Digital Commons Network^™

Excremental Ecofeminism: Unearthing Waste’S Feminine And Narrative Agency In Early Modern Literature, Courtney Druzak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to understand the role of forms of waste in early modern literary texts. It both offers up a theory—known as early modern excremental ecofeminism—for reading period specific texts in relation to waste and articulates how we may do so through close analysis of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the elegies of Mary Sidney Herbert, the sonnet sequence Pamphilia to Amphilanthus by Mary Wroth, John Evelyn’s Fumifugium, and finally, William Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra. It chooses a variety of genres across texts from the 1580s to the 1660s both to interrogate …

The Cultural Worldview Of Women Trafficked For Sex In The U.S: An Ethnonursing Study Exploring Health And Well-Being Beliefs, Values And Practices From An Emic Perspective, Christine Lepianka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Women who have been trafficked for sex in the United State report that the health care they receive is not consistently helpful or tailored to their unique needs. The purpose and domain of inquiry (DOI) for this study was to discover, understand, and describe health and well-being beliefs, values, and practices of U.S. born women who have been trafficked for sex in the United States, in order to provide culturally congruent nursing care. Method: Leininger’s Culture Care Theory (CCT), ethnonursing research method (ERM), and enablers guided the researcher as she explored the DOI. Interviews were conducted with 11 key …

Inviting Friendship: A New Approach To Nonprofit Communication, Stacia Glenn Wetherington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning with Greeks’ concept of virtuous friendship philanthropy has been part of society. Metaphors of civitas, caritas and social responsibility dominated man’s understanding of charity until the explosion of neoliberal thought in the 1980s. The Band Aid movement in response to the Ethiopian famine permanently changed the way we view philanthropy. This movement created an environment of extreme commodification of charity which has created a highly competitive nonprofit sector and a loss of the collective spirit upon which it was founded. This competitive atmosphere has led nonprofits to chase dollars at the expense of their missions while also relying heavily …

The Construction Of Identity Through Tattoos: A Semiotic And Performative Exploration Of Trauma, Erin Lionberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this current historical moment, tattoos and tattooing have become a glorified cultural phenomenon that has been thousands of years in the making. The idea that tattoos can be used to express one’s identity is not a new concept — various fields, such as anthropology, cultural studies, and sociology, have studied the relationship between tattoos and identity. In this dissertation, I explore the signification and performative aspects of Auschwitz concentration camp tattoos and 9/11 memorial tattoos, while also considering the changes in meaning and interpretation that occur within and throughout space and time. Chapter one introduces the topic and provides …

Economic And Sociological Factors Associate With First-Year African American Students' Enrollment In Historically Black Colleges And Universities., Vickie Gale Bridgeman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the long struggle to gain access, African Americans always have valued education. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were established to educate Blacks. The racial integration of predominately White institutions (non-HBCUs) in the 1960s led to decreased enrollments in HBCUs and challenged their relevance. The purpose of this study is to discover what factors influence African American students to choose an HBCU today. Quantitative, secondary survey data methods were used to conduct the study. African American students at HBCUs and non-HBCUs participated in the survey. Consistent with generally accepted approaches in analyzing student college choice, this study utilized logistic …

A Qualitative Study Of 129 Police Lethal Force Incidents In 2016 Examining Participant Behavior Relating To Mental Illness That Contributes To The Use Of Lethal Force., Edward H. Byers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This multi-case, exploratory research study examined videos and related news media articles of lethal police shootings and found commonalities and possible contributing factors. Videos and informational articles posted on news media websites in the public domain were used in a qualitative content analysis to identify common elements in police lethal force incidents. The results of this study revealed contributing behaviors by the participants related to mental illness that contribute to lethal force. The decision to use lethal force by a police officer is framed using four analytical themes.

A Study Of Arab And South Asian American Men With Immigrant-Family Origins In New-Immigrant Destinations., Jack Trey Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an examination of Arab and South Asian American men’s (1) experiences and perceptions of discrimination and belonging in two non-traditional immigrant destinations in the United States (U.S.) south, and (2) their performance of masculinities in response to Muslim women’s experiences with Islamophobia. I use intersectional theory, theories of race and racism, theories of gender, theories on belonging, and grounded theory to analyze 23 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Arab and South Asian men who live in one large city and one rural town in the U.S. south. I find that upper-, middle-, and working-class Arab and South Asian …

“And The Next Day, You Are In Charge”: Policy Recommendations Stemming From A Qualitative Investigation Into The Professional Development Of Early Career Peer Support Specialists In Kentucky., Diane Zero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last twenty years, the peer support segment of the behavioral health workforce has grown rapidly. However, few researchers have studied the effects on individuals from transitioning into the role. Likewise, there is limited research examining the professional development process of early career peer support specialists. To begin to fill these gaps in the literature, I conducted a qualitative research study examining workforce development experiences of peer support specialists in Kentucky. This dissertation reports on its findings and includes a policy paper with recommendations for improving policy and practice. Chapter one offers an introduction to the peer support workforce …

Framing The Guard: A Content Analysis Of How The News Media Frames The National Guard During Times Of Crisis., Taylor L. Tolles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A quantitative content analysis of 585 newspaper articles gathered from seven news sources that covered the National Guard’s response to COVID-19, BLM Protests, and the Capitol Riot were used to determine the prevalence of frames used to depict the Guard during times of crisis. By using the five frames found in media framing (Entman, 1991), the prevalence of frames found in newspaper media was compared to the prevalence of frames found to be used in times of crisis (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The results showed that even though the Guard’s response in times of crisis is similarly framed as previous …

Approaching Trans Debates As Fascistic Sites Of Engagement., Sarah Jump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past decade, trans rights issues have been a legal topic of discussion and are still discussed publicly in 2021. This thesis researched how arguments surrounding anti-trans issues were successful in the United States. The arguments surrounding these issues are important to study to see how they pass within society and if traditional rules of argumentation are changing. This thesis proposes that traditional dialectical argument is no longer occurring and has taken a post-dialectical turn. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the kinds of arguments used in these issues and build the case that they are evidence …

Witness And Testimony: The Role Of Race And Community In Forming Black Aesthetics., Cathy Smith Shannon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a visual examination of the relationship of community to output of black artists, inspired by the Social Justice movement of 2020. It was important to note the impact on artistic output of community and environment that influenced each artist. This thesis looks at the work of two artists that grew up in the 1930s and launched their This thesis looks at the work of two artists that grew up in the 1930s and launched their Rights era of the 1960s began their artistic careers during the 1980s; and two artist that were born during the 1960s Civil …

Corporate Social Advocacy On The Blm Movement: A Content Analysis Of Corporate Responses Via Instagram, Oromidayo Racheal Tunji-Ajayi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black Lives Matter (BLM) has been a concern in the US since 2013, thereby becoming an increasing interest. Several US corporations’ attention has been drawn to BLM due to its radical strategy on social media to facilitate engagements. Research shows that a company's engagement in activism by taking a stance on socio-political issues often records growth. Also, scholars have focused on corporate responses to BLM through the lenses of the implications or intentions of the brand’s engagement. This study, however, analyzes 236 corporate Instagram BLM posts through the lenses of the attributes of their responses. It is assumed that brand …

Self-Reported Health Among Sexual Minorities In The United States, Christopher Burton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous literature on LGBTQ+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and other sexual minorities) reports that this community experiences greater health problems than heterosexuals. LGBTQ+ people experience higher rates of chronic conditions, STIs, addiction, poor mental health, and cancer, which highlights the importance of capturing data regarding health. A growing concern is that social surveys fail to find meaningful ways to gather gender and sexuality data to understand possible health disparities for LGBTQ+ people. This study uses data from the General Social Survey to examine the physical and mental health outcomes of LGB people compared to straight people in a …

Retention Rates And Pre-Matriculation Variables Of First-Time, Full-Time Students At Three, Small, Private, Liberal Arts Universities In Georgia, Bonnie Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental, correlational, quantitative study was to provide an

in-depth understanding of the relationship between pre-matriculation variables on retention of first-year, full-time students from fall-to-fall semesters at three small, private, liberal arts institutions in the Southeast United States. The findings will help to determine the significance of the relationships between retention and pre-matriculation variables on first-year, full-time students who entered each institutions the fall 2017 and fall 2018 semesters.

Archival data at the participating institutions were used to test the significance of the relationships between retention rates and pre-matriculation variables (standardized test scores, high school GPAs, gender, …

An Examination Of Female Officers’ Career Advancement In The U.S. Military, Glenda A. Gill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is little research about the gender-related barriers female military officers face when working to advance in the ranks even though there continues to be research about gender bias and discrimination when pursuing leadership and management positions. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of veteran female officers who advanced in rank in the U.S. military. Secondarily, the purpose was to: (a) determine if women experienced role congruity barriers, while advancing in rank and (b) determine if women experienced role congruity when they attempted to advance in rank to elite-level leadership positions. In this study, …

Analysis Of Disproportionality In Discipline And The Effects Of Positive Behavior Supports Within Special Education, Cutler T. Ruby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nationwide, school districts are required (IDEA, 2004) to implement positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) for all students receiving special education services. These PBIS are reported to reduce problem behaviors and increase prosocial behaviors when implemented with fidelity (Crone et al., 2015). With a reduction of problem behaviors an expected reduction of discipline referrals should follow along with a reduction in days spent in exclusionary discipline for students in special education. Reducing days in exclusionary discipline is desired due to a strong research base linking the practice to several negative outcomes (Marchbanks et al., 2015) along with data demonstrating these …

Challenges Of Pastoral Leaders: Maintaining Resilience While Contemplating Transitioning Out Of Ministry, Benjamin A. Griffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study was based upon 40 years of observation of pastoral leaders who faced challenges that tested their resilience to remain in or transition out of full-time ministry. Those who were fortunate to navigate their way through these challenges were resilient in ministry or were able to move forward by becoming bivocational. Some went back to school and got secular degrees and sought jobs outside of their calling. While facing career identity challenges, pastors feared their ministerial skills were less viable in a secular context and were reluctant to make a transition. This study aimed to understand their resilience …

Experiences That Support Persistence And Retention Of Latinx First-Generation College Students (Fgcs) At Community Colleges, Veronica Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to describe experiences of successful Latinx first-generation college students that support persistence and retention toward graduation for Latinx first-generation college students at California community colleges. The study was framed using Tinto’s retention theory. Successful Latinx first-generation college students were defined as those who have attained graduation from a California community college. This study focused on Latinx first-generation college students not persisting toward graduation at California community colleges, a situation that extends to the national level. This case study included nine Latinx first-generation college students, and the researcher collected data through virtual semistructured …

Clash Of Titans: An Ethical Framework Towards Limitations In Religious Accommodation Within Healthcare, Yoelit Lipinsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In late October 2017, a young Canadian Jewish man was at the center of a storm that involved ethics, religion, law and policy He had been unconscious for a month and doctors deemed him brain dead. The Jewish community, and his family, wished to keep him on life support, since their religion did not consider brain death to be ‘death.’ This clash between medical and religious perspectives poignantly illustrates the unique and growing challenges posed by religious observance in Canada’s secular healthcare system. A similar story is found in America. In December 2019, a story was published demonstrating fears that …

The Phenomenology Of Conversion, Paul Digeorgio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to offer a systematic phenomenology of the conversion experience based primarily on the transcendental method of Husserl. Conversion is an empirical phenomenon that, when phenomenologically analyzed, is revealed to have several eidetic or essential features that shape any conversion in general. After reviewing the secondary literature on conversion, I construct a synthetic account of the empirical experience. I then sketch the transcendental phenomenological method and proceed to evaluate conversion as a firsthand experience in the “natural attitude” which is necessary in order to ensure that I can exclude or bracket all of the assumptions …

Civil Religion And The Second Amendment, Shivaun Corry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American approach to legal hermeneutics emerged from the covenant theology of the Puritans. American civil religion understands the Constitution to be based in natural laws: a secularized conception of God-given rights. To change the text would collapse the epistemological framework of the nation. When a nation sees its constitution as a sacred text, then the answer to contemporary problems cannot be to change that text; rather, it must be to return to the text with an even more fundamentalist hermeneutic. Both gun rights advocate Charlton Heston, and gun control advocate Barak Obama, argued their cases using a fundamentalist hermeneutic, …

Professional Ethics For College Health Services, Dessa Mrvos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College health services provide a crucial resource for campus communities in the United States, substantially affecting student health, safety, and wellbeing. The impact and quality of campus clinical services impact student life through varied approaches to the delivery of services, health innovations, and business models. The role that campus health services plays in dealing with risk mitigation is essential: well-established public health principles of disease prevention, health promotion, and health education are sustained and advanced by campus clinical health services. Despite the widely recognized importance of college health services, there is very little literature on the contribution of ethics related …

Get Ready For Future Education: A Phenomenological Study On Artificial Intelligence, Son T. H. Pham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) brings new opportunities for social construction. This phenomenological research attempted to analyze the phenomenon of artificial intelligence in education, grounding in American philosophy, with a review of the history of A.I. in education, its promise, and possible futures. The primary purpose of the study was to share voices and lived experiences of educators, philosophers, industrialists and politicians toward the coming high-tech society. Fundamental to this philosophical inquiry was Heideggerian interpretive phenomenology. The findings from eight intellectuals participating in this study elucidated five themes of the investigated phenomenon. Together these empirical indicators, and an outline of philosophy of …

The Relationship Between Resilience And Social Support Among College Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amy Baskin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the unprecedented and unexpected nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is little data to date that have investigated the impact on college students. The current study evaluated the relationships between resilience, social support, and distress levels among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. One-hundred and ninety-one college students in a psychology course completed three measures assessing resilience, social support, and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first hypothesis was that as social support increases, then resilience will also increase in a college population during a worldwide pandemic. A second hypothesis was that as resilience increases, then distress will …

Transnational Writing Program Administration: Mobility, Entanglement, Work., Joseph Franklin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advances the global turn in writing studies by examining academic mobilities through an ethnographic study of transnational writing program administrative (TWPA) work outside of the United States. The literature review reads global writing studies scholarship through a critical-transnational lens to locate the gap for new knowledge in TWPA work. Influenced by Dorothy Smith’s Institutional Ethnography, this dissertation grounds the findings of its interview-based study in the terms of everyday lived experiences by internationally mobile scholars currently doing WPA work in order to construct more nuanced narratives of navigation and sensemaking. Participants discussed the consequences and limitations of us/them …

Exploring Socialization Processes For Leisure-Based Esports: A Qualitative Study., Joseph R. Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the perspectives of leisure-based esports participants from a Facebook group dedicated to a popular fighting game as esports. This study used a grounded theoretical approach, and several orienting theories/concepts (Serious Leisure, Recreation Specialization, social worlds, and the performance ethic) were used to study socialization into – and through – leisure-based esports participation. Based on ten interviews conducted from September through October 2020, this study found that if individuals were introduced to esports from the performance ethic, they tended to be socialized into social themes associated with the activity and vice versa. Through esports, participants were taught thoughts, …

Black Men Wanted: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring The Situational Factors Related To The Retention Of African American Male High School Teachers., Christopher Kevin Flores

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the nation’s high school student population becomes increasingly diverse, the declining number of minority teachers, particularly African American male teachers is becoming an area of concern. This instrumental case study of African American male high school teachers in the Fayette County Public School system in Lexington, Kentucky sought to identify the motivations for teaching, the barriers prior to and during teaching, as well as the roles these individuals are asked to fulfill in their schools. Using purposeful sampling, 10 individuals participated in semi-structured interviews aimed at providing insight to the three research questions related to motivations, barriers, and roles. …

Becoming Culturally Responsive: A Guide For Music Educators., Bailey Haynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As America sees an increase in minority groups, providing an education that is beneficial and responsive to all cultures is a growing focus in the education system. One of the many roles of a music educator is to expose students to allmusic and music that is most meaningful to the students. Music educators are charged with providing students with musical instruction that is well rounded, and that will aid in the personal and educational growth of learners. Through culturally responsive teaching, defined as “a research-based approach towards teaching that connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with that they …

Re-Visiting The Flutie Effect: An Exploration Of Athletic Success' Impact On Student Enrollment Decisions., Addison Pond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With each passing year, FBS collegiate athletic departments are faced with increased expenditures (Huml et al., 2019). Subsequently, institutional funding has become an increasingly common and controversial method of athletic department funding (Jewell, 2020). These spending and subsidization patterns are commonly met with controversy, causing the need to further unpack the benefits that schools receive from these behaviors. One anticipated benefit of athletic success is increased numbers of student applications. While the impact of football and basketball success on student interest (the “Flutie Effect) has been a popular topic in sport management literature, there is a lack of primary data …

Major League Baseball Fans’ Climate Change Attitudes And Willingness To Adapt: Climate Vulnerability Vs. America’S Pastime., Jessica R. Murfree

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change threatens the ability to enjoy sport around the world, including in the United States. While the scientific community reached consensus regarding the presence and severity of climate change near the turn of the twenty-first century, that same agreement has not been met across the American general public. Major League Baseball (MLB) is particularly vulnerable to climate change in the U.S. due to its season duration, geographic footprint, and largely outdoor nature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between U.S.-based MLB fans’ sport identification and their climate change attitudes, perceptions of climate change risk, and …