Digital Commons Network^™

An Empirical Look At The Impact Of Course And Faculty Characteristics On Student Evaluations, Travis J. Degheri

Dissertations

Student evaluations of college instructors are anything but a new phenomenon, having been used since the early 1900s. Today, universities around the world continue to use student evaluations as a means for measuring instructor effectiveness. Despite concerns of student objectivity, at many institutions these evaluations have a sizable influence on decisions involving faculty promotion, tenure, and merit salary increases. While there is much literature examining student evaluations, few studies have provided a longitudinal, multi-discipline exploration of the impact course and faculty characteristics have on student evaluations.

To address this gap in the literature, this study used publically available data collected …

Neither Here Nor There: Transformational Leadership And Cultural Intelligence In Presidents Of U.S. Accredited Universities Located In Foreign Countries, Jeff Bourgeois

Dissertations

The role of a university president combines the symbolism of an institutional ambassador with the leadership responsibilities of a private-sector executive. When considering the cultural context of the university and the culture of the surrounding community, the demands of the presidential position become far more complex. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation currently lists 42 colleges and universities with institutional-level accreditation located beyond the borders of the Unite States, and two more listed as candidates for future accreditation consideration. Presidents of the 44 internationally located universities bearing U.S. accreditation must negotiate the potential for tension between the many cultures at …

The Higher-Ed Organizational-Scholar Tension: How Scholarship Compatibility And The Alignment Of Organizational And Faculty Skills, Values And Support Affects Scholar’S Performance And Well-Being, Milagros Pereyra-Rojas, Enrique Mu, James Gaskin, Tony Lingham

Faculty Publications

Scholars and institutions alike are concerned with academic productivity. Scholars not only further knowledge in their professional fields, they also bring visibility and prestige to themselves and their institutions, which in turn attracts research grants and more qualified faculty and graduate students. Many studies have been done on scholar productivity, and many of them focus on individual factors such as gender, marital status, and individual psychological characteristics. Also, a few studies are concerned about scholars’ well-being. We propose a causal model that considers the compatibility of the scholarship dimensions valued by scholars and institutions and their academic alignment with actual …

Enhancing Student Perceptions Of Middle Eastern People And Culture Through Music, Dance, Folk Literature, Culture, And Virtual Field Trips, Jason A. Noland

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study aimed to build on previous research by creating a multidisciplinary unit of study incorporating music, dance, folk literature, and cultural highlights that originate from the Middle East - coupled with virtual field trips to areas in the region to give greater depth to the students' understanding of the Middle East and its people. The study was completed with rural upper-elementary students in West Virginia who were participating in a summer program aimed at low-income students to assist them in increasing or maintaining reading levels over summer break, as well as providing two meals a day. Initial and endpoint …

Implementing Restorative Justice Under The Retributive Paradigm: A Pilot Program Case Study, Patrick Gerkin, John Walsh, Joseph Kuilema, Ian Borton

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This article explores the implementation of a pilot program in restorative justice in a medium-sized Midwestern city. Through an examination of meeting minutes, interviews, and the personal reflections of the authors, this article examines the implementation of a victim–offender mediation program, referred to throughout the article as the Fast Track Accountability Program (FTAP). Presented as a case study, the authors describe the key stakeholders, the process, the obstacles, as well as lessons learned along the way. Particular attention is given to the essential role of strong leadership and to the challenges faced when implementing such a program within the bureaucracy …

Variation In Boilerplate: Rational Design Or Random Mutation?, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Standard contract doctrine presumes that sophisticated parties choose their terminology carefully because they want courts or counterparts to understand what they intended. The implication of this “Rational Design” model of rational behavior is that courts should pay careful attention to the precise phrasing of contracts. Using a study of the sovereign bond market, we examine the Rational Design model as applied to standard-form contracting. In NML v. Argentina, federal courts in New York attached importance to the precise phrasing of the boilerplate contracts at issue. The industry promptly condemned the decision for a supposedly erroneous interpretation of a variant of …

Pennoyer Was Right, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

Pennoyer v. Neff has a bad rap. As an original matter, Pennoyer is legally correct. Compared to current doctrine, it offers a more coherent and attractive way to think about personal jurisdiction and interstate relations generally.

To wit: The Constitution imposes no direct limits on personal jurisdiction. Jurisdiction isn't a matter of federal law, but of general law -- that unwritten law, including much of the English common law and the customary law of nations, that formed the basis of the American legal system. Founding-era states were free to override that law and to exercise more expansive jurisdiction. But if …

Originalism Without Text, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

Originalism is not about the text. Though the theory is often treated as a way to read the Constitution’s words, that conventional view is misleading. A society can be recognizably originalist without any words to interpret: without a written constitution, written statutes, or any writing at all. If texts aren’t fundamental to originalism, then originalism isn’t fundamentally about texts. Avoiding that error helps us see what originalism generally is about: namely, our present constitutional law, and its dependence on a crucial moment in the past.

Understanding The Sexual Assault Disclosure Experiences Of Deaf Women, Noëlle Opsahl, Lawrence H. Pick

JADARA

Deaf women experience sexual assault at a significantly higher rate than the general hearing population, but the research is scarce on Deaf women’s disclosure patterns — the act of telling someone about a personal experience of sexual assault. This phenomenological study explored the disclosure experiences of three female Deaf survivors. The survivors reported themes of power dynamics, revictimization, helpful versus hurtful reactions, met versus unmet expectations, and Deaf community issues. All survivors experienced post-disclosure resiliency and growth, despite having experienced wounding social reactions. These results are discussed in relation to potential service provision for survivors and support providers.

Agency In Eating Disorders: American Literary And Visual Memoirs Of Anorexia And Bulimia, Jenny Platz

Open Access Dissertations

In my dissertation I examine the representation of self-creation through anorexia and bulimia in memoiristic narratives, blogs, and YouTube videos in contemporary American culture. I argue that the highly crafted characterizations and structures of the anorexic and bulimic memoirs and blogs implement the disorders into temporary tools of self-care that grant the subjects agency through their pursuits of maturation and identity creation and cannot be simplified into mere warnings and retellings of the dangers of the eating disorders. I am locating my research in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century to encompass the emergence of eating disorder memoirs, Ana …

The High School And Community College Experiences Of Immigrant-English Language Learners, Pamela Murillo

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the educational experiences of Hispanic immigrant-English Language Learners (ELLs) who are graduates of the International High Schools and attended and graduated from a community college. The study focuses on the International High School experiences that seem to foster community college readiness. Moreover, the study focuses on supports and challenges experienced by these individuals, the implications of their second language abilities during their time at their community college, and the reason(s) many Hispanic immigrant-ELLs stop at the Associate’s degree and do not continue through to the bachelor’s degree. Twelve International High School …

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: The Need For Better Employment Eligibility Regulations, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

People will start seeking tax-exempt debt forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) program in October of 2017 after satisfying the requirements of 10 years of post-October 1, 2007 employment in a “public service job.” I estimate that eventually 200,000 people a year or more will obtain debt forgiveness under this program, at a total cost to the Treasury of $12 billion/year or more. Estimates are that up to one-quarter of all employment will qualify as a public service job.

For such a large and costly program the precise eligibility criteria are crucial. The statutory definition of a public …

Consumer Credit In America: Past, Present, And Future, Pamela Foohey, Jim Hawkins, Creola Johnson, Nathalie Martin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In September 2016, in conjunction with Law & Contemporary Problems at Duke University School of Law, we organized a symposium on Consumer Credit in America. We sought to assess the state of consumer credit in America — to review and examine its recent history, to consider arguments for and against regulation, and to discuss the potential for future innovation. This is the introduction to the volume of articles coming out of that symposium.

Where Do We Go From Here?, Lorraine Brugh

Institute of Liturgical Studies Occasional Papers

(excerpt)

Truth is, though, we need wise and discerning counsel in order learn how to be liturgists for our assemblies. Liturgists, whether worship leaders or planners, presiding or assisting, spoken or musical, all need a coherent sense of their assembly’s worship. I hope to demonstrate that such coherence emerges from both a broad interaction with the wider church, ecumenical partners and others, as well as a deep look into our own particular assembly’s cultural context. Deepening the specific and broadening our reach are challenging in and of themselves; keeping them in balance is always an ongoing project.

"G" Is More Than "Pc" For Georgia: Why Prospective Adoption Of Aba Model Rule 8.4(G) Is A Viable Measure To Combat Discrimination And Harassment, Katie M. Wroten

Georgia Law Review

In August 2016, the American Bar Association
passed Model Rule 8.4(g) into its Model Rules of
Professional Conduct. The rule declares it misconduct
for a lawyer to harass or discriminate based on race,
sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age,
sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or
socioeconomic status. The scope of the rule extends to
lawyers' conduct outside of the courtroom, including
conduct related to the practice of law. The rule aims to
eliminate bias in the profession and justice system.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has yet to adopt any
version of Model Rule 8.4(g) in its comment …

Structural Covariance Of Sensory Networks, The Cerebellum, And Amygdala In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Garrett Cardon, Susan Hepburn, Donald C. Rojas

Faculty Publications

Sensory dysfunction is a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and abnormalities with sensory responsivity and processing can be extremely debilitating to ASD patients and their families. However, relatively little is known about the underlying neuroanatomical and neurophysiological factors that lead to sensory abnormalities in ASD. Investigation into these aspects of ASD could lead to significant advancements in our general knowledge about ASD, as well as provide targets for treatment and inform diagnostic procedures. Thus, the current study aimed to measure the covariation of volumes of brain structures (i.e., structural magnetic resonance imaging) that may be involved in abnormal …

Effects Of Voice-Sparing Cricotracheal Resection On Phonation In Women, Christopher Dromey, Kristine Tanner, Mark L. Berardi, Lisa M. Mattei, Jenny L. Pierce, Jonathan J. Wisco, Eric J. Hunter, Marshall E. Smith

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Individuals with idiopathic subglottic stenosis (SGS) are at risk for voice disorders prior to and following surgical management. This study examined the nature and severity of voice disorders in patients with SGS before and after a revised cricotracheal resection (CTR) procedure designed to minimize adverse effects on voice function. Method: Eleven women with idiopathic SGS provided presurgical and postsurgical audio recordings. Voice Handicap Index (VHI) scores were also collected. Cepstral, signal-to-noise, periodicity, and fundamental frequency (F0) analyses wereundertaken for connected speech and sustained vowel samples. Listeners made auditory-perceptual ratings of overall qualityand monotonicity.Results: Paired samples statistical analyses revealed that …

Language Of Intervention In Bilingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Connie Summers, Vanessa Smith, Vannesa Mueller, Victoria Alexander, Amelie Muzza

Faculty Publications

Selecting the appropriate language of intervention for bilingual children with language impairment is difficult, especially for bilingual children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as their families are often encouraged by professionals to select one language only for communication. The limited evidence supports the use of bilingual language interventions when working with bilingual children with ASD. The current study sought to expand this limited work by presenting preliminary data of the effects of a bilingual and monolingual treatment condition on the language skills of two bilingual children with ASD (ages 3 and 5) using an alternating treatment, single-subject design. The two …

The Transformation Of Occupations: A Case Study Of Professionalism In Cocktail Bartending, Jacqueline Fowler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

One focus in the sociology of work and occupations literature concerns the phenomena by which occupations transform into skilled professions. This study focuses on a craft cocktail bar and the attending cocktail bartenders as a case study of occupational professionalization. Cocktail bartenders are uniquely suited for this type of inquiry, as many aspects of their occupation carry the markers of professionalism, such as mastery of a skill, a deep understanding of their field, and their potential to be cultural intermediaries.;This study utilizes observation and interviews to elucidate how bartenders define themselves, their work, and their occupation as a whole. By …

"Our Own Flesh And Blood?": Delaware Indians And Moravians In The Eighteenth-Century Ohio Country., Jennifer L. Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Between 1740 and 1790, Moravians and Delaware Indians fostered a spiritual and political alliance even as they endured a series of internal divisions and external threats. Although the relationship withstood the Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution splintered both groups and estranged them from their neighbors. When the Revolution ushered in a radical new democracy that undermined the authority of eastern leaders, the Moravians proved powerless to control white settlers who enforced their own vision of justice against Native peoples. The Moravian-Delaware partnership unraveled as the dramatic upheaval of the American Revolution fundamentally reshaped the political landscape and rendered the …

Buying Thebes: Promoting A Cultural Commonwealth In Contemporary Anglophone Adaptations Of Greek Tragedy, Phillip Zapkin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project argues that theatrical adaptations of Greek tragedy exemplify the functioning of a cosmopolitan cultural commonwealth. Dramatists like Christine Evans, Colin Teevan, David Greig, Marina Carr, Femi Osofisan, Moira Buffini, and Yael Farber enact intercultural collaborations to reshape material from a cultural common and make that material meaningful for contemporary audiences. This collaborative ethos of drawing from shared source material undermines the logic of neoliberal late capitalism, which is premised on property ownership and individualist competition. "Buying Thebes" contributes to adaptation studies scholarship by theorizing a political economy of adaptation, combining both a formal reading of adaptation as an …

Teaching Without A Net: Experiencing Mandatory Curriculum Change, Stephen Ross Higgins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation reports a qualitative study that explored the reconstructed narratives of 4 West Virginia 7th grade social studies teachers. A methodology informed by narrative inquiry guided the research design, including the methods for data collection and data analysis. Two questions served as guideposts throughout the research process: What do the stories of the participants tell us about the ways in which teachers engage as developers of curriculum when curriculum change is mandated? In what ways did their stories of implementing a mandated change impact their professional identities? To explore these questions, I conducted 3 semi-structured interviews with each participant. …

The Influence Of Police Profanity On Public Perception Of Excessive Force, Christina Patton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous research has examined elements of police performance impacting community policing and police-citizen relationships, but no study has considered the impact of police use of profanity during arrest on public rating of force. Police profanity may negatively bias police-citizen interactions, and this bias could shape later interactions with community members, decrease the quality of police-community relations, or even result in public outcry over excessive use of force (White, Cox, & Baseheart, 1994). Further, profanity increases recipient physiological arousal in some settings (LaPointe, 2006) and aggressive behavior, which may exacerbate risk to the officer during an arrest and lead to more …

Metaphors Of Reading: Cognition And Embodiment In Contemporary Metafiction, Amanda L. Bailey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project brings together methodologies from sensory and cognitive approaches to literature to posit that Conceptual Metaphors of Readings mediate the experience of readers with fiction and provide an organizing framework for scholars and readers alike to consider the diverse sensory and cognitive phenomena that are used to describe the experience of reading. These conceptual metaphors are culturally and historically developed and can be used in combination with each other by authors to achieve desired effects on readers; however, there are clear patterns in metaphor blends. I demonstrate the robustness of this framework by analyzing metafictional readers, scenes of reading, …

Existing Without Permission: A Visual Rhetorical Analysis On Banksy's Nola Children And The Betrayal Of Authority, Phillip J. Tennison

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This study examines eight images by the world renowned—and incognito—graffiti street artist known only as Banksy. The eight images are all of lone children; fourteen paintings comprise the total of Banksy’s 2008 visit to post-Katrina New Orleans. For the research, the eight images of children are referred to collectively as the “NOLA Children Series.” Banksy critics and fans have provided their own names for each piece: Simpsons Boy, Umbrella Girl, Fridge Kite, Levee Boy, Life Preserver Swing, Girl on Stool, and Trumpet Boy 1 & 2. The primary research objective was to understand Banksy’s motives for creating these eight “dramas” …

Functionality Screens, Christopher Buccafusco, Mark A. Lemley

Articles

Among intellectual property (IP) doctrines, only utility patents should protect function. Utility patents offer strong rights that place constraints on competition, but they only arise when inventors can demonstrate substantial novelty after a costly examination. Copyrights, trademarks, and design patents are much easier to obtain than utility patents, and they often last much longer. Accordingly, to prevent claimants from obtaining “backdoor patents,” the other IP doctrines must screen out functionality. As yet, however, courts and scholars have paid little systematic attention to the ways in which these functionality screens operate across and within IP law.We have four tasks in this …

Exploring Female Stem Learners' Perceptions Of Masculinity As Presented By Male Instructors Of Technology, Chad Clark

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Men dominate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs and occupations. Even though many individuals are not cognitively aware of how pervasive hegemonic masculinity is in day-to-day life, the ramifications of the concept are real. This study looks to understand how female STEM students perceive the masculinity of their male STEM instructors and what effect that perception might have on their desire to persist in a STEM program of study. This study assumes a power differential exists between teacher and student. The assumption is supported in literature. Additionally, the classroom management hierarchy wherein the teacher controls the direction for …

The Impact Of Stigma On Hiv/Aids Testing Among Kenyan Diaspora Women, Phyllis Catherine Nyotta

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have considered HIV/AIDS in Kenya as the largest HIV pandemic in the world, with about 6.3 million individuals living with the disease as of 2013. About 25% of new HIV patients are adult women, aged 15 to 24 years old. Guided by the health belief model (HBM), the purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey research study was to explore the influence of various dimensions of HIV/AIDS stigma (public, self, enacted, and structural) on the uptake of HIV testing among Kenyan Diaspora women in United States. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test if there was a correlation between …

Cultural Sensitivity In The Performance-Based Learning Environment, Monique Matleen Hazzard-Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Georgia Department of Education requires students to earn 4 course credits in the area of mathematics in order to graduate from high school. Academic success for mathematics students in a school district in southern Georgia has been encumbered because teachers lack cultural competency in mathematics instruction, which has hindered minority students from developing reasoning, critical analysis, and problem-solving skills needed to earn these required math credits. The purpose of this project study was to examine teachers' perceptions of using culturally relevant teaching strategies to influence the academic performance of minority students in the mathematics classroom. The conceptual framework was …

A Study Of Fourth-Grade Students' Perceptions On Homework Environment And Academic Motivation In Mathematics, Stefanie Harmon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem at an elementary school is teachers' lack of knowledge and information on the perceptions and motivation of students to complete independent mathematics homework. The purpose of this study was to identify students' perceptions regarding their homework environment and academic motivation in mathematics. The study's conceptual framework, attribution theory, supported the examination of drivers of motivation for participants related to homework completion. Guiding research questions, supported by Keller's ARCS model, focused on the identification of students' perceptions of homework attention, relevance, curiosity, satisfaction, and their preferred homework environment. This qualitative research study obtained data from semistructured interviews with 44 …