Digital Commons Network^™

Creating Equitable Employment Practices For Adjunct Faculty: Perceptions Of Academic Administrators At Public Institutions In A Great Plains State, Constance Mciver

Theses and Dissertations

Adjunct faculty are a substantial feature of the higher education classroom. Their increased prevalence has contributed to elevated concerns regarding the employment practices of these part-time faculty. While numerous published accounts of adjunct faculty experiences are available, recorded perceptions of academic administrators are less prevalent. Eighty-six academic administrators from six public universities in a Great Plains state participated in a researcher-developed survey to determine the expectations placed upon and compensation practices for adjunct faculty, as well as perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the adjunct system and the feasibility of providing more equitable compensation. Survey findings suggest there is …

Either At The Table Or On The Menu: Strategies For Enabling Practitioner-Led Policy Co-Creation In Education Systems, Robert Reyes

Theses and Dissertations

Demands for educational transformation present unparalleled challenges for practitioners, as successive reform initiatives often exclude their voices and discount their expertise. Despite empirical evidence recognizing educators as key agents of change, systemic barriers continue to hinder their participation in policy-centered decision making. This study underscores the urgent need for education systems to invest in practitioner capacity-building, structural enablement, and cross-sector collaboration to create a more equitable and responsive future for education governance. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed to explore how best to prepare and enable PK-12 practitioners to co-create education policy at the state level, aiming to empower them …

Queer-Keying: Performing Video Processes As [Trans]Gressive Resistance, Wren Tiffany

Theses and Dissertations

As part of the 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), I transformed the 'Sponge' gallery on the top floor of The Anderson, VCU’s historic thesis exhibition home, into The Green Room, a neon green, immersive video and performance space featuring mirrors, disco lights, a foam tile dance floor, makeup stations, and a functioning green-screen editing suite. This hybrid drag rehearsal and ‘Chroma-key’ green video production room deepened both my understandings of Queer performance art and process-based art making during the Spring of 2025, through two public performance activation …

The Bitch And The Boogeyman: Violence Against Women And Gendered Morality In American Slasher Films, Davis A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the relationships between on-screen depictions of violence in American slasher horror films and depictions of gendered morality of victims. Slashers are a subgenre of horror film that arose out of the exploitation cinema movement of the 1970s that are characterized primarily by the presence of one or more human killers inflicting violence on a group of protagonists, typically through the use of bladed weapons. Data collected comes from a comprehensive set of thirty-six American slasher films that received a wide theatrical release, with exemptions for films whose primary genre is not slasher and only selecting three films …

Love Letter, Amy S. Duval Ms

Theses and Dissertations

I applied to graduate school to reconnect with and better understand my studio practice, acquire language, and to disrupt my known ways of making. Generally speaking, I see my practice as being about being seen, and unseen, and the pain and pleasure of being perceived. I’ve learned about my ways of being in the studio. I’ve come closer to speaking honestly about my relationship with my materials, processes, tools, how I value my own labor, and how this informs my work. I am grateful for the cascade of small epiphanies that came and left me while I worked in my …

The Page And The Stage: How Comics Perform, Elizabeth Buccella

Theses and Dissertations

Comics and theatre share several, often overlooked similarities, like their unique concept of the gaze, interpretation and execution of a script, and the curation of a distinct visual language. This makes comics a viable candidate for analysis using the field of performance studies and other theatrical forms of analysis. The process of comics and how they are read is discussed before a brief literature review of performance and comics studies scholarship. Two comics, one nonfiction and one fiction, are analyzed using the key concepts from the literature review.

Teaching The Twenty-First Century: A Pedagogical Approach To Contemporary Violin Repertoire From Beginner To Advanced, Holly Workman

Theses and Dissertations

Violin pedagogy has largely ignored the last century of repertoire. Students finish their training with very few of the technical or musical skills required for the successful performance of contemporary music. This document discusses why newer repertoire should be added for all students and how teachers may introduce it to the traditional program of study without excessive disruption to the existing methods of teaching. Finding appropriate repertoire can be very difficult so this document includes a series of appropriate works which encompass beginner, intermediate, and advanced ability levels. Contemporary techniques must be taught in a guided manner and each chapter …

Stop Suffering For Your Art, Amanda Bryers

Theses and Dissertations

What does the process look like for an actor to disconnect from a circumstance that they take on during the course of a rehearsal or performance? And how does this disconnection process affect the actor’s mental, physical, and emotional health? This project consists of interviews of CSU student actors about their personal experiences in letting go of imaginary circumstances immediately following a performance, rehearsal, or actor’s exercise. The purpose of this project is to determine whether or not actor’s training provides sufficient tools for an actor to disconnect. Interviewees detailed their own personal methods, as well as whether or not …

"We Are All About Equality": D/Deaf Inclusivity In Little Wimmin, Ruth Ann Leber

Theses and Dissertations

Figs in Wigs integration of a British Sign Language interpreter in their performance of Little Wimmin is a compelling example of inclusive theatre for D/deaf audiences. By examining the works of foundational D/deaf studies scholars Neil Glickman and Paddy Ladd alongside the works of contemporary D/deaf scholars such as Tom Humphries, Carol Padden, and Michael Richardson we can gain valuable insight into the evolution of the D/deaf culture and identity. This paper will refer to diversity scholar Susanne Ricee when defining the difference between accommodation, access, accessibility, and inclusivity. It will explore the current advantages and limitations of D/deaf accommodations …

“We Don’T Know What We Don’T Know”: Improving The Quality Of Stem Teaching In A British International School By Developing Teachers’ Stem Pedagogical Knowledge And Stem Instructional Practices, Matthew James Fagg

Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed at improving the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching at a British international school in Brunei Darussalam. Evidence from a range of sources suggested that teachers at the school were not employing common STEM instructional practices when giving their pupils STEM problems to solve. The purpose of the two research questions was to identify how STEM lessons were being taught in Grades 2 to 7 in the school, and to measure the influence of STEM-related professional development sessions on teachers’ STEM pedagogical knowledge and STEM instructional practices. The researcher followed an eight-stage action-research cycle …

From Classical To Contemporary: Popular Music's Role In Shaping Opera And Vocal Training, Craig Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advocates for the integration of contemporary popular music into classical voice education, addressing the evolving landscape of the performing arts. As the boundary between classical and popular music fades, incorporating popular elements into traditional opera training equips performers for modern industry demands.

The first chapter offers a historical analysis, tracing opera’s origins from the late 16th century and showing how popular music influenced its development. Composers incorporated folk melodies and dance rhythms into early opera, setting a precedent for blending styles. Contemporary operas, such as Nkeiru Okoye’s Harriet Tubman and Nmon Ford’s House of Orfeus, continue this tradition, …

Retrospective Of My Experience At The University Of South Carolina, Karl Dickey

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre is, by its very nature, a collaborative process. No show lives in true isolation. Even in its smallest version, it takes at least one to perform and one to listen. The theatre that is produced in the 21^st century is deeper and more complex a process than the finished and polished shows that are presented to the audience. Behind, underneath, and all around a single performer on a stage are hours of thoughtful contemplation and execution on the part of the director, designers, and fabricators. There is something to be learned and gained from every human interaction in …

Elements, Andres L. Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations

Elements is a dissertation that presents my work as an out-of-the-Academy conceptual writer that loves teaching even though I won’t ever teach again. The dissertation includes a critical introduction, “Do You Actually Want to See This?” that seeks to examine conceptual poetry in the light of Sianne Ngai’s stuplimity and Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht’s performance theories so that we may rethink conceptual poetry’s effect on the audience when it is performed. The creative manuscript, “Elements,” is the result of a process stolen from Raymond Queneau to be used on David Hilbert’s The Foundations of Geometry but is instead redirected …

Low-Power Sensor Design And Fusion To Edge Devices For High-Speed Object Detection And Enhanced Soldier Situational Awareness, Scott Patrick Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Threat detection and physiological monitoring of soldiers from fused sensor data collected in real time is currently limited to running deep neural networks with substantial computing needs. The lack of data acquisition from sensor readings and efficient detection of novel enemy signatures motivates the need for a low-power, low-cost, wireless multisensor fusion computing system. We propose the current trends in Internet of Things to deploy a chargeable, wireless multi-channel acquisition system that can be interfaced to a high speed, Single Board Computer (SBC) such as the NVIDIA Jetson Orin capable of running object detection models, such as YOLOv7-tiny to enable …

Small Town Superfund: History Of The Vertac Superfund Site In Jacksonville, Arkansas, Margaret Frances Stone

Theses and Dissertations

The Vertac Superfund site in Jacksonville, Arkansas was a man-made disaster that affected the city in multiple ways socially and economically. It began with the start of World War II, and the construction of the Arkansas Ordnance Plant in 1942. After the end of World War II, Reasor-Hill bought and reused the area for chemical production. While the company created jobs, it also began to create the setting for an environmental disaster, as more chemical companies traded the site around for chemical production, including the components for Agent Orange. It is inextricably connected to the Arkansas Ordnance Plant, the reuse …

Tranisitioning From Film To Stage: Three Years Of Growth And Reflections, Ruihan Liu

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis delves into my journey as a Master of Fine Arts candidate specializing in Scenic Design within the Theatre program at the University of South Carolina.

Comprising seven chapters, this thesis provides a comprehensive exploration of my academic and professional trajectory. The introductory chapter offers insights into my transition from a background in Film Production to the realm of Theatre Arts, reflecting on the challenges and revelations encountered along the way.

Chapters 2 through 5 offer in-depth analyses of five stage productions wherein I served as a scenic designer during my graduate tenure. Each chapter delves into the creative …

Reflections Of Chinese Opera In Contemporary Chinese Piano Repertoire: A Cutural, Analytical, And Pedagogical Guide, Mengyu Song

Theses and Dissertations

Over 5,000 years, Chinese opera has been inspired by many imperial dynasties, regions, and ethnic cultures, making it a unique reflection of Chinese culture. Chinese composers have incorporated traditional Chinese opera in piano compositions to express cultural identity and artistic significance. This music has a broad and profound cultural significance, fostering cultural interchange and understanding and presenting a diverse and inclusive musical experience for non-Chinese students and musicians.

This research study provides a comprehensive overview of Chinese traditional operas, vocal technique and instrumentation, the development of piano music in China, and corresponding piano literature in progressive difficulty for early-intermediate to …

Sappho And Shakespeare: Aristotelian Views On Relationships, Catherine Corinne Reisinger

Theses and Dissertations

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he defines different relationships that people experience; youthful, incidental, and pure. Youthful relationships focus on strong emotions and intense passionate feelings between two individuals. Incidental relationships involve two individuals of drastically different ages, most notably mortals and deities. Pure relationships involve two individuals who are morally good and want nothing but the best for one another, showing their pure goodness. Though they lived several centuries apart, Sappho and Shakespeare display all three relationship types in their writings. Sappho showcases each type of relationship in her poetry, while Shakespeare most notably portrays all three relationships in …

Queer Eye For Costume Design: An Insight Into The Creative Process From The Perspective Of An Lgbtq+ Designer, Andrew Simon Burns

Theses and Dissertations

From the page to the stage, the creative process manifests itself differently for every theatre artist. During my time in the Costume Design and Technology Program at the University of South Carolina, I have analyzed and adapted my design process through rigorous curriculum and experiential learning. This thesis explores my artistic and professional growth by showcasing my production designs in educational and professional practice. Through these experiences, I was able to acquire a well-rounded set of skills in construction, pattern making, draping, and costume rendering that aide and elevate my designs and ability to communicate effectively with production teams. My …

Echoes Of Heritage: Documenting Contemporary Works From Singapore Featuring The Cello, Eunice Koh

Theses and Dissertations

Multiculturalism is prevalent in many countries around the world, including Singapore, and music is used as a way to reflect and represent cultural influences in societies worldwide. Singapore is a multicultural nation renowned for its diversity, and the fusion of influences from Asian heritages and Western cultures. This study echoes the heritage in Singapore, showing a brief history and development of the country, cultural integration, and representation of musical identity. The artistic tapestry of the country is achieved with endeavors from government initiatives and various music ensembles that contributed to the vibrant musical ecosystem in Singapore. This is represented through …

A Conductor’S Guide To When We No Longer Touch: The World’S First Aids Requiem, Kevin Crowe

Theses and Dissertations

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Kristopher Jon Anthony wrote his greatest work, When We No Longer Touch. This was a seven-movement requiem scored for flute, English horn, harp, piano, strings, percussion, tenor/bass choir, small tenor/bass ensemble, and soprano and baritone soloists. It draws on combined texts from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass and the self-help guide to grief How to Survive the Loss of a Love, featuring poetry by Peter McWilliams. These are grouped together and framed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ model of the stages of grieving. It all combines to make a work of exceptional beauty and emotional …

Sonic Data: Sonification In James Stephenson’S There Are No Words And David Kirkland Garner’S Red Hot Sun Turning Over, Nathan Lee Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

Sonification, or the transformation of data relations into sound, has inspired composers of orchestral and wind ensemble music over the past several years. Two of the resulting works included there are no words by James Stephenson and red hot sun turning over by David Kirkland Garner. Both works were analyzed, and their histories detailed in this study. Issues in American society and the American South such as gun violence, civil rights, and American Civil War monuments are revealed as inspiration for composers to map empirical processes onto sound. These musical protests against misinformation were shown to illuminate histories and correlations …

Planning And Adapting In The Design Process, Lindsay Kay Wilkinson

Theses and Dissertations

The costume design and technology program at the University of South Carolina requires that students extensively learn each area of the profession. The largest growth-inducing experiences and some of the highlights for me were the opportunities to adapt when challenging changes or unexpected twists and turns arose with each production or project. Through my time at the university, I have gained a better understanding of balance between time and stress management, a system for understanding and completing costume-based research, digital rendering, I have improved the communication of my ideas with a director, working out a cohesive look with a production …

Histories Of Stress: A Life Course Approach To Population Health In Late Medieval And Early Modern Berlin, Emily Brennan

Theses and Dissertations

Given our current climate crisis and urban population increases, researchers are increasingly interested in the health outcomes at the intersection of climate change and urbanization. Since climate change and urbanization affects human health in a variety of ways, more work is needed in diverse cultural contexts to understand temporal and geographic variations of such phenomena more fully. Using skeletal individuals from 13^th – 18^th century Berlin (n = 387), this project analyses demographic and health trends from the founding of the city in the late medieval period (c. 1200 – 1500) to the early modern period, when the …

Native American Nationalism: Chickasaw Identity And The Music Of Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Austin Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Native American nationalism in classical music has yet to be seriously researched and is not taught in music academia. One of the more well-known contemporary Native American composers is Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (b. 1968). Throughout his career, Tate has explored and expressed his identity as a Native American and Chickasaw citizen through his music. As a result, his compositional output is a rich resource for examining what Native American nationalism in classical music looks like and how it is utilized in his works.

In this document, I analyze three of Tate’s pieces written for orchestra: Tracing Mississippi, Ghost …

Examining The Impact Of De-Escalation Training For Rural Mississippi Leos: Using Simulation To Assess Behavioral Outcomes, Deepali Manoj Dhruve

Theses and Dissertations

People with mental illness (PMI) are at a 67% greater risk of arrest and 16 times greater risk of being killed during a police incident than other civilians. Indeed, law enforcement officers (LEOs) report lacking expertise when addressing mental health calls, and existing trainings aimed at reducing violence in LEO encounters with PMI do not account for challenges specific to rural LEOs. Additionally, many trainings are severely lacking in assessing outcome changes pre- and post-training with more than half of trainings relying on survey-based knowledge subject to social desirability bias and inaccurate self-assessment. This study aimed to address limitations in …

Redefining Spaces Of Resistance Against Capitalism And Patriarchy: A Study Of Females In Society And The Family As Presented By Mrs. Warren’S Profession (1893) By Bernard Shaw And A Raisin In The Sun (1959) By Lorraine Hansberry, Jennifer L. Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

These plays show how conflicts concerning race, gender, and class stem from economic distress, racial discrimination, and patriarchal oppression. Within such intersections lie distinct realities of capitalism which simultaneously upholds patriarchal ideals that can only be best understood through a Marxist-Feminist lens. This thesis pays attention to how racism and discrimination functions to isolate certain groups of people from reaching social mobility. The first chapter analyzes Mrs. Warren’s Profession to demonstrate how Mrs. Warren decision to enter into prostitution cannot simply be reduced to a question of morality, but rather a question of society’s conditions that place women into certain …

Light Em' Up, Lorna Renee Young

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I will document and explore my process from researching the show to putting it on stage. Theatre is different from concert lighting which I have experience in but lighting in a theatre capacity is still new and through every show I was able to learn something new. Through this program I have learned how to successfully take a script from the paperwork to the stage.

Development Of Anti-Fibrotic Agents For Potential Use In Glaucoma Filtration Surgery To Prevent Scar Formation, Nikhala Shree S

Theses and Dissertations

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness with irreversible vision loss. It is marked by the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells, which results in optic nerve head damage. Intraocular pressure (IOP) is a prime risk factor of glaucoma controlled by various treatment regimens i.e., medication, laser, and/ or surgery. It is reported that longterm exposure to anti-glaucoma medications (AGM) may subtle the surgical success rate leading to postoperative fibrosis. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a growth factor that plays an important role in the development of glaucoma and promotes fibrosis.

This study is aimed at developing peptides to …

Fight, Eduardo Daniel Guerra

Theses and Dissertations

FIGHT, is a story of a boxers mental health and his struggles before and after every fight. The protagonist, Eddy, is an anxious fighter who experiences a panic attack before his fight and in his panicked state, his mind runs wild as he imagines every possible scenario that can happen. Thus, when the scenarios come true, Eddy, becomes unsure of what is and isn’t true. Which begs the question, is Eddy brain damaged from the fight and stuck living in the traumatic memory that is replaying in his head or is he still in the restroom before the fight, paralyzed …