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The Historical Persistence Of Working-Class Culture: How Laborers Created The Ethical Foundation Of Western Civilization, Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

This article highlights four historical events that shape our present: the world’s first industrial strike in ancient Egypt to protest workers’ health and safety; working-class efforts to improve labor conditions during the Roman Republic and Middle Ages through strikes and the creation of guilds; the social justice activism of the prophets of Western religions (all working-class folks!); and the creation of the selfie and the transition from a culture of character to our present obsession with celebrities and individualism that began during the Renaissance. Each case highlights unique features of working-class culture, working class reactions to societal changes, and the …

Sesquicentennial Commencement [Program], May 15-16, 2026, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

Contents:

Brief History of UNI --- 2
Board of Regents --- 3
Institutional Leadership --- 3
Ceremony Symbols & Traditions --- 4
Commencement Over the Years --- 6
University Honors Program --- 8
Graduation with Honors --- 8
Legacy Graduates --- 8
Military Science --- 9
Merchant Scholarship --- 9
Outstanding Student Leader --- 9
Commencement Student Speakers --- 9
Purple and Old Gold Awards --- 10
Lux Service Award --- 11
7 p.m. Program --- 13
College of Education --- 15
David W. Wilson College of Business --- 22
10 a.m. Program --- 29
College of Humanities, Arts & …

Community Engagement Newsletter, May 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- UNI's Day of Service - Thank You
--- A Snapshot of Our Collective Impact
--- Online Engaged Department Institute

Tradition, Transition, & Identity: Models Of Masculinity In Marvel Superhero Films, Mikey Brown

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

• Media & Film
  • Shapes cultural values, social expectations and ideas about identity
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • One of the most influential forces in todays pop culture (Johnson 2012)
• Masculinity & Adolescence
  • Adolescence use media to understand identity & social expectations

Missing Children: The Underrepresentation Of Youth In Mental Health Data, Sammie Mcdonald

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

While research continues to grow, it is apparent that there are still gaps in knowledge. This research was inspired by my ongoing internship at Allen Child Protection Center, where I have seen children left behind for not recognizing an outdated radio during cognitive testing, as well as my experience as a fraternal twin with a 10 year diagnosis gap between me and my brother. This led me to investigate diagnostic disparities in children’s mental health data.

To better understand if children are experiencing mental health diagnosis disparities, I am analyzing 9 waves of data from the Substance Abuse and Mental …

State-Corporate Crime In Agricultural Markets: The Lynch Livestock Fraud Case, Leah Blaine

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

• Livestock dealers connect farmers to markets
• Dealers control weighing and classification
• Farmers rely on dealer-reported measurements

Effects Of Race & Tattoo Status On Criminality Judgements, Gabriella Haddad, Madelyn Wells, Helen Harton

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

310 Prolific participants viewed eight AI-generated images of men who appeared to be Asian, Hispanic, Black, or White who were "suspects in an ongoing investigation." Participants viewed one of the two targets for each ethnic group, one with an arm tattoo and one without. Participants rated each target on characteristics such as intelligence, competency, and trustworthiness, and rated how likely they think it was that the target was the perpetrator. Men without a tattoo were rated more positively than those with a tattoo across all four racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic men, with or without a tattoo, were rated the most negatively. …

Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention Spring 2026 Newsletter, University Of Northern Iowa. Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention.

Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention Newsletter

Contents:

--- MVP Student Retreat
--- Spring 2026 MVP Workshop
--- Dan Marburger MVP Advocacy Award Ceremony
--- Youth Workplace Violence Prevention Council Summit
--- UNI COE 2026 Social & Emotional Learning Conference
--- Iowa Safe Schools Annual Governor's Conference
--- Stand Up Guy Panel Event
--- Tomson Scholars
--- Rape Prevention & Education Grant Administrators for Iowa

Community Engagement Newsletter, April 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- UNI's Day of Service - April 8, 2026
--- Service-Learning and Engaged Department Institutes
--- Student Funding
--- Certified Nonprofit Professional Credential
--- UNI Engaged Podcast

Csbs Kudos, Spring 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Social And Behavioral Sciences.

CSBS Kudos

Contents:

--- Faculty Accolades
--- Retirements - Ken Atkinson, Gregory Bruess, Todd Evans, Mark Grey, James Hall, Wallace Hettle, Mary Losch
--- Promotions - Disa Cornish, Tyler O'Brien, Jayme Renfro, Eran Hanke, Kyle Endres
--- In Memoriam - Mary Louise Franken, John Johnson, Susan Welch, Charlotte C. Wells
--- $1.22 million grant to UNI’s Center for Civic Education
--- University of Northern Iowa receives $2.4 million grant to launch Humanities Hub
--- UNI announces restructuring to strengthen humanities and public service education
--- UNI launches online non-thesis Master of Arts in Geography
--- UNI teacher education program continues to boast …

20th Annual Research In The Capitol [Program], March 9, 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. University Honors Program. Iowa State University. Honors Program. University Of Iowa. Honors Program.

Research in the Capitol Programs

Program of research presentations given at the Capitol by students from the University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Iowa.

Community Engagement Newsletter, March 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

UNI's Day of Service - April 8, 2026
Service-Learning and Engaged Department Institutes
Inspire Conference
Certified Nonprofit Professional Credential
UNI Engaged Podcast

Community Engagement Newsletter, February 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

UNI’s Day of Service - April 8, 2026
Service-Learning & Engaged Department Institutes
Inspire Conference
UNI's 150th on IPR's "Talk of Iowa"

“Police Power” Or Puppeteer: Us Interventions In Latin America And Its Immigration Crisis, Alison Meagher

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Community Engagement Newsletter, January 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- UNI Earns Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement
--- UNI’s Day of Service - April 8, 2026
--- Engaged Department Institute: Save the Date, May 26-27
--- Volunteer & Internship Explore-A-Ganza
--- Community Engagement Celebration Day
--- UNI Engaged Podcast
--- Pack the Dome - Thank you!

“En La Clase, Sí. En Estados Unidos, No.”: La Motivación, La Pertenencia Y El Intercambio De Recursos En Clases Para Adultos Aprendices De Inglés, Katie Hunter

Graduate Research Papers

En los Estados Unidos, los programas de educación para adultos pueden abrir la puerta a varias oportunidades para estudiantes con trasfondos académicos no tradicionales. Los programas como la educación básica para adultos, la equivalencia de escuela secundaria, la preparación profesional y técnica y, lo más importante para los propósitos de este estudio, la educación para adultos aprendices de inglés, promueven el progreso profesional y apoyan a los estudiantes a identificar y trabajar para alcanzar sus metas personales. Sin embargo, en este contexto educativo es de suma importancia reconocer el conocimiento arraigado en la experiencia vivida que los estudiantes traen al …

“Crimes By The Brave”: Military Installation Impacts On Local Crime, Mara Strader

Honors Program Theses

The influence of the United States military extends beyond its primary installations, as numerous urban areas surround these bases and serve as habitats for many of our nation's heroes. These military communities have become integrated into civilian regions, leading to a confluence of military and civilian zones. Given the diverse populations within these areas, there is a corresponding increase in crime rates; however, there is a notable paucity of literature examining whether these installations affect crime in military-civilian communities.

This study uses 2023 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) incident-level arrest data, aggregated by geographic proximity to U.S. military installations, to …

Dynamic Social Impact Theory And The Consolidation And Dispersal Of Clusters In Squid Game: The Challenge, Adrienne Darrah, Robert J. Darrah

Iowa Journal of Communication

This study utilizes a dynamic social impact theory (DSIT) framework to analyze human influence on the popular Netflix television series Squid Game: The Challenge. A British reality competition, Squid Game: The Challenge is comprised of ten-episodes and features 456 contestants vying for $4.56 million. As contestants self-organize into social alliances, their shared attitudes, beliefs, and values transform the physical space into a dynamic social space. The creation of clusters through these alliances, the correlation between contestant attitudes and behaviors, and the consolidation of contestant attitudes and behaviors reflective of alliance needs is reinforced by the physical proximity of contestants, the …

Understanding Dementia Challenges In Rural Ghana: A Systematic Review, Diana Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei, Sesi Sedegah, Abena Abokoma Asemanyi, Theresa Ayertey, Wendy Yeboah

Iowa Journal of Communication

Dementia poses an escalating public health challenge in Ghana due to an expanding aging population, yet rural awareness remains critically low. Guided by Mohan Dutta’s Culture-Centered Approach (CCA), this PRISMA-compliant qualitative systematic review synthesized ten peer-reviewed articles to examine cultural perceptions and lived experiences surrounding dementia in rural Ghana. The findings highlight that cognitive decline is widely misattributed to witchcraft or normalized as standard aging. Witchcraft misconceptions subject individuals—especially older women—to severe stigmatization, social exclusion, physical abuse, and banishment to "witch camps". Meanwhile, normalizing symptoms as ordinary aging delays critical medical care and shifts family decision-making away from patients. Furthermore, …

His Cues, Her Cues: Teaching Presence, Gender, And Relational Impressions In Online Learning, Kyle R. Vareberg, Ryan Goke, Ian Berry, Maranda Goke, Stephanie Kelly

Iowa Journal of Communication

Online courses are increasingly common and taken more frequently by students, yet students' perceptions of them may portray instructors as invisible and uninvolved. Drawing on social information processing theory, we argue that cues intended to signal course design are also interpreted relationally. Teaching presence, the work instructors do to be “present” in the online environment, is not merely instructional structure: it is relational communication embedded in course design. This study explored whether teaching presence and students' perceptions of immediacy and credibility are related, and whether those relationships differ by student gender. Using a cross-sectional survey, we divided our sample into …

"That's Just Not Who I Am": Rejection Of The Good Mother Ideology And Other Tools Used By Homeschool Moms To Navigate Motherhood, Gina S. Reynolds

Iowa Journal of Communication

Studying mothers often focuses on the mother-child dynamic rather than the mother as a person. Mother types, such as working mothers, often are singled out for study. One mother that is rarely considered is the homeschool mother. In homeschooling, the mother typically takes the active role in educating the children, and she receives little attention as a person (Lois, 2016). This study examines how these mother/teachers navigate their motherhood. Nine online discussions with 26 homeschooling mothers revealed strong connections to self-efficacy and agency. Agency and self-efficacy contributed to the mother’s ability to navigate and manage the tension between her needs …

Ideological Women And Pursuit Of Political Attitude And Opinion Change In Serial Arguments Within Heterosexual Marriage, Jayne R. Goode, Kendra Knight

Iowa Journal of Communication

Despite the present state of political animus in the U.S., relatively little research has examined how spousal political differences along ideological lines influence marital communication and conflict. This study examines wives’ perception of marital political conflict from the lens of serial arguments. Using a national sample of heterosexual married women, we examine interrelationships among perceived spousal ideological conflict and serial argument goals. We find that both wife’s own political ideology and wife’s perception of husband’s political ideology influence pursuit of serial argument goals. Specifically, the greater degree of self-rated conservatism, the less wives report expressing negativity or dominance/control. The greater …

Mass Media Refugee Discourse In Bangladesh: A Case Of Rohingya In Post-Us Funding Reduction, Priyanka Kundu, Hasib Shah Aman

Iowa Journal of Communication

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority community from Myanmar’s Rakhine State and are recognized as one of the most persecuted communities in the world. In the recent past, in August 2017, the Myanmar military launched an attack on the Rohingya, which led over 700,000 people to flee to Bangladesh. Since then, over one million Rohingya refugees have been living in Bangladesh. To help this population, international aid, especially from the US, plays an important role. According to the UN, of the total $852.4 million requirement for 2024, the US provided $301 million. However, the US administration’s decision to suspend or …

Seeking Support After Miscarriage: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis Of Semi-Anonymous Communication On Reddit, Mahtab Talafian

Iowa Journal of Communication

Miscarriage is a deeply stigmatized and emotionally complex experience, often leaving individuals feeling isolated and unsupported. Increasingly, people turn to online communities for connection and assistance after miscarriage, and this has been the focus of research for a while. However, little is known about how they seek support in the presence of anonymity. This study examines the strategies people use to seek social support in the r/Miscarriage subreddit, addressing a gap in both health and communication scholarship. While previous research has shown that individuals use online platforms following miscarriage to seek information, share experiences, and seek emotional validation, this study …

Predictors Of Prejudice Towards People With Tattoos, Jordan Smith

Honors Program Theses

Thirty-two percent of Americans have at least one tattoo (Schaeffer, 2023), and many of them experience discrimination. The purpose of this study was to examine potential correlates of this prejudice. 251 participants completed a survey online that assessed their attitudes towards people with tattoos along with variables that have previously been associated with other types of prejudice. Perceived threat was the strongest predictor of prejudiced attitudes. Participants who reported greater prejudice also reported greater perceptions that tattooed people were different from themselves, higher levels of authoritarianism and lower levels of agreeableness. Older people and those without tattoos also reported greater …

Factors Affecting Dating Violence In Adolescence, Madison Darrah

Graduate Research Papers

Prior research has named many risk and protective factors associated with adolescent dating violence (ADV). However, comparatively little research has examined how substance use intersects with these risk and protective factors or how effective interventions can be designed to address both issues of substance use and ADV simultaneously. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between substance use and ADV, with a particular focus on perpetration of ADV during adolescence. This literature review synthesizes existing research to identify factors associated with ADV, evaluate theoretical frameworks that explain ADV, and examine how substance use contributes to ADV …

Are Iowa Pk-12 Schools Prepared For A School Shooting? A Needs Assessment Of Iowa Superintendents, Kurt Mj Devore

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

As school shootings remain a persistent threat to PK-12 education, this quantitative survey study examines the preparedness levels and beliefs of 75 out of 277 Iowa superintendents regarding active shooter events. In the wake of the 2024 tragedy in Perry, Iowa, results indicate a near-universal recognition of risk (97.3%), prompting a shift toward "muscle memory" training and the adoption of the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) to ensure a common language during a crisis. The data reveals a significant move away from high-intensity simulations in favor of trauma-informed tabletop exercises, alongside a definitive rejection of arming educators (0%) due to insurance …

Echoes Of The Nation: Janáček, Bartók, And The Articulation Of Central European Identity In Opera, Elyse Morris

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis examines how opera functioned as a medium for articulating and negotiating national identity in the final decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Focusing on Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa (1904) and Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (1911), it explores how composers employed dramatic structure, linguistic choice, and musical language to construct culturally specific forms of expression within a rapidly shifting political and social landscape. Drawing on approaches from musicology and cultural history, the study considers how operatic works not only reflect national identity but actively participate in its formation.

Through analysis of libretto, language, and musical style, this thesis demonstrates that both …

On The Surface: The Mural Of Shireen Abu Akleh As Space For Encounter, Saja Abd El Hai

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis examines a mural of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the city of Baqa al-Gharbiya as a site of political encounter. Rather than approaching the mural solely as a commemorative image, the study analyzes how it generated a series of interactions through acts of creation, defacement, restoration, performance, and digital circulation. Drawing on scholarship in visual culture, graffiti studies, and political theory, I argue that the mural operates as a gendered space of political encounter through which grief, resistance, and national identity are negotiated in public space. Methodologically, the project combines visual and contextual analysis with rhetorical criticism, …

Commencement [Program], December 20, 2025, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

Contents:

University Organization --- 2
Ceremony Symbols & Traditions --- 3
University Honors Program --- 4
Graduation with Honors --- 4
Legacy Graduates --- 4
Order of Events --- 5
College of Education --- 6
College of Humanities, Arts & Sciences --- 12
College of Social & Behavioral Sciences --- 19
David W. Wilson College of Business --- 26
Division of Online Education & Individual Studies --- 31
UNI Alma Mater --- 34