Digital Commons Network^™

No Male Or Female, But All Are One, Mary Anne Case

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Neoliberal Penality: A Brief Genealogy, Bernard E. Harcourt

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Randomization In Criminal Justice: A Criminal Law Conversation, Michael O'Hear, Bernard E. Harcourt, A. Harel, Ken Levy, Alice Ristroph

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Teacher Qualifications And Middle School Student Achievement, Richard Buddin, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This research examines whether teacher licensure test scores and other teacher qualifications affect middle school student achievement. The results are based on longitudinal student-level data from Los Angeles. The achievement analysis uses a value-added approach that adjusts for both student and teacher fixed effects. The results show little relationship between traditional measures of teacher quality (e.g., experience and education level) and student achievement in reading or math. Similarly, licensure test scores in general aptitude, subject-matter knowledge, and reading pedagogy had no significant effects on student achievement. Teachers with elementary school credentials had slightly better success in the classroom than did …

The Experience Of Gifted Girls Transitioning From Elementary School To Sixth And Seventh Grade: A Grounded Theory, Jennifer L. Pepperell, Deborah J. Rubel

The Qualitative Report

This research explored the experiences of gifted girls transitioning from elementary school to sixth and seventh grade. The current literature indicates that gifted girls often struggle emotionally during this transition. Seven research participants were selected and interviewed over a four-month period. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze data, generate subsequent interview questions, and build theory. This study indicated that these gifted girls transition was facilitated by their strong identities, which enabled them to balance their social and academic lives. Their strong identities allowed them to choose strategies that helped them build connections with both gifted and nongifted peers. These …

Contract And Grant Awards Fiscal Year 2009, Office Of The Vice President For Research

Office of the Vice President for Research

No abstract provided.

Literature, Ideology, And The Imaginary, Marcello Potocco

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his paper "Literature, Ideology and the Imaginary," Marcello Potocco analyses the elusive relation between literature and ideology. The notion of the "social imaginary" -- as developed by Castoriadis -- brings the possibility to reconsider the relation between the literary structure, its reception, and ideology. While ideology is seen as a radical expression of the social imaginary in modern society, it can only manifest itself through the ideological function, which does not necessarily destruct the aesthetic experience. In a literary structure, elements may exist that enable a strong identification with the extra-textual world, but this involves primarily identifications with significations …

Borat As Tragicomedy Of Anti Us-Americanism, Alexei Lalo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Alexei Lalo discusses in his article "Borat as Tragicomedy of Anti US-Americanism" the 2006 mockumentary in the context of stereotypes and clichés that exist about the United States and elsewhere, particularly in Europe. Anti US-Americanism is arguably at the core of this project, but Borat's creators seem to mock not only US-Americans, but also those who invent and practice clichés about the U.S. Lalo draws parallels between Sacha Baron Cohen's work and the legacies of Lenny Bruce and Charlie Chaplin (most notably his late film A King in New York). Of the numerous socio-cultural problems of the United States Borat …

Rewriting Space In Ruiz De Burton's Who Would Have Thought It?, Bernadine M. Hernandez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Rewriting Space in Ruiz de Burton's Who Would Have Thought It?" Bernadine M. Hernandez analyses María Amparo Ruiz de Burton's text in the context of Mexican American and US-American literary history. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848, the place where Mexicanos lived became contested space and land of these Native subjects were conquered, penetrated, and colonized without the hope of regaining power or agency over land, status, or space. This newly deemed "opened" space was reconstructed via a literary legal document written to benefit Anglo Americans. Language is tied to the historical process …

The Practice Of Pr And The Canterbury Pilgrims, Jay Ruud, Stacey M. Jones

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "The Practice of PR and the Canterbury Pilgrims" Jay Ruud and Stacey Jones argue that the concepts of relationship management discussed by public relations scholars can be applied to the study of literary characters, specifically here to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath, and The Pardoner. Essentially, what PR scholars call the expression of communal relationship values in the Wife's performance is rewarded, while behaviors like the Pardoner's that focus merely on a zero-sum win-lose relationship are punished. The Pardoner is competitive in all phases of his performance, and consistently demonstrates a win-lose mentality in his …

The Social History In Death Penalty Defense Advocacy, Jesse Cheng

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

This article offers an epistemologically focused descriptive account of the “social history” in American death penalty defense advocacy. Under British scientific empiricism, sufficient investigation forms the basis for representations that aspire to be adequate to investigated realities. As defense advocates see it, however, the very idea of humanity resists the goal of epistemological finality that comes with empiricist adequation. I argue that the social history investigation instrumentalizes this aesthetic of investigation-then-representation, allowing advocates to affirm to themselves the humanity of their clients while sidestepping the goal of adequation.

What Is Shared? A Framework For Understanding Shared Innovation Within Communities, Richard E. West

Faculty Publications

The 21st century economy often requires the innovative production of conceptual and physical artifacts. These innovations frequently are developed collaboratively within communities of workers. Previous theories about the nature of work and learning within communities have emphasized shared meaning or shared practice, but now shared innovation is required. In this paper, I describe the development of a model for conceptualizing and studying shared innovation within communities. This model was created from merging elements of social learning and creativity/innovation theories. I explain that at an intersection of these two domains is a unique kind of social structure, called a Community of …

Assessing Public Opinion Directly To Keep Current With Changing Community Needs, Raymond K. Yang, Robert J. Fetsch, Thomas M. Mcbride, Janet C. Benavente

Journal of Extension

In communities that are changing, Cooperative Extension's programs should change to meet the needs of community members. Directly assessing community members' needs and concerns is valuable in developing and offering educational programs that will be responsive to community needs and attract audiences. We describe a simple survey method that can efficiently assess community members' concerns. The method is useful in developing broad programs that can address several related issues. A specific example of the process is presented using a county facing well-recognized rural/urban issues.

Meeting The Extension Needs Of Women Farmers: A Perspective From Pennsylvania, Mary Barbercheck, Kathryn J. Braiser, Nancy Ellen Kiernan, Carolyn Sachs, Amy Trauger, Jill Findeis, Ann Stone, Linda Stewart Moist

Journal of Extension

According to the 2002 Census of Agriculture, women comprised 11% of principal farm operators and 27% of all farm operators. Here we report findings from a needs assessment conducted to understand the educational needs of women farmers in Pennsylvania. We describe the characteristics of the women who responded to the needs assessment, the problems they face in making their farm operation successful, and the program topics and formats they prefer. Finally, we provide recommendations to increase Extension engagement with this growing clientele.

Extension Educators' Perceptions Of The Educational Needs Of Women Farmers In Pennsylvania, Kathryn Braiser, Mary Barbercheck, Nancy Ellen Kiernan, Carolyn Sachs, Audrey Schwartzberg, Amy Trauger

Journal of Extension

The number of women farm operators has steadily increased in the United States, comprising 30% of all farm operators (2007 Census of Agriculture). The increasing diversity of farmers presents new audiences for Extension and for whom programs should be developed according to their educational needs. We report results from a survey of Extension educators in Pennsylvania. We identify how Extension educators perceive women farmers, the factors that influence these perceptions, and how these perceptions influence educational programming. We recommend ways to reach women farmers with programs that are appropriate in both content and delivery.

Federal And State Judicial Selection In An Interest Group Perspective, Michael E. Solimine, Rafael Gely

Missouri Law Review

This Article proceeds as follows. In Part II, we summarize the model advanced by Landes and Posner. In Part III, we explore some of the criticisms that have been levied against their model, while in Part IV we raise some criticisms of our own and explore how later scholarship has addressed them. Part V concludes the article.

The Effects Of Participation In Portland State University’S Mcnair Scholars Program On Undergraduates, Tyanne R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses

Compared with their multi-generation counterparts, first-generation college students face many challenges in the field of higher education. These students experience relatively lower levels of access to college, demonstrate lower rates of persistence through college, and exhibit lower bachelor's degree completion rates than multi-generation students. The results of these cumulative disadvantages are that, compared to multigeneration students, first-generation students do not complete Ph.D.'s at the same rates, have lower subsequent earnings, and are underrepresented as faculty at colleges and universities.

A review of the literature reveals that most studies on McNair programs focus on the instrumental effects of participation, such as …

Enterprise Information Technology Organizational Flexibility : Managing Uncertainty And Change, Karen Prast Patten

Dissertations

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) lead enterprise information technology organizations (EITOs) in today's dynamic competitive business environment. CIOs deal with external and internal environmental changes, changing internal customer needs, and rapidly changing technology. New models for the organization include flexibility and suggest that CIOs should create and manage an enterprise IT organization that is more flexible in order to manage change and prepare for uncertainty, but they do not define what is meant by flexibility.

The first objective of this exploratory and ethnographic research study was to understand how uncertainty and unexpected change are currently managed by CIOs. The second was …

Building School Connections Through Integrating Extracurricular Programs, Grete E. Gerber

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated extracurricular program and evaluate its effectiveness on improving middle school students' emotional connectedness to the school. The integrated extracurricular program provided an opportunity for a diverse group of students to work cooperatively as a team toward a common goal.

The program's first extracurricular activity was a Haunted House event which was utilized for this study. Participants in the study included 232 students and 21 staff members. Two separate surveys were administered to the student and staff participants. Each survey resulted in general opinions about the effectiveness of the integrated extracurricular …

Goffman Was Always Ready To Explain, And He Did That Without Condescension, With Patience, And With Grace, Richard Daniels

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This conversation with Richard Daniels, retired hospital administrator, was recorded over the phone on May 31, 2009. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …

Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As an ESL teacher at a community college, my constant goal is to synergize teaching approaches and strategies so that in addition to maximizing students' language learning, their critical thinking skills, cultural competence, and reflectivity - as members of an increasingly growing multicultural society - are heightened. Most recently, I have been pursuing service-learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, and practice that can help students connect their classroom learning to concrete, exciting, and challenging learning situations beyond the classroom. This paper is an attempt to highlight service-learning as a powerful tool that can make a difference in students' lives as they …

Social Barriers To The Introduction Of Innovations In The Mining Industry. Analytical Study, Aleksander Gwiazda

European Management Studies

The implementation of innovations is a complex and many-sided task due to the large variety of the forms of innovations and the complicated character of social reactions that they evoke. This is the reason why publications dealing with the problem of diffusion of innovations indicate that only an insignificant proportion of the population is interested in innovations. Therefore, when analysing the attitudes towards innovations, presented by individuals and different social groups, one can develop diagrams of barriers that hinder the introduction of innovations. In this paper two diagrams of barriers - a general diagram and a sociological one, have been …

Erving Always Behaved Like A Guttersnipe, Teasing And Mocking With His Back Against The Wall, Arlene Daniels

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Dr. Arlene Daniels, professor emeritus of sociology at the Northwestern University, was recorded over the phone on February 5, 2008. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Daniels edited the transcript and gave her permission to post the present version in the Goffman Archives. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

Parental Assets And Children's Educational Outcomes, Vernon Loke, Paul Sacco

Center for Social Development Research

Several countries, including Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom, have enacted asset-based policies for children in recent years. The premise underlying these policies is that increases in assets lead to improvement in various child outcomes over time. But little existing research examines this premise from a dynamic perspective. Using data from the NLSY79 mother and child datasets, two parallel process latent growth curve models are estimated to examine the effects of parental asset accumulation on changes in children’s math and reading achievement over six years during middle childhood. Results indicate that the initial level of assets is positively associated with …

Observer, Central Washington University

Student Newspaper

Student newspaper for Central Washington University for May 28, 2009

Faculty Retirement Recognition Dinner 2009, Western Michigan University

Faculty Recognition

Faculty Retirement Recognition Dinner Program

May 28, 2009

Honored Guests:

• DeWayne Anderson
• Gary Bigelow
• Marlene Breu
• Josephine Barry Davis
• Paul Eenigenburg
• William (Arnie) Johnston
• Norman Kiracofe
• Gerald Markle
• Gwendolyn Nagle
• Gerard Nowak
• Cindee Quake-Rapp
• Judith Sadler
• Radu Teodorescu
• Gary Wegenke
• Arthur White

Virginia’S Steward: A Re-Examination Of The Life And Work Of Thornton Stringfellow 1788-1869, Justin Stowe

Masters Theses

Historians have done a tremendous job at their inquiries into biblical proslavery ideology, even though their focus is primarily on the apologists’ arguments in regard to slavery. These historians gave the scholarly world a clear understanding of how and why men defended slavery, but they only focus on their proslavery thought, which creates an incomplete picture of the apologist.

This work focuses on a minister named Thornton Stringfellow who lived in Culpeper, Virginia during the nineteenth century, in the tumultuous time leading up to the American Civil War. By examining Stringfellow’s personal background, the historical events that took place during …

Bowen V. Oregon: Brief Of Jeffrey Abramson, Caroline L. Davidson, Shari S. Diamond, Theodore Eisenberg, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Samuel R. Gross, Valerie P. Hans, Stephen Kanter, Norbert L. Kerr, Stephan Landsman, Robert J. Maccoun, Susan F. Mandiberg, Margaret L. Paris, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Mary R. Rose, Michael J. Saks, And Neil Vidmar As Amici Curae In Support Of Petitioner, Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Appellate Briefs

Amici are university professors whose teaching and scholarship have addressed historical, behavioral, and constitutional questions about jury unanimity. Amici are identified in the Appendix.

In Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404 (1972), and its companion case, Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U.S. 356 (1972), a fractured Court concluded that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments did not mandate the traditional requirement of unanimity for criminal jury trials in state courts. The Court recognized that unanimity had been a requirement of common-law juries for hundreds of years, but a plurality considered that historical background unimportant. Instead, the plurality relied on a …

Rape Attitudes And Beliefs: A Replication Study, Rhissa Emily Briones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The phenomena of sexual violence have been studied on college campuses for over 50 years. Despite changes in society's attitudes towards women and gains made by women in education and the work force since the 1960s, research reveals that the incidence and prevalence rates of date rape have not changed significantly over the years. Extant literature indicates that endorsement of rape myths has been found to be associated with sexual aggression by males. A review of existing instruments revealed that current assessments of rape supportive attitudes and beliefs appear outdated in their language and may not be geared for today's …