Digital Commons Network^™

Student Honors And Awards Program 2009, University Relations

UMM Honors and Awards Ceremony

In recognition of students who demonstrate academic excellence and enrich campus life.

Zipped Magazine, Shilpa Prabhakar

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

For my capstone project, I chose to do something that fell within the creative category. Being a magazine journalism major, most of my coursework has to do with editing, writing, and layout so I wanted to use the skills I learned in the classroom to create and find a new publication on the S.U. campus. Zipped magazine is S.U.’s only fashion publication and it allows students with an interest in this area, the opportunity to further develop their skills through writing, photography, graphics and design. Furthermore, readers are able to learn about issues that the fashion industry faces in the …

Religious Implications Of The Berlin Wall, Michelle Mcclafferty

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In this paper, I take a close look at the present condition of the Jewish Community in Berlin. Being a community that, within the last century, has faced the devastation of the Holocaust and the subjugation of the Berlin Wall and accompanying Soviet regime, the Jewish community in Berlin represented, to me, one with an amazing challenge and opportunity to rebuild itself. The aim of this paper was to separate the Jewish community from other communities in Berlin, separate the presence of the Berlin Wall from other historical events, and then consider the possibility that the Wall itself has an …

Pablo Neruda: A Collection Of Creative Interpretations, Amy Bonanno

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not included

An Analysis Of Asian And Asian American Studies A Public Relation Campaign Proposal, A Comparative Look At Other Universities, And The Program At Syracuse University, Donna Choi

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

We now live in a globalizing society. It is important to understand the world around us and the history that gives us the present. As the United States is often deemed “the melting pot” of cultures, it is essential for its citizens and residents to understand the cultures that make up this country. It is, therefore, more of an obligation than a privilege for institutions of higher education to have the resources and means of teaching its students, or future leaders, about the society they live in.

So why Asian and Asian American studies? By 2020, the Asian American and …

An Individual Approach To Economics: Robert Heilbroner’S Cultural And Historical Perspective Applied To Modern Economic Conditions, Nida Javaid

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper discusses historical economist, Robert Heilbroner’s approach to the field of economics and how his publications provide valuable insight on today’s crisis. Although the paper focuses heavily on explaining the development of his concept of vision as applied to studying economic behavior and the application of such a vision to his writings and work regarding capitalism and future predictions, it also discusses his propensity for Keynesian economics. Primary and secondary sources were used to complete this thesis project, including interviews with colleagues and researching publications by Heilbroner. The paper concludes that many of his predictions for the transformation of …

Intersexed, Intertext: A Critique Of Limited Gender Identity In Herculine Barbin And Middlesex, Allison Andrew

All Theses

Relying on the work of poststructuralists Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Judith Halberstam for their findings on gender and sexuality, as well as the sociological study of intersexed individuals by Sharon Preves, this thesis will show the identity construction of the intersexed both before and after intervention by closely charting their plight as it is presented in Michel Foucault's Herculine Barbin (1980) and Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex (2003). These texts vary greatly in historical significance, genre, and audience, but nevertheless suggest the same argument regarding the construction of identity. Ultimately, it is the self whose definition is of the greatest importance. …

Color Rhetoric: The Social Construction Of Neutrality In Real Estate Design, April Davis

All Theses

Many interior designers believe that the key to selling a house is using conventionally labeled neutral colors. Yet, in relying solely on what convention dictates as a universal real estate rule, designers are promoting an ideology that privileges conventional standards to audience analysis, and consequently, call into question the usefulness of their own careers. Using Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation principles, this thesis will analyze pictures taken from homes on the real estate market. Examining these pictures will establish the concept of neutrality as a rhetorical social construction that is shaped within historical, social, and cultural contexts. Moreover, this thesis presents …

Homegrown Rhetoric: Rhetorical Vision In States' Marketing Of Local Foods, Joni Lea Hoke

All Theses

Beginning in the late 1940s, concerns arose about the enlarging scope of the industrial American food system. Subsequent analysis revealed a continuing pattern of expansion throughout the 1970s and 1980s. A countermovement developed with the aim of altering food production and distribution to create more regionalized food systems. Eventually, individual states came to create their own marketing programs to promote locally grown foods. Private interests also developed initiatives to promote eating locally. By 2007, the term coined to describe one who strives to eat local foods, "locavore," had become New Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year. The states' efforts are …

Exploring Efforts On Two College Campuses To Cultivate A Culture Of Vocation, Mark Peters Phd

Dissertations

Young adults today experience an extended adolescence, a period of time now commonly referred to as emerging adulthood, in which they delay undertaking the roles traditionally associated with becoming an adult in contemporary society. College has the potential to become the mentoring environment needed for emerging adults to consider their future life choices grounded in the context of their deepest beliefs, shared values, and personal passions. Since 2000, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. has invested over $2 million in 88 select religiously affiliated colleges to fund Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV). These Programs were designed to help students …

An Experimental Study Of Instructor Immediacy In The Wimba Virtual Classroom, Lorah Wood Bodie Edd

Dissertations

The social underpinnings of learning make it important to understand how people experience themselves and form relationships in web-based educational environments. Social presence is a critical factor of a communication medium that plays an important role in building community and improving the effectiveness of instruction. The components of social presence include words conveyed, verbal and nonverbal immediacy cues, and the context of the communication. The immediacy component of social presence is most often defined as perceived psychological closeness which is created in part by nonverbal cues (e.g., smiling and using gestures) and verbal cues (e.g., utilizing humor and inclusive pronouns). …

Sorting And Statistical Discrimination In Schools: An Analysis Using The National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent Health, Anil Nathan

Economics Department Working Papers

The rigorous economic analysis of peer group formation is a burgeoning subject. Much has been written about how peers in uence an individual's behavior, and these effects are quite prevalent. However, less has been written on how exactly these peer groups begin and the resulting consequences of their formation. A reason for the dearth of knowledge on peer group formation is the lack of quality data sets that clearly define one's peers. To resolve this issue, this paper explores data which allows a peer group to be defined openly through self nominations. Using these nominations as well as characteristics of …

Theories Of Poverty/The Poverty Of Theory, Barbara Stark

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crowdsourcing: How To Harness The Creativity Of The Masses, Roland S. Rachinger

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project examined ways in which organizations could tap into the creativity of the crowd, specifically how it could be applied to Information Technology project management. The project was conducted by reviewing existing literature and by researching organizations that are successfully using crowdsourcing to enrich their business and contains a project management template that was designed to be a blueprint for any company interested in this phenomenon.

A Place Like This: An Environmental Justice History Of The Owens Valley - Water In Indigenous, Colonial, And Manzanar Stories, Monica Embrey

Pomona Senior Theses

This text provides an environmental justice analysis of the stories of the people who lived in the Owens Valley, who watered its land and cultivated its crops—pine trees, apple trees, and kabocha alike. Telling the personal stories of challenge and resistance that manifested alongside the oppressive forces of military and state domination provides the opportunity to align forcibly relocated, exploited and incarcerated people’s struggles throughout time. This text starts with The Nü’ma Peoples who were the first humans to live in the Owens Valley and continues with the struggle for empire between rival colonial empires of agriculture and distant urban …

Predictors Of Educational Program Usage Within United States Prisons, Grant E. Tietjen

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study investigates factors that predict inmate participation in prison educational programs using the Bureau of Justice (BJS) 2004 Survey of State and Federal Inmates. I apply the theories of controlology, Marxist criminological theory, and critical education theory. I then review the literature on various types of prison educational programs. The potential predictors of educational program participation are ethnicity, age, children, marital status, class, prior education, sentence length, and type of crime. I hypothesize that people who have higher socio-economic status (SES), shorter sentence lengths, higher levels of pre-incarceration education, and inmates convicted of non-violent crimes are more likely to …

Attractors To An Athletic Training Career In The High School Setting, Alison Gardiner-Shires, James Mensch

Sports Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

James B. Atleson And The World Of Labor Law Scholarship, Dianne Avery, Alfred S. Konefsky

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

2009 Undergraduate Commencement, Lindenwood University

Commencement Programs

Lindenwood University Commencement program.

2009 Baccalaureate & Graduate Commencement, Lindenwood University

Commencement Programs

Lindenwood University Commencement program.

The Impact Of Giving Together: Giving Circles’ Influence On Members’ Philanthropic And Civic Behaviors, Knowledge And Attitudes, Angela M. Eikenberry, Jessica Bearman, Hao Han, Melissa Brown, Courtney Jensen

Public Administration Faculty Publications

Giving circles are made up of individuals who pool their resources and then decide together where these should be distributed. They also include social, educational, and engagement components that seem to engage participants in their communities and increase members’ understanding of philanthropy and community issues.

This study examines if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ behavior related to giving, volunteering, and civic engagement. In addition, we asked if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ awareness or knowledge about philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and community issues. Finally, we wanted to know if and how …

University Of Central Florida Graduate Catalog, 2009 - 2010, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Using Art Therapy To Increase Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Homeless Mothers Living In A Shelter, Mandi Elizabeth Wines

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Literature reveals that homelessness is inherently a situation where desired outcomes are less likely than unfavorable outcomes, and, as such, the concepts of learned hopelessness, disempowerment, and low self-efficacy are especially relevant. Self-efficacy has been found to affect one’s motivation, performance, coping, self-esteem, emotional arousal, and behavior. Homeless women who possess a stronger sense of self-efficacy are more likely to actively engage in employment and housing searches and spend less time in temporary shelters than those with low self-efficacy.

Although aspects of this problem have been studied no specific intervention models have proven effective in increasing homeless women’s self-efficacy. Literature …

Suicide Associated With Military Service, Margo R. Genderson, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Mark S. Kaplan, Michael J. Lyons

Publications and Research

Suicide rates among soldiers and veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) have been steadily growing since 2004, with sharp increases observed more recently. Suicides in the Army are a growing concern on Capitol Hill and in the media. Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee held hearings on the growing incidence of suicides across the armed forces (Federal city digest, 2009, March 18). The Associated Press (AP) underlined the increasing suicide rates among Army personnel (Army reports sharp rise in suicides in January, 2009, Feb. 5). According to the AP, there were 64 suicides in 2004, and …

Parent, Student, And Teacher Perceptions Of School Climate Suburban High, Cory J. Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

School climate has a major impact on the school setting. In order to manage climate, it is essential to assess and understand the perceptions of teachers, students, and parents.

This study identified the differences between teachers, students, and parents relative to their perceptions concerning school climate at Suburban High. The instrument was the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire-RS (OCDQ-RS), a revision by Hoy and Clover (1986) of the original OCDQ by Halpin and Croft.

Data were used to develop an action plan for managing school climate at Suburban High. Data gained from this study were utilized to develop a practical plan …

Class Conflicts Of Law Ii: Solidarity, Entrepreneurship, And The Deep Agenda Of The Obama Nlrb, James Gray Pope

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Still Unjaded: Jim Atleson's Twenty-First Century Turn To International Labor Law, Lance Compa

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lower Crime Rates And Prisoner Recidivism, Stephanie Stravinskas

Honors College Theses

The transition from prison life back into society is not simple. The number of ex-prisoners that recidivate is alarming. Ex- offenders must find a residence, purchase life’s necessities and locate a job. In addition, many prisoners have not been rehabilitated, developed skills, or obtained an education while in prison. Focusing funds on rehabilitation programs instead of the construction of new prisons may be a more effective long-term strategy to reduce criminal activity. Strategies to reduce recidivism are discussed along with an analysis of what their implementation might entail.

Exploring Social And Group Identity Theories In The Profitability Of Online Communities Targeted Towards Older Adolescents, Daniel V. Giaccio

Honors College Theses

Qualitative research of in depth interviews and picture tests performed on older adolescents was the backbone of my study. A questionnaire was created that explored how older adolescents create and maintain identities on online communities.

My study found that older adolescents are using the internet to maintain their positive self identity yet explore group identities in order to find out where they fit in the world. It used these findings to create innovative implications and recommendations for marketers on how to create a successful online community business model targeting the older adolescent. The answer was simple. Since older adolescents are …

Only Yesterday: The Rise And Fall Of Twentieth Century Sexual Psychopath Laws, Tamara Rice Lave

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.