Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Rural Second-Graders' Literate Identities In Relationship To Reading Proficiency: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Ashley R. S. Olsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although the act of reading is inherently multi-faceted, encompassing an array of interrelated cognitive, social, and cultural processes, the bodies of reading research typically align to either qualitative or quantitative methodologies. This routinely bifurcated approach to reading research reflects the ongoing disagreement surrounding best practices for literacy instruction. Numerous quantitative findings have supported the use of systematic and explicit foundational skill instruction to improve students’ reading proficiency. On the other hand, previous qualitative studies have emphasized the existing identities that children bring to any learning community and the benefit of nurturing literate identity formation in the classroom. Intersecting a modified …

University Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Agreement, 2025-2029, University Of Montana--Missoula. University Faculty Association

University Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Agreements, 1978-2025

Collective bargaining agreement between the University of Montana University Faculty Association [UFA] and the Montana University System.

The Legal Debate: Corner Crossing And Public Land Access, Kaden Leverenz

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Is it legal to cross from one corner of public land to an adjacent corner of public land across checkerboarded landscapes in the American West? This question regarding corner crossing has become one of the most prominent and unresolved issues in public land access. Although federal courts in Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape (2025) confirmed corner crossing, without touching or damaging private land, does not constitute trespass, the legal landscape still remains unsettled. Public land users play a significant role in shaping the direction of this issue, as demonstrated by past public mobilizations against large-scale land sell-offs. Therefore, this paper …

Master Of Social Work: Portfolio, Beth Alma Krueger

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The MSW portfolio comprises a comprehensive professional portfolio developed during the pursuit of a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree. The content reflects academic and field experiences structured around core social work competencies established by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). These competencies include ethical and professional behavior, engagement with diversity and difference, advancement of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, practice-informed research, and policy practice.

The document includes personal reflections, case narratives, and analyses demonstrating the integration of theoretical knowledge with practical skills in a variety of settings, including internships and community-based programs. Specific attention is …

Understanding The Duty Of Competence For Attorneys Using Generative Ai, Anna C. Conley

Faculty Law Review Articles

Ethical duties appear poised to be the primary regulatory tool for responsible use of generative AI (“GAI”) by attorneys. This reality necessitates a clear understanding of what the duty of competence requires for attorneys using GAI. Recent state bar and American Bar Association (“ABA”) guidance have coalesced around a foundational concept of informed decision-making, which requires that attorneys have sufficient knowledge about the GAI tool they are using and the specific task at hand to make an informed decision that employing the tool for that task is in the client’s best interests. Competence also requires attorneys avoid automation bias and …

The Utmost Rights And Interests Of The Indians: Tribal Law Interpretations Of The Indian Civil Rights Act, Kekek Jason Stark

Faculty Law Review Articles

It has been more than fifty years since Congress enacted the Indian Civil Right Act (hereinafter “ICRA”) and more than forty years since the United States Supreme Court in Martinez articulated that the tribal courts are the proper forum for the adjudication of ICRA claims. In the decades since, tribal courts have developed a rich body of intertribal common law pertaining to the implementation of the ICRA. This comes after over a century of assimilative policies in which the federal government attempted to eradicate native culture and traditions and subjected Indians to the deprivation of individual rights by federal and …

The Inevitability Of Adaptability - Comparative Contributions To Understanding Originalism, Anna C. Conley

Faculty Law Review Articles

What can comparative law teach us about originalism as a constitutional interpretation method? After synthesizing existing comparative analyses, this article seeks to redefine comparative law’s role in understanding originalism. When defining originalism strictly to require adherence to fixed original meaning, originalism is not used by courts anywhere in the world. Instead, courts use history purposively to understand the intent behind constitutional text as one of many methods of interpretation. Comparative works suggest historical constitutional interpretation has a complex relationship with rights, politics and culture.

Comparative law can provide not only descriptive understandings of originalism but also interrogate its mandate that …

Social Work Professional Portfolio, Anthony Hoffer

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Master Of Social Work Portfolio, Kinley Mae Pope

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

A Critical Juncture: The Convergence Of Natural Resource Management And Tribal Sovereignty, Anna Aleta Butterfield

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio reflects the work I’ve done in my four years as a dual degree student, pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Studies and a juris doctorate degree, and focuses on policies and laws surrounding natural resource management. It touches on how those policies relate to and expand or constrict the exercise of sovereignty by indigenous populations.

This piece first considers the effects of plastic on salmon populations and those indigenous groups that rely on salmon for subsistence and cultural purposes. The remaining three pieces focus on various aspects of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - Montana Water …

Msw Portfolio, Amy Sanders

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

MSW Portfolio through the lens of "otherness".

Msw Portfolio, Marie Nelson

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

A Social-Ecological Justice Approach To Ecotourism: Examples From Cockpit Country, Jamaica, Laurel Ann C. Curry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecotourism aims to support local social, ecological, and economic systems sustainably, but its implementation often perpetuates social and environmental injustices. This work applies a new social-ecological justice (SEJ) framework to ecotourism, combining Pope et al.’s holistic approach with principles like ecological stewardship, economic repositioning, and collaboration tailored to specific contexts. Importantly, basic capabilities for full functioning of humans and other species were used in this research to measure areas of justice and injustice. Using a case study approach with the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA) in Jamaica's Cockpit Country, co-created interview data were analyzed to evaluate its ecotourism program’s alignment …

Taking God's Country: The University Of Montana, Morton J. Elrod, And Allotment On The Flathead Reservation, Dylan Tate Yonce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the University of Montana (UM) developed from a small frontier college into an influential research institution. During its maturation process, the University relied on the acquisition of land to expand. In addition to its main campus in Missoula, the university sought land for research and recreation. When Congress passed the Flathead Allotment Act (1904), UM became one of many non-Native beneficiaries of federal land dispossession policy in the United States. Existing scholarship has largely homed in on “land grant” universities established through the Morrill Act (1862), which effectively dispossessed ten million acres …

"I'Ve Never Felt A Pain Like This" A Dialogic Analysis Of Parent-Child Estrangement Narratives On Reddit, Grant W. Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

How do adult children estranged from their parent(s) create meaning and make sense of their estrangement in Reddit posts on the subreddit r/EstrangedAdultChild? This study analyzed Reddit posts written by estranged adult children for a presumed audience of other estranged adult children. Using relational dialectics theory (RDT) as a lens for analysis, this research examined the competing discourses that influence the meaning-making and sense-making processes of estranged adult children in their posts when the intended audience is fellow estranged adult children. Seventy-four posts from r/EstrangedAdultChild, authored by adult children who self-identified as estranged from at least one parent, were collected …

Love At First Words: A Communication Competency Approach To Romantic Relationship Initiation, Grace E. Wiegand

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Initial interactions are essential to romantic relationship formation, and both parties must desire a second interaction after an initial encounter for the relationship to advance. Many studies have explored the communication styles and tactics that are effective in a person desiring a second interaction from a dating initiation scenario. However, existing research has yet to explain why some communication strategies do or do not result in second interactions. The current study seeks to examine this phenomenon further, testing the extent to which perceived partner communication competence influences a person to want to see another again after an initial interaction. In …

Migrations And Malthusian Demographics Amongst Two Pioneering Paleo-Inuit Traditions, Skyla Moyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding the ways in which resource variability, environmental conditions, and cultural behavior impact population movements has been a central concern both within the subfield of arctic archeology and within anthropology as an overarching discipline. To provide insights into these questions in Greenlandic contexts, Saqqaq and Independence I occupation movements have been examined through an analysis of broad trends in the radiocarbon record throughout the duration of these two cultural traditions. While the ultimate goal of this analysis is to recognize patterns in occupational progressions as indicated by the radiocarbon record, the demographic and environmental forces of change involved in the …

The Relationship Between Student Engagement And Academic Performance, Ying Guo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

China’s higher education system has undergone rapid expansion since the implementation of the 1999 enrollment policy, transitioning through stages of scale expansion, quality improvement, and program development. While increasing access to higher education, this expansion has also led to challenges such as low student engagement, high dropout rates, and employment difficulties.

This study examined the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, particularly in China's higher education system. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, in this study there was a focus on how five specific domains of engagement, Level of …

Eros And The Sublime: Tools For Reaching Toward An Altered Ecological Consciousness, Aineka Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores connections between the Kantian sublime and Anne Carson’s ideas regarding “eros.” Since Kant’s Critique of Judgement was published in 1790, the Kantian sublime has grown in popularity and been utilized by theorists and creative writers alike. While the Kantian sublime is often associated with nature in popular culture, there are certain egocentric and phallocentric elements of this mode of thinking that might inhibit a biocentric mindset. Through a character study of Oryx from Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, this thesis draws relations between the subjugation of women, nature, and the ways in which the popularized …

An Exploration Of Resilience In Native American Older Adults, Georgie Victoria Ferguson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American older adults remain underrepresented in psychological research. The unique cohort of participants in this study (born 1924 - 1957) possesses experience and knowledge that can greatly enhance the knowledge base and contribute to the overall understanding of culturally embedded resilience. Participants contributed to the identification of Spirituality and Humor as positive, culturally embedded coping factors through a set of qualitative interviews, and the present study further investigates those specifically identified coping processes using quantitative measures. This research explores how these constructs (measured by the Spiritual Well-Being and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scales) might counteract (main effect) or buffer …

Exploring The Potential For Cynophagy, Working Dogs, And Village Dogs At Housepit 54, Daniel O. Nohren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Several field seasons at the Bridge River Archaeological Site have recovered a vast faunal assemblage subject of numerous archaeological and genetic investigations, several of which have focused on potential roles of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). In order to examine the highly fractured nature of the Housepit 54 canid assemblage, the calculation of a fracture freshness index was performed which created quantitative units of measure useful in the comparison of bone fracture taphonomy over time and across taxonomic groups. This method has been employed specifically to investigate the potential for exploitation of within-bone nutrients among both a sample of …

Understanding The Factors That Influence University Environment: Gender Differences In Perceptions Of Female And Male Stem Graduate Students., Rachel Robinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite increasing female representation in higher education, women remain underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. This thesis investigates gendered perceptions of university environment among STEM graduate students, focusing on the role of faculty-student interaction as a form of social capital. The survey was developed and administered with Qualtrics Online Survey Software by members of the Social Science Research Group of the Pacific Northwest Circles of Success: Mentoring Opportunities in STEM. All graduate students in the participating universities pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in a National Science Foundation STEM recognized program were eligible to complete the survey. Using …

Comparative Bioinformatic Methodologies In Paleogenetic Pathogen Identification In The Casas Grandes, Victoria Lynne Giovannangelo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The application of metagenomic tools to further elucidate ancient DNA (aDNA) holds promise in paleopathology, particularly for inferring disease patterns in ancient populations, especially in those that are understudied. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the efficacy of taxonomic pipelines--Kraken 2, HOPS/MALT, and HAYSTAC--in detecting pathogens within highly degraded aDNA samples extracted from 22 Medio Period Paquimé individuals from the Casas Grandes archaeological site in Northwest Mexico. The taxonomic results from the pipelines are compared with contamination detection program mapDamage, although concerns arose about the latter program’s ability to work with prokaryotes. Additionally, the findings are compared against prior …

Jurisprudence Of Problem-Solving Courts: A Study Of Structure, Success, And Sociological Theory, Lauren M. Boos

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In response to the failures of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, Problem-Solving Courts (PSCs) have emerged as alternatives to traditional prosecution. These courts employ therapeutic-informed and rehabilitative practices aimed at addressing the root causes of criminal behavior. While widely regarded as more effective than traditional courts, PSCs have developed largely without a formal theoretical foundation. This is notable given their alignment with Sociological Jurisprudence (SJ) and Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ), which view the legal system as a vehicle for promoting individual and community well-being.

Despite being celebrated as therapeutic innovations, PSCs often embody these principles unevenly. Using …

Fungal Symbionts As Hidden Architects Of Forest Health: From Tree Immunity To Beetle Nutrition, Lorinda Sabin Bullington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Symbioses of fungi with trees and insects play outsized roles in forest ecosystems, influencing tree growth, defense, physiology, and nutrient cycling. While their functional contributions are widely recognized, they remain poorly understood. I integrate findings from three studies examining fungal interactions with conifers and with bark beetles to highlight their significance in tree resistance to disease, nutrient redistribution within the tree, and forest ecology.

First, I demonstrate that foliar fungal endophytes and ectomycorrhizal fungi, together and independently, can enhance resistance in Pinus monticola seedlings against Cronartium ribicola, the pathogen responsible for white pine blister rust. Symbiont inoculation induced host terpene …

"A Changed Understanding Of Our Present": Moby-Dick As Prophetic Ecological Activism, Katie Ann Schini

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Moby-Dick: Or, The Whale is a classic of American literature, spanning multiple genres and remaining culturally relevant nearly 175 years after its original publication. Though on the surface Moby-Dick reads as an adventure story of a man who experiences the whaling industry firsthand, Herman Melville’s text continues to invite new generations of readership through the framework of the twenty-first century climate crisis.

In this thesis, I position Moby-Dick as a text that can be used to understand our modern society’s current dispositions of ecological grief. My thesis operates at the intersection of three main literary critical theories: ecocriticism, affect, and …

Reinventing The Concepts Of Group And Isomorphism In Abstract Algebra, Chrisitan José Lopez-Mercado

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explores the reinvention of the concepts of group and isomorphism in abstract algebra through design-based research. It investigates how students can reinvent these concepts and how mathematical artifacts transform their mathematical reasoning during the reinvention process. The study identifies a reinvention ecology comprising three interrelated components: students' mathematical activity, social interaction, and the continual emergence of mathematical artifacts. Using the guided reinvention principle of realistic mathematics education, students engaged with contextual situations, such as a 12-hour analog clock and the symmetries of an equilateral triangle, to progressively develop structural observations, formalize group axioms, and assemble them into the …

Penta Ef-Hand Protein Alg-2 Regulates Copii Activity At Eres In Response To Calcium Signaling, Jacob Ryan Lapka

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Intracellular protein trafficking is critical for maintaining cellular homeostasis, relying on highly regulated vesicular transport pathways originating from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Central to this process is the COPII coat complex, which governs cargo export at ER exit sites (ERES) by selectively packaging secretory proteins into transport vesicles. Recent studies highlight the regulatory role of calcium (Ca²⁺) signaling at ERES, where the Ca²⁺-binding Penta EF-hand proteins ALG-2 and peflin modulate COPII coat dynamics and cargo sorting in a context-dependent manner. In Chapter 2, we show that knockdown of the Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor-3 (IP3R-3) in normal rat …

Social Connection And Disability: A Longitudinal Experimental Study Of Intervention Effectiveness And Moderators, Krys Standley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Social disconnection is an epidemic-level problem that is exacerbated for people with disabilities. There is a pressing need for theory-based research to illuminate the factors that contribute to effective interventions for improving social connection in this population.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were 1) to test the hypothesis that the Peer Collective, a six-week, online, group-based intervention centered on social support topics, would result in increased levels of social connection among community-dwelling adults with any types of disabilities and 2) to examine potential moderating effects in this hypothesized relationship.

Method: A longitudinal intervention study design with random assignment …

Water Scarcity In The Bitterroot Valley, August W. Guenthner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water scarcity in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley is an increasingly urgent issue, driven by the dual pressures of climate change and rapid population growth. Since 1970, the Bitterroot has been the fastest-growing region in the state, with much of this growth occurring in low-density rural subdivisions that rely on individual groundwater wells. Simultaneously, climate change has reduced snowpack levels, leading to diminished springtime recharge of surface water systems that are vital for both ecological and agricultural needs. For the Valley’s agricultural producers, adapting to decreasing water availability will be essential for sustaining their operations. This research project was designed to better …