Digital Commons Network^™

Sm Providers’ Perspectives On Treating Selective Mutism In Children With Autism, Brooke M. Koeppel

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that selective mutism (SM) and autism frequently co-occur, yet there remains limited empirical research examining treatment practices for youth presenting with both conditions. The presence of co-occurring SM and autism has important implications for intervention planning and implementation, particularly in light of differences in communication, rigidity, and social engagement commonly observed in autistic youth. Accordingly, the present study examined how frequently SM providers treat youth with co-occurring SM and autism, the treatment strategies they endorse using, and whether providers modify or adapt interventions to better meet the needs of this population. SM providers reported on their clinical exposure …

Leading For Wholeness: Black Girlhood, Morrison And Hurston, And The Epistemology Of Flourishing In Independent Schools, Kamaya Prince Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how Black girls in US independent schools experience Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, alongside the larger, traditional literary canon taught within high school English classrooms as texts that can shape their sense of self. In this project, wholeness is defined through a tripartite framework consisting of three interconnected parts: Self (a deepened sense of identity and ways of knowing), Community (experiences of belonging, safety, mentoring, and joy), and Purpose (the development of values, meaning, and a sense of connection both to the community and self). These aspects are …

A Hero’S Horizon Of Mirrors: Dovette, Deve, Dovrà, William James Kerrane

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines James Joyce’s Ulysses as a modern transformation of the Ulysses myth through the philosophical framework of Ernst Cassirer’s theory of symbolic forms and W.B. Stanford’s historical study of the Ulysses tradition. While Stanford demonstrates how the figure of Ulysses has been continually reinterpreted across literary history—from Homer’s cunning hero to Dante’s transgressive explorer and the restless modern figures of the nineteenth century— this study argues that Joyce’s Ulysses represents a uniquely philosophical adaptation of the myth in which heroic identity becomes a function of symbolic consciousness rather than physical action. Drawing on Cassirer’s philosophy, which defines myth, …

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Domestic Intelligence Implications Of Travel-To-Target Distances In Domestic Violent Extremist Attacks, Kyle W. Mcdonnell

Theses and Dissertations

Domestic violent extremist (DVE) attacks in the U.S. present a fluid and dynamic threat to national security. While past research has extensively examined the ideological drivers of DVE violence, relatively little focus has been placed on their geographic mobility, particularly how far DVE actors travel from their hometowns to attack sites and what insights this provides for intelligence and law enforcement. This dissertation explores how geographic proximity, ideological motivation, and logistical constraints shape DVE travel patterns. Using a comprehensive dataset covering U.S.-based DVE incidents from 2001 to 2025, this study employs a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative geospatial analysis with qualitative …

An Rebt Intervention To Reduce Stress And Enhance Putting Performance Among Student-Athlete Golfers, Jasmine Bryant

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) self-talk intervention on golf putting performance, irrational beliefs, and stress in competitive high school golfers. Three participants (ages 14–17) completed a baseline session followed by three weekly REBT intervention sessions at a golf course. Measures included the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, Sports Anxiety Scale, Self-Talk and Performance Facilitation Likert Scale, and a pressured putting task. Results were mixed: one participant demonstrated a large improvement in putts made (h = 0.82), while performance gains were minimal for others. Sports anxiety showed reliable change for two participants, …

Human Being And Being Human In Frankenstein Through The Lens Of Catholic Social Teaching, Faria S. Sookdeo

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that looking at social issues, such as racism, adverse effects of advancement in and use of science and technology, and environmental concerns, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through a Catholic Social Teaching (CST) lens enables an understanding of the nature of humans that brings marginalized and non-marginalized creatures, both human and non-human in a common community and emphasizes and that our behaviors towards such creations are what define our humanity and are vital to the preservation of our environment, subjects that are as relevant today as they were when Shelley first published Frankenstein in 1818 and when the …

Middle Grades English Language Arts Teachers’Experiences Of Care: A Narrative Case Study, Kathleen Rose O’Farrell

Theses and Dissertations

This narrative case study examined how four middle grades English Language Arts (ELA) teachers enacted care in a suburban Northeastern U.S. middle school. Drawing on interviews, classroom observations, instructional artifacts, and notes, the study developed narrative portraits to examine how care was experienced and enacted within daily instructional practices. Guided by Nel Noddings’s (2013) care theory and Geneva Gay’s (2018) culturally responsive care framework, the study explored how teachers sustained meaningful and equitable instruction amid post-pandemic academic, social-emotional, and technological shifts. Findings revealed care as the instructional foundation, making equitable and meaningful literacy learning possible with three interrelated dimensions: trust, …

The Burden Of (Hand)Writing: The Lived Experiences Of Secondary Students With Dysgraphia, Eleesha S. Romasko

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental dysgraphia is a disability that impacts the writing of students and has long-term effects on their education. While past research has primarily focused on clinical aspects, there is scarce qualitative research. The purpose of this study was to give a voice to the experiences of secondary students (grades 6-12) with dysgraphia using a phenomenological approach. The study was grounded in Piaget’s cognitive constructivism and uses a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach to understand the lived experience of students with dysgraphia. The research utilized purposive sampling to find four participants with dysgraphia who were in grades 6-12. Data was collected through …

Teacher And Administrator Perspectives On Participation In Professional Learning Communities And Their Impact On Collective Teacher Efficacy: A Multi Case Study, Maria Kambourakis

Theses and Dissertations

Urban educators face ongoing challenges in establishing collaborative cultures that effectively maximize student achievement. To address this research problem, this qualitative case study investigates how teachers and administrators perceive their participation in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and how these perceptions shape Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE). Grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory of collective efficacy and DuFour’s PLC framework, the research explores how structured collaboration enhances educators' shared beliefs in their ability to positively impact student learning. The researcher employed a qualitative case study design involving eight teachers and two administrators across two non-public, urban K-8 schools in Brooklyn, New York. …

Embracing Pluralism In Catholic Schools: Administrative And Faculty Perspectives On Multiculturalism In Education, Gerard J. Buckley

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative, nonexperimental study examined faculty and administrative perspectives on multiculturalism in Catholic schools across New York State. Archived New York State Education Department (NYSED) data were analyzed to identify student race/ethnicity enrollment trends in Catholic schools from 2013 to 2025, alongside survey data measuring Catholic school educators’ perceptions of multiculturalism. Survey participants included faculty and administrators from seven dioceses across New York State. Data were analyzed using ANOVAs and multiple regression. The study addressed two primary areas: changes in racial/ethnic enrollment over time and differences in educator perceptions on multiculturalism based on demographic and professional factors. Findings showed a …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Higher Education Enrollment, Shonna L. Jones-Washington

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of AI-driven chatbot technology on the progression through the undergraduate admissions funnel, including application, admission, and enrollment, and to explore how AI outreach intensity predicts these outcomes while addressing potential disparities across student subgroups. The study involved 24,141 data records, including both domestic and international undergraduate applicants to St. John’s University for the Fall 2025 semester. The study found that AI interaction was associated with higher admission rates (83.0% vs. 75.7%) but revealed no significant relationship between AI usage and final enrollment rates. Quantitative analyses, including chi-square tests, binary logistic …

Mentoring Matters: A Phenomenological Study Of How Principals Support New Teacher Development And Retention In Inner-City Catholic Schools, Helena Castilla-Byrne

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the lived experiences surrounding the phenomenon of being a new teacher in an inner-city Catholic school by looking at teachers’ professional learning and development to facilitate the new teacher’s retention, growth, well-being, and success in inner-city Catholic schools through the lens of the school principal leading them. According to the National Education Association, 55 percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned (Walker, 2022). With many new teachers leaving the profession within the first few years, schools must find ways to support and retain them. …

Metamorphosis, Allegra Codamon

Theses and Dissertations

Relevance to Interior Design Research

In Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman, he starts from the premise that thinking and feeling are contained in the process of making. This thesis builds on that premise, arguing that through the embodied process of glassworking, making constitutes a form of interior knowledge—where perception, memory, and bodily awareness are formed through material resistance and responsiveness. Drawing on Sennett and Juhani Pallasmaa, this work positions glassmaking as a mode of thinking-through-doing, in which interiority is produced through sustained material engagement.

Research Question

What does interiority embodied through the making process look like? This question will be investigated …

What Is School For? Interpreting Purpose And Practice In A Microschool Case Study, Cammie D. Justus-Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how one microschool interprets and enacts the purposes of schooling through a qualitative case study of Summit School, an Acton Academy affiliate in a mid-sized Southern city. Situated within broader debates about school choice and alternative education, the study explores how Summit’s vision, structures, and participant experiences illuminate enduring tensions in schooling: civic versus economic aims, public good versus private benefit, and innovation versus institutional continuity. Drawing on interviews, focus groups, observations, and school documents, the study treats Summit not as representative of microschools broadly, but as a bounded case through which larger questions about educational purpose …

The Thing About Stuff: Exploring Consumerism Through Contemporary Print, Collage And Self-Reflection, Alexandra Lee Cox

Theses and Dissertations

The Thing about Stuff is an exhibition of editioned prints and book forms that pertain to personal and societal contradictions under capitalism. I use a combination of collage, design, print, traditional research and writing to form a better understanding of my place in capitalism by redefining my participation in it. Historical and contemporary research in combination with self-reflection and artmaking assists in my exploration of consumerism through the lens of human-object relationships. This body of work translates my own material desire for an audience through intentional composition, limited color pallets and intentional display. The accompanying supportive statement focuses on the …

An Application Of Molecular Dynamics To Hed Plasma Physics: Point And Group Defect Diffusion In Coulomb Crystals, Levi Webb

Theses and Dissertations

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to explore the microscopic behaviors of complex systems that cannot be easily studied experimentally. In particular, the microphysics of high energy density (HED) astrophysical plasma environments remain inaccessible by modern experiment---even in laser facilities, these plasmas exist only on short timescales that do not lend easily to investigation. The diffusion of point and group defects through crystallized plasmas in the cores of white dwarfs and neutron star crusts, called Coulomb crystals, has potentially macroscopic implications for the evolution of these bodies. Thus, I employ the widely-used MD code LAMMPS to simulate small Coulomb crystal …

“Is This Really Funny?” Humor, Rape Myths, And Social Semiotics In Nigerian Comedy Skits, Grace Oluwatofunmi Adeyemo

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how rape myth narratives are normalized through humor in Nigerian comedy skits. While existing research has identified rape-supportive beliefs in digital entertainment, it has paid less attention to the processes through which these meanings become socially acceptable. Guided by social semiotics, the study analyzes how semiotic resources use humor to normalize rape myth narratives in Nigerian comedy skits. Using a qualitative design, twelve purposively selected Nigerian comedy skits on YouTube were analyzed. The findings reveal that refusal is constructed as temporary, persistence is portrayed as effort, men's refusal is framed as abnormal, and consent is shaped by …

Between Tradition And Transition: Cultural Negotiations And Contraceptive Perceptions Among Ghanaian Students In The United States, Beatrice Amissah

Theses and Dissertations

As global mobility continues to rise, international students often encounter new cultural norms and health practices that differ from those in their home countries. While some studies have focused on contraception within the context of gender and types, less focus has been placed on diasporic populations, especially how students navigate tensions surrounding contraception within new cultural environments. This study explores how Ghanaian students in the United States interpret, negotiate, and respond to contraceptive messaging while navigating the cultural transition between their heritage and host societies. Drawing on Berry’s (1980)  Acculturation Theory, the study examines the tensions students experience, the strategies …

Creating "An Exemplar Of A Better World": A Dialogic Analysis Of Academic Freedom Surrounding Columbia University Activism From 2023-2025, Ellanore Foltz

Theses and Dissertations

From October of 2023 to August 2025, the community at Columbia University engaged in a series of debates regarding the meaning of academic freedom. Academic freedom, first institutionalized in the United States during the first world war, has shifted over the decades as the purpose of higher education and the threats to higher education changed. In recent years, campus protests regarding Israel and Palestine have sparked new debates about academic freedom that reflect ongoing and sometimes fundamental disagreements about higher education. This study utilizes Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT; Baxter, 2011) to explore the interplay between different discourses of academic freedom …

Dining Experiences Across Hearing Profiles: The Influence Of Noise And Environmental Factors In Restaurants, Lorin M. Kmieciak

Theses and Dissertations

Dining out is a popular activity worldwide that is rooted in sensory and emotional engagement. How an individual experiences the sensory conditions in restaurants varies widely, highlighting the importance of designing dining environments that accommodate diverse perceptual needs and abilities. The purpose of this study is to address how existing dining environments overlook inclusive and accessibility-centered design by examining how hearing loss intersects with the acoustic, sensory, and social dimensions of dining environments. This study employed a mixed method, exploratory approach by gathering quantitative data through a survey and qualitative data through follow-up interviews to generate a holistic and data-driven …

Modeling The Impact Of Projected Water Demand On Groundwater Flow And Transport In The Mahomet Aquifer, Christabel Chinonye Abugu

Theses and Dissertations

The Mahomet Aquifer is a vital groundwater resource in east-central Illinois, supporting municipal, agricultural, and industrial water use. With projected changes in water demand driven by population growth and future socioeconomic conditions, assessing the long-term response of the aquifer is critical for sustainable groundwater management. Increased pumping to meet future demand may contribute to groundwater-level decline, intensified cones of depression, and altered groundwater-flow paths relevant to contaminant migration. This study addressed two research questions: (1) how projected changes in groundwater demand affect groundwater levels in the Mahomet Aquifer, and (2) how projected demand influences groundwater-flow paths relevant to contaminant migration. …

Conceptual Concerns Regarding The Content Validity Of The Construct Of Gender Dysphoria In The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision, Waverley Vesely

Theses and Dissertations

The diagnostic classification of gender dysphoria in the DSM-5-TR elicits a number of clinical, political, and philosophical concerns, ranging from those that are diagnostic and taxonomical in nature to those that fall within the domains of ontology, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. Part of the reason for the complexity of studying the diagnostic and nosological validity of gender dysphoria as an extant diagnostic classification is that, unlike many disorders, gender dysphoria is inextricably tethered to identity. While the recent change from gender identity disorder to gender dysphoria has nominally removed the status of disorder, in practice, both clinicians and the general population …

Examining The Impact Of Trauma-Informed Mindfulness Meditation On Posttraumatic Growth Following Interpersonal Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Margaret Poandl

Theses and Dissertations

Research on interventions designed to increase posttraumatic growth (PTG) among interpersonal trauma survivors is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a six-week trauma-informed mindfulness meditation intervention on PTG. Additionally, I examined outcomes of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and loneliness, as well as analyzed the variables of dispositional mindfulness, hope, spirituality, and self-compassion to understand their potential role as mechanisms of change within the intervention on PTG. To answer these research questions, I conducted a randomized controlled trial study with 113 adults from a community sample who reported experiencing interpersonal trauma. Utilizing linear mixed modeling and …

Spilt Milk, Fatima Kaleem

Theses and Dissertations

Spilt Milk explores how institutional discipline is rehearsed across the Pakistani home, school, and television soap opera. These seemingly domestic spaces converge at the military-industrial complex, where media propaganda (ISPR) and consumer commodities collaborate to manufacture a unified national identity.

Through an installation of school desks and re-fabricated cereal boxes, this project examines the ‘cereal/serial’ as a site of ideological consumption. By refabricating these boxes with embroidery, drawing, lace, and synthetic hair, the work subverts state-mandated narratives. These material interventions replace assembly lines with spills of hair and sweat to highlight the vulnerability of the body under surveillance. This project …

Fused Filament Fabrication Additive Manufacturing Of 17-4 Ph Stainless Steel: Process–Structure–Property Relationships In Magnetic Materials, Maanav Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the fabrication of complex metallic components through layer-by-layer processing directly from digital models. Among AM techniques, material extrusion–based processes such as fused filament fabrication (FFF) provide an accessible method for producing metal parts using filament feedstocks composed of metal powders and polymer binders. When applied to precipitation-hardening stainless steels such as 17-4 PH, the processing route and heat treatments can influence the resulting microstructure and functional properties. This work investigates the magnetic behavior of 17-4 PH stainless steel fabricated using FFF and evaluates how heat treatment conditions influence measured magnetic properties. Samples were produced and analyzed …

Centering Individual Well-Being In Learning Environments: Academic Stress, Psychological Safety, And Digital Discourse, Rachel Niemira Namboodri

Theses and Dissertations

Statement of Problem

How do we guide students through school while supporting their emotional and psychological health? This question lies at the heart of contemporary educational psychology research, as growing evidence demonstrates that students’ academic achievement and psychological well-being are deeply intertwined with their experiences in learning environments (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Edmondson & Lei, 2014; Gopalan & Brady, 2020; Song et al., 2024; Spencer, 1995; Walton & Cohen, 2011). Decades of scholarship affirm that students’ academic achievement and psychological well-being are deeply intertwined with how they experience schools, classrooms, peers, teachers, and institutional structures (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Edmondson …

Characterization Of Growth, Motility And C-Di-Gmp In Selenomonas Sputigena Atcc 35185, Margaret E J Stiker

Theses and Dissertations

Selenomonas sputigena is an obligate anaerobic, Gram-negative pathobiont that transitions from a low-abundance commensal bacteria to a structural component in dysbiotic oral biofilms associated with early childhood caries and periodontitis. Analysis of S. sputigena ATCC 35185 cultures optimized in TYGVS media revealed robust growth, characteristic crescent morphology with flagellar tuft motility, and strong monospecies biofilm formation comparable to Streptococcus mutans via crystal violet assays.

ELISA quantification demonstrated significantly elevated c-di-GMP levels in sessile biofilm fractions relative to motile planktonic cells (p=0.0009), establishing the secondary messenger’s correlation with the motile-sessile lifestyle switch. Recombinant expression and purification yielded PilZ-domain effector proteins, Selsp_1666 …

Exploring, Understanding, And Supporting Academic Help-Seeking In Context, Molly L. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Conceptualized as a self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy, academic help-seeking is a fascinating behavior because it is self-directed while also reliant on social interactions with help-givers (Karabenick, 2004). What is known about help-seeking in academic settings largely revolves around individual traits, strategies, motivations, beliefs, and identities, and how each of these constructs influence help-seeking outcomes (Bornschlegl et al., 2020; Fong et al., 2023; Karabenick & Gonida, 2018). What is underexplored in these areas, however, is how features of the learning context interact with student-level factors to shape academic help-seeking behaviors and beliefs. This dissertation attempts to address some of these gaps …

Tuberculosis In Jim Crow Virginia, 1900-1972, Elizabeth Dooley

Theses and Dissertations

Tuberculosis (TB) was a major public health concern in the United States, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. Transmission and treatment of the disease, which is spread between humans through close contact, was complicated by racial segregation laws in the South known as Jim Crow laws. Virginia subscribed to these laws, which played a role in how and where Black Virginians with TB could be treated. Segregated treatment facilities with an inadequate number of beds for the number of infected people and deaths in the state added to these complications of disease control and plan for eradication. …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Teacher-Report Modifications Of A Tier 2 Evidence-Based Program In Elementary Schools After Implementation Supports Are Withdrawn, Navneet Kaur

Theses and Dissertations

Growing literature emphasizes the importance of examining modifications (i.e., responses to unforeseen challenges and deliberate changes to a program) made by implementers to understand the long-term outcomes of evidence-based programs (EBPs), particularly after formal implementation supports, such as training and coaching, are withdrawn. Although prior research has documented that they occur during implementation, less is known about whether modifications occur once external supports are no longer available, and if so, what types of modifications are made, and the rationale for them. This gap is especially salient in school settings for teacher-delivered interventions. To address this gap, this study used semi-structured …