Digital Commons Network^™

Educing Education Majors’ Reflections About After - School Literacy Tutoring: A Poetic Exploration, Janet C. Richards

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Contemplating one's teaching has long been an essential part of teacher education. Accordingly, as an instructor of a literacy methods course with a tutoring component, I asked education majors in the class to send me weekly e-mail reflections about their teaching experiences. However, they had difficulty considering their lessons. I knew poetry stimulated introspections. Therefore, hoping to evoke the education majors' reflexivity, I requested they create two poems (middle and end of the semester) that portrayed their perceptions and dilemmas related to their teaching practices and lessons. Using constant comparative analysis, I explored the education majors' lyrical forms. Writing in …

Action Research By Practitioners: A Case Study Of A High School’S Attempt To Create Transformational Change, Jeffrey Glanz

Journal of Practitioner Research

Using a single case study design, this article describes the work of a participant researcher to assist a group of five high school teacher practitioners in reflecting on their teaching practices. Participants in this study attempted to apply action research to better understand the impact of their teaching approach (i.e., primarily lecture) on student learning as well as on their own styles of teaching. Work with these teachers was part of a larger effort to improve overall instructional quality in the school in the areas of teaching, curriculum professional development, and supervision. The article describes efforts of the participant researcher …

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Graduate, May 7, 2016, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Honorary Doctor of Marine Science - Samuel Philander

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Health, May 6, 2016, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

President's Fellow Medallion - Ernest P. Boger II; Honorary Degree of Engineering - Trustee John Ramil; Honorary Doctor of Education - Jamie Merisotis; Outstanding Graduate - Vanisaben Patel; King O'Neal Scholars - Sophie Allen, Patrick Bagge, Joanne Ballard, Zein Barakat, Phuong Can, Jordan Carbono, Emily Hansel, Klya Hoffer, Kyle Hollis, Morgan Macey, Ahmed Mohamed, Catherine Nguyen, Priyanshi Patel, Anne Pucciarelli, Cynthia Schwartz, Vyshakh Shibu, Daniel Sirmons, Mckinzie Step, Heather Stewart, Kristina Vorndran, and Kelly Wise

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Baccalaureates, May 6, 2016, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Honorary Doctor of Pharmacy - James Martinez; King O'Neal Scholar - Kyla Hoffer

The Role Of Social Ties In Dynamic Networks, Xiang Zuo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social networks are everywhere, from face-to-face activities to online social networks such as Flickr, YouTube and Facebook. In social networks, ties (relationships) are connections between people. The change of social relationships over time consequently leads to the evolution of the social network structure. At the same time, ties serve as carriers to transfer pieces of information from one person to another.

Studying social ties is critical to understanding the fundamental processes behind the network. Although many studies on social networks have been carried out over the last many decades, most of the work either used small in-lab datasets, or focused …

Increasing Auditor Sensitivity To The Risk Of Fraudulent Financial Reporting: Assessing Incentives And Pressures On Top Management, Donald Wengler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability of auditors to detect fraud, including intentional material misstatements in earnings, remains key to the credibility of audit firms and confidence in capital markets. The PCAOB concludes from its most recent inspections of public company audits that auditors often fail to assess and respond to risks of material misreporting by management. In a behavioral experiment, this study concludes that auditors can increase sensitivity to management motivation to misreport by actively seeking to transform identified risk factors focused on the organization, into factors focused on top managers, and to evaluate whether these manager-focused risk factors represent incentives for personal …

An Analysis Of Social Justice In Teacher Education Using W. B. Gallie's Framework, Patricia Banta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Essentially contested concepts result in continual disagreement over their meaning and use because important consequences flow from these disputes. Evidence of the contested nature of the concept social justice, in the context of teacher education, is documented in academic literature. Empirical evidence of the contested nature of the term is found in the transcripts of National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)’s 2006 reauthorization hearing. Scholars note the complex nature of social justice and that teacher educators and colleges of education frequently use the term (e.g. Hytten & Bettez, 2011; North, 2008; Zollers, Albert, & Cochran-Smith, 2000). This study …

Perceptions Of College Instructors Toward Accented English Measured By The Auditory Multifactor Implicit Association Test, Eunkyung Na

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the implicit language attitudes of college-level instructors toward accented English and the effect of gender, teaching experience, and home language background on those attitudes. The auditory multifactor Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure the implicit attitudes toward Standard, Chinese, Hispanic, and Korean accented English. For the current study, audio stimuli were embedded into the multifactor IAT, which became available for the first time in 2014. The auditory multifactor IAT generated implicit preference scores of six pairs of accented English: Standard vs. Chinese, Standard vs. Hispanic, Standard vs. Korean, Chinese vs. …

Costumbres, Creencias, Y “Lo Normal”: A Biocultural Study On Changing Prenatal Dietary Practices In A Rural Tourism Community In Costa Rica, Allison Rachel Cantor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between tourism, the nutrition transition, and prenatal dietary practices in the Monteverde Zone, Costa Rica. This rural tourism community, located in the central highlands of Costa Rica, has seen rapid growth and development since the tourism boom in the early 1990s, leading to changes in the local food system and increased food insecurity. This investigation added to this work by identifying the ways that prenatal dietary practices have shifted over time in the context of increased tourism and the concomitant nutrition transition, and by describing the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status among pregnant …

Los Wintukua: Guardianes Del Mundo, Bernd Reiter

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

El pueblo Wintukua es uno de los cuatro pueblos que habitan en el territorio de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. La Sierra Nevada alcanza una altura de 5,775 metros sobre el mar y se extiende hasta la orilla del mar Caribe. Los Wintukua cuentan con unas 50,000 personas y tienden a vivir en asentamientos compuestos por núcleos familiares, en fincas o haciendas rurales. Una minoría vive en aglomerados mayores – antes de todo en Nabusimake, la ciudad sagrada, que queda a unos 2,000 metros sobre el nivel del mar en el corazón de la Sierra. Junto con los …

Innovative Graduate Research Education For Advancement Of Implementation Science In Adolescent Behavioral Health, Donna L. Burton, Bruce Lubostsky Levin, Tom Massey, Julie Baldwin, Heather Williamson

Child and Family Studies Faculty Publications

An innovative approach to research education that integrates the theory and principles of implementation science, participatory research, and service learning in the area of adolescent behavioral health is presented. Qualitative interviews and surveys of program participants have been conducted to assess the program’s curricula, service-learning partnerships, student (scholar) satisfaction, and views of community partnerships and academic mentors. The Institute has experienced the successful completion of its first and second cohorts and enrollment of a third cohort of scholars. Community partners are utilizing results of service-learning projects to influence agency operations. Institute scholars have identified research and service learning experiences as …

Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented “Terrorism”. By Lisa Stampnitzky. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press, 2014., Mark Roberts

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Chosen Champions: Medieval And Early Modern Heroes As Postcolonial Reactions To Tensions Between England And Europe, Jessica Trant Labossiere

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project explores connections between hero and history, text and context. By engaging Postcolonial theories about the roles that invasion and oppression, play in developing national identity and how colonized people respond to such encounters in literature, I examine how experiences of invasion and hostile interaction as represented in medieval and early modern English literature influenced the creation of specific heroic values.

In my first chapter, I analyze The Battle of Maldon and Beowulf as exemplars of the Anglo-Saxon culture, observing that Byrhtnoth and Beowulf work as fictional embodiments of a fantasy of power: men of super-human strength and exceptional …

Unraveling The Wild: A Cultural Logic Of Animal Stories In Contemporary Social Life, Damien Contessa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is about the stories people tell about animals when they don’t do what they are expected to do in contemporary social life. More specifically, it examines three case studies where “wild” animals unexpectedly challenge, transgress, or blur socially defined boundaries in public spaces. Drawing on cultural and interactionist studies of animals and environment, I explore popular animal stories written in news media, social media, and enacted in situ. Each qualitative case study illustrates a moment in time/space where the surprising movements or presence of wild animals causes the cultural categories of wildness/order to breakdown and destabilize. These “surface …

Investigating Pakistan’S Contraception Rate Plateau: A Multilevel Analysis To Understand The Association Between Community Contextual Factors And Modern Contraception Use, Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

South Asia has the highest absolute number of women with an unmet need for contraception in the world. The total number of women with unmet need is 142 million. Of this, Asia accounts for 84 million followed by Sub-Saharan Africa at 32 million. Within South Asia, some countries have seen unmet need decrease and the contraception rate increase; however, Pakistan remains the exception to the rule. Pakistan has a low rate of contraception use, high rate of contraception discontinuation, high unmet need and high rate of unwanted fertility.

A number of theories have hypothesized that community-level factors influence a couple’s …

“You Can Fight Logic…But You Can’T Fight God”: The Duality Of Religious Text And Church As Community For White Lesbians In Appalachian And Rural Places, Jessica Mae Altice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research conducted on lesbians and place focuses on women who live in urban areas or highlights how participants wish to live in urban areas. Knowing that there are lesbians who live in rural and Appalachian areas that do not wish to leave to urban areas, this research examines participants’ experiences living in those places. Participants discuss how religion is a socially circulating meaning system in the places they live and it dictates much of social life. I argue that religion has a two-fold meaning for participants: one, it is a religious text that is used as a …

Tough Guy, Sensitive Vas: Analyzing Masculinity, Male Contraceptives & The Sexual Division Of Labor, Kaeleen Kosmo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Marxist feminist standpoint positions patriarchy and capitalism as mutually beneficial, thus interestingly situating the new market of male contraceptives (MCs). This project takes an in-depth look at the opinions of 15 young men regarding the use of MCs by examining how Western, heterosexual masculinity informs their attitudes and discusses how a new economic market of MCs may affect current social ideologies about of the sexual division of labor. Because notions of masculinity are essential in perpetuating such ideologies, understanding masculinity as it relates to a new market for MCs is imperative. During a series of focus groups men described …

An Examination Of Perspectives On Community Poverty: A Case Study Of A Junior Civic Association, Monica Heimos Heimos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations have become a necessary staple in the lives of people and communities experiencing poverty. Many of these organizations provide services that they think their communities need. The solutions and services these organizations provide are incumbent on what the organizations think causes poverty. Although the motivations behind these organizations have good intentions, their approach to poverty could further jeopardize people and communities by not providing proper or necessary services that have the ability to help people get out of poverty. To explore how organizational values and perspectives on poverty are operationalized, I examined one nonprofit grassroots organization in Tampa …

Investigating The Determinants Of Recycling Behavior In Youth By Using Theory Of Planned Behavior., Tejaswini Gadiraju

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to understand the determinants that influence the youth recycling behavior intention. In other words, this study wants to know the motivations and barriers behind university students’ recycling behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which provides a theoretical framework for systematically identifying the determinants of recycling behavior, is the basis for this study. Along with the TPB variables, additional predictor variables (moral norm, past experience, knowledge of how and what to recycle, knowledge of consequences, and inconvenience) that can influence behavior intentions were tested in the study. Online survey was used to collect the …

Anti-Fat Attitudes And Weight Bias Internalization: An Investigation Of How Bmi Impacts Perceptions, Opinions And Attitudes, Laurie Schrider

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Americans hold negative and judgmental attitudes towards obese and overweight individuals and these anti-fat attitudes and weight stigma have become a damaging form of discrimination. The internalization of weight bias and anti-fat attitudes contributes to negative health outcomes including: feelings of devalue, self-hate, anxiety, depression, body dissatisfaction and eating disturbances. The purpose of this study was to investigate weight bias internalization in individuals who perceive themselves as overweight as well as to examine differences in anti-fat attitudes among normal and overweight individuals. A sample of 202 male and females completed an online survey that assessed anti-fat attitudes via the Anti-Fat …

The Relationship Between Learning Styles And The Choice Of Learning Environment For Hospitality And Tourism Undergraduate Students, Gunce Malan-Rush

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between learning styles and the choice of learning environment for Hospitality and Tourism undergraduate students. An anonymous two-part survey was sent to the instructors of Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism Management courses (both online and face-to-face) in four schools in the state of Florida. The survey was designed to gather information related to the following three research questions related to MBTI profiles for undergraduate students in attempt to identify differences between students enrolled in online classes and those in face-to-face classes. In order to determine the probability of predicting course …

"But Our Hands Are Tied": Assessing School Gardening Efforts At Title I Elementary Schools In Pinellas County, Florida, Alexandra Grace Lancey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research was designed to understand current school gardening efforts in Pinellas County, Florida. School gardens have become an important aspect of experiential learning and nutrition education in schools throughout the United States. Many not-for-profit organizations have attempted to increase the prevalence and efficacy of school garden programs as a means of providing educational opportunities and working to curb diet-related health issues in children. Most of these organizations are seen as apolitical in nature, because they access mainly private sector funding sources and volunteer support. This provides flexibility for these social projects, but also takes pressure off of the state …

People And Pride: A Qualitative Study Of Place Attachment And Professional Placemakers, Wenonah Machdelena Venter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Place is a setting for everyday life. Through processes of meaning making that are rooted in experience and interaction, places become meaningful and structure much of everyday life. Place is simultaneously a physical construction that gives it material form. Place is an object that is envisioned, designed, organized, redesigned, and reorganized. Often, the (re)creation of places is entrusted to professional placemakers, a population with decision making power over processes of physical construction. This research broadly identifies professional placemakers as a population whose professional work can affect change onto the built environment. The literature of place attachment provides strong testimony to …

Investigating Alternative Subsistence Strategies Among The Homeless Near Tampa, Florida, Matthew Peter Rooney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern homelessness is one of the most pressing social and political problems of our time. Several hundred thousand people experience homelessness in the United States each year, and the U.S. Department of Housing, which attempts to count those people, has admitted that their statistics are conservative estimates at best. A recent archaeological study (Zimmerman et al 2010) examining material culture associated with homeless communities in Indianapolis has suggested that those who are considered chronically homeless have generally abandoned wage labor and are instead pursuing urban foraging as a subsistence strategy. In order to better understand the structures of homeless communities, …

In Search Of Solidarity: Identification Participation In Virtual Fan Communities, Jaime Shamado Robb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study questions the way sports fans create (a sense of) community through online conversations. Here, ‘community’ and ‘internet’ are seen as invitational terms that suggest an authentic social interaction. By examining the language used by fans to sustain a sense of solidarity in the virtual realm, this study questions the ways in which rhetoric frames the situation. Participation in the virtual space relies on practices of identification derived from physical engagements. By using a rhetorical approach, this study illuminates the way individual participants operationalize a rhetoric in virtual conversations that spiritualize the fan’s experience at the base of a …

The Path To Violent Behavior: The Harmful Aftermath Of Childhood Trauma, Nicholas Michael Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adverse childhood experiences can lead to a number of harmful outcomes throughout an individual’s life, ranging from medical problems to criminal behavior. These traumatic experiences, comprised of different forms of maltreatment and dysfunctional household environments, can affect the development of a child in a variety of different ways. The multitude of developmental changes can produce compounding harmful effects on the child’s life and lead to acutely maladaptive outcomes. Under the perspective of developmental psychopathology, the ever-changing biological, psychological, and social dynamics of children who experience trauma can contribute to deficiencies in all aspects of their subsequent development. Each of these …

“It’S Not Like A Movie. It’S Not Hollywood:” Competing Narratives Of A Youth Mentoring Organization, Carley Geiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Direct social service workers face a variety of difficulties including low pay, limited upward mobility, role ambiguity, and emotional exhaustion. This study adds to the understanding of the complexities of front-line service work with an analysis of the storytelling of case managers working with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Interview participants describe a problem of “volunteer expectations,” which they define as related to the organizational storytelling of the program: the images that entice people to volunteer do not match actual volunteer experiences. I argue that glamorized storytelling through marketing and recruitment tactics creates unintended, negative consequences for volunteers and case managers. …

Science, Policy, And Decision Making: A Case Study Of Deliberative Rhetoric And Policymaking For Coastal Adaptation In Southeast Florida, Karen Patricia Langbehn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the process of regional climate adaptation planning and the role of stakeholder deliberation in decision making about adaptation actions. It employed a case study approach based on one of three total study sites of an international, multidisciplinary grant titled, “METROPOLE: An Integrated Framework to Analyze Local Decision Making and Adaptive Capacity to Large-Scale Environmental Change”. The purpose of the case study of this project was to analyze stakeholder deliberation at two workshops at the grant’s Broward County, Florida site regarding two adaptation options: elevation/floodproofing and voluntary buyouts. Analyzing stakeholder deliberation …

"I'M Not Broken": Perspectives Of Students With Disabilities On Identity-Making And Social Inclusion On A College Campus, Melinda Leigh Maconi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Narratives help individuals to make sense of their lives and their everyday worlds. Within these narratives, individuals make sense of identities. Historically, people with disabilities have been depicted as helpless victims of their own bodies. However, during the twentieth century, disability rights social movements constructed a counter-narrative, stating that society’s reactions to different bodies was the real source of disability. While this was a positive status change for people with disabilities, it did not do enough to shed the status as victim. Yet many students with disabilities do not see themselves as victims. Therefore, I used narrative analysis to answer …