Digital Commons Network^™

Fundraising In The Theatre: A Reflection Of The Wmu Theatre Guild President's Performance, Lindsey Beck

Honors Theses

Fundraising is an important element to the success of any nonprofit organization, but arts organizations have unique opportunities to produce exciting, engaging, and creative fundraising events that coincide with their season programming. My thesis will explore what makes a successful fundraising event and compare best practices with the practices used at Western Michigan University for the annual Theatre Guild President’s Performance. I analyze the inner workings of the Theatre Guild Board of Directors and their approach to producing a special event, and interview professionals and board members to get a comprehensive overview of what defines a successful fundraising events look …

Allowing And Using Low Nutritional Value Foods For Celebrations, Rewards, And Motivators In K-12 School Classrooms: Teacher Candidates’ Beliefs At The University Of Mississippi, Chandler Cohn

Honors Theses

Objective: Identify University of Mississippi teacher candidates’ beliefs and observations about offering low nutritional value foods for student events from their K-12 school placements.

Methods: A twenty-two-item, cross-sectional survey was developed with Qualtrics based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The survey was distributed to juniors and seniors at the University of Mississippi, with a response rate of 79%.

Results: A majority of teacher candidates (69%) observed that their clinical instructor currently uses low nutritional value foods in the classroom to reward academic achievements, while only 38% agree that this is the right decision.

Conclusions and Implications: A greater focus …

The Dialectics Of Rock Music And Neoliberalism, Derek Block

Honors Theses

It has been argued that Rock music is one of the Modern West’s most important artistic achievements. It was, in some way, shape, or form, the most popular genre of music in the Western hemisphere for the last 60 years. The depth and relevancy of the genre still resonate through almost every level of society; a Bruce Springsteen song played at a political rally, a Beatles tune scoring a movie characters existential contemplation, the same six songs played at sporting events, and the list goes on. Rock music can be as personal as a stranger strumming a guitar in a …

Far From Home, Daniela Matta Chang

Honors Theses

Far From Home is a video documentary that focuses on International Students and their experiences of studying abroad. This documentary explores certain aspects of moving to the US for college, such as the motivation behind this significant decision, while shedding light on potential challenges that these students may encounter along their journey. Participants from different countries share their personal experiences and thoughts. Through candid interviews, they answer questions addressing a wide range of topics, including education, culture, language, social life and work opportunities. The participants in the documentary are all college students who moved to the United States specifically to …

The Rotational Period Distribution Of Massive Magnetic White Dwarfs, Zorayda Martinez

Honors Theses

Rapidly rotating white dwarfs (WDs) have the potential to come about by either double degenerate mergers or weak coupling between the core and the outer envelope during the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). For both cases, knowledge of the rotational period distribution places tight constraints on the evolution of angular momentum transfer. Here we present initial results from a study of the rotational period distribution of 19 massive (M > 0:9M), magnetic, DA WDs observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and 17 observed with ground-based telescopes and analyzed with the Lightkurve python package. We present periodograms, folded light curves, and …

Reflections: A Meditation On Ballet And Pain, Claire Madeline Silverman

Honors Theses

The defining details of the character of Giselle are that she loves to dance even though she knows it could kill her (for she has a frail heart), and that she is in love with a peasant boy named Loys, though she knows her mother dislikes him. She is defiant, determined to follow her desires.

Giselle wasn’t one of the ballets that stuck out to me when I was younger. I loved the Tchaikovsky ballets — Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker — and later Romeo and Juliet (Macmillan’s version) became my favorite. Giselle existed at my periphery. It’s …

Case Study Summary: Johnson & Johnson And Macy's Inc., Cameron Richardson

Honors Theses

This thesis, over a one-year period, covers conclusions derived from research on two different companies: Johnson & Johnson and Macy’s Inc. Through a two-semester course taken within the scope of the honors college alongside Dr. Victoria Dickinson, I, alongside my respective group members for each company, were able to compile a thorough analysis of risks and business strategies the two corporations could identify and implement to manage present and future complications. This analysis followed standard conventions of the accounting profession, as our research was focused on identifying risks and strategies affiliated with audit, tax, and advisory services, modeling how professional …

Aviation Mentorship Program, Joseph Zynda

Honors Theses

The Aviation COR Mentorship program is a test for efficacy of a mentorship program for Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation. This paper describes what the mentorship program is and the values it is founded on. The description will break down each Core Value (these are renamed to Core Principles in the “Facilitating Improvements” section). The paper then dives into the criteria for being a mentor or mentee and the schedule of the test program. The goals are then outlined for this initial program in a chart. There are five goals for the program to assist students with the transition …

Mental Health In Aviation: A Study Of Aviation Students On Their Perceptions Of The Federal Aviation Administration’S Rules Governing Mental Health, Laila Stein

Honors Theses

This study aims to understand collegiate aviation students, faculty, staff, and flight instructors’ perceptions of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) regulations governing mental health assistance. It also aims to examine the impact of the perceptions held by students, faculty, staff, and flight instructors regarding their desire to seek mental health assistance. A study at Western Michigan University’s (WMU) College of Aviation (COA) was developed to test the hypothesis that students, faculty, staff, and flight instructors had a restrictive perception of the FAA rules regarding seeking mental health assistance, and that students, faculty, staff, and flight instructors had lower desire to …

The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And Online Learning On Teacher Morale And What That Means For Students: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Madison Thomas

Honors Theses

Teacher shortages have occurred in the United States over the past ten years and continue to rise (Darling-Hammond & Podolsky, 2019). Teacher shortages have continued to rise at an increased rate since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, multiple studies have addressed teacher morale and retention in the wake of a global pandemic (Matthews et al., 2022; Bill et al., 2022). Through a systematic review of the literature from the last three years, this review explored the factors most affecting teacher morale and retention in Michigan following the pandemic. The keywords used within the literature review were: teacher …

Act And Cbt: A Comparison Of Predictors For Depression And Anxiety, Madeline Yorke

Honors Theses

Depression and anxiety are among the most commonly diagnosed mental health issues in the United States and across the world. Given the increasing prevalence of both diagnoses, the science community has emphasized research in the treatment of disorders, including therapies. Two common treatments used are Cognitive Behavioral Theory (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT operates on the theory of psychological flexibility as its core construct. CBT uses repetitive negative thoughts and worry as its core constructs. The overall purpose of the study is to determine how well ACT variables compared to CBT variables explain the variation in depression …

The Cut To The Heart Of The Matter: Justice, Morality, And Virtue Ethics In Intimate Relationships, Quinn Heiser

Honors Theses

Since the Enlightenment project to reconstruct morality using purely rational grounds failed, modern moral debate has been fragmented. Furthermore, intimate relationships, whether romantic or marital, are plagued with all kinds of injustices that have not been formally addressed in a philosophical investigation. The purpose of this thesis is to argue that the moral theory to restore interpersonal justice in intimate relationships is the notion of ‘practice’, founded by Alasdair MacIntyre under the Aristotelian virtue ethics tradition. What is meant by the notion of practice is any human activity with goods exclusive to its extent, as well as cooperative, objective, and …

The Importance Of The United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: A Study On Mali, The Democratic Republic Of Congo, And South Sudan, Tess Whitehurst

Honors Theses

This thesis presents the history of UN peacekeeping and how it has evolved over time to create more effective solutions to peacebuilding. This is done by providing a comparison of the backgrounds of three different peacekeeping missions, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), with a historical and demographical background on the host country in order to demonstrate the importance of peacekeeping on that country. Through critical research of peer reviewed sources and contextual information from …

The Life Of Una Estudiante Americana: Here Y Allí, Madeline Kastel

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences between studying Spanish at an American university, Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, Michigan to that of a study abroad program at La Universidad de Burgos, in Burgos, Spain in three main areas: teaching styles in classes, extracurricular activities and student experiences.

To begin this study, it is important to note the differences in demographics and available public transportation where each study took place: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA and Burgos, Spain. In Kalamazoo, students have the option to use the city bus system, the Metro, for free, but tend to use their …

A Content Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Telehealth In Mississippi, Hailey Layne

Honors Theses

Telehealth’s utilization within healthcare has expanded and changed areas of healthcare delivery. In rural states like Mississippi barriers to accessing healthcare services exist due to demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, or geographic distance. This study was meant to look at the literature related to telehealth that was being disseminated to Mississippians through online news sources. It was noted whether these articles viewed telehealth utilization in a positive or negative way. Utilizing a cross-sectional media analysis, the news articles were screened using a coding form that acknowledged different themes in the literature. Frequency analyses were conducted to aid in interpreting the common …

A Series Of Financial Accounting Case Studies, Indu Nandula

Honors Theses

This thesis was completed during the 2021-2022 academic year consists of eleven accounting case studies. The topics from these cases cover a wide variety of topics both related and external to accounting. The first five pertain to topics such as 9/11, the impact of COVID-19 on Pfizer, an interview with a business professional, and an Excel certification course. One of the cases also pertains to the city we desire to start our career in.

Following case 5, myself and several other honors students worked together to complete the next six cases, which involved a multiple-week analysis of Goldman Sachs. Topics …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On New Graduate Nurses And Their Nursing Judgement And Decision Making, Chase Rosengarten

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in the field of healthcare. COVID-19 has changed how providers and staff interact with patients and each other, limited access to healthcare in some groups, and led to changes in healthcare education in academia. To date, there has been little research conducted on the pandemic and the effects it had on nursing students. Current literature focuses on the pandemic and how it impacted already practicing and licensed healthcare workers such as registered nurses. Additional research is needed to assess those who were in school during the pandemic. In nursing education, there was a …

The Impact Of Staffing Shortages In Healthcare, Sana Syed

Honors Theses

Healthcare is an industry in which staff is imperative. No matter the advancement of technology, people are always needed to fulfill certain roles that are crucial for the patient’s quality of care and safety. Adequate staffing is a fundamental component of healthcare. As safety is a top priority for patients and healthcare workers, it is important to understand how this is compromised when there is inadequate staffing on the floor. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced retention rates as employees reached burnout during a time of distress and uncertainty. As hospital units were flooded with patients becoming increasingly ill, the safety …

Optimal Method For Reconstructing Polychromatic Maps From Broadband Observations With An Aysmmetric Antenna Pattern, Brianna Cantrall, Emory F. Bunn, Solomon Quinn

Honors Theses

Broadband time-ordered data obtained from telescopes with a wavelength-dependent, asymmetric beam pattern can be used to extract maps at multiple wavelengths from a single scan. This technique is especially useful when collecting data on cosmic phenomena such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, as it provides the ability to separate the CMB signal from foreground contaminants. We develop a method to determine the optimal linear combinations of wavelengths (“colors”) that can be reconstructed for a given telescope design and the number of colors that are measurable with high signal-to-noise ratio. The optimal colors are found as eigenvectors of a …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On New Graduate Nurses And Their Nursing Judgement And Decision Making, Marisa Szydlowski

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in the field of healthcare. COVID-19 has changed how providers and staff interact with patients and each other, limited access to healthcare in some groups, and led to changes in healthcare education in academia. To date, there has been little research conducted on the pandemic and the effects it had on nursing students. Current literature focuses on the pandemic and how it impacted already practicing and licensed healthcare workers such as registered nurses. Additional research is needed to assess those who were in school during the pandemic. In nursing education, there was a …

Sociological Viewpoint Of Intersectionality: A Focus On Class, Identity And Sexual Orientation, Sue Jiun Yap

Honors Theses

This thesis by Sue Jiun Yap examines the intersectional themes of class, identity, and sexual orientation in the films Saving Face, Crazy Rich Asians, and Everything Everywhere All At Once. The thesis paper will utilize content analysis methodology to explore the concepts listed. The analysis of these films highlights their groundbreaking works that challenge heteronormative and racial narratives in the film industry. In addition to these observations, the paper highlights Asian individuals and communities facing significant complications as a result of various intersecting identities - specifically class, identity, and sexual orientation. Furthermore, it highlights how such struggles contribute significantly …

Ivermectin: Covid-19 "Miracle Cure?": A Case Study On Public Health Communication To Combat Disinformation, Ashley Dittmar

Honors Theses

Communicating accurate health information to the public has always been a vital role of public health professionals. This role became especially prominent in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, when public health professionals had the challenge of sharing up-to-date information about a novel coronavirus while other messages about the virus - both true and false - were being spread by other entities. This paper focuses on one case of intentionally incorrect information (disinformation) that was spread during the COVID-19 pandemic, purporting anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a “miracle cure” for COVID-19. This case study is analyzed through the lens of the Media …

The Public Trust Doctrine: Roman Law Roots And Future In Environmental Litigation, Phoebe Liccardo

Honors Theses

The public trust is an ancient and enduring legal doctrine. With roots in Roman law, the public trust persists through English law, and into the United States. Scholars and jurists in the field of Roman and environmental law do not all agree on the history and continuity of the public trust doctrine (PTD). There are those who argue the Roman law introducing a public trust did not assert the same protections present in the doctrine today. Conversely, there are those who believe the Roman law did enshrine similar protections, and further, that it calls for an expansion of PTD in …

Could Musical Theatre Be Worthy Of Literary Analysis? (Or, An Attempt At Dismantling The Cultural Hierarchy), Sarah Meierdirks

Honors Theses

Could Musical Theatre Be Worthy of Literary Analysis?

Cultural hierarchy, or the perception that different forms of art relate to each other in terms of higher or lower sophistication, has commanded the way we view art for centuries. Artforms which the cultural hierarchy deems to be “higher” are often given more attention, respect, and appreciation in academia, but can be less accessible both physically and mentally to the masses, while artforms deemed to be “lower” tend to be simpler and more fun, making them have a more popular appeal. The tendency for art that is either simple or fun to …

The Physiological And Psychological Benefits Of Rock Steady Boxing And Their Implications For The Management Of Parkinson’S Disease., Riley Hobson

Honors Theses

According to the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (ADPA), there are an estimated 1 million people in the U.S. living with Parkinson’s disease, and over 10 million people worldwide. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive movement disorder that is characterized by motor symptoms such as tremor and bradykinesia, as well as non-motor symptoms such as sleep problems, fatigue, and depression (ADPA, 2023). Currently, there are no treatments for Parkinson’s disease, however, several interventions have been determined to provide symptom relief, slow the rate of disease progression, and improve one’s quality of life. These interventions range from medication to exercise participation. Rock …

The Impact Of The War In Gaza On Pediatric Mental Health, Noura Warsi

Honors Theses

Due to the military occupation and numerous violent wars that occur in the Gaza Strip, current research depicts that these occurrences not only suscept children to physical harm, but are also detrimental to children’s mental health, causing lasting consequences if left untreated. The purpose of this project is to understand and analyze the impact of the wars, specifically the 2021 war, and the military occupation on Gaza’s pediatric mental health. Unfortunately, children in Gaza, as well as parents, teachers, health care providers, and mental health counselors have the unique problem of navigating mental health crises in children who experience continuous …

A Review Of Pre-Clinical Studies On Meth-Induced Gut Microbiome Alterations, Payton Brabant

Honors Theses

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic, pervasive disease that affects approximately 40.3 million people aged 12 and over within the United States (SAMHSA, 2021). Recent investigations have emphasized preventive measures targeting the development of SUDs and the occurrence of relapse. However, to date, FDA-approved medications are only available for those with alcohol (AUD) and opioid use disorders (OUD) (Forouzan et al., 2021). Given that about 964,000 people have methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) within the United States, investigation of novel treatment approaches for psychostimulant abuse is warranted (Forouzan, Hoffman, and Kosten, 2020). Several negative effects can occur after using methamphetamine …

Emotional Support Animals On Campus: Relevance, Benefits, And Controversies, Grace Campbell

Honors Theses

This research pertains to Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) on university campuses. It explores the need for ESAs (specifically for college students), differentiates between types of support animals, and discusses benefits and controversies that come along with ESAs on campus. Following this, it sets up a research study that can be used at Western Michigan University relating to student experience with ESA utilization and approval. The study, if performed, would give insight to student experiences, and help the University in supporting the maximum number of students. Emotional support animals have many benefits for college students, including but not limited to, a …

Intimate Partner Violence In Nursing Students: Prevalence And Impact Of Educational Workshop, Sara Michalowski

Honors Theses

Introduction

The overall purpose of this study was to understand the prevalence of intimate partner violence in nursing students and assess the amount of education and knowledge that nursing students have on this topic. In addition, resources were provided to the students. Suggestions for improvement are also provided for the nursing staff and faculty. There is currently little education being provided to nursing students regarding intimate partner violence, which leads to unpreparedness in the nurse role and failure to recognize abusive situations in their personal lives. The qualitative data is limited regarding the prevalence of intimate partner violence in nursing …

Optimization Of Material Flow Of Woodshop Through Layout Redesign, Madison Wegner

Honors Theses

A local high-design outdoor site furniture company – Landscape Forms – worked with the senior design team to create alternative layouts for the woodshop within the company. This senior project will offer three categories of alternative layouts: short, mid, and long term. By offering multiple time frame layouts, Landscape Forms will be able to implement changes based on time frame and need. A project plan indicates all tasks required to meet these objectives as well as a timeline for accomplishing this plan. Research including worker movement diagrams, stakeholder interviews incorporating woodshop employees and engineers, a man and machine utilization study, …