Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Intimate Partner Relationship Satisfaction Among Women Who Have Experienced Discrimination And Childhood Trauma, Rachel L. Gaglio

Dissertations

Objective: Connections may exist between intimate partner relationship satisfaction outcomes and experiences of childhood trauma and discrimination among women. The majority of existing research highlights individual trauma impacting relationship satisfaction that includes military experience, childhood trauma, domestic violence, and sexual assault, yet there is a gap in research which expands on both childhood trauma and discrimination endured among women in relation to intimate partner relationship satisfaction outcomes, as they relate to intimacy and closeness and resolving conflict and arguments. The present study explored the links between childhood trauma and discrimination experienced by women and their connection in intimate partner relationship …

Mllt1 Is Required To Maintain B-Lymphopoiesis, Janani Prakash

Dissertations

MLLT1 (also named ENL) is an epigenetic reader protein that binds to crotonylated or acetylated lysine residues of histone 3 through its N-terminal YEATS domain. Positive and negative regulatory complexes compete for binding to C-terminal MLLT1, and promote transcription elongation (SEC, Super elongation complex; DOT1L) or transcriptional repression (PRC1, Polycomb repressive complex 1). MLLT1 was initially identified as a chromosomal translocation partner to MLL(KMT2A) in a subset of MLL-rearranged leukemias. MLL-ENL fusion protein causes both lymphoid (predominantly B-ALL) and mixed lineage leukemias. MLLT1 has been implicated in leukemic stem cell survival in MLL-rearranged cell lines but its role in normal …

Lay Presidents In Jesuit Higher Education: How Ajcu Lay Presidents Learn About, Articulate, And Express Jesuit Mission And Identity, Carl Joseph Caceres

Dissertations

Since the year 2000, over the course of the past quarter century, lay presidents went from being an emerging phenomenon to becoming the majority of presidents in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU). Lay presidents are now the norm and no longer the exception, as 24 of the 28 institutions of the AJCU are now lay led. This qualitative research study intended to explore how lay presidents of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) in the United States who have been at their current institution for at least three years, came to learn about Jesuit mission …

Underlying Mechanisms In The Relationship Between Ptsd And Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Jillian B. Heymann

Dissertations

Current bodies of knowledge support the relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pain catastrophizing and PTSD, and pain catastrophizing and IBS. However, much less is known regarding how pain catastrophizing influences the relationship between PTSD and IBS. Additionally, while correlations between some demographic and trauma-related symptomatology have been elucidated in the relationship between PTSD and IBS, their impact as potential moderators on the relationship between PTSD and IBS has yet to be fully examined. Examining a student sample from a large midwestern university, the present study aimed to investigate the potential mediating and moderating roles …

A Trinity Of Forces: A Critical Investigation Of The Intersection Of Lived Experience, Jesuit Secondary Education, And Corporate Curricula, Bernhard Bruno Walke

Dissertations

This dissertation examines how students' identities and personal experiences shape their encounters with both Jesuit Secondary Education and the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP). Throughout this qualitative analysis, the researcher will examine how identity, secondary education, and corporate attitudes coexist, overlap, conflict, intersect, and compete with one another. By employing Gloria Ladsen-Billings’s Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), Dolores Delgado Bernal and Daniel Solórzano’s contributions to Latinx Criticism (Lat Crit), (Solorzano & Bernal, 2001), Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Theory of Intersectionality (K. Crenshaw, 1989), and Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth Model (Yosso, 2005), the researcher will examine how students experience “non-linear …

Elementary Students' Science Attitudes And Teachers' Implementation Of The Ngss Science Practices: A Mixed Methods Study, Michelle Laborn

Dissertations

It has been recorded in the literature that student science interest drops as students enter and transition to middle and high school. This dissertation takes up the areas of student science interest and the teaching of the science practices in the context of elementary education. This study seeks to understand student science interest in elementary students in the years before entering middle school where a drop of interest is frequently reported. It is hypothesized that an increased use or implementation of the NGSS science practices by classroom teachers would generate higher science interest in elementary students. In a framework of …

Justice-Oriented Pedagogy: Personal And Programmatic Commitments In Teacher Education, Cheetara A. Hudson

Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how faculty in an urban, justice-oriented undergraduate teacher education program prepare elementary teacher candidates to develop socially just and culturally responsive teaching practices. Guided by Critical Race Theory and critical multiculturalism, this study explored how instructors integrated social justice education and culturally responsive pedagogy into coursework and field experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis with four faculty members teaching foundational and methods courses. Thematic analysis revealed four key findings: (a) faculty beliefs and identities, shaped by prior K–12 teaching experiences, strongly influence their pedagogical choices; (b) instructors model justice-oriented …

Pedagogical Possibilities Toward Positive Embodiment: Applying The Developmental Theory Of Embodiment To Educational Contexts, Elena Buis

Dissertations

Young adolescents, particularly girls, often experience uncomfortable and negative relationships with their bodies, contributing to negative physical, mental, and emotional outcomes. Although educators have implemented interventions to address this issue, those grounded in positive embodiment remain underexplored. Specifically, the Developmental Theory of Embodiment (DTE), a prominent framework in eating disorder and body image research, has not been integrated into educational research or practice. This dissertation explores the integration of DTE into educational theory, practice, and pedagogy across three complementary articles and examines the teaching and learning of Be Body Positive (BBP), a positive embodiment intervention, with a fifth grade Girl …

Teachers’ Use Of Evidence-Based Research To Inform Best Practices, Brianna Cairns

Dissertations

Teachers are expected to use research to inform their practice, whether updating practices to keep up with changing times or researching and implementing new strategies and interventions to support the students in their classrooms. However, experts have expressed concern that teachers do not use empirical evidence to make decisions, instead relying on their own experiences or the anecdotal advice of other teachers. This explanatory sequential, mixed-methods study seeks to contribute to the existing body of research about teachers’ use of research to inform their practice. Survey data were collected from 180 elementary, middle, and high school teachers regarding whether they …

The Lived Experiences Of Clinical Mental Health Counselors Returning To Clinical Work After Becoming A New Mom: A Phenomenological Study, Kathryn Bohn

Dissertations

The experience of transitioning back to work postpartum can be an emotional rollercoaster for women. One that is often filled with identity tensions and sweeping emotions that range from guilt to relief, anxiety to confidence (Dod, 2025; Franzoi et al., 2023; Garcia-Lorenzo et al., 2023). Postpartum can be an emotionally raw and vulnerable time for new mothers as they navigate physical and emotional changes, maternal stress, and the pressures and demands of new motherhood (LeBlanc, 2023; Maylott, 2023). Professional counselors in a clinical setting, also known as clinical mental health counselors, encounter occupationally specific responsibilities that create unique experiences for …

A Quantitative Critical Analysis Of Comprehensive Education Plan Effects As Implemented Under Title 5 In California Community Colleges, Nicole Jones

Dissertations

California Code of Regulations, Title 5, is the policy and regulatory guide of the California Community Colleges. Sections of Title 5 policy govern the implementation of programs and services at these colleges. It provides protection for colleges and specifies student entitlements under the law. The mission of the California Community Colleges is to serve as an open-access point, providing students with services and instruction. Access barriers to services like counseling can delay goal attainment, increase cost of attendance and time to completion, and result in lower successful retention or persistence rates. Additionally, resource allocation, Title 5 Section 59200 regulations (the …

From Stranger To Self: The Role Of Familiarity In Modulating The N170 And N250 Erp Components, Tabish Gul

Dissertations

This study investigated how varying levels of face familiarity modulate the N170 and N250 event-related potential (ERP) components, two neural markers of face perception and recognition. While the N250 is widely considered familiarity-sensitive, the N170 has traditionally been linked to the structural encoding stage of face perception. However, recent research suggests that face familiarity may also influence N170 amplitude and latency. While most previous studies have compared up to three familiarity levels, the present study examined five levels of familiarity: own face, friend’s face, famous face, experimentally familiar face, and unfamiliar face. Twenty-six participants viewed face images while completing a …

Do International Alumni Give Differently? A Study On The Alumni Philanthropic Perspective Of Trust And Key Relational Factors Affecting Attitude Towards Giving, John Held

Dissertations

Philanthropy plays a key role in the funding of institutions of higher education. Previous research has focused on domestic populations, exploring the antecedents and elements of philanthropy in higher education. The literature has yet to examine differences in these elements between domestic and international, or distance extremes, amongst alumni populations. This study investigates the perceptions and motivating factors influencing alumni who experience significant geographic separation from their Higher Education Institution (HEI) and their philanthropic support for their alma mater. The conceptual model includes factors at the organization-to-organization, person-to-organization, and person-to-person levels and their moderating effects on the relationship between trust …

Enhancing Control Charting Schemes And Exploring New Assessment Metrics To Advance Quality Control And Cyber-Attack Detection In Manufacturing, Ahmad Al Majali

Dissertations

The increasing integration of digital technologies and industrial control systems in modern manufacturing has introduced new cybersecurity vulnerabilities within cyber–physical production environments. Malicious actors can exploit these vulnerabilities to induce subtle process deviations that degrade product quality while remaining undetected by conventional statistical monitoring tools. Such attacks can be deliberately engineered to manipulate process behavior through transient shifts that vary in magnitude, duration, and frequency. Despite extensive research on transient shifts caused by assignable causes in Statistical Process Control (SPC), limited attention has been given to intelligently designed cyber–physical attacks that exploit the structural characteristics and limitations of control charting …

Defining My Country: An Appalachian Educator’S Autoethnography Of Linguistic Erasure And Ai, Kimberly B. Wright

Dissertations

When students use AI writing tools to revise their work, the algorithms often erase the cultural and linguistic markers that constitute their authentic voice. This erasure operates through the same mechanisms that linguistic justice scholars have documented for decades: a dominant language ideology that frames non-dominant expression as deficient and “corrects” it into standardized prose. As a first-generation Appalachian educator who spent years suppressing her own voice to succeed in academic spaces, I recognize this pattern from the inside. Using autoethnography as a methodology, this study examines how my journey from voice erasure to reclamation informs my pedagogy to help …

Perceptions And Practices: A Qualitative Study Of Middle Grades Physical Science Teachers’ Knowledge And Use Of Formative Assessment, Michelle Morgan

Dissertations

Declining content mastery scores in middle grades physical science across the River Valley School District, as reflected in College and Career Ready Performance Index data, have raised concerns about instructional practices and the use of formative assessment. Although formative assessment is widely recognized as a high-impact practice, limited research has examined how middle school physical science teachers’ conceptual knowledge aligns with their instructional planning and classroom practices. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore teachers’ knowledge of formative assessment and the relationship between their stated beliefs and instructional practices. Participants included five eighth-grade physical science teachers …

The Impact Of Targeted Remediation On Reading Growth Among Remedial Middle School Students, Jennifer Givens

Dissertations

Many middle school students enter secondary education with below grade-level reading skills and are unable to demonstrate measurable growth without structured intervention. This study examined relationship between participation in a targeted Remedial Education Program (REP) English Language Arts (ELA) course and reading growth, as measured by the Northwestern Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) Reading assessment. A quasi-experimental design compared fall-to-winter MAP Reading RIT growth between students enrolled in REP and academically similar students receiving special education services but not enrolled in REP. This study also investigated whether the effects of the intervention varied based on gender or …

Secondary Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Development And Learning, Shannon Thompson Lawson

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine how secondary teachers perceive their professional learning and development experiences and how organizational and leadership structures shape those perceptions. This study was grounded in phenomenographic methodology, which seeks to understand the qualitatively different ways individuals experience a shared phenomenon. Leader–member exchange (LMX) theory and transformative learning theory served as interpretive frameworks for examining relational leadership dynamics and shifts in instructional beliefs and practices.

A purposeful sample of 10 secondary teachers (Grades 9–12) from a suburban public high school participated in the study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using …

The Digital Divide And Participation In Financial Services: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective, Melissa A. Cunningham-Sereque

Dissertations

The global financial technology (FinTech) market reached nearly $395 billion in 2025 and is projected to surpass $1 trillion within the next decade (Fortune Business Insights, 2025). As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in banking and financial services, this dissertation responds to calls within the Information Systems (IS) discipline to better understand digital access, inclusion, and participation in financial systems (PFS). Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, this study used prominent dimensions from extant digital divide literature to build a digital resource domain consisting of connectability, affordability, usability, mentality, and skill. These dimensions are proposed to influence intrinsic motivation, …

The Impact Of Framing Effects And Moral Values On Prosocial Engagement, Olajuwon Olagbegi

Dissertations

Framing effects can shape perceptions, beliefs and behavior, particularly in prosocial contexts. The current study examined how language framing (social justice, social activism, volunteerism) and moral values influence interest in prosocial engagement across low- and high-cost helping scenarios. Participants (N = 219) were randomly assigned to one of three framing conditions and reported willingness to help in both low- and high-cost situations. They also completed the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Replicating prior work (Olagbegi and colleagues, 2024), participants were more willing to engage in low- than high-cost helping. Across conditions, social justice framing elicited the greatest willingness to help. Higher fairness …

Secondary Teachers’ Perceptions On The Wida Framework To Support Academic Literacy In Multilingual Learners, Laura G. Faris

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine teachers’ perceptions of benefits and barriers to using the WIDA Framework to support academic literacy in multilingual learners (MLs).  Content-area teachers of MLs who continue to learn English are teaching academic literacy through complex linguistic structures for students to both comprehend and produce informative textual structures which occur in secondary textual reading and written assessments in the literature and historical content areas. Qualitative methods including reflective journal entries, semi-structured teacher interviews, and classroom observations were used to collect data on teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of using the WIDA Framework to better …

Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of I-Ready On Students’ Math Achievement, Tanisha L. Wright

Dissertations

This semester-long qualitative study included semi-structured interviews to gather ideas, opinions, and impressions (perceptions) regarding the i-Ready Program, a computer-based solution used to address students’ math deficiencies.  The researcher interviewed three teachers who volunteered to participate. These teachers had at least five years of teaching experience and at least two years of i-Ready use. The researcher also interviewed eight students with varying learning abilities. Parental consent was obtained to conduct the interviews.

Although this program is very popular and used in multiple school districts, this research aims to determine whether it is the best solution for our school district in …

Exploring Alternative Curriculum Implementation In Special Education Settings, Amber R. Wilson

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand teachers’ perceptions of implementing an alternative curriculum in their self-contained special education settings and grade levels, as well as their perceptions of the training and ongoing support provided for its implementation. This study used a case study research design. Findings revealed that the participants experienced several challenges related to training, ongoing support, and curriculum implementation, including issues aligning the alternative curriculum with state standards and assessments. This study is significant because alternative curriculum implementation is under-researched in the United States, and the international literature on this topic is limited.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Pre-Service Mathematics Teacher Preparation Approaches In Jamaica And Historical Black Colleges And Universities In The Southeast United States, Sandra Riley-Brown

Dissertations

This qualitative comparative case study embarked on an in-depth exploration and comparison of the approaches to pre-service mathematics teacher preparation programs (PMTPP) in Jamaica and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Southeast United States (U.S.), employing a cross-cultural lens. The primary objective of the study was to identify and analyze the similarities and differences between the methodologies utilized in PMTPP across these two regions, with a specific focus on how HBCUs addressed the preparation of culturally responsive educators. The research took two distinct phases. The initial phase involved a thorough analysis of documents provided by the participants. This …

Examining The Domestic Politics Of Nuclear Policymaking In America: Us Participation In Nuclear Agreements From 1948 To 2024, Stephanie A. Stapleton

Dissertations

his dissertation examines how partisan polarization and party affiliation shape US participation in nuclear agreements. Consensus views within the nuclear policy community hold that Republican governments are necessary to make new agreements, but Republicans generally oppose new nuclear restrictions. Prompted by a trio of agreement terminations between 2018 and 2020, this research tests whether polarization has become a structural factor restricting US engagement in nuclear agreements. Using an original dataset of 86 nuclear agreements spanning arms control and extended deterrence between 1948–2024, this dissertation uses a quantitatively focused embedded mixed-methods design complemented by senior nuclear policy practitioner interviews. This research …

A Case Study Of Experiential Learning In A High-Poverty Middle School, Diona F. Brown

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of experiential learning on student achievement in a high-poverty Title I middle school and explored how school leaders perceive and support its implementation. Grounded in experiential learning, active learning, and social justice theories, this research aimed to better understand how instructional practices can improve outcomes for students facing economic and educational challenges. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used. Quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-assessments administered to two groups of eighth-grade mathematics students: one receiving experiential learning instruction and the other receiving traditional instruction. Qualitative data were collected through surveys of school administrators …

Federated Neuromorphic Intelligence: Advancing Robustness, Efficiency, And Continual Adaptation In Edge Environments, Manh V. Nguyen

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how spiking neural networks (SNNs) can improve federated edge intelligence by advancing three interconnected goals: communication efficiency, adversarial robustness, and continual adaptation. As edge computing deployments expand across Internet of Things (IoT), sensing, and privacy-sensitive applications, conventional federated learning approaches built around artificial neural networks (ANNs) face growing limitations in power consumption, bandwidth demand, and resilience to real-world uncertainty. SNNs offer an alternative computational paradigm based on event-driven, sparse, and temporally structured processing that is naturally suited to constrained edge environments. However, their behavior in practical federated settings remains insufficiently understood.

To address this gap, this dissertation …

Exploring Teachers’ Lived Experiences: The Impact Of Wellness On Student Engagement And Behavior In Third-Grade Classrooms, Tiffany L. Jackson

Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored teachers' lived experiences implementing student wellness initiatives in the classroom and examined their views on how these initiatives affected student engagement and behavior. In this study, participants had the opportunity to express their views on implementing wellness practices in the classroom and on how these initiatives impacted student engagement and behavior. The research was guided by theoretical frameworks related to wellness, emotional and social intelligence, and relational perspectives. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were the primary data source, and interview notes will serve as secondary data. This study addressed three research questions: (1) What are teachers' lived …

Examining Mathematics Teachers' Competencies For Facilitating Collaborative Learning In High School Settings, Tessy J. Pereira

Dissertations

Collaborative Learning (CL) – an instructional approach in which students work interdependently in groups to achieve shared academic goals through mutual engagement – has gained remarkable attention in high school mathematics classrooms; yet research examining the pedagogical competencies teachers need to effectively plan, implement, and reflect on CL remains limited. Pedagogical competencies, as defined by Kaendler et al. (2015), refer to the observable teaching behaviors that support student collaboration throughout an instructional cycle. This case study examined how seven high school mathematics teachers demonstrated five competencies – planning, monitoring, supporting, consolidating, and reflecting – using the Implementing Collaborative Learning in …

Experiences Of Care From The Perspective Of Students With Disabilities: A Multi-Case Study, Neve Grosse Siegfreid

Dissertations

Inclusion for students with disabilities is often limited to access to the general education curriculum and school environment. Previous research has indicated that teacher relationships are essential to student success. Missing from the research was the practice of care as relational inclusion, as described in Nel Noddings’s ethic of care theory. The purpose of this qualitative, multi-case study was to explore inclusion through care relationships as experienced by students with disabilities ages 12-15 and to contrast their experiences with Noddings’s care as inclusion, as described in the ethics of care theory. Using the philosophical lens of Nel Noddings’s ethic of …