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Masters Theses

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Closing The Gap Between Pastoral Responsibility And Mental Health Preparedness, Robert Lee Lytle Jr Oct 2026

Closing The Gap Between Pastoral Responsibility And Mental Health Preparedness, Robert Lee Lytle Jr

Masters Theses

Faith communities increasingly encounter significant mental health needs among congregants, yet many pastors and ministry leaders remain underprepared to respond effectively within their pastoral scope. This Dissertation-in-Praxis addressed the persistent gap between the growing prevalence of mental health challenges in faith-based contexts and the limited leadership preparedness required to provide informed, ethical, and integrated pastoral care. This researcher defined the theological, organizational, and contextual dimensions of the problem, identifying stigma, insufficient pastoral training, and fragmented referral practices as primary contributors to the divide between responsibility and preparedness. Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of spirituality, leadership, and mental health, …


Sixth-Grade Inclusive Chorus Curriculum, Lauren Rancourt Eubanks Oct 2026

Sixth-Grade Inclusive Chorus Curriculum, Lauren Rancourt Eubanks

Masters Theses

This curriculum is an eighteen week block plan for sixth-grade inclusive chorus. Emphasizing adaptive activities and specific strategies for students with disabilities, this curriculum can be used with any middle school repertoire concert plan. Through visual aids and color coding, students with disabilities can participate effectively in the performance of melodic contour, rhythm, and repertoire. This curriculum is for a sixth-grade chorus that is preparing for a concert, in which students rehearse two to three times weekly. Drawing from the Orff approach and Dalcroze techniques, this curriculum has adaptions to activities in which students can demonstrate their understanding of musical …


The Resurrection And The Death Of Naturalism: A Philosophical And Historical Defense Of A Supernatural Event, Michael A. Youngwood Sep 2026

The Resurrection And The Death Of Naturalism: A Philosophical And Historical Defense Of A Supernatural Event, Michael A. Youngwood

Masters Theses

This thesis evaluates the resurrection of Jesus as a historical hypothesis within a comparative historiographical framework. Rather than presupposing either naturalism or supernaturalism, the study distinguishes metaphysical commitments from historical methodology and evaluates competing explanations according to consistent criteria derived principally from C. Behan McCullagh’s account of historical explanation. After establishing the historical phenomena requiring explanation, the study examines several principal naturalistic hypotheses, including hallucination, legendary development, apparent death, and conspiracy, before evaluating the resurrection hypothesis according to the same standards. The analysis considers explanatory scope, explanatory power, plausibility, coherence, consistency with background knowledge, and freedom from ad hoc assumptions. …


A New Understanding Of The Tension Between Evil And Divine Greatness: An Application Of Existential Ontology To Christian Apologetics, William A. Blea Sep 2026

A New Understanding Of The Tension Between Evil And Divine Greatness: An Application Of Existential Ontology To Christian Apologetics, William A. Blea

Masters Theses

This thesis is an examination of the potential integration of existential ontology into classical Christian apologetics. Pulling from philosophers like Nietache, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger to construct a framework that understands greatness as the overcoming of a being's context and evil as the relational, moral, and cosmic opposition to the order established by the divine Logos. This framework then allows for an identification of Christus Victor as God’s decisive response to evil. This thesis argues that a properly integrated framework may work to collapse the problem of evil from its metaphysical foundation: the contradiction between God's greatness and the existence of …


Semiotic Breakdown In Disaster Evacuation Signage For International Tourists, Mario Christopher Fimbrez Sep 2026

Semiotic Breakdown In Disaster Evacuation Signage For International Tourists, Mario Christopher Fimbrez

Masters Theses

Japan’s disaster evacuation signage systems are highly standardized and widely regarded as effective for the domestic population, who operate within a shared cultural framework shaped by years of earthquake drills, formal disaster education, and a common visual vocabulary for risk and evacuation. In coastal cities like Kamakura, however, the audience composition has changed significantly, with millions of international visitors now navigating these spaces each year without the disaster literacy or cultural familiarity that the existing signage was designed to assume. When those shared assumptions about urgency, symbolism, and environmental threat are absent, the communicative force of the system can be …


"I Will Not Hear The Melody Of Thy Viols": Opposition To Instrumental Music In Historic Presbyterian And Puritan Worship, Sean Patrick Michael Mcdonald Sep 2026

"I Will Not Hear The Melody Of Thy Viols": Opposition To Instrumental Music In Historic Presbyterian And Puritan Worship, Sean Patrick Michael Mcdonald

Masters Theses

The parallel movements of Presbyterianism in Scotland and Puritanism in England began and developed in the 1500s. Early on, both of these movements established their opposition to musical instruments in the public worship of God. This was not merely incidental to their worship, as though instrumental music could be added without any significant alteration to Presbyterianism or Puritanism as such. Rather, the rejection of musical instruments (usually organs) was essential to their worship, and inseparably tied to key theological principles.


A Christian's Formative Years And Their Worship Music Preferences, Cara L. Coffey Hall Sep 2026

A Christian's Formative Years And Their Worship Music Preferences, Cara L. Coffey Hall

Masters Theses

This study examines how Christians’ formative faith experiences influence lifelong worship music preferences. While discussions of worship music often emphasize generational differences or stylistic preferences, this study investigates whether formative spiritual experiences provide a more meaningful explanation for long-term worship preferences. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between formative faith experiences, age of conversion, and lifelong worship music among adult members and attendees at Northwest Hills Global Methodist Church. A convergent mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data was collected through an anonymous survey completed by 102 qualified participants and qualitative data was gathered through interviews with …


Examining The Relationships Among Cultural Intelligence, Religiosity, And Cross-Cultural Adjustment Among Faith-Driven Expatriates Living And Working In Thailand, Jerry W. Bosken Sep 2026

Examining The Relationships Among Cultural Intelligence, Religiosity, And Cross-Cultural Adjustment Among Faith-Driven Expatriates Living And Working In Thailand, Jerry W. Bosken

Masters Theses

This quantitative correlational study examined the relationships among cultural intelligence, religiosity, and cross-cultural adjustment among adult faith-driven expatriates living and working in Thailand. Data were collected through an anonymous online survey using three established instruments: the Cultural Intelligence Scale, the Centrality of Religiosity Scale, and the Expatriate Adjustment Scale. The final analytic sample included 85 usable responses. Analyses included data screening, descriptive statistics, assumption testing, and multiple regression models. The results indicated that the four dimensions of cultural intelligence collectively predicted overall cross-cultural adjustment. However, motivational cultural intelligence was the only statistically significant individual predictor. Religiosity did not significantly predict …


How The African American Contribution To Early American Literature Aided In Shaping The American Literary Identity, Jennifer E. Thompson Sep 2026

How The African American Contribution To Early American Literature Aided In Shaping The American Literary Identity, Jennifer E. Thompson

Masters Theses

This study argues that Jupiter Hammon’s early African American literature actively helped shape American literary identity rather than just mirroring it. By blending Christian morality with human rights, Hammon challenged Eurocentric narratives, validated Black humanity, and established a foundational tradition for anti-slavery writing. Traditional theories often contest this national inclusion through critical viewpoints. These views treat slavery as a distinct model, arguing that these texts represent separate responses to bondage rather than unified contributions to a shared national canon. This research redefines the American literary canon by showing how Hammon's historic publications dismantled eighteenth-century racist ideals about intellectual capacity. His …


The Dream Itself Was Home”: Imaginary Homelands As A Model For Analyzing Contemporary African Return Narratives, Renee King Aug 2026

The Dream Itself Was Home”: Imaginary Homelands As A Model For Analyzing Contemporary African Return Narratives, Renee King

Masters Theses

Although contemporary African return narratives featuring female protagonists explore a wide range of themes, they consistently portray women who struggle to situate themselves within an increasingly globalized world. In these narratives, the homeland initially functions as a stabilizing anchor that emboldens the protagonist to pursue education or employment abroad, yet works such as Doreen Baingana’s Tropical Fish and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah reveal that the homeland the protagonists once treated as immutable ultimately exposes itself as a dream. This destabilization unsettles the notion of an unshakeable cultural identity and demonstrates how migration reshapes both the self and the meaning of home. …


Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Corey Hastings Aug 2026

Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Corey Hastings

Masters Theses

Theologians and religious bodies attest to the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in governments, the economy, and the lives of the people of God. Through the covenant with Adam, God gave humans the blessing of dominion and capabilities unique to creation to till the earth. Today, humans retain the image of God but AI increasingly displaces human functions with coordinated agency. Using Hebrew language exegesis of passages from Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, this study compares capabilities gifted to humans with the scope of current and near future AI models. It incorporates direct artifact analysis of a large-language model as …


An Examination And Demonstration Of Bildungsroman As A Plot Type, Eric Holmes Aug 2026

An Examination And Demonstration Of Bildungsroman As A Plot Type, Eric Holmes

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on plot types for Bildungsromane, commonly called a coming-of-age novels. This story theme was first described two hundred years ago, and since, the definition has transformed, broadened and segmentized. However, making a specific plot type for a Bildungsroman, is not commonly discussed. This thesis identifies two distinct plot types which have been used multiple times in Bildungsromane. The first plot type is based on a protagonist who has not fully matured and suffers through a lack or flaw in maturity. The second plot type has the protagonist embark in a journey and matures and gains wisdom on …


Murder Of A Creative: Mfa Thesis, Himani Sanjeevkumar Mehta Jul 2026

Murder Of A Creative: Mfa Thesis, Himani Sanjeevkumar Mehta

Masters Theses

In the creative industry, the phrase “fast-paced environment” is often treated as an essential ingredient for productivity and success. The contemporary design landscape operates within an output-driven system that prioritizes speed, visibility, and measurable worth, contributing to the growing commercialization of creativity. Within this framework, the creative process is often diminished or overlooked where it no longer serves efficiency, reducing creativity to a consumable outcome rather than a reflective and sustaining practice. As a result, creative professionals and students increasingly experience creative anxiety, burnout, and paralysis, alongside imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and self-doubt. These conditions are rarely examined as systemic outcomes …


Is Genuine Redemption Possible Through A Counterfeit Christ?, Tams M. Mullins Jul 2026

Is Genuine Redemption Possible Through A Counterfeit Christ?, Tams M. Mullins

Masters Theses

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly referred to as Mormons, consider themselves Christians without equivocation. Evangelical Christianity has, however, challenged this claim since the inception of the Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints purport to be Christian in doctrine and practice and claim a Christian identity centered around their acceptance of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. While the Latter-day Saints ascribe to a high Christology, confess Jesus as Lord, and regard Him as their Redeemer, the Jesus of the Latter-day Saints’ literature bears little resemblance to the Jesus of evangelical Christianity. …


Desegregation Of The Ranks: How The United States Military Was The First Professional Organization To Integrate All Ethnic Groups, Matthew Lee Spiller Jul 2026

Desegregation Of The Ranks: How The United States Military Was The First Professional Organization To Integrate All Ethnic Groups, Matthew Lee Spiller

Masters Theses

A nation’s military has often been at the forefront of social progression. The Spartans, a military society, granted women a voice in government and a degree of autonomy over their own lives, while the Athenians—the founders of democracy—considered women second-class citizens with no control over their own affairs. The United States military is no different, striving to ensure fair and equal treatment of all ethnicities within the armed forces. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the United States military—six years before the desegregation of public schools in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This …


Post-Machine | You Vs. The Algorithm: A Creative Act Of Rebellion, Matthew Schultz Jun 2026

Post-Machine | You Vs. The Algorithm: A Creative Act Of Rebellion, Matthew Schultz

Masters Theses

Algorithms have become intertwined with everyday life, infiltrating both personal and social environments. They have transformed from influenceable tools useful for customizing information to machines of influence that are now dictating standards. These machines have begun morphing individuals idea of the self. This has become an epidemic of lost identity and fragmented self in order to conform to algorithmic acceptance. Emerging professionals in creative fields in the last decade have become particularly susceptible to this influence. If not addressed, young creatives will soon lose any autonomy of self and have a homogenized identity that matches the demands of the algorithm …


Celtic Catharsis: A Look Into The Emotional Appeal Of Irish Music In The United States, Coralyn M. Kutzner Jun 2026

Celtic Catharsis: A Look Into The Emotional Appeal Of Irish Music In The United States, Coralyn M. Kutzner

Masters Theses

This research study investigates the emotional connection and interest in Irish music within the Irish musician community in America. The background for this study includes an in-depth look at the history of Irish and Irish music culture in America, as well as a brief overview of the connection between music and emotions. The study itself was conducted in various locations where there was live Irish music playing. Through the use of personal interviews and an emotional evaluation scale, participants were asked to recount their first encounters with Irish music and the emotional connection they feel because of and while playing …


Just Hillbillies: State Power, Private Militarism, Coal, And Constitutional Crisis In The West Virginia Treason Trials, 1919-1937, Ryan Gregory Fix Jun 2026

Just Hillbillies: State Power, Private Militarism, Coal, And Constitutional Crisis In The West Virginia Treason Trials, 1919-1937, Ryan Gregory Fix

Masters Theses

In August 1921, roughly ten thousand armed coal miners marched toward Logan County, West Virginia, in the largest armed labor uprising in American history. When the fighting at Blair Mountain ended, the state prosecuted union leaders for treason against the state of West Virginia. This thesis examines that legal campaign of 1921–1923 and its long aftermath, arguing that the treason trials functioned less as a search for individual guilt than as an instrument for fixing the meaning of Blair Mountain before the miners could define it themselves. Where decades of gubernatorial proclamations and martial law had exposed the limits of …


In Search Of Whitman's "Real War": Soldier Recreations During The American Civil War, Rebecca C. Felton Jun 2026

In Search Of Whitman's "Real War": Soldier Recreations During The American Civil War, Rebecca C. Felton

Masters Theses

When most people think of the American Civil War, they recall the agonies and ecstasies of combat, envisioning the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the glorious folly of Pickett’s Charge, or the ravages of Sherman’s March to the Sea. What gets left out of the history books is what the common soldier experienced more than anything else: camp life. This study sheds renewed light on what the soldiers of the Union and Confederacy did to pass the time between battles. It focuses specifically on what they did for fun, addressing three categories of recreational activities: sports, music, and literature. It finds …


The Relationship Between Musical Aptitude And Multiple Intelligences In High School Music Students, Rachel Connor Jun 2026

The Relationship Between Musical Aptitude And Multiple Intelligences In High School Music Students, Rachel Connor

Masters Theses

This quantitative correlational study examines the relationship between musical aptitude, measured by Edwin Gordon’s GIA assessments, and students’ predominant multiple intelligences (MIs), as defined by Howard Gardner. Although MI has been widely researched, little is known about how intelligence strengths relate specifically to musically adept students. High school music students at Fayetteville Christian School in Fayetteville, NC, were first assessed using the GIA to identify those demonstrating musical aptitude. Eligible students then completed the AMI R/ARCH Profile to determine their strongest MI. A correlational analysis examined whether specific intelligence strengths are commonly associated with musical aptitude. Grounded in Gardner’s MI …


Fight With What You Have: The Influence Of Pre-War Cruiser Doctrine On The Guadalcanal Campaign, Dawson Baber Jun 2026

Fight With What You Have: The Influence Of Pre-War Cruiser Doctrine On The Guadalcanal Campaign, Dawson Baber

Masters Theses

The Guadalcanal campaign was one of the most important campaigns of the Second World War. It was the first American offensive action and began the rolling back of Japanese forces. Guadalcanal would also be a watershed moment in American naval doctrine. The experiences suffered during the six-month campaign led to significant changes in how the Navy employed its surface forces. Since the outcome of the campaign leads to significant changes in how the Navy fights, it is important to understand what led to the battles and why they went poorly. To be more specific, how did the Navy prepare itself …


The 1778 Fort Pitt Treaty: U.S. Relations With The Lenni-Lenape Nation And The Unraveling Of Early Promises, Veronica E. Riddle Jun 2026

The 1778 Fort Pitt Treaty: U.S. Relations With The Lenni-Lenape Nation And The Unraveling Of Early Promises, Veronica E. Riddle

Masters Theses

This study examines the Treaty of Fort Pitt (1778), signed in present-day Pittsburgh, as the first formal diplomatic agreement between the United States and the Lenape (Delaware) Nation during the American Revolutionary War. Formed amid the military and political instability of the Revolution, the treaty promised mutual military assistance, recognition of Lenape sovereignty west of the Alleghenies, protection from settler encroachment, and the unprecedented possibility of Native representation within the emerging American confederation. However, following the deaths of key Lenape leaders, escalating frontier violence, and the failure of the Continental Congress to ratify or uphold critical provisions, the treaty rapidly …


Geological Carbon Storage In Deep, Low Permeable Shale Reservoirs: Insights From The Haynesville Formation, Louisiana, Himakshi Goswami Jun 2026

Geological Carbon Storage In Deep, Low Permeable Shale Reservoirs: Insights From The Haynesville Formation, Louisiana, Himakshi Goswami

Masters Theses

As global initiatives to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions intensify, depleted unconventional shale gas formations have emerged as critical candidates for large-scale geological carbon storage (GCS). This study investigates the feasibility, dynamic trapping mechanisms, and operational optimization of CO₂ sequestration in deep, low-permeability shale reservoirs, using the Upper Jurassic Haynesville Shale in northwest Louisiana as a comprehensive case study. Compositional reservoir simulation (CMG GEM 2021.10) was performed using the SPE Haynesville dataset, with CO₂ injected at a rate of 10,000 ft³/day across single and multiple depth intervals spanning 11,290–11,314 feet. Results demonstrate that multi-depth injection significantly improves residual trapping, reduces buoyancy-driven …


Viral Visions Of Femininity: A Visual Thematic Analysis Of Trending Tradwife Imagery On Instagram, Phoebe L. Lim Jun 2026

Viral Visions Of Femininity: A Visual Thematic Analysis Of Trending Tradwife Imagery On Instagram, Phoebe L. Lim

Masters Theses

This study uses visual thematic analysis and a semiotics lens to examine how trending tradwife content on Instagram constructs domestic femininity through recurring signifiers of whiteness, homemaking, motherhood, and hyperfeminine aesthetics. Current rhetorical analysis of the tradwife movement argues that the imagery of sweet, nostalgic traditionalism functions to mask visual and semiotic codes associated with patriarchal hierarchies, anti-feminism, pronatalism, and alt-right ideologies (Proctor, 2022). Drawing on the theoretical models of Saussure, Peirce, and Barthes (1972), this research analyzes how strategically curated visuals of domesticity and femininity function as ideological signifiers within digital culture. Analysis of 100 posts under #tradwife found …


Design And Development Of Pcb-Fabricated Faraday Probes For Micropropulsion Diagnostics, Avery Adams Jun 2026

Design And Development Of Pcb-Fabricated Faraday Probes For Micropropulsion Diagnostics, Avery Adams

Masters Theses

An investigation into the feasibility of printed-circuit-board-fabricated (PCB) Faraday probes (FPs) for use in micro-electric spacecraft propulsion (EP) diagnostics was performed at the Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments (ALPE), at Western Michigan University (WMU). This investigation included the design, fabrication, calibration, and characterization of a prototype probe-board for the purpose of exploring the physical constraints for this design concept. Analytical calculations and modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics were used to quantify the error sources in incident ion current flux measurements. Decoupled electrostatic and charged-particle tracing models were used to evaluate the error impact of charge buildup on dielectric surfaces and the …


Study Of Plasma Modification Effects On Cell Proliferation Of 3-D Printed Poly Lactic Acid (Pla) Structures, Temiloluwa Nathan Jun 2026

Study Of Plasma Modification Effects On Cell Proliferation Of 3-D Printed Poly Lactic Acid (Pla) Structures, Temiloluwa Nathan

Masters Theses

3-d printing of structures has recently been adopted for a large number of applications including in-vitro lab-on-chip, organ-on-chip and other bioengineering applications. This thesis presents the results of our investigations on the use of a Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) structures for cell proliferation and their potential application for targeted drug delivery and Organ-on-a-Chip applications. As the previous investigations by the group indicated the requirement of surface modification of these printed structures, this study mainly focusses on the plasma surface modification of 3-D printed PLA structures and its impact on cell growth in different conditions. The first component focused on improving …


Tùn-Scene And A-Futurism: Biomythography, Opacity, And Posthuman Imagination, Minglu Du May 2026

Tùn-Scene And A-Futurism: Biomythography, Opacity, And Posthuman Imagination, Minglu Du

Masters Theses

Grounded in the author’s position as a Chinese feminist, this thesis examines how East Asian women, as well as East Asian-coded femininity more broadly, are objectified and othered within futurist visual culture in the age of artificial intelligence. Through an engagement with ornamentalism, techno-Orientalism, and posthumanism1 , it argues that the persistent figure of the feminized humanoid cyborg continues to reproduce colonial and patriarchal structures of desire, rendering marginalized bodies as fetishized and violable surfaces. In response, the thesis develops Tùn-Scene, a biomythographic artistic framework and the first experiment in what the author provisionally names A-Futurism. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s …


I Miss My Computer: Online Artistry, Web Aesthetics, And Coming-Of-Age In A Digital Landscape, Catherine Capeci May 2026

I Miss My Computer: Online Artistry, Web Aesthetics, And Coming-Of-Age In A Digital Landscape, Catherine Capeci

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how young artists develop their creative practices in a world informed by digitality. Through survey research of 44 art students between the ages of 14 and 22, as well as a process of autoethnographic inquiry, I examine how artists in high school and college relate to digital imagery, web archives, online gaming, and social media platforms, and how these experiences inform artmaking. I believe that art educators should explore how the internet informs aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities, and how these sensibilities show up in young artists’ work, more so than focus on digital media as its own …


"Hand And Mind Lead To Life": Craft Pedagogy In Art Education For Older Adolescent Learners, Katherine Fu May 2026

"Hand And Mind Lead To Life": Craft Pedagogy In Art Education For Older Adolescent Learners, Katherine Fu

Masters Theses

Art educator Jo-Anna Moore (1991) asks “What is the purpose of our individual growth through art or craft?” (p. 162). Moore’s question is daunting not least for the seasoned artist, but for the young people in our art classrooms who, to varying degrees, are or are not interested in art. This thesis draws from my personal narrative as an older adolescent whose introduction to craft helped me navigate great questions of identity, belonging, and motivation. It seeks to discover how craft can become a method of teaching art to all students, and in particular, how such a pedagogy addresses the …


Jadughar: The House Of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah May 2026

Jadughar: The House Of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah

Masters Theses

Jadughar or the House of Magic is what people call a 'museum' in parts of South Asia. The practice of museum making, at its origin, is the act of collecting, preserving, interpreting and representing a culture’s tangible and intangible heritage to make it accessible to diverse audiences. Since the early 19th century such practices have been performed at various kala bhandars (art centers) in India, without the need of a formal or institutional organisation. The British introduced the model of a ‘museum’ in South Asia, with the aim of not only preserving ethnographic collections, but also showcasing their power and …