Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Asian American Transracial Adoptees In College, Frances Elizabeth Mcdermott

Honors Program Theses

Asian American transracial adoptees are an underserved and underrepresented population in America, specifically on college campuses. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of experiences lived by individuals in this group, focusing on their time in college. Through qualitative interviews, this research captured the feelings, opinions, and experiences of select individuals within this group. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with six separate participants via video chat. All participants attend(ed) the University of Northern Iowa, were 18 years of age or older, and were adopted from an Asian country into a White, American family. Results showed that …

Assessing The Implicit Curriculum In Social Work Education: An Examination Of The University Of Northern Iowa Students' Experiences, Madison Motz

Honors Program Theses

As part of a social work program’s accreditation process, social work programs across the United States are now being asked to assess their implicit curriculum, defined as the educational environment in which the explicit curriculum is presented, as new evidence has shown that implicit curriculum plays an important role in the learning, development, and professional outcome of social work students. Following the wake of a series of student diversity-related injustices across the state of Iowa, our team set out to create an implicit curriculum survey tool shaped by the experiences, concerns, and feedback presented by students within the social work …

Anti-Communist Politics Of The Second Red Scare And How It Affected Hollywood And The Types Of Movies Being Made, Maddy Everson

Honors Program Theses

During the Second Red Scare from 1947 to 1957, anti-communist sentiment was rampant and affected Hollywood and the types of movies being made. This was due to governmental agencies—as well as non-governmental institutions and people—being suspicious of and investigating anyone who was suspected of having communist ties. This caused a level of fear that affected what was shown in the content of the movies and who could make them. It is important to examine how the movies and film industry was influenced by the Second Red Scare. This is because Hollywood was strongly affected not only at this time but …

Methods And Evaluation Outcomes In Speech, Language, And Hearing Camps, Lindsey Paige Carter

Honors Program Theses

This investigation explores survey information on speech, language, and hearing camps throughout the United States. Thirty-seven speech-language pathologists from the United States agreed to complete the survey about their camp and thirteen completed the entire survey. These camps are growing in popularity and express benefits of attendance. There is currently limited research on assessment measures taken pre- and post- camp to determine the effectiveness of these camps. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of these camps, pre- and post- camp evaluation methods, how success is defined, and the impact these camps have. Results from the survey …

Bacillus Bacteriophage Q11 May Have A 5' Covalently Attached Protein, Emily Cornelius

Honors Program Theses

Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically parasitize on bacteria and are found almost everywhere. Phages Phi 29 and Q11 are both small phages found in soil that attack Bacillus hosts. Previous Phi 29 studies verified a covalently bonded protein at the 5’ end of its double-stranded linear DNA. Q11 may have a similar 5’ terminal protein, which blocks complete sequencing of that DNA region. Because Q11 and phi29 are both small short-tailed phages that infect similar hosts, it could be possible the proteins are structurally similar. In previous work, I have attempted to use restriction endonuclease and exonuclease enzyme digests …

Creating Synthetic Analogs Of Fluorescent Speleothems In Wind Cave As An Astrobiological Model Cave, Teresa Feldman

Honors Program Theses

The wind cave system represents a unique environment on Earth where the direct interplay of organic chemistry on the surface can possibly be traced to extremophiles living hundreds of meters below the surface. In many cases, minerals and organics from the surface become trapped in calcite formations creating fluorescent minerals. To understand the environment giving rise to the fluorescent minerals in Wind Cave, laboratory analogs of the calcite crystals found within the Wind Cave National Park cavern were synthesized and analyzed using SEM and fluorescence spectroscopy. This data was compared to the fluorescence and XRF data collected from speleothems in …

Pre-Service Students Understanding Of Professional Roles, Anne Whalen Gradoville

Honors Program Theses

This study aims to begin understanding how well pre-service speech-language pathologists and teachers understand their roles in collaboration in the schools. Data were collected from a survey completed by undergraduate and graduate students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders and Education departments at one middle-sized university in the Midwest. Results indicated a wide range of understanding and preparedness. Several themes emerged as to what students feel confident about in terms of collaboration, as well as what they believe they still need to learn before they can be confident in collaborating in the schools. The data provides insight into what pre-service …

The Effects Of Fluoride On Macrophage Thp-1 Cell Apoptosis, Jessica Heims

Honors Program Theses

Fluoride is an earthly mineral that occurs naturally both in the sedimentary earth as well as in the human body. The main biological function of fluoride in the human body is to enhance bone structure, as well as prevent the decay of teeth. This mineral has been used by dentists and public health officials to artificially introduce an extra layer of protection through the means of fluoride-enriched public water supplies and toothpastes. By using extra levels of fluoride, dentists have been able to help patients prevent future cavities and dental diseases. Although most dentists highly encourage strategic consumption of these …

Phonology And Fluency: How Pronunciation Is (And Is Not) Taught In United States Esl Classrooms, Nik Hucke

Honors Program Theses

This thesis examines how explicit pronunciation instruction affects the ability to learn, understand, and produce English in non-native speakers, and how their teachers approach that instruction. The goal is to create a general overview of pronunciation teaching practices currently in use in K-12 English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in the United States and to gauge the general attitudes and approaches towards pronunciation instruction of ESL teachers. This will help create a picture of the current state of ESL pronunciation instruction in the United States, investigate the best ways to teach pronunciation as a part of a general ESL …

Multicultural Education And Attitudes Towards Immigrant Groups In The United States, Anika Marie Lillegard-Bouton

Honors Program Theses

Individuals with higher levels of education tend to have more positive attitudes towards immigrant groups as well as immigration in general (Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007). This study examined the relationship between one particular type of education and attitudes towards Arab, Chinese, and Mexican immigrant groups in the United States. As a part of a larger, ongoing study on attitudes of college students towards immigrant groups, participants completed measures of their multicultural education experiences. I hypothesized that individuals with higher levels of multicultural education experiences would report more positive attitudes towards Arab, Chinese, and Mexican immigrant groups and that attitudes towards …

Ministry Matters: A Study Of The Relationship Between Campus Ministry And Socialization, Rachel Jean Kitrell

Honors Program Theses

The present study investigated the relationship between involvement in campus ministry and students’ socialization to the university. Campus ministry participants (N=62) representing eight of eleven registered campus ministries completed an online 39-question Qualtrics survey that sought to evaluate their involvement in ministry activities, social involvement in their campus ministry, social involvement in their university, and socialization to the university through history, politics, and goals and values. A significant positive correlation was found between involvement in ministry activities and social involvement in campus ministry as well as between each of the three socialization variables. There were also significant positive correlations found …

Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers: A Program Analysis Of Teacher Education In Iowa And Its Role In Preparing Preservice Teachers For Emergent Bilinguals, Karrigan Alexandria Mentzer

Honors Program Theses

Throughout my time at the University of Northern Iowa, I have had the opportunity to befriend, live, and work with many future teachers studying a variety of fields. We have often discussed the things we were learning in class and what we saw in field experiences. Something we all noticed is that I, as a student majoring in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), was the only one receiving any training about emergent bilingual students that went beyond a passing mention of the topic. This led me to wonder why I was the only one receiving this education, …

U.S. Presidential Election Portrayed By Foreign Media: Costa Rica And Nicaragua Comparative Study, Emily Neumann

Honors Program Theses

The U.S. presidential election not only grabs a lot of media attention from the United States, but it also catches the attention of media from around the world. How does the foreign media portray the U.S. presidential election? This study seeks to answer a piece of this question through an analysis of media sources in Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the hopes of better informing audiences on the potential frames their media be constructing their information through. The analysis considers the tone, along with the articles’ conversations of policy and personality of the candidates. After selecting 10 articles from each …

Meme Marketing: How Viral Marketing Adapts To The Internet Culture, Triet Minh Ngo

Honors Program Theses

Meme marketing (MM) is the practice of promoting a product or service using memes, an Internet-based phenomenon involving viral pieces of user-generated content, including image, articles, and video or audio clips. This latest form of viral marketing is starting to gain prominence in recent years following the infiltration of social media into everyday life thanks to the rapid advancement in communication technologies and dissemination thereof. As more people are exposed to and becoming part of the Internet culture, a bid to appeal to this growing audience can be an attractive use of resources for those wishing to advertise through meme …

Applying The Education Debt To Waterloo, Iowa, Baylee Renae Smith

Honors Program Theses

The Education Debt is largely overlooked in the world of academia. This is despite the fact the Education Debt offers a new lens through which to look at the multiple factors explaining differences in testing scores. While many scholars acknowledge and draw from the Education Debt in their works, it is still often viewed as supplementary to the larger problem of the achievement gap. The purpose of this study is to analyze if Ladson-Billings’ concept is just as applicable and relevant as when she first proposed it. To understand if the Education Debt is still a relevant issue within the …

Artistic Expression, Permanence And Change In A F*Cked Up World: Coping With The "Sounds Of Silence", Brianna L. Pruitt

Honors Program Theses

I believe my role as an artist is to process the world around me and articulate my analysis in visual forms that are aesthetically interesting. My proposed project will manifest as sculptures, painting, performance, sound, video and installation art combined to create a visual representation of my mind and emotions in the present. The central element of this work, which happens to be my car “Kevin,” will set the stage for three humanoid sculptures to be displayed. Each figurative sculpture represents a different type of motion: permanence, change, and coping. I will be creating performances with the sculptures separately where …

Evaluating College Students' Attitudes And Understanding Of Recycling, Taylor Shipley

Honors Program Theses

Individuals have different habits, beliefs, and knowledge regarding recycling. These can be due to a variety of reasons such as peers, upbringing, accessibility of recycling, or prior knowledge of what can be recycled. A school setting, in particular, can be influential to a student’s motivation to recycle; schools can provide an environment for students to learn about the importance of recycling and other various sustainability initiatives. Like most campuses, students’ recycling behaviors on the University of Northern Iowa’s (UNI) campus are likely to be affected to some degree by the reasons listed above as well as other life experiences.

Recycling …

A Workbook Presenting Fluency Shaping And Narrative Therapy Strategies For School-Age Children Who Stutter, Bailey Nicole Rustad

Honors Program Theses

Stuttering occurs when there are frequent and effortful disfluencies in speech. People who stutter may have individual difficulties with particular sounds, but the research showed that some commonalities exist. Fluency shaping may be a helpful strategy for those who stutter to reduce the occurrence and frequency of and tension in stuttering. The majority of struggles that people who stutter have are related to negative thoughts and feelings about their stuttering, so this is also important to be targeted in therapy. Narrative therapy is a possible option to reduce these negative thoughts and feelings.

In order to provide a resource for …

Converging Artificial Intelligence And Blockchain Technologies For Security And Risk Management In Banking, Van Binh Hai Tran

Honors Program Theses

The focus of this thesis is on understanding the potential applications of blockchain and AI technologies in the banking and finance sector for better risk management and cybersecurity. In this thesis, I will do an extensive literature review of research on AI and Blockchain in the top eight information systems journals and some top-rated computer science journals. The intention is to examine the use of blockchain and AI to enhance remote work security and fraud detection in the Banking and Finance sector.

Students' Perceptions Of Different Types Of Banks' Marketing, Jeffrey Reicks

Honors Program Theses

This study investigates what messages are most effective in convincing students to switch the bank they use. The study consists of a survey with eight ad messages and respondents rate how much they are interested in switching to the hypothetical bank considering the ad message. Sixty-six students, aged 18-24, submitted responses. T-test analysis showed there were 5 ad messages that had a significant impact: no minimum balance requirement, offering free e-banking, having your specific needs cared for, the bank giving back to the community, and the bank having experienced employees. Of these, the most significant was the message that the …

Impacts Of Theatre On The Mental Health Of High School Students, Madeline Ludwig

Honors Program Theses

This thesis explores the effects of participation in theatre on mental health in high school students. Though there has been more research since 2008 on mental health and its relation to the arts, there have been very few focused on mental health and theatre. However, the majority of these studies are centered around adults or young children. There is a lack of research centered around the impacts that theatre and drama have on the mental health of high school students. This study specifically focused on college students at the University of Northern Iowa and their reflection on their time in …

Assessing The Comfort Level Of Speech-Language Pathologists In Assessing And Treating Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Children, Kaitlyn Burkamper

Honors Program Theses

When a child is diagnosed with a hearing loss, there are many different facets of their diagnosis to consider, and all of these facets are affected by the configuration, type, and severity of the hearing loss. Because of the patient's age, all decisions are at least impacted, if not made, by their parents or guardians. Depending on these factors, there are options for assistive devices, such as hearing aids, and one of the main concerns is access to language. While signed language is a completely valid path for a child with hearing loss, some parents make the decision that their …

Trouble Brewing: An Exploration In Parasocial Relationships With Fictional Characters, Isabelle Zeimetz

Honors Program Theses

In the 1940s and 1950s, television and radio had taken over as the dominant form of media (Understanding Media and Culture: an Introduction to Mass Communication). Anthropologist Donald Horton and sociologist R. Wohl noted a strange new relationship developing between the audiences and the hosts under this new dominant media. These relationships ranged from close friendships with radio hosts like Dave Garroway to people wanting to marry fictional characters such as the gal from the radio broadcast, Lonesome Gal. Horton and Wohl realized that these new relationships were not quite the same as interpersonal relationships as they could never be …

My Year With Digital Supremacists, Nick Baur

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

The Zones Of Regulation In Schools, Kyle Andrew-Kelly Wiebers

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Emotion regulation is a concept that has existed within the literature for decades, but the presence of emotion regulation programs in schools is a relatively new concept in research (Durlak et al., 2011). Research suggests that emotional regulation skills are related to improved peer relationships and academic success (Denham & Brown, 2010; Durlak et al., 2011). Students who exhibited well-adjusted, or adaptive, emotion regulation had better peer relationships and were more productive and accurate when completing academic tasks (Denham & Brown, 2010; Dvir et al., 2014; Kim & Cicchetti, 2010; Kim‐Spoon et al., 2013; Lereya et al., 2015). For this …

Annual Report Of The Registrar 2020/2021, University Of Northern Iowa

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

Contents:

--- Definitions
--- Some Comparisons
--- Annual Report Data
--- Summary of Attendance
--- Attendance by Session
--- Degrees Granted 2020/21
--- Degree Summary 2020/21
--- Program Certificates 2020/21
--- Miscellaneous Enrollment Information
--- Degrees Granted by College, Degree and Racial/Ethnic Classification

2020-2021 Graduating Senior Report, Shefei Schultz

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

Contents:

Survey Methodology ... 4
Respondent Demographics ... 5
Post-Graduation Plans ... 8
Educational Experiences and Skills ... 13
Academic and Social Environment ... 26
Other Activities ... 39
Comparison Across the Years ... 40
Survey Sample ... 46
Office Contact Information ... 61

Iowa Journal Of Communication, Volume 53, Number 1, Fall 2021 [Download Entire Issue]

Iowa Journal of Communication

No abstract provided.

Welcome From The Editor, Kristen L. Majocha

Iowa Journal of Communication

No abstract provided.

Just Txt Me: How Digital Platforms Shape The Close Relationships Of Generation Z, Kurt Sernett, Abigail Reinhardt, Lillian Smithson, Mitchell Hollingshead

Iowa Journal of Communication

The rise of texting and social media usage, primarily among Millennials and Generation Z, has led to the emergence of new communication behaviors in the last decade. While many studies have focused solely on the behaviors of Millennials in the digital age, we examine the behaviors of Generation Z and how the usage of digital communication shapes the close relationships of America’s college-aged youth population. After identifying the advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face communication and digital communication, we argue that today’s youth seek a healthy balance between in-person and online communication to cultivate fulfilling interpersonal relationships with their friends and …