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The Fashionable Life: Fashion Imagery And The Construction Of Masculinity In America, 1960-2000, Kelly Ann O'Connor

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Ethnographic Study Of Psychiatric Assistants: The Social Processes Involved In The Subordination Of Workers In A Psychiatric Hospital, Terrence Allison

Dissertations

This research examined how the structure of a modern day psychiatric institution shapes the work experiences of subordinated, non-licensed-workers. I found that that the work experiences of PAs are shaped by their institutional positions. The PA position by default is one of subjugation and servitude, and these carry meanings. PAs are positioned on the ward to service and control patients. In spite of their absolute importance to the day-to-day running of the hospital, frontline PA work is devalued institutionally. This devaluation is internalized rationally (what bureaucracies do) by PAs, who often work understaffed and underappreciated. I found that PAs lack …

Recipe For Resilience: Factors Contributing To Urban African American Males' Post-Secondary Academic Achievement, Melvin Thomas Hargrett

Dissertations

The present research sought greater understanding of and contributes additional insights into supporting the academic success of African American males in urban public high schools and in higher education. The findings based on eight world life interviews of successful African American males from an urban community adds valuable information about the community factors (family, church, schools and community organizations) that contribute to the development of resiliency among African American males. Additionally, the research sought to provide a detailed account of the community wisdom (messages and methods) that informed resilience. Lastly, the transformative nature of resilience was explored in collegiate settings, …

Anthologizing Modernism: New Verse Anthologies, 1913-53, Warren Scott Cheney

Dissertations

The history of the anthology form goes back thousands of years to what is often called the Greek Anthology--a modern term and not the title of one ancient work. Though there are fragments of earlier collections, Meleager of Gadara's Stephanos (or Garland) is the first known poetry anthology and dates to approximately 100 BC. Anthologies of English poetry begin in 1557 with Richard Tottel's Songes and Sonnettes, commonly known as "Totell's Miscellany." It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, however, that single-volume poetry anthologies became popular. This development changed the methods editors used and the constraints they …

Teacher Impact On Supporting The Parent-Teacher Partnership During The Middle School Years, Karen R. Love

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of middle school teachers in supporting parents as they move from traditional forms of parental involvement and towards engagement to support their children as they move into the middle school years of education. The design of this study was qualitative using in-depth interviews of middle school teachers. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological system theory of human development was the theoretical framework for this study to examine the factors influencing the child's development during the middle school years. Participants demonstrated that their perceptions and experiences did impact how they viewed parental involvement …

Life Course Narratives From U.S. Expatriates: Continuity Work, Victoria L. Russo

Dissertations

This qualitative, exploratory research examined the American life course through narrative accounts of twenty, former expatriates. All participants had lived and worked in another country for a minimum of at least one year before returning to the US. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted between April 2011 and June 2012. Interviews were unstructured and lasted between 1-2 hours.

Participants in this study were well-educated, middle class professionals with highly desirable skills. Yet, despite the flexibility that privileged status bestowed, participants maintained normative life course patterns. Families were instrumental in monitoring the life course and distributed sanctions and benefits to family members …

I Do Activist Things Even Though I'M Nothing: A Critical Ethnography Of Immigrant Youth Identity Formation In An Urban Community-School, Sophia Rodriguez

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how Latino immigrant youth make sense out of their educational experience, identity, and sense of belonging in an urban, public high school. This critical ethnography examines their social interactions. The youth live in a segregated neighborhood that is largely abandoned by policy-makers and recently impacted by massive school closures by the district. The youth, within the context of a community-school partnership, advocate for immigrant rights, march in solidarity with their teachers, and engage in organizing to transcend their immigration status and/or achievement status. The central question is: How do Latino immigrant youth in a community-school experience identity …

Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Latinos: The Role Of Family Conflict, Family Cohesion And Religion, Lydia Samir Billatos

Dissertations

This study examined the role of family conflict, family cohesion and religion on the relationship between discrimination and psychological distress among Latino/as in the United States with a focus on gender differences. The study had two main objectives: 1) To test alternate stress-buffering models to understand the mechanisms through which family cohesion, family conflict, and religion affect the relationship of discrimination and psychological distress, allowing for interaction effects with ethnicity and gender; 2) To test hypotheses about the possible non-linear effects of family cohesion on psychological distress, derived from the ([1989] 2000) Olson Circumplex Model (OCM), which was originally based …

Re-Examining The Female Voice In Chaucer's Italian-Sourced Works: A Study In Paleography, Textual Transmission, And Masculinity, Stacee Bucciarelli

Dissertations

Research on women in medieval literature is abundant but often focused on broad questions of narrative and character development. Among the areas seldom examined is what I will term "female voice," a term that encompasses the thoughts and speech of women in literature. This project analyzes the representation of female voice in Chaucer's work, and it explores alterations to female voices within the largely male worlds (both actual and literary) in which they were created.

This study broadens the analysis from the restrictive and traditional realm of women's studies and contextualize these alterations on a grander scale of textual and …

Examining Latino A First-Generation College Students' Educational Resilience At A Jesuit Post-Secondary Institution, Diana Chavez

Dissertations

This qualitative study focused on exploring and understanding Latino/a first-generation college students' process for drawing or enabling educational resilience to persist and achieve their postsecondary education degree. Using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Paradigm as the framework, the study explored how interactions between individuals and their environments influenced their persistence outcomes. Using purposeful sampling, 19 juniors and seniors attending a Midwest, private, religiously-affiliated university were selected to participate. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted during one-on-one meetings.

Findings indicated that Latino first-generation college students drew on or were enabled by internal (e.g., first-generation status, self-identified academic challenges, sense of purpose) and external resources (e.g., …

There's A Place For Us: How Ethnic Identities Are Revealed In Ethnic-Specific Organizations, Crystal Jackson

Dissertations

Ethnic-specific organizations have long been features of American society. Historically, they have provided ethnic actors with

a means of preserving culture and history. They have also been sites where collective interests are pursued. In this dissertation I study two ethnic-specific organizations. Using identity, incorporation and

inequality, as essential dimensions of American ethnicity, I describe how the political and civic work that occurs in two organizations reveals

group boundaries.

My data and analysis support three major findings. First, I find

that the identities that emerge from this kind of organizational work are transactional identities. Transactional identities are identities that are confirmed …

Toward The Development Of Roman Catholic Teaching About Contraception In Light Of The Experience Of South Korean Catholic Women, Taeeun Kim

Dissertations

In recent decades, the morality of artificial contraception has been hotly debated in the Roman Catholic Church. Many theologians and ethicists have challenged the hierarchical church teachings in the last fifty years. The opening chapter of the dissertation reviews Catholic Church teachings on birth control throughout history, and in Chapter Two I explore the theo-ethical reflections on artificial contraception from two different approaches (traditionalist and revisionist) and support the revisionists' perspectives, findings, and arguments. Then, in order to lay the context for my interpretations of my ethnographic interviews with ten participants, in Chapter Three I explore South Korean sexual culture …

He Seems Like A Good Kid Lessons In Informal Social Control From A Midwestern Peer Court Program, Patricia Lee Maddox

Dissertations

This study examines how peer court jurors make meaning out of the sanctioning trials of youth offenders. In particular, it focuses on how peer court jurors understand juvenile delinquency, deterrence and punishment. Data was collected utilizing ethnographic field observation methods while attending a Midwestern County's peer court program between the end of the 2011-2012 school year and the 2012-2013 school year. Thirteen interviews were conducted after the sessions with willing peer court jurors in order to supplement the field work data.

During the peer court sessions the youth jurors tried to understand the nature of the offenses and how to …

Putting "Community" In Community Schools: Organizational And Cultural Contention In A Public-Private Partnership, Kathleen D. Pacyna

Dissertations

Public-private partnerships as a new organizational form for delivering health and human services to those who require them remains an under-studied but important topic of research in an era significantly influenced by the weakening of the traditional civic welfare infrastructure. Based on two years of ethnographic research including in-depth interviews and participant observation, this research aimed to understand better how the concept of community held by members of the public-private partnership influenced their collective attempts to create a full-service community school program in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Research revealed that members of the partnership negotiated and contested the …

Moving Social Spaces: Public Transportation, Material Differences, And The Power Of Mobile Communities In Chicago, Gwendolyn Purifoye

Dissertations

Urban research on stratification in the public terrain has focused on how intentional and unintentional physical arrangements and social conventions limit and enable particular kinds of stratification processes and interactions. This prior research primarily focuses on static places such as plazas, restaurants, sidewalks and train stations and does not give adequate attention to the impact of mobility. As one of the few places where people of different social classes and ethno-racial backgrounds encounter each other, public mobile spaces are sites of the replication of civility and incivility among people of different race, gender, and class positions, and sites of its …

Seeing The State: Women, Incarceration, And Social Marginality, Cesraea Rumpf

Dissertations

Based on in-depth, semi-structured qualitative and photo-elicitation interviews with 36 formerly incarcerated women, this dissertation answers three central research questions: (1) How does the state structure women's post-incarceration experiences? (2) How do these post-incarceration experiences relate to women's experiences of criminalization and incarceration? (3) How do women respond to criminalization, incarceration, and post-incarceration? By centering women's standpoint, I draw upon poststructuralist theories of the state to show how women experienced governance across multiple sites. I first examine the violence and dehumanization women experienced in their encounters with the criminal legal system and how the state labeled women as "criminals" and …

When Subcultures Become Careers: Working In Indie Rock, Annmarie Schneider-Edman Van Altena

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the careers of workers within the Indie rock industry in Chicago. Little is known about how workers transition from subculture participants to industry workers. Expanding upon research on workers in culture industries, I conducted twenty-six qualitative interviews with workers in the industry, asking open-ended questions about their careers and experiences to understand how they establish and maintain careers in an industry that relies on a particular subculture whose ethos considers financial success as suspect, and a risk to integrity. I show how workers' early interest in music goes beyond typical teenage fascination and becomes the focus of …

Lightning Strikes Twice: An Examination Of The Political Factors Associated With State-Level Death Sentences And Executions In The United States, 1930-2012, Ethan Christopher Amidon

Dissertations

Over the course of the last 50 years, scholars have emphasized the role that political processes play in shaping the nature of capital punishment practices. Empirical studies that have examined the relationship between political factors and capital punishment have attributed variation in the imposition of death sentences and the execution of offenders across jurisdictions in the United States to the politicization of criminal justice policies and practices and the shift in public sentiment towards more punitive ideologies that began in the 1970s. Even though historians have argued that capital punishment practices have always been shaped by political considerations, empirical research …

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. …

Ironic American Exceptionalism And The Myth Of The Open Self, Myron Moses Jackson

Dissertations

This work rethinks current interpretations of American exceptionalism, emphasizing dynamic relations, especially those we could call "ironic." I am reading Reinhold Niebuhr's The Irony of American History alongside Eric Voegelin's and Woodrow Wilson's philosophical and political treatment of freedom, expressed through the ideal of American personhood. American entertainment continues to spread globally, and the spreading creates a wider nexus of efficacious relations, allowing for the interplay of hidden relations and symbolic complexes. "Ironic American exceptionalism," as I call it, highlights the positive aspects, usually overlooked, provided by "virtual integration" and the spawning of novel cultural hybrids. By "virtual integration," I …

Group Empowerment Capacity And Capability In Schools Of Nursing, Mary Louanne Friend

Dissertations

Nursing education is experiencing rapid changes as nurses are expected to transform and lead health care delivery within the United States. The ability to produce graduates who can promote a culture of safety, and provide patient centered care in collaboration with others will require nursing administrators and faculty who are empowered and able to achieve goals. The Sieloff Theory of Group Empowerment within Organizations (Sieloff & Bularzik, 2011) provided the theoretical basis for this exploratory correlational study examining group empowerment capacity and empowerment in administrators and faculty within the United States. Empowerment was conceptualized as the ability of the group …

Cultural Adaptations Of American Teachers In International Schools, David J. Alban

Dissertations

Global competition of academic aptitude between countries has sparked policymakers’ concerns with the performance of the United States educational system leading to many educational reforms that direct educators to diversify their instruction to meet the needs of all students. Advances in technology and travel allow people to interact with other cultures creating more globalized societies. These two converging issues place a greater significance on educators to understand the interplay between culture and their teaching practices.

Literature reveals that the influence of home and community cultures affects the learning behaviors of students (Davis-Kean, 2005: Wang, Beras, & Eberhard, 2005; Sigel, Stinson, …

A Qualitative Study Of Counselors Who Work With Spanish-Speaking Clients: Implications For Counselor Training And Practice, Daniel Rolando Romero

Dissertations

The Spanish-speaking population in the United States is growing. As the population grows, need for competent mental health services may also expand. Counselors are currently underprepared to provide these services (Furman, 2006; Lebrón-Striker, 2012). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of counselors who work with Spanish-speaking clients, focusing on their motivations, preparation and work experiences, and recommendations for counselor education.

Two groups were selected for this phenomenological study: Counselors who use interpreters (CWUI) and counselors who do not use interpreters (CWDNUI). Themes that emerged related to motivation included helping others, inspirational and affirmative experiences, vocational …

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 …

Factors And Influences Contributing To The College Selection Decision Of High Achieving High School Seniors, Dana D. Clayton

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how high achieving high school seniors navigate the college search process and ultimately make a decision to attend a particular institution. Specifically, it considered how institutional reputation contributes within the search process and how students consider the influence of others such as parents, friends, etc. Students enrolled in AP or Honors courses at three private and one charter school in southwestern Indiana were administered the College Exploration Questionnaire (CEQ) in the final weeks of their senior year. The CEQ measured the level of importance students placed on various …

The Journey To Becoming-Authentic From The Voices Of Nursing Students Living With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Sheryl Lynn Allen

Dissertations

Research and literature on nursing students living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in higher education is deficient in supporting the needs of a growing population. The aim of this study sought to uncover the essence of nursing students’ experiences through a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and promote deeper understanding of the meaning of lifeworld experiences through the lens of critical social theory (CST). CST sustains freedom from ideological restraints to allow exploration into individual experiences. The voices of student participants provide the medium for articulating meaning. An integrative approach using van Manen’s (1990) and Munhall’s (2012) methods guided this study. …

Effects Of Acculturation On Mammography Utilization Among Korean American Women, Jungeun K. Kim Phd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between acculturation and mammography utilization among Korean American (KA) women. The specific aims of this study were to determine the differences in demographic characteristics, perceived health beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge of breast cancer, and mammogram history among the four cultural groups (American identity, Bicultural, Korean identity, and Marginality) of KA women, and to examine the effects of the level of acculturation on the likelihood of getting a mammogram. Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among KA women. However, KA women consistently have lower screening rates for breast cancer. …

Teacher Perceptions Of Effective School Leadership Using Twenty-First Century Skills And Knowledge, Bobbie Anita Augspurger

Dissertations

This quantitative study was conducted to examine the primary components of school leadership for 21st-century skills and knowledge integration. With the passing of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators, the need for administrative leadership within the realm of technology is continually evolving and growing. The NETS based survey required teachers from three varying sized school districts, who have implemented a 1:1 student device initiative, to answer statements, using a Likert scale, about themselves and their principal. Survey statement data results were revealed using a Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient formula, scatter plots, and regression studies …

Community College Academic Leadership: Examining Effective Leadership Teams, Walter J. Fronczek

Dissertations

In community colleges across the country, the division of academic affairs faces many challenges. Chief academic affairs officers (CAAOs) and academic-leadership teams need to effectively lead the division. Academic deans support the division of academic affairs, and the CAAO provides guidance and resources, and empower individuals in these roles to be effective. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the formation of an effective academic-leadership team in selected Illinois community colleges.

This qualitative study applied case-study methodology. Eight Illinois community colleges were selected using the Illinois Community College Board’s seven peer groups. Purposeful sampling, in conjunction …

The Role Development Of A Community College President’S Spouse, Tracy M. Mcgrady

Dissertations

The role of a community college president’s spouse can be an important one in the life of the college and in the success of the presidency, yet the role itself is often vaguely defined. This can cause frustration for a college president’s spouse because he or she experiences ambiguity by not knowing the expectations college stakeholders hold of the spousal role. This study explored the role uncertainties held by community college presidents’ spouses, the strategies they used to navigate their new role, and the conflicts they experience in the role as presidential spouse. A qualitative, grounded theory design was selected …