Digital Commons Network^™

How Do The Conflicts In The Middle East And The Crisis At The Southwestern Land Border Increase The Risk Of Terrorism In The United States?, Bradly Perkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of the intricate relationship between the persistent geopolitical instability in the Middle East, the complex crisis at the United States' Southwestern Border, and the associated terrorist threats facing the United States. Despite the pressing nature of these interconnected challenges, there is a notable scarcity of scholarly literature that effectively establishes links between the issues at the Southwestern Border, the conflicts occurring in the Middle East, and the risks of terrorism. This gap in research highlights the need for a comprehensive examination of these global security concerns, emphasizing how they interact and influence one …

A Phenomenological Study Examining The Effects Of Restrictive Factors On Previously Incarcerated Individuals’ Chances Of Recidivism, Tawanda Shantell Heim-Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the effects of perpetual restrictions and stigmatization for previously incarcerated individual’s vulnerability and efforts to reduce recidivism in society. The theories guiding this study are Bandura’s (1986) social theory as it explains the relationship between the theory of self-efficacy and motivation, and Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs accompanied by humanistic and existential theorists Viktor Frankl’s (1946) logotherapy and Carl Roger’s (1951) humanistic psychology as it emphasizes basic needs for human existence and success which are contradicted by hinderance of perpetual restrictions. Because of the mass stigmatization of people who have been …

Counseling Professionals’ Perceptions On The Demand For School-Based Counseling In Public Schools: Addressing The Mental And Behavioral Health Challenges Of At-Risk Youth, Including Gang-Involved Youth, Xzondra Heleen Bergman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The objective of this qualitative descriptive research study was to deeply explore the perceptions of school-based counseling professionals, specifically within the St. Lucie Public Schools (Florida), and their role in addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of at-risk youth, including gang-involved youth. This includes middle and high school counseling professionals, Mental Health Counselors, and Social Workers, each playing a critical role in supporting this vulnerable population. The study sought to gather rich and nuanced insights into how these professionals view their capabilities to effectively aid at-risk youth, including those entangled in gang involvement, utilizing the resources and established therapeutic …

An Applied Multimethod Study: Addressing The Problem Of Property Integrity Issues In The State Of Alabama, Suzanna Kirkpatrick Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This applied multimethod study addressed the problem of property integrity issues in the state of Alabama. The central research question aimed to discover how property integrity issues could be identified and reduced within the state. The multimethod design utilized qualitative and quantitative data collection methods framed with Cohen and Felson’s (1979) routine activity theory across semi-structured interviews, content analysis of online news articles posted to the International Association for Property and Evidence’s Headline News webpage, and a survey questionnaire. Data observations revealed the problem of property integrity issues was complex. Target suitability for property items being stolen was found to …

Collateral Damage From A Legacy Of Silence: Redefining Sexual Violence In The American Civil War, 1861-1865, Chandra K. Waller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the often-overlooked issue of sexual violence during the American Civil War, challenging the myth of Victorian restraint and the romanticized notion of the "gentleman soldier." While traditional Civil War historiography has focused on military strategy, politics, and elite actors, this study foregrounds the experiences of civilian women, particularly enslaved and marginalized women, who were subjected to sexual violence at the hands of soldiers. Drawing on court-martial records, personal letters and diaries, newspaper accounts, and military documents, the paper argues that sexual violence was not an aberration but a systemic and strategic aspect of wartime conduct.

It also …

A Phenomenological Study Of Women Raised In A Single-Mother Household And How They Describe Success As Adults, Nicole L. Nagy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how women in northeastern Ohio raised in single-mother households described a successful adult life. The theory guiding this study was the family systems theory developed by Murray Bowen between 1954 and 1959, as it defines support from family and social relationships for children raised in single-mother homes.Ten women who were raised in a single mother led household and who were identified as being successful as defined by the terms of this study participated. A qualitative phenomenological approach was utilized which allowed participants to provide detailed descriptions of their lived experiences through …

Impoverished People: A Phenomenological Study Of The Effects Of Organizational Culture And Corruption On Class Poverty, Jean Rony Duclosel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Researchers have established that corruption adversely affects economic growth and development and deters resources from the most vulnerable. When viewed through the lens of public administration, corruption can create financial burdens and hinder the delivery of essential services, such as criminal justice, healthcare, education, and social programs. However, the dynamic effects of organizational culture and corruption on class poverty are still unknown. This phenomenological study fills this gap. The researcher employed a case study methodology to achieve this goal, using a semi-structured interview format, a focus group, and a document analysis of an administrative court. The population for the interview …

Silencing The Mockingbirds: Strengthening Legal Safeguards For Defamation Cases Involving Domestic Violence Allegations, Grace E. George

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pro-Blackness In Early Childhood Education: Diversifying Curriculum And Pedagogy In K-3 Classrooms, David Sandles Jr.

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

In the book Pro-Blackness in Early Childhood Education: Diversifying Curriculum and Pedagogy in K-3 Classrooms, the authors advocate for an educational framework centered on Black cultural principles and values, specifically addressing the impact of anti-Blackness in educational spaces. This text emphasizes the importance of incorporating African Diaspora Literacy (ADL) to support Black children's academic and cultural growth, while rejecting deficit perspectives often shaped by white-dominated educational theories. It highlights the necessity of an Afrocentric approach to curriculum and pedagogy that incorporates historical consciousness, cultural dimensions, and language diversity. By focusing on pro-Black pedagogies, such as the African American Language …

Educational Policy Committee Meeting – Open Session Book 05/22/2025, Uc Law Sf

2025 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Swosu Department Of Psychology History, Janice L. Sperle

Department of Psychology

SWOSU DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY HISTORY
1948-2025

By Janice L. Sperle

From Fee For Service To Outcome Based Care: A Policy Proposal To Reduce Provider Burnout In Assertive Community Treatment, Amanda M. Thompson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose: This project examines the impact of the fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursement models on provider burnout within Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs and proposes a hybrid reimbursement framework that integrates case-rate and outcome-based payment structures. The goal is to enhance care quality, improve provider retention and optimize patient outcomes by addressing financial and administrative inefficiencies inherent in the current model.

Background: Mental illness affects over 59 million U.S. adults with serious mental illness (SMI) presenting significant challenges in healthcare delivery. ACT is an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach designed to provide intensive, community-based psychiatric care to individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). However, …

The Impact Of Transformational Leadership By Chiefs And Supervisors On Law Enforcement Turnover Intention: An Examination Of Job Satisfaction And Commitment As Mediators, Myunghyun Choi, Sohee Kim, Youngki Woo

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how law enforcement officers’ turnover intentions are affected by their perceptions of transformational leadership from both chiefs and supervisors as well as their job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing a large sample of 13,072 sworn law enforcement officers from 85 agencies across the United States, this study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the impacts of transformational leadership by chiefs and supervisors on turnover intention. Additionally, this study investigates the mediating effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in these relationships.

Findings

The findings indicate that transformational leadership from …

Reassessing Policy Responses To Irregular Migration In Receiving Democracies: A Process-Tracing Analysis Of Transactional Migration Governance, Otoniel Ramos

Student Research

This policy brief analyzes the growing use of transactional migration agreements (TMAs) by receiving democracies—bilateral arrangements that exchange financial or diplomatic concessions for the external enforcement of migration control. While politically expedient, TMAs often generate long-term strategic liabilities: they reduce state control over enforcement outcomes, expose receiving states to coercive leverage by partner states, and weaken normative commitments to transparency and rights protection. Using analytic process tracing and formal modeling, this paper identifies four recurring mechanisms by which TMAs evolve into systems of asymmetric dependence. It then evaluates three alternative policy frameworks—Exit Doctrine, Legal Category Reform, and a Structured Conditionality …

To Diversify Or Not To Diversify: A Preliminary Report On Farmers’ Perspectives On Diversification In The U.S. Midwest, Lauren Asprooth, J. Gordon Arbuckle, Rebecca Traldi, Sarah P. Church, Kristin Floress, Benjamin M. Gramig, Andrew J. Margenot, Elizabeth Maynard, Aaron Thompson, Ariana P. Torres, Emily M. Usher, Ishraq Awashra, Katherine Pivaral, Finnleigh S, Woodings, Linda Stalker Prokopy

Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture Faculty Publications

Diversifying the simplified landscape of corn and soybeans in the Midwest is an emerging priority in both the public and private sectors to reap a suite of climate, social, agronomic, and economic benefits. However, little research has documented the perspectives of farmers, the primary stakeholders in diversification efforts. This preliminary report uses newly collected survey data (n = 725) from farmers in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa to provide descriptive statistics and tests to understand what farmers in the region think about agricultural diversification, including their perspectives on its benefits, barriers, and opportunities. For the purposes of the …

Intersectional Analysis Of Vaccination Inequity Among Individuals With Disabilities In The United States During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Philip Ndoki, Heba M. Athar, David O. Anderson

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

We investigated how disability status, types, sociodemographic indicators, and reasons for not receiving vaccinations influenced COVID-19 vaccination rates among individuals with disabilities in the United States. Despite efforts, vaccination disparities persisted, necessitating a nuanced understanding of the barriers to vaccination. Using intersectionality theory and the social determinants of health framework, we examined the impact of marginalized identities and structural inequalities. Key questions included the association between disability status and vaccination uptake, differences among disability types moderated by sociodemographic factors, and the interaction between disability status and reasons for not vaccinating. We used Household Pulse Survey data from the U.S. Census …

The Meaning Of Mission At A Catholic, Liberal Arts College, Ashley Nora Gisiger

Dissertations

This qualitative case study research aimed to uncover how students engage with institutional mission to understand: how the mission of a Catholic, liberal arts college contributes to the development of its undergraduate students and how higher education professionals integrate mission throughout the community. Semi-structured interviews allowed students, faculty, staff, and administrative perspectives to highlight how this work happens at a Benedictine college. Participants highlighted how their experience of mission contributed to their intellectual curiosity, their sense of self through community, and their ability to connect their education to the world at large and beyond their present academic experience. The higher …

Creating A Positive Social-Emotional Learning Environment For Transgender Students: A Post-Pandemic Participatory Action Research, Mark Christopher Maranto

Dissertations

This qualitative research employing participatory action protocols (PAR) engages a limited number of gender minority adolescents (current transgender, nonbinary, and gender-fluid secondary students) and allied staff members at one large Midwestern public high school district. The principal purpose is to improve transgender secondary student schooling experiences. This study extends the current educational discourse on SEL (social-emotional learning) in post-pandemic high schools as far as the commitment to improving students' sense of belonging, growth mindset, resilience, and well-being should be a top priority for all educators. The primary researcher positions all participants as co-researchers to explore ways that could improve the …

Gardner-Webb 2013 Alumna Shebra Hughes: ‘Waffle House Is A Hidden Gem’, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Shebra Hughes, a 2013 alumna of Gardner-Webb University, and her husband Tommy love visiting campus. They reminisce about when she was a student and they were dating, but also enjoy representing the company they work for: Waffle House. A senior vice president, Shebra manages 81 locations in North Carolina from Greensboro to Cherokee.

Legal Advocates As Lifelines: Initial Psychometric Evaluation Of Victim Rights Within A Community-Based Agency, Jaylee York

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Navigating the legal process after sexual violence is often distressing and poses a risk of secondary victimization (Campbell, 2013). Victim Bill of Rights legislation throughout the U.S. aims to establish legal protections for victims. Organizations such as the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) offer independent legal advocacy. This dissertation sought to engage in socially responsive research with KCSARC to better understand the needs of both the organization and the survivors they serve.

This study developed and psychometrically evaluated two new measures: Victim Rights to Process (VRP), assessing whether a victim feels their rights to the legal process have …

Booked Or Buried In Texas: Risk Factors For Prebooking Suicide And Homicide Deaths Of Individuals With Sex Offenses, Nicole Moreira

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Preventable deaths during law enforcement encounters, particularly those violent in nature, such as suicide and homicide deaths, are of considerable public concern. Prebooking, the law enforcement custody stage that includes arrest, serving warrants, wellness checks, traffic stops is often the most dangerous and fatal stage of custody. Despite being the most potentially dangerous and unpredictable of any custody stage, prebooking remains grossly understudied in comparison to jail and prison research, underscoring the need for focused research. To address this gap, the present study examines risk factors for suicide and homicide deaths among individuals with sex-related offenses during prebooking custody. Individuals …

Prohibitive Factors Of Successful Completion In Rural Drug Courts: A Quantitative Study, Travis Zimmerman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Drug courts have been heralded as largely successful alternative sentencing programs for criminal drug offenders. While these programs demonstrate their ability to be effective with clients, little insight has been gained into the factors that impact client success and failure. The study utilized data from the Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE) to investigate the factors that lead to program failure for participants in drug court. Borrowing from the tenants of generalized strain theorists, the study batched together raw data into four “strain factors,” which were then analyzed to discern any corollary effect between the presence of these strains and …

Illinois State University Salaries Fy2025 Update, Illinois State University

Illinois State University Salaries

Includes two sections: administrative professional and civil service salaries, and non-tenure track, tenure track, and faculty associate salaries.

Illuminating The Iceberg: Brain Science And Punitive Damages In Libel Cases, Catherine J. Cameron

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Knowledge And Punishment: The Prison-Industrial Complex And Epistemic Oppression, Lark Mulligan

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

We, “The People,” Deserve A Second Chance, Meghan Monahan

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

2025 Commencement Program, New York Law School

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Crystal Clear Disparities: The Failure Of Sentencing Guidelines And How They Repeatedly Contribute To Systematic Racism In The United States, Makayla Perez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Family Cohesion On The Relationship Between Trauma And State-Level Social Policy Provision In The United States, Brandon Kendall Ross Fielding

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines how childhood trauma and family cohesion interact to shape state-level social policy generosity in the United States. The study begins with a multilevel quantitative analysis using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health and the State Safety-Net Generosity Index to assess how individual-level experiences of trauma and family support relate to state-level welfare generosity. Two trauma indices--one focused on adverse childhood experiences and bullying, and the other on food-related hardship--are used to explore how trauma influences attitudes toward public assistance, and whether family cohesion moderates this relationship. Results from marginal effects analyses indicate that family cohesion, …

A Seat At The Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist And Womanist Theory, Natasha M. Capers

Student Theses

“A Seat at the Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist and Womanist Theory” critically examines how curriculum, even when well-intentioned, can perpetuate harm by excluding the lived experiences of marginalized communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ students. Using a real middle school immigration assignment given to the author's son as a case study, this capstone deconstructs the structural biases embedded in curriculum design and proposes a radical reimagining through the liberatory lenses of Afrofuturism and Womanism. Blending scholarly inquiry, personal narrative, and community-based interviews, this project offers a restructured assignment that centers joy, identity, and speculative storytelling as tools for educational …