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School Families: The Impact Of Participation In High School Extracurricular Activities, Erica Hawvermale

Research on Capitol Hill

The present study was designed to analyze the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and high school adolescents' psychological sense of community (PSOC). Extant research has linked PSOC to the several benefits (below). As such we believe that PSOC acts as a buffer between adolescents and negative high school outcomes.

Psychological Sense of Community

The perception held by a member of a group that one belongs and matters. Further, PSOC captures that the group matters to each other and that through group commitment, shared needs will be met. Thus, PSOC encompasses four main concepts: membership, influence, fulfillment of needs, and …

The Utah Statesman, January 14, 2016, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Curriculum Subcommittee Minutes, January 14, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Program Proposals

• Restructuring the current specialization within the Psychology PhD program in Professional Scientific Psychology to two separate specializations 1) combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology and 2) School Psychology
• Utilizing the existing MEd degree in Psychology but with a specialization as an en route degree for students in the School Psychology EdS program
• Suspending admissions in the Master of Science in Bioregional Planning
• Renaming the Master of Science and PhD in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management to Environment and Society
• Discontinuing the Bachelor of Science degree in Geography Teaching

Other

• Syllabus task force update
• Curriculog reflections

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, January 14, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Educations Subcommittee

Educational Policies Committee Minutes, January 14, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Program Proposals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda, January 14, 2016, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Semester Course Approval Reviews

Program Proposals

• Restructuring the current specialization within the Psychology PhD program in Professional Scientific Psychology to two separate specializations 1) combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology and 2) School Psychology
• Utilizing the existing MEd degree in Psychology but with a specialization as an en route degree for students in the School Psychology EdS program
• Suspending admissions in the Master of Science in Bioregional Planning
• Renaming the Master of Science and PhD in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management to Environment and Society
• Discontinuing the Bachelor of Science degree in Geography Teaching

Other

• Syllabus task force update
• Curriculog reflections

Faculty Senate Agenda, January 11, 2016, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Items December 2015
• Council on Teacher Education
• Scholarship Advisory Board
• 405.12.1 Annual Review of Faculty (First Reading)

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Membership Roster 2016-2017, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

List of past membership for Faculty Senate including members, substitutes, and presidentially appointed members; names, emails, the year for end of term, college, UMC, and phone number are recorded.

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

An important part of the common lore of anthropology is that “other people have culture.” That is, most people fail to recognize or appreciate how much of their lives are governed by habits, values, and expectations that are largely the product of history and culture. They fail to acknowledge that their own way of doing things is not necessarily universal or even widely shared. This ethnocentrism can have enormous consequences for the construction of child development theory and education.

Preparing Future Child Welfare Professionals To Strengthen Couple Relations, Ted G. Futris, David G. Schramm, Jeneé Duncan

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

This study evaluates the potential value of integrating a family science-focused course on strengthening couple and coparenting relationships into the training of social work students and future child welfare professionals. The 15-week graduate course offered 30 MSW students an opportunity to learn and practice relationship and marriage education (RME) skills in order to teach relevant concepts to clients and to support future integration of these skills in their careers. Evaluation data showed that students demonstrated improvements in multiple domains of knowledge and self-efficacy and applied the concepts learned with clients within six months of completing the course. Implications for future …

Economic Utility For The Anthropogenic Spread Of Wild Hogs, Joe N. Caudell, Emily Dowell, Katelyn Welch

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wild hogs (Sus scrofa) are an invasive, exotic species that has spread through much of the United States through anthropogenic means. Many states have laws and regulations with the intent of preventing the illegal importation, introduction, and establishment of wild swine populations. However, in many cases, these laws have been ineffectual at stopping the anthropogenic spread of wild swine. To assess the risk for moving wild hogs, we examined various wild hog-related laws throughout the United States and assessed the potential reward for their illegal movement of releasing hogs for hunting purposes. We found that fines ranged from …

A Conceptual Model To Determine Vulnerability Of Wildlife Populations To Offshore Wind Energy Development, M. Wing Goodale, Iain J. Stenhouse

Human–Wildlife Interactions

As offshore wind energy development is planned in the United States, there is an increasing need for pre- and post-construction monitoring plans to be focused on species determined to be most vulnerable to hazards of a specific project. We propose a conceptual model that incorporates biological and sociological parameters. Specifically, we suggest that demographic, ethological/biological, and population sensitivity be considered with legal protection, economic importance, and/or stakeholder interest. We recommend that vulnerability determinations include qualitative and quantitative methods.

Grizzly Bear Space Use, Survival, And Persistence In Relation To Human Habitation And Access, Bogdan Cristescu, Gordon B. Stenhouse, Bernie Goski, Mark S. Boyce

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Previous studies showed that the likelihood of a bear becoming a nuisance and thus being removed from a population (i.e., relocated or killed) depends on numerous factors such as natural food supply, sex, age, and reproductive status. Distances from a bear’s home range and activity centers to conflict zones such as towns, roads, and trails used by humans also affect the incidence of nuisance behavior and have been documented for grizzly/brown bears (Ursus arctos) in North America and Europe. But those studies did not quantify the relative influences by various factors on distance from conflict zones, or the …

Water Resources Systems Analysis: A Bright Past And A Challenging But Promising Future, David E. Rosenberg, Kaveh Madani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Our field of water resources systems analysis is now experiencing one of its most exciting eras where scientists, decision makers, and funding agencies want to apply systems approaches to solve varied, complex, uncertain, and interdisciplinary resource management problems. Solving these problems presents great opportunities for us to engage in complex, real-world decision-making and make positive changes. However, to capitalize on these opportunities, we as a field must also overcome several large challenges related to problem identification, integration, blind use of systems tools, a focus on optimality, and harnessing big data. To overcome, we must look back to find what we …

Examining The Role Of Psychological Inflexibility, Perspective Taking And Empathic Concern In Generalized Prejudice, Michael E. Levin, Jason B. Luoma, Roger Vilardaga, Jason Lillis, Richard Nobles, Steven C. Hayes

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research to-date on generalized prejudice has focused primarily on personality factors. Further work is needed identifying manipulable variables that directly inform anti-prejudice interventions. The current study examined three such variables: empathic concern, perspective taking, and psychological inflexibility/flexibility with prejudiced thoughts, as a test of the flexible connectedness model. A sample of 604 undergraduate students completed online surveys. A model indicated prejudice measures loaded onto a latent variable of generalized prejudice. In a second model, psychological inflexibility, flexibility, empathic concern and perspective taking were all significant, independent predictors of generalized prejudice. Psychological inflexibility also predicted prejudice above and beyond personality and …

General Education Subcommittee Agenda, December 15, 2015, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Course Approvals/Removals/Syllabi Approvals

Business

• USU Prefixes
• Designation Subcommittee Approval Processes
• Update/Questions on R470

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda, December 14, 2015, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Items December 2015
• Council on Teacher Education Report
• Scholarship Advisory Board
• 405.12.1 Annual Review of Faculty (First Reading)

The Utah Statesman, November 30, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

The Utah Statesman, November 16, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Volume 69 Issue 1 (Fall/Winter 2015)

Utah Science

2 Awareness, Appreciation, Conservation

The sage-grouse is an iconic bird that inhabits vast seas of sagebrush in western North America and has been the focus of extensive discussion and concern among wildlife managers, ranchers, mineral extraction and energy companies, land developers and others in the west and beyond. Why all the discussion about a 2-to 5-pound bird?

8 Recreation Ecology in National Parks and Protected Areas

People love national parks, but managing a growing numbers of visitors with a mandate to preserve natural conditions in perpetuity is a challenge. Recreation ecologists are providing park managers with good science to help …

The Utah Statesman, October 5, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Faculty Senate Agenda, October 5, 2015, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• EPC Annual Report
• EPC Items September 2015
• Honors Program
• Libraries Advisory Council
• Parking Committee
• 402.12.7(1) Add “Faculty University Service Award” to the list of the Faculty Evaluation Committee duties (Second Reading)

The Utah Statesman, October 1, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan

The Utah Statesman, October 1, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

The Utah Statesman, September 3, 2015, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Assessing Preparation Of Mainstream Composition Teachers Working With Multilingual Writers, Elena Shvidko

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Research on multilingual writers in first-year composition classes in U. S. universities seems to overlook the issue of professional preparation of mainstream composition instructors who work with multilingual writers. Composition courses are commonly taught by teachers with no formal training in L2 writing pedagogy. Therefore, a better understanding of their professional preparation and needs will help composition programs develop adequate training and prepare instructors who are able to address linguistic and cultural needs of multilingual writers. In this study, a perception survey was completed by 34 instructors of mainstream first-year composition at a large research U.S. university. The participants had …

Academic-Community Partnerships Effectiveness Evaluated Beyond The Ivory Walls, Rosemary M. Caron, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Catherine C. Lafferty

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has furthered our understanding of the working principles required for academic-community partnerships to address persistent public health problems. However, little is known about how effective these partnerships have been in eliminating or reducing community-based public health issues. To contribute to the literature in this area, the authors conducted a survey of U.S. schools and programs in public health and community groups working with these academic partners to: (1) identify the most common local public health issues addressed; (2) examine the characteristics of the partnership and the actual or perceived benefits and challenges for each partner; (3) …

Participant Perceptions Of Range Rider Programs Used To Mitigate Wolf-Livestock Conflicts In The Western United States, Molly Parks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Range Rider Programs (RRPs) are one example of a proactive non-lethal tool that has been implemented in western United States to mitigate gray wolf (Canis lupus) and livestock conflicts. Because RRPs are an emerging non-lethal tool that little is known about, I selected a qualitative research approach to examine participant perceptions to further contemporary understanding of how these efforts are implemented and potential benefits. I surveyed 51 participants from 17 Range Rider Programs (RRPs) in Montana, Washington, and Oregon to determine participant perceptions regarding effectiveness of RRPs as a non-lethal approach to mitigate wolf-conflicts.

I developed a RRPs typology based …

To Belong As Citizens: Race And Marriage In Utah, 1880-1920, Scott D. Marianno

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the decades leading up to the twentieth century, social reformers and politicians, alarmed by Mormon political control (and polygamy) in Utah Territory, challenged Mormon whiteness and their competency for American citizenship. In re-examining Mormonism’s transition period, this study reveals how Mormon conformity to an encroaching American culture increased the movement’s exposure to discursive arguments on race-mixing, marriage, and eugenics that helped legitimize Mormon citizenship claims. Focusing on the themes of race, marriage, and citizenship, this thesis examines Mormonism’s racial transformation from not white to white as they assimilated and reified the racial ideology promoted by their Progressive-era contemporaries and …

Women, Higher Education, And The Labor Market: A Cross-Cultural Understanding Of The Impact Of Religion, Allison Fife Hale

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

How do deeply-held cultural perspectives shape the desire and ability of women to pursue higher education and or careers? More specifically, how do predominant religious and cultural perspectives on the family, the role of women, and the role of education influence a woman's decision to obtain higher education and her perceived ability or desire to seek full-time employment upon graduation? To answer these questions, this research utilized a cross-cultural survey instrument to compare and contrast the perceptions of female, undergraduate students in one predominantly Muslim/Middle Eastern society -- Dubai, U.A.E -- and one predominantly Mormon/Western society -- Utah, U.S.A. We …