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From Script To Screen To Syllabus: The Path To Curriculum Design For Undergraduate Film Production Programs, Peter J. Muir

Dissertations

Nothing has impacted western society more than media. Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dali Lama, wrote that “film and television, newspapers, books and radio together have an influence over individuals that was unimagined a hundred years ago.” The responsibility of creating these cultural artifacts, particularly within motion picture production, is a delicate balance between artistic vision and craft-oriented vocation; the contemplative mind skills of a wise citizen with the functional hand skills of a tradesperson. Undergraduate film production education provides the best avenue for development of this duality. However, within these programs, little is known regarding how curriculum is fashioned and …

Pathways To Cyber Bullying From Bystander To Participant: Secondary School Students’ Perspectives, Michele L. Siderman

Dissertations

The author conducted a qualitative analysis of student artifacts to explore the pathway and experiences of students who had never bullied in the traditional sense but had cyber bullied through the use of social networking sites. In addition, the author explored students’ understanding of the difference between traditional and cyber bullying and their perceptions of the victim receiving the online bullying messages. A transcendental phenomenological approach was employed. The student artifacts analyzed were assignments from a required ninth grade character education class, which included a self-reflective survey, journals, a six-paragraph paper, and an online photo story project.

Results indicated that …

Psychosocial Development Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Higher Education, Kathleen M. Vanderveen

Dissertations

Students, in general, are not graduating from college in percentages above 60% after five years (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012). According to the National Council on Disability (NCOD, 2007), more students with disabilities are enrolling in higher education every year; but their graduation rates are declining (Getzel, 2008; NCOD, 2007; Orr & Goodman, 2010; Troiano, Liefeld, & Trachtenberg, 2010). Exploring ways to improve the retention and success of students with disabilities in college, leads to the review of psychosocial student development theory, which has guided student support for many years, but has not been widely applied to students with disabilities. …

Silence, Declaration, And Circumstance: Rethinking Women’S Roles In Saudi Arabia, Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham

Masters Theses

The canon of academic research on Saudi Arabian women still fails to address the stereotypical images that represent them. While Anglo-American models of feminism may benefit American women, they cannot and should not be a lens through which Americans view Saudi women, as American and Saudi cultures are fundamentally different. Because of this issue, Anglo-American feminism along with the obvious problems of racism and Islamophobia contribute to the American assumption that Saudi Arabian women lack agency and control of their lives. The resulting ideologies continue to influence American ideas about Saudi Arabian women’s access to the opportunities that non-Saudi women …

Old English Ecologies: Environmental Readings Of Anglo-Saxon Texts And Culture, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

Dissertations

Conventionally, scholars have viewed representations of the natural world in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature as peripheral, static, or largely symbolic: a “backdrop” before which the events of human and divine history unfold. In “Old English Ecologies,” I apply the relatively new critical perspectives of ecocriticism and placebased study to the Anglo-Saxon canon to reveal the depth and changeability in these literary landscapes. Overall, this interdisciplinary study of Anglo-Saxon texts brings together literary and environmental sources and modes of inquiry to explore the place of humans (and non-humans) within the natural environments of Anglo-Saxon England, as well as the ways in …

Fuctional Properties Of Phthalocyanine Dye Based Inks, Yumeizhi Jia

Masters Theses

Currently, inkjet printing techniques are getting more attention. They have the features of non-contact and additive patterning feasibility, compatibility with different substrates (the materials on which the ink is printed), low temperature processing, and low cost (1) (2). They can be used for patterning solution processable polymers or nanoparticle inks on various substrates including conductive materials, paper and glass (3). The need for proper functional inks is increasing every year. The goal of my work was to formulate a phthalocyanine water based ink, which can work as a dielectric ink. In my research, all the materials which were used to …

Investigation Of Recycled Paper Deinking Mechanisms, Veronika Husovska

Dissertations

The use of water-based inks is on the rise. Sub-micron pigment particles are used for flexographic and inkjet water-based inks. Conventional deinking eliminates larger particles than those from these new ink systems. Therefore, water-based inks represent recycling difficulty.

Deinking experiments of water-based inks are carried out. The deinking strategy initially investigated elimination of pressure sensitive adhesive due to similar acrylic polymer chemistry used in water based inks. The impact of pH on stickies and ink agglomeration during deinking is studied. Experiments in acidic regions show growth of acrylic inks and stickies agglomerates, simplifying elimination.

Pre-recycling of water-based inks is explored. …

Mixed Methods Analysis Of Counselor Views, Attitudes And Perceived Competencies Regarding The Treatment Of Internet Pornography Addiction, Bradly K. Hinman

Dissertations

The Internet offers unprecedented opportunity for individuals to have anonymous, inexpensive, and unrestricted access to an essentially unlimited range of sexually explicit materials. Counseling clients are increasingly presenting with problematic issues regarding Internet pornography use. The purposes of this mixed-method study were (a) to examine the current status of counselors’ attitudes and self-efficacy about treating clients with Internet pornography addiction, and (b) to ascertain the opinions of counselor educators who are experts in the field of Internet pornography addiction on the current status of counselor training and best practices for preparing counselors.

The quantitative data was obtained from a 90-item …

Simo: Modeling And Measuring The Relationships Between Strategy, It/Mission Alignment Maturity And Nonprofit Organizational Outcomes, Kelly Ann Trusty

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to adapt Croteau and Bergeron’s (2001) Information Technology Trilogy model and Luftman’s (2000) Strategic Alignment Maturity Model to the nonprofit sector and (2) to combine the adapted models with Miles and Snow’s (1978) strategy typology model and organizational performance measures based on McLaughlin and Jordan’s (2010) logic model to test a proposed model that examines the relationships between strategy typology, IT alignment maturity and organizational performance in nonprofit organizations. A cross-sectional survey design was implemented. One thousand, eight hundred and six organizations that had received grants from Indiana Community Foundations between 2009 …

Writing The Wrongs: How Gay And Lesbian Playwrights Use The Paranormal In Autobiographical Writing, George William Zorn

Dissertations

Playwrights have been using ghost and spirit-characters in stage works since the classical era. From their beginnings as speechless, vengeful catalysts and informational narrators, the ghost-character has evolved to something that would not be recognizable to Greek playwrights. This is no more evident than in the works of contemporary gay and lesbian dramatists. Examining the selected works of playwrights Claudia Allen, Larry Kramer and Victor Bumbalo will illuminate the use of ghosts and the paranormal by these playwrights as a way to overcome personal trauma by either creating closure with autobiographical scenes or by using the absence of these characters …

Measuring Performance Excellence: Key Performance Indicators For Institutions Accepted Into The Academic Quality Improvement Program (Aqip), Paul J. Ballard

Dissertations

Given growing interest in accountability and outcomes, the North Central Association's Higher Learning Commission developed a new path for accreditation, the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP). The goal is to infuse continuous improvement and quality in the culture of higher education, and to blend traditional accreditation with the philosophy and techniques of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. Yet, little is known about the key performance indicators (KPI) that colleges and universities are using to improve their quality and continuous improvement processes.

To this end, my research involved a content analysis of the Systems Portfolios submitted for accreditation by 34 purposefully …

The Impact Of Institutional Culture On Student Activism: A Multi-Case Study In Christian Higher Education, Brian E. Cole

Dissertations

This study contributes to the description and meaning of student activism within the context of Christian college environments and cultures, and is interpreted through the sociological concept of symbolic interactionism. The purpose of this study is to help fill the void in the literature on student activism at Christian colleges and universities, positioning it within literature of broader Christian culture and activism, Christian higher education, generational history of college student activism, and student development theories and leadership models. The goal of the study is to help create an understanding of how students at Christian institutions understand and engage in activism …

The Partial Characterization Of The 142r Protein Of Tanapox Virus, Krystal N. Seibert

Dissertations

Due to the complex nature of cancer, a variety of strategies are being employed to treat patients. Among these are oncolytic viruses that conditionally replicate in tumor cells with specific cellular landscapes. Several viruses including Herpesviruses, Adenoviruses, and Poxviruses, predominantly vaccinia virus (VV), have been explored for their oncolytic potential. Most of these viruses can productively infect a variety of cell types and it is one goal to create conditionally lethal viruses that can only replicate in tumor cells. Due to the prevalence of p53 inactivating mutations in cancers viruses that are restricted to p53 null cells are desirable and …

The Hearts Of Ovid's Heroines In Trojumanna Saga, Luke J. Chambers

Masters Theses

In western civilization no story has been retold more times than the Trojan War. Homer's works were known only by repute in western Europe after the fall of Rome. As such, the Middle Ages saw the blossoming of a new Troy tradition based on Dares Phrygius's De Excidio Troiae Historia (The History of the Destruction of Troy). Most countries of medieval Europe used this laconic work to retell the Troy story in each country's particular idiom.

The settlers of Iceland developed a sophisticated literary culture in the thirteenth century. No other people wrote narrative prose works on such a …

Refugee Reflections: A Focus On The Lived Experiences Of African Refugees Resettling In Michigan, Diane Roushangar

Masters Theses

Refugee resettlement is often observed by focusing on external indicators of integration such as employment and English proficiency. What is often ignored is the multi-faceted process refugees experience in regard to the emotions that occur during these transitions of resettlement. Emotional stressors include financial concerns, work-related issues, a lack of adequate counseling services and ESL support that can all lead to increased anxiety. This paper examines the process of resettlement that northeast African and sub-Saharan African refugees have experienced including issues of unsafe working conditions, changing gender roles, and a lack of adequate time for adjusting to the culture.

The Impact Of Companion Animals On Social Capital And Community Violence: Setting Research, Policy And Program Agendas, Phil Arkow

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The term social capital has been used to describe the networks and other forces that build social cohesion, personal investment, reciprocity, civic engagement, and interpersonal trust among residents in a community. With the exception of three Australian reports describing positive associations between companion animal ownership and social capital, the literature has neglected to include the presence or absence of companion animal residents of communities as factors that could potentially affect social capital and serve as protective factors for community well-being. Companion animals are present in significantly large numbers in most communities, where they have considerable economic impact and provide emotional …

Relational Ecology: A Theoretical Framework For Understanding The Human-Animal Bond, Jennifer M. Putney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This qualitative study investigated the perceived impact of companion animals on the psychological well-being of lesbian women over age 65. Twelve women, ranging in age from 65-80, were interviewed with a semi-structured interview guide. Four thematic findings are highlighted: love and attachment, animals in transitional spaces, challenges and rewards of caregiving, and preparation for death. The author offers the term "relational ecology" to explain how animals contribute to well-being. This integrates the growth task model of human development, object relations theory, liminality, and deep ecology.

Attachment, Social Support, And Perceived Mental Health Of Adult Dog Walkers: What Does Age Have To Do With It?, F. Ellen Netting, Cindy C. Wilson, Jeffrey L. Goodie, Mark B. Stephens, Christopher G. Byers, Cara H. Olsen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In part of a larger pilot study of dog walking as a physical activity intervention we assessed levels of attachment, social supports, and perceived mental health of 75 dog owners, identified through a tertiary- care veterinary hospital. Owners completed the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey, mental health component of the Short-Form-12 (SF-12) Health Survey, and the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS). Of particular interest was that younger owners had stronger attachments to their dogs (r = -.488;p <.001) and less social support (r = .269;p =.021). Our study suggests the importance of companion animals for social support, particularly for those without close friends/relatives. For younger owners, our study reveals vulnerabilities in support networks that may warrant referrals to human helping professionals. We suggest the use of Carstensen's Socioemotional Selectivity Theory as an interpretive framework to underscore the importance of including companion animals as part of the human social convoy, especially in terms of providing affectionate and interactional social support.

Children's Ideas About The Moral Standing And Social Welfare Of Non-Human Species, Gail F. Melson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Moral and social welfare issues related to humane treatment of animals confront children and continue to be important societal issues through adulthood. Despite this, children's moral reasoning about animals has been largely ignored. This paper addresses six questions concerning how children reason morally about non-human animals: (1) How do children think about the moral claims of animals? Is there a developmental progression in such reasoning? (2) How does moral reasoning about animals differ from moral reasoning about other life forms-plants and ecological systems? (3) What is the relation, if any, between children's moral reasoning about non-human animals and their moral …

Institutionalizing Harm In Tennessee: The Right Of The People To Hunt And Fish, Lois Presser, Jennifer L. Schally

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

What discourses render harm to nonhumans a right? In this article we consider the case of Tennessee's Senate Joint Resolution 30, which proposed to grant citizens "the personal right to hunt and fish." To clarify the institutional logics legitimizing such harm, we analyzed the text of the Resolution as well as statements by politicians and others leading up to the passage of the amendment the Resolution would enact. Logics that supported the Resolution were: (1) claims of the economic utility of hunting and fishing; (2) veneration of the past; and (3) claims of future infringement on said activities. Nonhuman targets …

An Assessment Of Public Outreach With Children And Educators Conducted By The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, Erica A. D’Elia

Masters Theses

Archaeological public outreach to children can be enhanced through collaboration with school educators. While archaeologists have begun to collaborate with local and descendant communities, they have been slow to engage in work with educators in the same manner. The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project provides the context for me to explore some of the current issues in public archaeology and the politics of education. My study was conducted to better understand the needs of both children and teachers. In my work with the archaeological summer camp for middle school students I seek to conceptualize how the camp enhances their educational …

Labeling Research Deviant: A Comparative Analysis Of Federal Ad Hoc Commissions On Human Subject Research, Brian W. Rossana

Masters Theses

A review of the literature suggests there is still reason for concern due to the nature of deviant research in the past and the continued existence of ambiguous guidelines in particular organizational contexts. Federal ad hoc commissions have been a prominent environment where the absorption of the social reaction to deviant events and discussions regarding bioethics has transpired. The goal then was to ask what conditions of commissions lead to the presence of a research deviant? A convenience sample of nine U.S. federal ad hoc commissions was performed utilizing a method known as crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). The results …

Western News, Nov. 14, 2013, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: University to celebrate MLK’s 1963 visit, talk; WMU named ‘Best for Vets’ for fourth consecutive year; New director named to head Michigan Geological Survey; On Campus with Trent Hines.

Enseñanza De Las Ciencias Y Contextos Culturales: Un Testimonio De Vida, William W. Cobern, Adela Molina-Andrade, Gonzalo Peñaloza-J.

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

William W. Cobern es PhD en Educación en Ciencias, de la Universidad de Colorado Boulder. En la actualidad es profesor en la Western Michigan University. Su trabajo ha girado en torno a la relación entre cultura tradicional y enseñanza-aprendizaje de las ciencias. Por varios años trabajó en Nigeria y desarrolló propuestas de formación de profesores y de programas educativos dirigidos a grupos nómadas. A partir de su experiencia propuso su concepto de “visión del mundo”, que es tanto un marco teórico como metodológico para entender y abordar el vínculo entre ciencia y cultura. Su trabajo ha motivado investigaciones en diferentes …

Sustainability Of Expansion In An African Airline: A Case Study, Sisay Asefa, Allen Batteau, Lisa Whittaker, Hung-Sying Jing

International Journal of African Development

Ethiopian Air Lines (Ethiopian) has committed to the purchase of 41 new aircraft, nearly doubling their fleet and introducing three new, state-of-the-art types (the A350-900 and the 787-8, and the DA40NG) into a fleet currently consisting of seven models. In a logistically complex industry, this represents a substantial increase in resource commitments and management responsibility in many areas including maintenance, pilot training, facilities, and route planning. The purpose of this paper is to examine this growth strategy, its underlying assumptions, and its sustainability given long-range industry trends in both the developed and the developing world. Using corporate and industry data, …

Ethiopia’S Dilemma: Missed Chances From The 1960s To The Present, Donald Levine

International Journal of African Development

This was the keynote address at the Fourth International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, August 3, 2007.

The title "An Ethiopian Dilemma" stands to evoke an association to the book by Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma, which played a signal role in helping Americans resolve their longstanding conflict of values regarding racial discrimination. The author hopes to suggest ways in which a social scientist might help Ethiopians get a better grip on their country's problems.

Not since the 16th Century has Ethiopia experienced changes so convulsive as in the past fifty years. …

International Journal Of African Development, Vol. 1, Issue 1

International Journal of African Development

Complete issue of International Journal of African Development, Volume 1, Issue 1.

October 3, 2013: Evan Gottlieb Lecture Opens Scholarly Speakers Series For 2013-14, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Pillar - Fall 2013, College Of Education And Human Development

College of Education and Human Development News

No abstract provided.

Emeriti News, Fall 2013, Emeriti Council

Emeriti News

Contents from Volume XVlll Number 2:

• Emeriti Council
• Message from the Chair
• Upcoming Events
• Summary of Past Events
• Wednesday II Programs
• Scholarship
• Emeriti Council Website
• Announcements