Digital Commons Network^™

A Planet In Our Solar System, John Dillon

Theses & ETDs

This body of work was made over the course of two or three years around my home in Chicago. Originally my project began as a formal photographic exercise as I explored my environment with several late nineteenth and early twentieth century painters and photographers in mind. I was specifically interested in ideas concerning the representation of three dimensions on a two-dimensional canvas or piece of paper. As I continued making images, I became more interested in the photograph's potential to alter the world that it depicts and even to create an entirely new kind of world while at the same …

Que Se Vayan Todos!: Democratic Consolidation And Collective Action Framing In Argentina's Piqueterismo And Uruguay's Frente Amplio, Sarah Ann Knotts

Theses & ETDs

This project seeks to assess the topics of democratic consolidation and collective action framing. The project discusses the problem of democratic consolidation and how countries with democratic institutional models may vary in terms of their legitimacy and ability to represent the public as well as the injustice, agency, and identity frames which social movements use to further their interests, particularly with regard to 20th century Latin America. As conditions in a country's political society affect the manner and effectiveness with which social movements are able to communicate, the project seeks, at large, to assess how democratic consolidation may affect the …

"The Boys I Mean Are Not Refined": The Search For Identity In Contemporary American Novels, Jamie Valentine

Theses & ETDs

Many contemporary novelists explore a complex notion of identity. In these texts, characters create and recreate their identities, responding to the forces of their social world. I examine J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1945), Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer (1996) and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) following their young male protagonists in their search for a sense of identity. This thesis first explores the various strategies and tactics employed by the characters in the process of creating their identity: language, the search for community, sexuality, and violence. The success of each of these …

Striving For Participation: An Analysis Of Community-Based Natural Resource Management In Botswana, Catherine Gowan

Theses & ETDs

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programs are at the forefront of conservation and development ideology. Founded on the premise that economic incentives can provide reasons for rural people in the developing world to conserve wildlife and other natural resources, CBNRM programs have been implemented all across southern Africa for the past two decades. In addition to conserving wildlife, these dual conservation and development programs are meant to empower rural people by encouraging them to manage and participate in the decision-making process. Despite the promise of CBNRM, implementation has not gone smoothly in Botswana (or most other countries in which is …

The 1.5 Generation Of The Bosnian Diaspora, Jennifer H. Lelaurin

Theses & ETDs

Many immigrant and refugee studies address issues related to the 1st and 2nd generations of immigrants without accounting for individuals who migrate as children, known as the 1.5 generation. This thesis explores the topics of acculturation, identity, ethnic enclaves and family dynamics in relation to the 1.5 generation through semi-structured interviews with three female 1.5 generation Bosnian refugees living in St. Louis, Missouri. The research presented in this study suggests that members of the 1.5 generation may have acculturation experiences, identity formation processes, and outcomes distinct from the 1st and 2nd generations of immigrants. Analysis of this case study, in …

Smiling Inside: Routinization, Representation, And Rat Race, Eric Jakobsen

Theses & ETDs

While theme park characters are recognized throughout the world, the people playing them remain largely hidden due to express corporate policies. This thesis investigates emotional labor, representation, routinization, and other social issues at play in theme park work. These issues are addressed in an analysis of informal interviews conducted with theme park workers and also in a theatrical piece that derives most of its text from the same interviews and was created using techniques of Anna Deavere Smith, Tadashi Suzuki, and Anne Bogart/SITI Company. The final piece presents the workers' stories and experiences, while simultaneously engaging the difficult issues surrounding …

Eighteenth-Century London And The Birth Of Consumer Culture, Lisa Fisher

Theses & ETDs

This thesis considers the birth of consumer culture in eighteenth-century London and explores the changes witnessed by society in response to the mass production of consumer goods. Maintaining that the eighteenth century witnessed the birth of the "modern world", this study considers the growth of industrial capitalism and the expansion of global markets as catalysts for the restructuring of British society. This transitory period was wrought with many difficulties, as progress of a civilization often entails a reorganization of social hierarchies and values. The growth of fashion, communications, advertising and print culture forever changed not only the structure of the …

The Irreligious American: Italian Immigrants In Ybor City, Florida, Madeline Edison

Theses & ETDs

This thesis is a sociological examination of Italian immigrant communities in Ybor City, Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana between 1895 and 1920. The primary theorists used are Will Herberg and R. Stephen Warner. Examining Herberg and Warner's theory that to become American is to become religious in a public sphere, Ybor City, Florida is shown to be one location in which this theory is not applicable. Using records from the archdiocese in New Orleans, Louisiana and research performed by Gary Mormino, the conclusion is made that New Orleans fits Herberg and Warner's sociological theories, while Ybor City does not. The …

Two Jails In One: Impediments To Professionalization For Modern Jail Corrections Officers, Chelsey Lora

Theses & ETDs

In the qualitative study of corrections officers (COs) in a Florida county jail, participants demonstrated the difficulties of working in a 21st Century sheriff's department that is not professionalized but seeking to improve public image and conditions through policy changes that increase officer frustration rather than meet said goals. The day shift and the night shift demonstrated stark differences. These two conflicting shifts emerged not simply from distinct work responsibilities, but rather directly from seniority practices, shift organization, and department strategies for professionalization that ignore front-line officers own needs, responsibilities, and expertise. This study suggests that, through their attempts to …

Crisis Of Confidence: Cinematic Environmentalism Of The Seventies, Jacob Scott Starks

Theses & ETDs

In the 1970's, film played a reflective and contributory role in American environmental culture. Many films of the decade reflected a cultural environmentalism driven by a crisis of confidence in government and industry's ability to ensure a viable and natural environment. This project examines six films' content, cultural context of production, and reception, which indicate a notion of American uncertainty concerning government and industry's protection or conservation of the environment. The opening chapter provides a context for the economic and political conditions of the 1970's, explaining the American “crisis of confidence.” The second chapter examines the public‟s lack of faith …

Interlocking Systems Of Oppression And The Paradox Of Privilege: An Application Of Patricia Hill Collins' And Allan Johnson's Theories To Maid In America And Maid In Manhattan, Frederick Alexander Guadalupe Medina

Theses & ETDs

This thesis utilizes the theories of Patricia Hill Collins and Allan Johnson to analyze two films: Maid in America and Maid in Manhattan. Through the combination of Collins and Johnson discussed in the first chapter, we see race and class from a unique perspective in both films. These theories can be used as lenses to examine categorization, the different levels in society where we experience privilege, and the paradox of privilege ideas that Collins and Johnson explore. These films are directly opposite in their setup and purpose. Chapter 2 presents the film Maid in America, a documentary, about the situation …

Relegation, Rejection, And Revolts: The Spatial Isolation Of The French Banlieue, Aaron Phillips

Theses & ETDs

No single word in the English language carries all the connotations of the French “banlieue.” Scholars, politicians, and residents offer dissonant renditions of these neighborhoods that vary from suburb and outskirt to ghetto and slum. This thesis analyzes the construction of the banlieue, both as a physical space and a site of contested meaning. Following the Second Word War, France poured reconstruction funds into public housing. Guided by Le Corbusier's utilitarian, modernist philosophy, the state outfitted hundreds of cités (projects) on the cheap land outside major cities with massive residential high-rises. This originally improved sanitation and quality of life for …

Ludic Transformations: Game And Play In Julio Cortazar's 62 Modelo Para Armar And Georges Perec's La Vie Mode D'Emploi., Alba Jaramillo

Theses & ETDs

Experimental authors have often used the theme of game and play in literature for stimulating new ways of reading and narrating. The Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar (1914-84) and French author Georges Perec (1936-1982) integrated this notion into their work in order to experiment with different narrative designs and encourage reader participation. The application of this theme to literature often carries a tension between control and freedom that affects the structure of the text as well as how it is interpreted. With reputations as the authors' most complex works, 62 Modelo para Armar and La Vie Mode D'emploi thematize the notions …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Story And Resilience, Erica Schoon

Theses & ETDs

This thesis uses Robert Coles's Children of Crisis series as a starting point for examining the dynamic relationship between the concepts of story and psychological resilience in the United States. I discuss Coles's treatment of young people in crisis in the 1960s and 1970s and the parallel situations in the US today. Using studies from a broad range of disciplines and portraits of children from Coles's books, this thesis demonstrates the dynamic relationship between story and resilience by exploring the representation of resilience in published or public stories, as well as the influence of story on resilience. I detail the …

Exploring The Relationship Between Level Of Religiosity And Overall Life Satisfaction Among New College Students, Angela V. Wells

Theses & ETDs

The purpose of this project was to determine whether there is a significant relationship between level of religiosity and overall life satisfaction among New College students. Much research has been done in this field; however I chose to study college students because they are a unique population which had not previously been studied. I used Allport and Ross's Religious Orientation Scale to measure religiosity (1967). This measure assessed internal and external expressions of religiosity giving students more opportunities to express how they practice their faith. I used the Satisfaction With Life Scale to measure overall life satisfaction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen …

Sea Level Rise And Local Land Use Planning: The Florida Example, Elisabeth Salinas

Theses & ETDs

The influence of land use patterns on hazard vulnerability and resilience establishes the importance of examining local land use planning in research addressing climate change. While the conceptual connection between land use planning and climate change adaptation is relatively easy to grasp, in practice, integrating climate concerns into planning activity is technically and politically difficult. Using document research and survey techniques, the thesis describes how four southwestern Florida counties (Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Collier) have incorporated predictions regarding future accelerated sea level rise into comprehensive planning activities and the challenges they have faced in doing so. The thesis argues that …

Comparing Health Systems: Hiv/Aids In India And The United States, Anita V. Tambay

Theses & ETDs

Public health systems function in ensuring the health needs of a population are met, focusing particularly on the prevention of ill health. Due to India’s enormous population, and the resultant strain on its resources, India’s public health system has proved inadequate. In the coming years, the Indian government should shift its focus towards addressing primary health care needs such as nutrition and prenatal care. In the US, though health standards are relatively high, disparities in health indicators can be seen across minority populations. These disparities indicate public health efforts are not reaching at-risk populations. Additionally, both India and the US …

How They Did It And Why It Worked: A Sociological Examination Of The United Faculty Of Florida Between 1968-1981, Abigail B. Deatley

Theses & ETDs

With the passage of local and federal public employee collective bargaining legislation, the process of faculty unionization began all over the country. This thesis examines how United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union of Florida, would come into fruition in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It examines how sociological factors, such as institutional structures, organizational culture, and charismatic leadership made faculty unionization possible in a conservative, right to work state. This thesis posits that UFF took advantage of the cultural 'tool kit' offered by the environment on Florida campuses in the late 1960s in order to form a successful …

Between Two Worlds: Internalized Anti-Semitism In Isaac Babel's Short Fiction, Melissa Yael Jacobowitz

Theses & ETDs

This thesis sets out to examine the seemingly paradoxical dynamics of Jewish, Russian, and Communist identity in Isaac Babel's short fiction. How can a Jewish narrator write admiringly and enviously of Cossack soldiers as they insult and abuse him and commit violence against other Jews? How, at other times, can this same narrator speak lyrically and warmly about the Jewish world in which he was raised and feels at home? I argue that looking at Babel's short stories through the lens of internalized anti-Semitism can aid us in answering the aforementioned questions and in better understanding how his fiction works. …

Precedented Yet Unparalleled: How New Is The "New Terrorism" Of The Al Qaeda Network?, Harrison Duke Grandwilliams

Theses & ETDs

On September 11, 2001, politicians and academic experts on terrorism decried the attacks in New York and Washington as unprecedented and unparalleled. The truth is that the Al Qaeda network represents a new organizational form, with unprecedented capacity; however, the organization's goals, ideology and strategy have deep roots in the history of terrorism and radical Islam. This thesis looks at the pre-9/11 literature on terrorism, and its failure to provide coherent insight into the nature of terrorism, or even a generally acceptable definition of terrorism. It goes on to trace the known precedents of Al Qaeda in the history of …

Future Of Water For Food: Proceedings Of The Future Of Water For Food Conference Held At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, May 3-5, 2009, University Of Nebraska–Lincoln Office Of Research And Economic Development

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

“Water is key. It’s a critical issue. In many cases, it’s a critical limitation. And we come together probably in some cases with different perspectives, but I think we can all agree that it’s a critical challenge, one that we must take on,” said Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in his keynote address at the Future of Water for Food conference.

Hosted by the University of Nebraska and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the conference was held at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, May 3-5, 2009. The conference brought together more than 230 …

2008 Major Sponsored Programs And Faculty Awards For Research And Creative Activity, Office Of Research, University Of Nebraska–Lincoln

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

Awards of $3 million or more
Awards of $1 million to $2,999,999
Awards of $200,000 to $999,999
Early Career Awards
Arts and Humanities Awards of $50,000 or more
Arts and Humanities Awards of $5,000 to $49,999
Patents Issued
Intellectual Property Licences
Creative Works in Fine and Performing Arts
Books
Recognitions and Honors
Glossary of Federal Agency Abbreviations

The Genesis Of The Chicago Renaissance: Theodore Dreiser, Langston, Cara E. Erdheim

English Faculty Publications

Book review by Cara Erdheim.

Hricko, Mary. The Genesis of the Chicago Renaissance: Theodore Dreiser, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and James T. Farrell. London & New York: Routledge, 2009.

Co 680 Career Counseling, Anthony J. Headley

Syllabi

Hardy, L. (1990). The fabric of this world: inquiries into calling, career choice, and the design of human work. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans. Zunker, Vernon G. (2006). Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

College At Risk: A Case Study Of Institutional Renewal Of A Catholic Liberal Arts Institution, Maureen V. Egan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to explore the social, cultural, and political factors that contributed to the transformation and renewal of one small, private, Catholic liberal arts institution in the Midwest in its time of financial crisis. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 participants who are constituents (i.e., past and former president, alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees) of Midwest College and whose knowledge by virtue of having experienced the transformation and renewal process was essential to this case study. Investigation of how the transformation and renewal process ultimately attained success indicated three themes in the results: structure (i.e., …

Once You Go Black: Choice, Desire, And The Black American Intellectual, Laura Mattoon D'Amore

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Acquisitions 2008 African-American Masters Collection, Patrick D. Jones, Sharon L. Kennedy, Christin J. Mamiya, Tyre J. Mcdowell Jr., Jorge Daniel Veneciano

Sheldon Museum of Art: Catalogs and Publications

Charles Henry Alston

Romare Bearden

Elizabeth Catlett

Aaron Douglas

Löis Mailou Jones

Jacob Lawrence

Alvin D. Loving, Jr.

Charles Wilber White

Evolving Eden, Sharon L. Kennedy

Sheldon Museum of Art: Catalogs and Publications

Eden is an idealized place where one experiences happiness, harmony and a sense of timelessness. While some believe this can only be experienced after death, others are convinced that the only Eden is the one we currently inhabit and therefore good stewardship is needed in order to sustain it. Photographers have historically captured our evolving planet and have brought to light its beauty as well as its destruction due to human intervention.

The artists in Evolving Eden address the much-discussed topic of the environment and our relationship with our surroundings, using three distinct approaches. While Arno Rafael Minkkinen's spiritual images …

Determining School District Organization In North Carolina, David Dunaway, Leigh Ausband, Do-Hong Kim

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The current study sought to answer the next question, “How are the organizational structures of North Carolina school districts determined?” We wanted to understand what factors influenced the organization of school district.

Effects Of Case-Based Learning On Preservice Secondary Teachers’ Multicultural Attitudes: A Mixed Methods Study, Kathryn Lee, Emily Summers, Rubén Garza

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

As our society changes, so must our teacher education practices. In the past decade, the Southwestern U.S. has been transforming into a majority minority region (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which must in turn reframe the underpinnings of teacher education in this area of our country. As teacher educators, we have known that many preservice teachers lagged in their preparedness to teach students who are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different from themselves. Teacher education increasingly is being criticized as having inabilities to instruct teacher candidates in ways that produce greater K-12 student learning; diversity awareness will be a cornerstone if we …