Digital Commons Network^™

I, As In We, Cj Maruyama

Dissertations and Theses

I, as in We is a hybrid collection of poems, essays, fictional letters, documents, and photographs through which the author revisits ancestors and explores their multiracial roots. Drawing on stories, interviews and research grounded in the Japanese American experience, the collection develops a call-and-response polyvocality that spans generations and geographies. In its use of white space, form experimentation, and tonal shifts, the work confronts the fluid, often ambiguous boundaries that shape identity. The compiled written and visual materials evolve into an original document--one that reaches toward heritage, belonging, and truth.

Japanese And English Code-Mixing: A Study On The Grammar And Functions By L1 Japanese-Speakers In Oregon, Takefumi Ariga

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the phenomenon of code-mixing (CM) among speakers of Japanese as their first language (L1) and of English as their second language (L2) residing in Oregon, the United States. Unlike prior studies that focus on early bilinguals or individuals with mixed linguistic and cultural backgrounds, this study specifically target speakers who began learning English in formal settings through compulsory education or a cram school in Japan. After they had completed high school in Japan, they started living in English-speaking countries.

The participants in this study were two communities. Each group recorded their conversations via their own cell phones, …

"I'M Strictly T4t": Trans For Trans Connections In The Contemporary, Madi Lou Alexander

Dissertations and Theses

Trans for trans relationships, referred to as "t4t", are a relationship type specific to trans individuals. Linguistically originating from Craigslist personal ad spaces, t4t indicates a trans person seeking out and engaging with another trans person. The scope of relationships under the t4t label are often largely associated with sexuality and dating scenes due to their conception in online cruising spaces. Through qualitative analysis, I assess the range of what t4t relationships are through 30 in-depth interviews with participants identifying as trans. This work moves away from focusing on the deficits of holding a marginalized identity, instead aiming to center …

An Exploration Of Holistic Admissions Protocol In Graduate School: Implications For Access And Equity, Kelly Doherty

Dissertations and Theses

Historically, graduate admissions policies at higher education institutions have heavily relied on standardized testing, which limits access to graduate and professional degrees for underrepresented demographic and gender groups. Recently, movements toward holistic graduate admissions processes and strengths-based evaluations of applicants have shown promise in equitably recruiting and admitting candidates. However, the field currently lacks common best practices and strategies for enhancing equity in the evaluation of applicant credentials. Furthermore, recent federal challenges to campus diversity and inclusion efforts have complicated these initiatives. To address these issues, this qualitative comparative case study examined five university graduate schools that are implementing holistic …

When My Intersecting Identities Of Being Racially Oppressed And Privileged Become Blurred: An Autoethnographic Dive Into Unlocking The Polarities Of Who I Am, Susan Acosta

Dissertations and Theses

Freire argued that each person is, at times, both the oppressor and the oppressed. He posited that the path to liberation is increased critical consciousness, problematizing our circumstances, and finding ways to take action. As a person from the global majority (PGM), this autoethnography incorporates my personal narratives, communication with colleagues, photo observations, and professional writings that problematizes and examines ways I have been both complicit in, or have been victimized by, racialized oppression, particularly in educational settings. I've had an increasingly keen sense of awareness toward my own racialized tensions when interacting with individuals, in groups, or with an …

"I Know Who I Am": Draw-And-Tell Conversations With Gender-Creative Children, Eline Leemans Lenne

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of children identify in various gender-creative ways, likely due to broader social awareness and affirmation of transgenderism. Gender-creative children face higher risks for adverse social, academic, mental health, and healthcare outcomes compared to non-transgender peers. Support from loved ones along with guidance from pediatric providers can mitigate poor outcomes and ensure that gender-creative children live healthy and happy lives. Young gender-creative children's perspectives about the aforementioned topics are markedly absent from the literature, which instead highlights adolescent and adult proxy perspectives.

In this participatory arts-based study anchored by a constructivist epistemology and informed by post-structuralist, queer, and …

Model Explanations For Gender And Ethnicity Bias Mitigation In Ai-Generated Narratives, Martha Otisi Dimgba

Dissertations and Theses

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly utilized in diverse applications, ranging from professional content creation to decision-making systems. However, their outputs often amplify the biases present in their training data, perpetuating stereotypes and reinforcing societal inequities, particularly regarding gender and ethnicity. Such biases can cause tangible harm, especially for underrepresented groups, and require awareness and effective mitigation strategies.

This work explores gender and ethnicity representation in narratives created by generative AI describing 25 occupational fields defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We examine three large language models (LLMs)--Llama 3.1 70B Instruct, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and GPT 4.0 Turbo. …

Becoming A Learner: An Autoethnography, Joshua Dickinson

Dissertations and Theses

It is well understood that attitudes toward language learning impact outcomes. This thesis uses autoethnography to explore the author's experiences learning German, in-class and independently, examining the interplay between motivation, attitudes, and the learning environment. I analyze personal journals and notes, employing graphic storytelling to illustrate their emotional journey. This paper draws upon existing literature on second language acquisition, particularly focusing on Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System and Ushioda's person-in-context approach. The study reveals how personal beliefs, self-doubt, and the limitations of traditional classroom settings impacted my motivation and ultimately, how reflection facilitated a renewed commitment to learning. In conclusion, …

Displaced: An Ethnography Of Language And Identity Loss, Ariel Caroline Wilsey-Gopp

Dissertations and Theses

Through ethnography and personal narrative, I explore the language and identity loss of one person, my father, in order to understand the complex issues surrounding the effects of symbolic and structural violence on language and identity development. Through personal narrative, fieldwork, and interviews, I tell the story of one person, born in wartime during Nazi occupied Serbia, and follow the guiding questions: how does language get lost and what are the effects? Drawing on methodology set forth by empirical ethnographical work as well as more recent theory around epigenetics and trauma, my research synthesizes into focus three pillars of understanding …

Integrative Approaches To Climate Resilience Planning: Application Of A Plan Evaluation Framework, Maulsri Jha

Dissertations and Theses

In the last two decades, urban governments have streamlined and prioritized the creation and implementation of climate resilience plans to cater to the communities' vulnerabilities. Existing research illustrates that there is a gap in understanding how, or if, empirical (evidence-based) data are incorporated into the design and implementation of such plans and the extent to which their inclusion impacts outcomes in terms of vulnerability reduction. There is also a gap in the systematic study of their outcomes in terms of community resilience, and whether equity and environmental justice are promoted as priorities.

The purpose of the research is to understand …

South Dakota's Path Forward: Education Professionals On Formal Free-Standing Sel Competency Standards, Kirsten Biersbach

Dissertations and Theses

This study employed reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to examine South Dakota general education teachers’ perceptions and experiences with the implementation of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in the absence of formal, free-standing SEL competency standards. As one of the few states without such standards in K-12 education, South Dakota presents a unique context for examining how educators navigate SEL practices in the absence of consistent state-level guidance. Grounded in a qualitative, constructivist paradigm, this research aims to inform future educational policy and practice by amplifying the voices of practitioners who are often overlooked in top-down reform processes. A comprehensive literature review established …

Advocacy In School Psychology: Insights From A National Survey Of Practices, Challenges, And Future Directions, Catherine Falk

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the advocacy practices of school psychologists across the United States, focusing on the factors that influence their engagement at the individual, school, community, and public arena levels. Using a researcher-created, web-based survey, data were collected from 181 participants representing a diverse sample of demographic characteristics, work settings, and years of experience. The questionnaire measured advocacy frequency and identified personal, professional, and societal factors that influence advocacy activities as facilitators or barriers. Findings revealed that participants most frequently engage in individual and school-level advocacy activities. Engagement frequency decreased at the community level and public arena level of advocacy. …

Cognitive Map Generation For Vision And Language Navigation, Alexander Sandoval Mesa

Dissertations and Theses

Visual-Language Navigation (VLN) presents significant challenges for autonomous agents, such as robots and virtual assistants, particularly in complex, dynamic environments where the seamless integration of visual perception and natural language understanding is critical. Traditional VLN systems often struggle with effectively aligning language instructions and visual scene understanding, limiting their adaptability and navigation efficiency.

This thesis proposes a novel Cognitive Map-based framework that addresses these challenges by transforming natural language navigation instructions into structured graph representations. The Cognitive Map consists of nodes representing waypoints, landmarks, decision points, and edges encoding spatial relationships and navigational actions. These maps are generated using Large …

Political Regimes And Social Well-Being In The Sahel: An Analysis Of Gendered Development And Children's Education, Binta Fv Diarra

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores how divergent governance structures in the Sahel, specifically in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Senegal, affect the region's human development. Emphasizing gendered vulnerabilities and education, the research examines how political structures and leadership priorities deeply influence access to education and healthcare, specifically for women.

Authoritarian regimes often centralize power and prioritize regime stability over public welfare, leading to chronic underfunding of education and health services. In Mali and Burkina Faso, repeated coups and insecurity have affected schools and hospitals, disproportionately affecting girls and displaced women. Chad's one-party dominance reflects how systemic exclusion and poor service delivery entrench …

Examining The Complex Interplay Of Stress, Social Support, And Drinking Motives On Alcohol Use Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Model Among College Students, Sabrina Perrin

Dissertations and Theses

College student alcohol use remains a public health concern, yet the psychological and social mechanisms that contribute to high-risk drinking patterns are not fully understood. Guided by the motivational model of alcohol use and stress-buffering theory, this study tested a moderated mediation model to examine how perceived stress, coping motives for drinking, and perceived social support interact to influence alcohol use behaviors. A sample of over 1,100 diverse urban college students completed measures of stress, social support, drinking motives, and four alcohol-related outcomes: binge drinking, frequency of alcoholic drinks consumed, negative drinking consequences, and use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) …

Cosmopolitanism Now: Fragmented Belonging, Adriana Fischetti

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

This thesis reconceptualizes cosmopolitanism for the contemporary moment as fragmented belonging, critiquing and moving beyond traditional cosmopolitan frameworks grounded in universal reason, seamless integration, or coherent identity. Through close readings of Teju Cole’s Open City and Tremor, and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West, this study argues that cosmopolitanism today emerges explicitly from rupture, contradiction, and ethical struggle, shaped fundamentally by conditions of displacement, empire, surveillance, and global capitalism. Engaging critical theorists such as Kwame Anthony Appiah, Homi Bhabha, Pheng Cheah, and Roland Barthes, the thesis identifies fragmented belonging as an ethically charged response to …

Investigating Student Expectations, Buy-In, And Engagement In Lower Division Undergraduate Chemistry Labs, Elizabeth Blanche Vaughan

Dissertations and Theses

Laboratory courses constitute an integral aspect of chemistry education at the undergraduate level. Despite their prominence, a growing number of researchers have begun to think more critically about the value of laboratory learning experiences. As pedagogical decisions should be based on evidence, it is necessary for chemistry education researchers and practitioners to investigate the claim that teaching laboratories are a valuable part of science education. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation was to address one small section of this gap in the literature by obtaining a more robust understanding of students' expectations, buy-in, and engagement in lower division, undergraduate, chemistry …

Recontextualized Knowledge: Available Designs Of The Long-Form Youtube Video Essay, Michelle Lynn Arendt

Dissertations and Theses

Recontextualization - the intricate process of transferring meaning material from one social semiotic context to another - is the primary avenue through which science and social science are communicated to general audiences. The prevailing popularity of social media platforms such as YouTube has encouraged a digital turn in recontextualization research and practice, with considerable emphasis given to navigating web 2.0's unique participation structure. However, compared to professional organizations, which contribute the largest amount of recontextualized scientific or social scientific content to social media platforms, independent user-generated creators consistently produce more successful content. Of interest to this project is the YouTube …

Itagaki Paru's Animalized Japan, Adoria Shanelle Walker

Dissertations and Theses

In the earlier works of manga artist and author Itagaki Paru, animal characters are used to prompt a discussion of the uchi/soto ("in-group"/"out-group") dynamic present in Japanese society. Throughout her most popular work, Beastars, and its supplemental short story collection Beast Complex, Itagaki tackles binary thinking and in-group versus out-group social politics using a blatantly obvious, yet nuanced and subtle herbivore-versus-carnivore, predator-versus-prey metaphor. The world she depicts in these works is full of misunderstandings caused by hastily made assumptions, sometimes instinctually quick. With her animalized characters, she explores human stigmatization and the poor treatment of those who do not want …

Taking Thermally Modified Rock Seriously: An Analysis Of Use-Wear Attributes, Dianna Marie Wilson

Dissertations and Theses

Rock is a durable and widely available resource that can store and transfer thermal energy, which is why people have used, and still use, rock in various forms of cooking techniques using different types of thermal facilities. Many of these facilities are important heritage resources associated with the long-term connection of Indigenous people to places, plants, and animals. In Oregon's Willamette Valley there is an abundance of thermally modified rock (TMR) that archaeologists minimally record and then discard, with inadequate information retained to reconstruct past TMR use or answer other important questions about past relationships between peoples' use of TMR, …

The Formation Of A Dialect: An Examination Of The History, Characteristics, And Evolutions Of Los Angeles Vernacular Spanish, Lianna Perry Fountain

Dissertations and Theses

Los Angeles Vernacular Spanish (L.A.V.S) or Español Vernacular de Los Àngeles is a non-standard regional dialect of Spanish rooted in the history and culture of Los Angeles Country, California. It is a sub-dialect of Chicano Spanish which has mainly existed in the Southwestern U.S for centuries. It relates to other varieties of U.S Spanish that have been influenced by macro-dialects other than Mexican Spanish. Like other forms of U.S Spanish, L.A.V.S has long been considered an imperfect manner of speaking or poorly formed Spanish instead of a dialect due to language contact with English. However, new dialects and languages are …

Acquisition Of Spatial And Temporal VTe-Kuru By Learners Of Japanese At A University In The U.S., Ayumi Naraoka

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined to what extent Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) learners have mastered the grammatical pattern for the verb gerund + kuru ("come"), which is referred to as Vte-kuru henceforth. There are two types of Vte-kuru: (1) the spatial Vte-kuru, meaning "to do [something] and come back," and (2) the temporal Vte- kuru, meaning "begin to." It is assumed that learners did not use Vte-kuru often, even though they should have learned two uses of Vte-kuru by the end of their 200-level Japanese class. To find out to what extent …

Crown Shy, Laura Francesca Kincaid

Dissertations and Theses

Crown Shy explores the ripple effects of inheritance--somatic, psychological, and material--and how such inheritance constellates into our adult relations and relating. In three parts, the text undermines nuclear family imaginings, first by pulling them out by the root, and later through radical practice, formal constraint, and syntactic ambiguity. By studying the natural world--the organizing principles of trees, insects, and flowers--Crown Shy attempts to glean strategy from evidence of what is already thriving. Reluctantly lyrical, the text quietly deplores the ramifications of commercial agriculture, including the speaker’s own family farm and ancestral homestead. With the weight of this origin point, …

Prosodic Analysis Of Wh-Indeterminate Questions In L2 Korean, Jung In Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Wh-indeterminate questions in Korean are potentially ambiguous due to the limited use of morpho-syntactic markers. When an explicit morpheme indicating the question type is not used, the disambiguation of the question relies, primarily, on prosodic cues. Drawing from previous studies of L1 Korean, this study examines the production and perception of intonation patterns of English L1 learners of Korean for wh- and yes-no questions in Korean. That examination allows speculation on potential L1 influence in the learners' production. Five English L1 learners of Korean who received formal instruction in Korean at a U.S. university completed a production and perception test …

Undergraduate Students Of Color Raising Children And Persisting In Higher Education, Kimberly Denise Alvarez

Dissertations and Theses

Millions of undergraduate students have been identified as parents across the United States. Of those millions, a majority have been identified as undergraduate students of Color who are pregnant, parenting, frequently underrepresented, and often not equitably supported toward degree completion. The purpose of the qualitative single-site case study was to learn what undergraduate students of Color who are parenting have experienced, in terms of support for their continued enrollment, while earning baccalaureate degrees at Portland State University. Through an asset-based approach, this study elaborated on three key findings which include the persistent aspirations of undergraduate Students of Color (USPs of …

Embodying Whole Community Preparedness: A Case Study Of Student-Facing Preparedness Initiatives At Institutions Of Higher Education In The State Of Oregon, Francis Pastorelle

Dissertations and Theses

Over the last two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in natural and manmade disasters. While no community is immune to the risks posed by these large-scale emergencies, colleges, and universities, which are home to numerous vulnerable populations, could be counted among those most at risk. In their current state of overall community preparedness, campuses are not equipped to weather impending dangers; consequently, the impact on students could be disastrous. This study examined preparedness practices at Oregon colleges and universities to better understand how institutions of higher education in the state prepare their students for large-scale emergencies, what challenges …

Three Essays On Communicative Planning: From The Perspective Of East Asians, Minji Cho

Dissertations and Theses

Communicative planning aims to strengthen the inclusiveness of planning by shifting the paradigm from the perception that the public is considered an object affected by the planning process to an active participant. In modern society, where people's values are more diverse, communicative planning can be an alternative way to reflect the opinions of people with diverse identities for decision-making. At the same time, however, it is criticized for its difficulty in universal application, particularly in non-Western countries. Scholars argue that since communicative planning theory is biased toward Anglo-Americans' context, it requires a specific contextual condition.

In this background, this dissertation …

Automatic Measurement Of Dialogue Engagingness In Multilingual Settings, Amila Ferron

Dissertations and Theses

Expansive use of large language models (LLMs) as dialogue systems brings increased importance to the evaluation of the responses they generate. Although evaluation of qualities such as coherence and fluency are readily possible with well-established automatic metrics, engagingness is often measured with human evaluation -- a process that can be costly and slows the pace of development. Existing automatic metrics for engagingness have low to moderate correlation with human annotations, evaluate the response without the conversation history, are complicated to implement, or are designed for a specific dataset. Moreover, they have been tested exclusively on English conversations. Given that dialogue …

Social Justice In Social Work: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Erica Fonseca

Dissertations and Theses

Social justice is central to social work and guides the profession's ethics, educational standards, and practices. It is aspirational and actionable, ideological and practical, and is simultaneously shaped by, and shapes in turn, social work. Consequently, this study understands social justice to be a discourse. Despite its ubiquity throughout the profession, what constitutes social justice, how it should (or could) be practiced, and what epistemologies orient social work to the concept continue to be debated. Given social work's express promotion of social justice and the myriad ideas and practices that follow from this critical value, the concept and the foundational …

The Exploration Of Latino Bip Participants' Experiences Of Oppression And Expressions Of Critical Consciousness, Adrian Luis Manriquez

Dissertations and Theses

According to Freire (1970), individuals and groups who are systemically oppressed in society often develop and struggle with a sense of internalized oppression, and those who fail to address their own oppression will likely engage in the oppression of others. Conceivably, this is the state of affairs for Latino males who perpetrate intimate partner violence (IPV). However, Latinos who use IPV behaviors are often viewed solely as "villains" or oppressors (Corvo & Johnson, 2003), omitting the various contexts in which this subgroup of males might be subjected to oppressive conditions outside of their intimate relationships. This contributes to an absence …