Digital Commons Network^™

Changes In Reproductive Behavior And Birth Patterns During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Sakartvelo (The Republic Georgia) [რეპროდუქციული ქცევასა და შობადობის ცვლილებები კოვიდ-19 პანდემიის დროს საქართველოში], Nino Mateshvili

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Because of the increased frequency and extent of large-scale disasters, including health events, there is a need to better understand the impacts of these disasters on key demographic processes. In particular, in the European countries, including the Republic of Georgia (Sakartvelo), which already face demographic problems, such as aging population and decreasing birth rates, researchers and policymakers are concerned with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demographic indicators and processes, such as birth rates and reproductive behavior. That is why it is very timely to collect and analyze initial evidence establishing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as a …

The Impacts Of Adolescents' Leisure Activity Types On Psychological Well-Being, Academic Self-Efficacy, Self Esteem, And Stress, Dongyub Back

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Korean teenager deviance, school violence, and school dropout caused by academic stress are serious social issues within the country. High levels of student stress are likely to bring about depression and suicide resulting in a significant effect on their psychological well-being and life satisfaction. It is of particular concern for middle school students experiencing rapid physical and psychological developmental changes without proper support. Forty-five percent of Korean students’ indicated stress in their life and 27% experienced depression (Statistics Korea, 2019). Also, Korean middle school students (27.3%) have suicide impulse (Youm & Kim, 2019). These youth development issues are considered social …

You Can't Live Off Pride: Welfare And Farm Aid In The Reagan Era, Jeremiah David Brockman

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Popular conceptions about those receiving welfare benefits have long been less than flattering, while those of farmers have been the opposite. Even though both were receiving federal aid in the 1980s, welfare recipients were usually portrayed as black women and farmers as white men. The former was a group perceived to be lazy, undeserving, and tearing at the fabric of American society; the latter was viewed as noble, hard-working, and a source of moral fiber for the nation. Welfare recipients in the Reagan Era received “money for nothing” but so too did farmers. Yet farmers were still largely portrayed in …

How Do We Use Creative And Personal Memories For Creative Communication?, Tyler Robert Montgomery

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Inspired by the author’s memories, KeyBoard Memories and You have the Right to Forget are two short stage plays exploring topics of identity, time, and justice. This thesis uses personal and creative memories to develop stories in the form of scripts. The thesis begins with an example of creative writing inspired by the author’s personal and creative memories and describes the purpose of the project before moving into a review of literature that explains what memories are, how they work, and the different types of memories. Then the method section describes the methods of journaling and scripting writing, and then …

Doing Corpus Pragmatics: Variations In Speech Acts Performed In Conversations Occurring Naturally In Academic Contexts, Jacob Philip Rigal

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

No abstract provided.

The Path From Paramilitary To Politics: Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin, And The Good Friday Agreement: 1986-1998, Brenann Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Although the Troubles often have been written about by historians through a nationalistic or cultural context, pitting the Irish Catholic Nationalists against the Protestant British loyalists, much of the action took place within the political sphere, as the Nationalists’ and Unionists’ representatives fought for concessions and control. Rather than focusing on the religious differences or the ethnographic backgrounds of the people living in Northern Ireland, this thesis examines through a political context how the leaders of Sinn Féin shaped popular opinion and gained support through nonviolent means. While the national identity and cultural differences between the Nationalists and Unionists inform …

Effects Of Perceived Reach On Ratings Of Media Bias, Quality, And Agreement, Matthew Sedlacek

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The hostile media effect refers to individuals’ tendencies to perceive seemingly neutral news coverage as biased against their stance (Vallone et al., 1985). Research has shown this effect in partisan politics, with liberals and conservatives perceiving bias in information presented from the opposing side. The current study examined the effects of liberal or conservative and small or large audience news source manipulations on liberals’ and conservatives’ perceptions of media bias and the relationship between partisan identity and perceptions of bias. Three hundred and sixty participants read a news article presented with either a Fox News, CNN, PatriotNewsDaily, or The Progressive …

Educational Experiences Of First Generation Black African Students With And Without Dis/Abilities, Shehreen Iqtadar

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Several studies have focused on the disproportionate representation of students from historically multiply marginalized communities in special education (Artiles, 2011, 2013; Artiles et al., 2005; Brayboy et al., 2007; Cavendish et al., 2018; Cooc & Kiru, 2018; Dunn, 1968; Hosp & Reschly, 2004; O’Connor & Fernandez, 2006; Voulgarides et al., 2017). Only recently, researchers have begun to explore the connections between immigrant and refugee students and special education (Migliarini, 2017; Song, 2018; Qing, 2018). Missing in this literature are the critical accounts of students and (a) their perspectives about the nature of dis/ability and their placement within special education and …

Training For Challenging Behaviors In The School Setting, Kenzie Heusinkvelt

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

School personnel are asked to plan for, implement, and evaluate Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) in the school setting; however, not all school personnel have been properly trained to do so. There is limited research to date that demonstrates how different school personnel are trained in planning, implementing, and evaluating BIPs. The current study involves school personnel which include school psychologists, school social workers, special education consultants, and special education teachers. These school personnel were asked to indicate how adequate they believed their educational training was in providing a good understanding of various behavior topics and how well their educational training …

The Association Between Parent And Adult Child Severe Mental Illness Stigma: The Effects Of Gender, Relationship Quality, And Contact, Taylor Joyce Courier

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Extensive research exists on individuals’ stigma toward mental illnesses and factors that influence the stigmatizing beliefs a person holds. One area included in this examination is an exploration of the impact that parents have on the stigmatizing beliefs held by their children. These studies have found varying levels of similarity in beliefs between parents and children. The present study attempted to elucidate the association between parents’ stigmatizing beliefs and adult children’s stigmatizing beliefs about severe mental illness. Based on survey data collected from 244 participants, this study showed a strong association between adult children and perceived parents’ beliefs. Moderators revealed …

Not Our Problem: Ingroup Glorification Facilitates Moral Disengagement And Exclusion, Matthew Gunderson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The present study examined how ingroup/outgroup identification and harm predict cognitive restructuring and the shifting of blame. Drawing on Moral Disengagement Theory (Bandura, 1999), which holds that individuals create a new version of reality that allows them to violate their moral beliefs, I hypothesized that implicating the ingroup, lower levels of perceived harm, and higher ingroup glorification would result in more moral disengagement. Integrating Moral Disengagement Theory with Moral Exclusion Theory (Opotow, 1990), I further hypothesized that moral exclusion—the removal of others from the moral community—would also be greater. 422 participants recruited over Prolific read a modified news article about …

Students Vs. Suspects: A Qualitative Examination Of Stereotype Threat And The Impact On Behavior Of Black Males, Ryan J. Williamson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This qualitative study focused on the impact of stereotype threat on the behavior of black males in the educational system. Black males currently involved in the juvenile justice system were interviewed about their lived experiences in the educational system. The literature surrounding stereotype threat focuses on academic achievement and performance. It provides spaces in the potential of stereotype threat impacting behavior.

Stereotype threat argues that individuals will confirm a self-characteristic which supports a negative stereotype associated with a specific group within society (Spencer et al., 2016). In theory, people will underperform based on a preconceived notion of failure. If a …

Psychopathy And Emotion Regulation: The Mediating Role Of Motives And Goals, Morning S. Baker

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between psychopathy and emotion regulation as serially mediated by emotional motives and goals in an all-male sample. Six serial mediation models were proposed, three for each motive-type (i.e., hedonistic, instrumental), and two for each emotion (i.e., anger, fear, joy). Eight-hundred and seventy-eight participants were recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Results indicate that male MTurk workers with greater levels of psychopathy have poorer emotion regulation, emotion goals for experiencing anger and fear, hedonistic and instrumental motives for experiencing anger and fear, emotion goals for not experiencing joy, and hedonistic and …

Leading Early Childhood Education In Iowa Schools, Alaina T. Daters

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Over the last 15 years, Iowa’s Statewide Voluntary Preschool Programs (SWVPP) have undergone significant growth. By the end of the 2021-2022 school year, 323 out of 327 (99%) of Iowa public school districts offered preschool (Iowa Department of Education, 2022c). As a result, well over 450 Iowa administrators are potentially responsible for leading their district’s preschool program.

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to gain an understanding of the experiences, knowledge, and pedagogical needs of licensed Iowa administrators that are responsible for their district’s SWVPP. Data was collected through a survey and analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis …

Pandemic Images And Gestalt Theory: Introspective Musings About A Series Of Digital Art-Works, Roy R. Behrens

Faculty Publications

In this paper, the author shares his thoughts about the precedents, process, and significance of a series of “digital montage” artworks that he originated during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, he talks about the indebtedness of these works to Gestalt theory, and particularly their use of what is sometimes known as “laws of seeing,” “unit-forming factors,” or inherent “grouping tendencies.”

Explaining Differences In One Teacher’S Instruction Across Multiple Tracked Fifth-Grade Classes, Corey Webel, Kimberly A. Conner, Christina Sheffel

Faculty Publications

In this article, we describe the case of “Keri,” a fifth-grade teacher who had completed an Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) certification program. Drawn from a larger study investigating the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of EMSs, Keri's case was unique in that she was teaching mathematics to four classes in a departmentalized structure, where students were placed into different classes according to perceived mathematics ability. Observations from the larger study revealed that Keri's instructional practices did not align with her reported beliefs and knowledge. To explore this deviation, we conducted a case study where we observed Keri's instruction across multiple classes …

Commencement [Program], December 18, 2021, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

The program of the commencement ceremonies, including a list of institutional leadership, a list of the departments by college, awards given at the ceremonies, and a list of undergraduate and graduate degree candidates.

Collaboration, Policies, And Programming: Advising Administrators’ Perspectives On Academic Recovery, Pietro Sasso, Shelley Price-Williams, Tiffany Shemwell

Faculty Publications

Colleges and universities use academic recovery programs as one strategy to improve student retention. Relying on interview data with mid-level academic advising administrators who coordinate academic recovery programs, this study describes key elements of those programs and challenges advising administrators face in implementing or managing those elements. Specifically, academic recovery programs rely on campus collaboration, administering policy, and supplemental programming to help students succeed. Administrators cited a lack of institutional support and resources as barriers to successfully implementing or creating collaboration, policies, and programming. We conclude by discussing implications for practice and suggestions for improving academic probation and recovery programs.

63 Update: Fall 2022 Unifi Courses, University Of Northern Iowa. General Education Re-Envisioning Committee.

General Education Re-envisioning Committee Documents

The list of courses approved for the general education program for Fall 2022.

Gender Performance And Political Identity At The Jan. 6 Capitol Riot, Emma E. Newton

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) at UNI

The January 6th riot on the U.S. Capitol Building was heavily documented with recorded videos and photos, not just by mainstream news sources but by the rioters themselves. Rioters’ videos uploaded to social media, particularly the conservative-focused website Parler, provide a lens into performances of gender as they intersect with political identity, revealing new ways that communication studies scholars can understand how conservative arguments are constructed within gender performance. In this thesis, I rhetorically analyze rioters’ videos uploaded to Parler using a lens of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity, and further outline a conservative masculine and feminine performance of the …

A Work/Life Teeter Totter: Using Demand Based Principles For Spiritual Operations Management, Dan Bumblauskas, Paul Bumblauskas

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to detail how spirituality is a critical component to work/life balance and how individual and organizational spirituality impact operations management. Balancing key areas of work and professional life become an important part of creating happy and mutually satisfying relationships. We have identified six critical elements of life balance that lead towards optimized productivity (in no order of significance): Career, Family, Community, Spiritual, Health (includes sleep), Pleasure. Spirituality is one of the six components that must be defined, with a corresponding work and personal development plan, at an individual and organizational and operations management level.

An Approach To Preventing Conflict: Unpacking The Standing Neutral, Dan Bumblauskas,, Kate Vitasek, Jim Groton

Faculty Publications

Contractual relationships are vulnerable to the damage caused by friction in relationships, particularly when this turns into a formal dispute. If negotiations fail, the next step is calling in a mediator, and perhaps ending up in arbitration or the court system. This paper argues for the proactive use of a “Standing Neutral” – a trusted, independent expert advisor (or a panel of three advisors) chosen by the contracting parties to help during their contractual relationship. Rather than being reactive to disputes, an organization can be proactive by a standing neutral as chosen by the contracting parties to help during their …

Book Review Of The Routledge Companion To Theatre Of The Oppressed, Amy Phillips

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

In my review of The Routledge Companion to Theatre of the Oppressed by Boal, J., Howe, K., and Soerio, J., eds. (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), I compare the book’s call for Theatre of the Oppressed to embrace a nuanced investigation of social problems with its response: the international movements detailed in its chapters. While demonstrating that the first-hand accounts provide a measured answer to contradictions inherent in a system which Augusto Boal developed in response to a specific political climate, I emphasize the beauty of theory and practice sitting side by side, in paradox, and encourage scholar and …

Expanding And Expounding Upon Forum Theater To Engage Spect-Actors In Virtual Spaces, Lasonja Roberts, María Migueliz Valcarlos, Tara Nkrumah, Vonzell Agosto

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

In this article, we analyze our experiences of jokering in online spaces during the pandemic. Our journey traversed the 2020/2021 academic year, engaging in Forum Theater work with a local university and community organization. During our planning, leading, and reflecting on these experiences themes emerged addressing the efficacy of practicing Forum Theater in an online setting, as well as recommendations for TO practitioners who wish to pursue online Forum Theater in the future.

Unmuted: A Digital Dilemma Inspired By Forum Theatre, Akhila Khanna

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

This report describes the purpose, process and reflections of a Forum Theatre video project, titled Unmuted, created to investigate the increased online harassment faced by women during the pandemic. Led by an arts and community education based initiative in New Delhi, India - Rang Karwan - and supported by the 25 x 25 Initiative by India Foundation for the Arts grant, Unmuted included a series of surveys and Forum scenes that were screen-recorded and distributed among 100+ digital spect-actors across the country. This report by Akhila, one of the facilitators of the project, will evaluate the 9-month-long rehearsal and research …

Image Theatre As A Conduit For Academic Research, Felicia Owusu-Ansah

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

In the last few decades Africa has seen an upsurge of the use of applied theatre in addressing individual and community issues in diverse paradigms. However, fewer studies have examined its potential beyond sensitisation, awareness creation campaigns and general education through playlets and post-performance discussion. This paper discusses how some aspects of applied theatre were used for data gathering in academic research in connection with Irregular Migration in Ghana. I base the discussion on how I used Applied Theatre, specifically, Augusto Boal’s Image works on the platform of Testimonial Theatre as an investigation tool in academic research. It also shows …

Leveraging Standardized Testing To Transform Curriculum Through Arts Integration: Effects Of Shadow Puppet Theater On Reading Fluency Among Elementary School Students, Nancy B. Parent

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

This paper presents findings from a reading fluency study conducted by Flock Theatre (Connecticut Higher Order Thinking Schools Teaching Artists) on the effects of a shadow puppet theater program in an elementary school setting. Data collected in this study show an increase in fluency scores among students who perform as narrators in the program. This paper highlights the role of teaching artists in leveraging standardized assessments to transform curricula and student learning through arts integration. Positionality of teaching artists, classroom teachers, and my role as a social scientist in this context is considered, as well as a discussion of the …

University Of Northern Iowa Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes, October 25, 2021, University Of Northern Iowa, Faculty Senate

Documents - Faculty Senate

Meeting minutes from the Faculty Senate of the University of Northern Iowa.

The Annual Economic Diversity And Inclusion Summit [Program], 2021, University Of Northern Iowa. Center For Multicultural Education.

Economic Inclusion Conference Documents

The conference program for the 2021 Economic Inclusion Conference.

Uni Grad Student News, V20n1, October 2021, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

UNI Grad Student News

Contents:

--- Message from the Dean
--- Graduate College Staff
--- Graduate College Graduate Assistants
--- Graduate Secretary Profile - Kristin Soppe
--- Graduate Alumni Profile - Marcello Henrique
--- Graduate Faculty Profile - Eric Jennings
--- Graduate College Events
--- Writing Resources
--- Research Events & Workshops
--- UNI Counseling Center
--- Mental Health Resources
--- Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
--- Wellness Tips
--- Graduate College Staff & Contact Information