Digital Commons Network^™

Female Students’ Perception Of Stem Identity At Utrgv, Kristen L. Hallas

Honors Theses

Despite the increase in representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate programs, they are still underrepresented in the workforce. Recent statistics published by the National Science Foundation show that the rate of females and Hispanic/Latina females earning degrees does not match the rate in which they earn STEM occupations, especially advanced degrees. Moreover, out of early career doctorate holders, women are less likely to hold post-doctoral scholar positions and are more likely to hold an academic, non-tenure track position. In response to these disparities, I sought to identify the strongest motivators driving the ambition of female …

A Cold War On The Dark Knight: Batman And American Culture 1939-1975, Angelica Cantrell

Honors Theses

In 1930, Batman fought the prevailing fears of urban America. With the addition of Robin in 1940, the comics changed to appeal to children and continued to follow the cultural trends of America during World War II and into the Cold War. Fear and paranoia during the Cold War influenced American culture and domestic policy. Anticommunism was ingrained in American social structure and initiated efforts at social containment in the 1950s. American culture shifted to emphasize morality and domesticity, and many Americans actively sought to protect traditional Christian values in their society.

Among the rising concerns, Americans became increasingly worried …

Andy Stewart, Andy M. Stewart, And Exonostalgia: The Draw Of Tartanry And Kailyard School, Sarah Tackitt

Honors Theses

Andy Stewart and Andy M. Stewart are popular Scottish folk and traditional musicians operating at different periods during the development of mass media. Andy Stewart’s career was marked by the introduction of the television into Scotland, and he made his career being compére of the Scottish television show The White Heather Club. After gaining international recognition, viewers and listeners associated his tartanry and stereotypically Scottish humor as representative of his culture and country.

Andy M. Stewart gained international recognition during the folk revival, in which he wrote songs both for his solo career and for the band Silly Wizard …

Retrospective Reports Of Parental Feeding Practices And Current Emotional Eating Behaviors Among College Students, Mercedes Babin

Honors Theses

Emotional eating is a commonly reported eating behavior among United States adults; however, previous literature has indicated that the development of emotional eating is abnormal with regard to the body’s typical physiologic functioning. Although several studies have shown parental feeding practices correlate to the development of emotional eating in children, little research has been done to explore the association between parental feeding practices experienced in childhood and eating behaviors present in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between parental feeding practices in childhood (i.e., food as a reward, monitoring, restriction, and pressure to eat) and …

Nursing Students Attitudes Towards Patients' With Disabilities, Sonny Miles

Honors Theses

Attitudes have been found to impact the quality of healthcare provided to patients. Nursing students are individuals that will eventually care for and impact the livelihood of all individuals including those with disabilities. Measurements of attitudes among nursing students serves to evaluate the efficacy of nursing curriculums regarding disability and determines if revision is needed to better promote healthcare administration for the patient with a disability. This study utilized the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP) to measure attitudes among nursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program at a Southeastern University. The mean score from participants was 108.49 …

Medical Laboratory Science Students At The University Of Southern Mississippi Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kaitlyn Mcginnis

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed educators’ and students’ perspectives on virtual teaching of the laboratory sciences. This study aims to determine the perceived effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) students at the University of Southern Mississippi. This study will evaluate how the changes to the instruction of the MLS curriculum and overall student mental health affected their grades and retention of academic content during and post-pandemic. The goal is to determine students’ perception of the effectiveness of virtual learning during the COVID-19 quarantine period, and whether it is a sustainable learning resource. Five students enrolled in …

“Though She Be But Little She Is Fierce”: Playing Hermia On The Virtual Stage, Taylor Alleman

Honors Theses

This thesis displays an undergraduate theatre performance student’s process for portraying the character Hermia in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Spring 2021 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The student completed a detailed script and character analysis, practiced specific vocal and movement techniques, and explored various choices in rehearsals in order to create a profound character that best fit the production.

Keywords: Theatre, Analysis, Vocal, Movement, Performing, Shakespeare

Constructing The “Obesity Epidemic:” A Chronology Of The Pathologizing And Enfreakment Of Fatness, Brooklynn Smith

Honors Theses

The “obesity epidemic” is framed by medicine and media as a public health crisis that urgently demands medical intervention and policy. Despite this common narrative, the cultural and scientific dimensions, as well as the historical roots of the “obesity epidemic,” have been subject to much less scrutiny than necessary. Part of this inadequate scrutiny is due to the pervasive pathologizing of fatness that has roots back in 18^th- and 19^th-century ideals of normative bodies. While the contemporary American medical system holds the “obesity epidemic” as objective truth, scholars both within and outside of medicine have challenged …

My Female Gaze, Sawyer Suerth

Honors Theses

My Female Gaze is a research paper that accompanies a two-year-long photographic study. I take back the disembodied power that the male gaze has over me in public space by taking photos of men that look at my body. For other works in the series, I have revisited the same areas and rephotographed the scenes, taking a forensic approach to the criminal potential of the male gaze. In this supporting paper, I expand on socio-political movements like feminism and internalized surveillance of the self, which contribute to my assertion that women have less visual, social power than men in public …

A Seminar For Student Leaders To Engage And Retain Members In Student-Led Organizations, Luke Mcpherson

Honors Theses

The challenge of attracting and maintaining members in student-led organizations (SLO) inspired this thesis. Current research literature was used to create a presentation for student leaders. The presentation applied marketing principles as well as best practices suggested by the research. Interviews with four student leaders and two administrators involved in student activities were conducted to interact with the research. Their insights suggested that the strongest factor in attracting students was social, whether personal invitation or a sense of belonging to the group. The strongest deterrent to participation was a perception that the benefits did not outweigh time commitments to school …

An Argument And Model For Garden Corps, Sydney Ellis

Honors Theses

The benefits of community gardening have been thoroughly documented. Despite the value of community gardens, however, these gardens face many barriers that threaten their sustainability. This research investigated the benefits, barriers, and solutions to barriers of community gardening. The author performed literature review and conducted interviews with four community garden coordinators from the Chattanooga area to explore these topics. The author used the insights gained from the interviews to develop a business model for Garden Corps, a nonprofit dedicated to building capacity for community gardens.

Junior Year Gpa - Understanding Its Predictive Relationship To High School Ranking, Act Score, And The Shift To Online Learning, Emily Nicole Miller

Honors Theses

Considerable amounts of resources are allocated to assist and retain students during their first and second years in college, and many universities provide extra support to students as they prepare to graduate and start their professional careers; however, resources are not often specially aimed at third year students (i.e., students in their junior year). The primary goals of this study were to contribute to the body of literature and gain a better understanding of the relationships between students’ ACT scores, their Tennessee High School Quality ranking scores, and their cumulative GPA at the end of their junior year. This research …

Reimaging Take-Up In Challenging Times: Determining The Predictive Value Of Publicly Available Socio-Demographic Data For Social Assistance Programs, Margaret Dempsey

Honors Theses

Social assistance programs throughout the nation have experienced major obstacles to both funding and service provision related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examines one strategy that a local Chattanooga nonprofit organization, Chattanooga Endeavors, explored to increase the rate of participation in a 21-day online program that assists justice involved individuals to address goals related to employment, education, and public assistance. The organization has access to judgment orders from Hamilton County (TN) Criminal Court and has used this information to identify individuals who have been sentenced to serve a prison term and who are eligible for an outreach program …

Sentiment Trends In Political Tweets: A Case Study Of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madeline Enlow

Honors Theses

Political public relations has changed in recent years with new developments in social media, leading to a greater use of digital communication. This thesis focuses on the wording in Twitter posts. This purpose of this case study is to find the potential effect of tweet sentiment on audience engagement when looking specifically at messages from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s professional Twitter account. A sentiment analysis of a sixth-month time span of tweets was created using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) system. The variables assigned for tone were averaged for each day and charted on a graph, showing when they …

Speech Therapy For Asd: Funding Curriculum, Potential For Success, Lillian Mcelreath

Honors Theses

Speech Language Pathologists (SLP), in the past decade, have emerged as some of the most important advocates for autism services and research (Prizant, 2017). The SLP’s unique role in language therapy, combined with their background in neurodevelopmental communication and child development, has made them an important part of autism services and research. Hence, states have allocated funding to service and research advancement for this specific population. However, different states provide different levels of supports to individuals with autism. States lacking specific mandates that provide therapy and support to this population could be hindering the success of a growing population. In …

Masked Up And Feeling Down: The Association Between Mental Health And Preventative Regulation During The Covid Pandemic, Mary Margaret Mitchell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Deficits In Health Literacy And Inadequacies Of Specialized Health Care In The South For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Patients, Kaleb Kittrell

Honors Theses

Health literacy is a constantly evolving concept that requires similarly evolving adaptation and specialization of health care to increase the quality of life for all. One demographic that is largely ignored when it comes to research in health literacy, specifically in the traditional South, is the d/Deaf and hard of hearing/Hard of Hearing (DHH) population. The purpose of this study is to determine the general health literacy of this specific demographic and compare results with that of other demographics to highlight the anticipated deficit in health literacy levels and emphasize the critical need for specialized care. This prospective, non-experimental, descriptive …

Belongingness Needs, Personality, And The Influence Of Virtual Socialization, Katrina Johnson

Honors Theses

Social belongingness is a part of everyday life. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how personality and the use of virtual socialization interact with feelings of belongingness and subjective well-being. The findings of this study indicate that belongingness and well-being are significantly and positively correlated with extraversion. We also found that belongingness and social media used for maintaining friendships were significantly correlated. Further, in a regression analysis, extraversion consistently and significantly positively predicted perceived belongingness. These findings suggest that personality and modality of socializing interact with perceived belongingness.

Media Sexualization And Its Impact On College Aged Women, Madelyn Moncrief

Honors Theses

Social and traditional media are often studied in relation to women’s perceptions of sex. However, they are often studied separately instead of together, missing the overall connection of media on attitudes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between media consumption, specifically social media and television, and college-aged women's levels of internalized sexualization. The findings of this study found a significant positive correlation between time spent consuming romanced-based reality television and romantic comedies and higher levels of internalized sexualization in college-aged women. This study also found there to be a significant positive correlation between college women’s usage …

Community Schools: Effectiveness Of Addressing Barriers To Education In Suburban Communities, Tiffany Patterson

Honors Theses

Over the years, the once thought of as stable suburban community has seen a significant increase in poverty and homelessness which has impacted students in similar ways as it has students in urban area schools and has resulted in the implementation of community school programs. According to Pew Research Center in 2020, there were 37.2 million people living in poverty, 16.2 million live in the suburbs, 15.1 million reside in urban communities – and collectively 11.6 million are minors. Community school programs have grown in popularity as an intervention in urban communities to address challenges that students have encountered which …

Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Immigrants In The United States, Isabelle Koslin

Honors Theses

When it comes to diversity research, immigrants have a long history of falling into an "invisible" group of people. This paper serves as an important first step into the vast amount of research that has yet to be done in regard to the lived experiences of immigrants that are legally living and working in the United States. Research for this project included open-ended, semi-structured individual interviews that took place with five immigrants. The participants immigrated to the U.S. on different visas, work in different industries, and are from different countries - thus allowing the interviews to reveal patterns of lived …

Creating A Classroom Culture, Molly Cahill

Honors Theses

Throughout my academic and creative life I have been in many different kinds of classrooms each possessing different values and practices. The art classroom for me was a place of exploration and play, arguably its chief and most important purpose. My thesis seeks to explore how art teachers can foster a creative classroom culture in which students are pursuing some form of expression and how art educators can engage with their students on an equal level and create together. I will also explore how the teacher as a practicing artist can further support and supplement this classroom culture. My thesis …

Communicating Through A Crisis: An Analysis Of The University Of Mississippi's Initial Covid-19 Crisis Communications, Sydney Waitley

Honors Theses

This thesis, in effort to examine modern-day crisis communications, focuses on the analysis of University of Mississippi’s initial crisis communications during the COVID-19 pandemic during March 2020. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the university’s communication efforts during this crisis in order to determine the effectiveness of the University of Mississippi’s initial COVID-19 crisis communications. First, the researcher analyzed historical case studies on three notable crisis communications (the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis of 1982, the United Airlines Crisis of 2017, and the Crock-Pot Crisis of 2018). From these case studies, qualities of good crisis communications were determined …

Left Out And Left Behind: Exploring The Well-Being Costs Of Leftist Ideology, Liam Luckett

Honors Theses

Many studies have empirically explored the relationship between political ideology and psychological well-being. Less look at political ideologies which fall outside of the categories of liberalism and conservativism, such as the case in question for this study, leftism. In the present paper, I carry out a cross-sectional study of candidate risk factors on well-being associated with espoused leftist ideological views, including locus of control and experiences of workplace alienation. I drew from both psychological theory on political ideology and well-being and elements of Marxist theory to generate predictions and explain the interaction of variables and potential personal costs to leftism. …

The Implications Of Colorism On Black Women From The Early 20th Century To The Present, Allaija Briann Williams

Honors Theses

Colorism, a term first coined by novelist Alice Walker in 1983, is a systemic issue plaguing the black community because it demonstrates unequal treatment of people with different skin tones and hair. Although colorism is present among people of other races and black men, this thesis explores black prejudice towards dark-skinned black women in the 21^st century as compared to the 20^th. This study illustrates the historical continuity of the colorist narrative of dark-skinned women as ugly, angry, and incompetent. As a dark-skinned woman, I was inspired to write this thesis from my own experiences and observations. …

The Effect Of Trauma On The Mental Health Of Forensic Scientists, Carley Sistrunk

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the existence of any correlation between forensic scientists experiencing trauma and levels of mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. A survey created in Qualtrics with demographic questions and measurement questionnaires for each mental health disorder was utilized for this study. While there was little statistical analysis due to a small sample size, results showed a correlation between experiencing anxiety and PTSD. Research also illustrated that there were no respondents that reported having no level of the mental health disorders listed.

Keywords: forensic scientist, trauma, mental health, anxiety, depression, PTSD

The Effects Of A Narrative Intervention On Gender Attitudes In Students At A Christian University: A Study On Narrative Persuasion, Katelyn Hawkins

Honors Theses

This study analyzes how identification, empathy, and perspective-taking influence prejudiced attitudes towards women. Through utilizing a narrative intervention alongside measures of prejudiced attitudes, empathetic capacity, and narrative identification, this study documents how students at a Christian university in the southern United States (n = 100) responded to narrative persuasion. While analyses revealed that the narrative intervention was ineffective in significantly affecting prejudiced attitudes towards women, participants’ empathy levels were positively correlated with character identification, further elucidating the process of perspective-taking. Despite some non-significant results, this study sheds light on the role of narrative persuasion on students at a Christian university …

Exploring The Impacts Of Student Classification On Perceptions Of Success, Mackenzie Richmond

Honors Theses

There are several definitions of success, and everyone has their own personal take. Some define success as receiving honors, rewards, or having good relationships, while researchers have their own success vocabulary. Although there is a battle between logic and sociality for perceptions of success, it is commonly agreed that success is linear and multifaceted. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of student classification (undergraduate and graduate/professional students) on perceptions of success. Knowing how someone perceives success offers insight into that person. Such insight can equip therapists on ways to personalize a therapeutic approach, including goals and …

The Effects Of Twitter Posts Regarding Covid-19 Information On The Viewer’S Perception Of Credibility: A Study On Misinformation, Grace T. Long

Honors Theses

In the current age, social media plays a large role in daily life. Although there have been massive advancements through social media, there have also been disadvantages due to its prominence. One such disadvantage is the dissemination of misinformation through social media platforms, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many aspects affecting the social media posts we find credible. This study investigated the different evaluations of COVID-19 credibility ratings in groups with varying political affiliations (conservative and liberal) and primary news sources (social media and newspaper). Misinformative posts along with true posts were used to garner credibility ratings and …

The Emotional Mechanisms Of Altruism Born Of Suffering, Mia Dini

Honors Theses

Introduction: Adverse childhood experiences have been found to be a predictor of both altruism inhibition and increased altruism (Altruism Born of Suffering) (Staub & Vollhardt, 2008). Factors affecting the development of altruism after ACEs are not well understood. The emotional mechanisms of emotion regulation and empathy development have both been independently linked to ACEs and to prosociality (Batson et al. 1991, Schroeder et al., 1988). This study aims to further investigate these emotional mechanisms as mediators and moderators of the Altruism Born of Suffering model. Methods: 418 participants completed a cross-sectional study assessing their Adverse Childhood Experiences, levels of prosociality, …