions, the study examined the mechanisms that enable or constrain transformation, identified mechanisms distinctive to digital transformation contexts, and evaluated how existing change management frameworks guide transformation efforts. The study followed a six-phase methodology that combined a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed studies, empirical cases, causal loop …

Examining Principals' Perceptions Of Their Preparedness To Lead In Title I Schools, Tiffany Roebuck

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Principals serving in Title I schools face complex instructional, organizational, cultural, and community related demands that require specialized leadership preparation and support.  The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of principals serving in urban Title I schools regarding their preparedness, supports, challenges, and successes as instructional leaders. The study also examined principals' perceptions of culturally proficient leadership and principal preparation program attributes considered essential for leadership readiness in high-needs school settings. Guided by the Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) framework, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 principals serving in urban Title I …

Exploring The Temporal Context Of Abusive Supervision, Alexandra Kandah

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examined the temporal dynamics of abusive supervision and their implications for employee burnout and turnover intentions. Drawing from gestalt characteristics theory and uncertainty management theory, this research investigated whether the timing, frequency, variability, and change in abusive supervision influence employee outcomes beyond traditional cross-sectional conceptualizations. Study 1 used a qualitative design to explore how abusive supervision unfolds over time. Fourteen working adults reporting a past abusive supervisor participated in semi-structured interviews focused on the temporal dynamics of their experience with abusive supervision. Results indicated that abusive supervision often began early, recurred frequently, and was characterized by unpredictability and …

Helping Students Build Artificial Intelligence Literacy Skills By Applying Leadership Theories To Their Career Development, Anthony Edwards

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

In this article, the author describes an assignment where master’s level higher education leadership students use AI to determine how leadership theories and concepts can help them in their careers and evaluate the response.

Making The Invisible Visible: Cultivating Contexts For Equitable Workloads, Andrea Carlile

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Women make up the majority of degree earners and most of those teaching at higher education institutions. Yet, women are not advancing to the highest ranks. How female faculty receive credit for their work may account for the discrepancy in women advancing to the highest ranks. This single-institution case study explored institutional practices and policies as they related to workload satisfaction and rewards for female faculty. Following the framework from the Faculty Workload and Rewards Project, FWRP, the case used the constructs of equity-minded faculty workloads to shape the analysis. Three themes emerged in the analysis: context matters, transparency practices, …

Complete Volume 42

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete Volume 42 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Reimagining Civic Education In The United States: Integrating Research, Policy, And Practice For Democratic Renewal, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Civic education in the United States faces persistent challenges, including inequitable access, curricular fragmentation, and reluctance to address controversial social and political issues. This paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of research, policy analysis, and practice-based case studies to reimagine civic education for the 21st century. Drawing on core scholarship supplemented with additional peer-reviewed studies on school segregation, charter school demographics, and race-conscious student assignment policies, the study examines the historical evolution of civic education, structural inequities, political avoidance, and promising innovations. Using a qualitative synthesis approach, the findings highlight five thematic areas: structural inequities, curricular misalignment, sanitized narratives, limits of …

Generative Artificial Intelligence And Collaboration: Exploring Religious Human-Machine Communication And Tensions In Leadership Practices, Pauline Hope Cheong, Liming Liu

Human-Machine Communication

The adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) applications has bolstered efforts toward human-machine collaboration. Given the lag in research on AI and religion, this study examines how pastors engage GAI to develop religious human-machine communication practices that constitute their leadership. Findings from in-depth interviews with pastors in the U.S. reveal that they view GAI as an idea generator, research assistant, co-author and translator. Clergy enact multiple ways to incorporate GAI communication in religious education and to enhance sermonic performances. Concurrently, pastors perceive tensions between innovation and established rites, as they contend with the authenticity and spiritual depth of GAI content …

Thriving Through Turbulence: Exploring Team Resilience Through An Adversity-Centered Lens, Krisztina Szabo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Although adversity has been a central component of team resilience definitions (Fisher et al., 2022; Raetze et al., 2022), there is little known about how different characteristics of adversity influence team functioning. Drawing from Event System Theory (Morgeson et al., 2015), the dissertation examined the connections between adverse event characteristics (i.e., event novelty, criticality, disruption, duration), team processes (i.e., planning, collective sensemaking, strategy formulation, coordination, monitoring and backup behaviors), and team outcomes (i.e., team performance) in the context of a repeated measures research study. The results indicated that novelty and criticality of adverse events were significantly and positively related to …

Urban Isolation In The Digital Age- Examining The Sociological Impact Of The Digital Divide On Civic Life In U.S. Cities, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The digital divide remains a persistent barrier to civic participation and social inclusion in urban America, particularly in historically underserved communities. This mixed-methods study investigates how digital lack of access affects civic engagement, social capital, and community cohesion in U.S. cities, with a focus on Chicago’s South Side, Harlem New York, St. Louis, and Orlando. Drawing on quantitative data from recent surveys and qualitative insights from peer-reviewed literature, the research applies four sociological frameworks, Urban Sociology, Social Capital Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism. These were used to examine the structural and interpretive aspects of digital isolation. Findings reveal …

The Loneliest Number: Implications For Using Single-Item Measures In Regression Analysis, Juliana Reis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The current study examines the use of single-item measures to assess constructs used by occupational stress researchers. Surveys are fundamental tools for I/O Psychologist practitioners, and multiple-item measures are commonly used to fulfill that purpose. However, long surveys may offer challenges to both administrators and respondents. As an effort to mitigate those challenges, single-item measures have been receiving recognition as a promising alternative to the current psychometric measures due to their benefits, such as reduced cost and higher face validity. We will discuss the previous studies on single-item measures and why it’s relevant to explore its potential by performing a …

Cultural Competence In Pre-Medical Education: Examining Preparedness For Cross-Cultural Care, Fiza N. Khan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As the U.S. population continues to grow more diverse, there is an urgent need for future healthcare providers to develop strong cultural competence. This study investigates undergraduate pre-medical students’ knowledge, attitudes, and comfort levels toward caring for diverse patient populations, including immigrants, refugees, and individuals from varied cultural backgrounds. The goal was to assess how well students are prepared to provide culturally responsive care before entering medical school. Recognizing that the foundation for medical training begins at the undergraduate level, this study aims to identify specific gaps in readiness that may hinder equitable patient care in the future.

A modified …

What Factors Improve Police Legitimacy?, Nyomi Powers

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legitimacy in law enforcement can be defined as the perception of the police as an appropriate and respected source of power and authority. United States law enforcement is facing a legitimacy crisis stemming from a growing distrust in the police and decreased police community relationships. In order to address this problem, solutions are being sought in both police agencies and by researchers in the field. This systematic review aims to compile all relevant experiments and analyze the findings to create a comprehensive list of policy implications that most effectively improve police legitimacy. For experiments to be included in this review, …

The Dual Dynamics Of Succession: Unveiling The Interplay Among The Former Leader, The New Leader, And Followers' Implicit Theories Of Leadership On Subsequent Leader Evaluations, Emily Hill

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Leader succession is the planned or unplanned change in formal leadership at an organization. Ample research has investigated the effects of leader succession at higher levels of leadership on team and organizational performance, yet little is known about the effects of leadership changes at lower levels of management on followers’ reactions to their new leader. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and contrast effect theory (Markman & McMullen, 2003), this dissertation empirically tested a model in which the congruence of followers’ implicit theories of leadership with characteristics of the new leader were expected to influence three leader-related …

Burnout In The Workplace- Organizational Influences On Counselor Burnout, Serene Hasan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study is a two-part manuscript dissertation that examined the impact of the six organizational influencers of burnout: Workload, Control, Reward, Community, Fairness, and Values on mental health counselors’ (MHCs) burnout, using Maslach’s three subscales of burnout: Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. Additionally, Work Setting and Age were assessed for their influence on MHC burnout, when the six organizational influencers were accounted for. The focus on this topic is crucial as burnout has a detrimental effect on counselors, clients, and organizations. The growing population in need of support surpasses the amount of MHCs that our nation has to offer. …

"The Nature Of Their Country": Florida's Environment And Military Learning The Second Seminole War, 1835-1842, Jacob Hagstrom

Florida Historical Quarterly

In the summer of 1839, after four years of inconclusive military campaigns, the army's adjutant in Washington asked Zachary Taylor why his troops had not yet removed all of the Seminoles from Florida. One of Taylor's opponents, Coacoochee, turned to nature as well to explain his ultimate failure to remain in Florida. Coacoochee's followers were among the last of about four thousand Seminoles to depart the peninsula for Indian Country in the west. The Indigenous resistance leader, sometimes known as Wild Cat, explained the reason for his surrender with reference to the densely wooded "hammocks" that dotted the Florida landscape. …

Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 100, No. 3, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

No abstract provided.

A Stress Perspective Of Leader-Follower Relationship Ambivalence, Ghada Baz

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Ambivalence is the experience of both positive and negative evaluations regarding an object such as a person or an event. Although interest in leadership ambivalence has been growing among researchers, there is still little understanding of what distinguishes it from poor leadership. The goal of this dissertation was to contribute to the leadership ambivalence literature by examining ambivalence in the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship through the lens of occupational stress. Specifically, I used the job demands-resources model as a theoretical foundation and presented leadership ambivalence as a unique job demand that is associated with emotional exhaustion as a symptom of …

Corporate Restructuring Spin-Off In A Technical Project-Based Organization, Stephen J. Davis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

A technical project-based organization (TPBO) is a type of organizational setup that uses project management as the main economic driver. An TPBO tends to be adept at accepting change due to its inherent trait of constant change within the organization as resources move from project-to-project accepting scope changes along the way. Regardless of its ability to accept more change, every organization goes through a lifecycle. At some point, the organization must implement a change in the life cycle to avoid failure. A corporate restructuring spin-off is one way an organization can avoid organizational failure. Although the tool is used in …

Developing A Multi-Level Model Of Integrated-Organizational Resilience, Reza Bahari

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Most contemporary organizations work in unsteady environments and are impacted by various types of disruptions that have profound impacts on performance such as natural disasters, globalization, and financial recessions. Due to this, the concept of integrated organizational resilience (IOR) has become an important issue for both academic researchers and practitioners in recent years. A review of the literature shows that much of the research has focused on identifying and measuring the factors that affect OR in an effort to improve organizations' capacity for resilience. While significant research has been conducted in this area, much of the evidence focuses on a …