Digital Commons Network^™

Towards The Abolition Of The Immigration Detention Of Children In The United States, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

For over a decade, international human rights mechanisms have been calling for the prohibition of the detention of children based solely on immigration status. Human rights experts agree that the detention of children for immigration purposes is never in the best interests of the child, it leads to long-term harm, and it is a clear human rights violation. Until recently, the United States has detained hundreds of thousands of migrant children in cages each year and we have still not outlawed the inhumane practice. This article argues that engaging with international human rights mechanisms on this topic, including during the …

The Value Of A Statistical Life: From Skin In The Game To Vision Zero, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay discusses justice issues surrounding occupational safety and health and assesses the ethical legitimacy—the justice—of regulatory cost benefit analysis when the costs in question involve the risks and realization of workplace injury and fatalities. The current “value of a statistical life” for legal-regulatory purposes is 13.1 million dollars. While economists are careful to say that this figure does not “really” represent an attempt to value any particular life, the purpose of even calculating the number is to provide an “aggregated” statistical justification for saying “no” to rules requiring safer work. This seems acceptable until you, or someone you love, …

An Indecent Exposure Of The Rules Of Legal Ethics, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

Thousands of attorneys experience rape and sexual assault by clients, as well as indecent exposure, public masturbation, unwanted touching, verbal threats, and stalking. These incidents are not often publicly reported, but client sexual violence against attorneys is not uncommon. The ethical rules currently fail to account for an attorney who has experienced client sexual violence, whether to allow for termination of representation or to mitigate future harm to other lawyers. While the ethical rules are usually thought of as neutral, this Article critically examines the gender stereotypes and structures of oppression corseting the rules. Relying on a fifty-state survey of …

Designing For Relational Ethics In Online And Blended Learning: Levinas, Buber, And Teaching Interfaith Ethics, Michael Hubbard Mackay, Jason K. Mcdonald, Andrew C. Reed

Faculty Publications

Online and blended learning (OBL) overemphasize the process of creating artifacts, producing strategies, or otherwise utilizing a “making” orientation in education. As an alternative to this making-orientation, we offer a model for relational course design founded in the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Martin Buber. We examine an OBL course design focused on interfaith leadership and ethics that lends itself to the need for relational pedagogy. The focus on asymmetrical and symmetrical relationships that separate Levinas and Buber’s philosophies enable rich ways of designing relational pedagogies and for resisting the making orientation. By focusing on human relationships, we demonstrate design …

Instructional Designer Perspectives On The Pursuit Of Quality In Online Course Design, Jason K. Mcdonald, Stephen C. Yanchar

Faculty Publications

In this qualitative study we investigated the experiences of instructional designers as they sought to build quality into online courses. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored what enabled and hindered their pursuit of quality, how they experienced their efforts in this regard, what mattered to them, and complexities that accompanied this pursuit. Our analysis of participant experiences suggested four themes: (1) connections between quality and designers’ ability to act autonomously; (2) connections between quality and collaborative, team-based relationships; (3) ambivalence due to tensions between autonomy and collaboration; and (4) ways of coping with limits on autonomy and collaboration. We conclude our …

Artificial Intelligence In Educational Research And Scholarship: Seven Framings, Eamon Costello, Giselle Ferreira, Stefan Hrastinski, Jason K. Mcdonald, Ahmed Tlili, George Veletsianos, Victoria I. Marin, Henk Huijser, Sharon Altena

Faculty Publications

In a recent interview (Bender et al., 2025), Professor Emily M. Bender discussed the limitations of technical solutions in addressing harmful Artificial Intelligence (AI) bias. She described a particular point we may reach at which technical solutions stop working, and when we should then widen the lens to ask about the problem framing itself. This is a crucial step in any inquiry that is of concern to both novice and experienced researchers alike: moving from problem-solving to problematisation. This commentary aims to provide educational researchers with a glimpse into the wide array of research problems and problematisation of AI in …

Timing Is Everything: Congruence, Controllability, And Performance Measure Weighting, Hayden T. Gunnell, Gary Hecht, William B. Tayler, Kristy L. Towry

Faculty Publications

We investigate whether the weights managers place on performance measures for performancebased compensation depend on whether weights are determined at the beginning or end of the performance period. We propose that managers frame the weighting decision differently depending on timing. Specifically, prior to employee effort, managers frame the decision as intended to align employee effort to firm objectives, whereas after employees have exerted effort, managers frame the weighting decision as intended to evaluate employee effort. Thus, we expect, and find, that managers weight measures that are more congruent with firm objectives more heavily when weightings are determined ex ante (before …

The Development Of A Rag-Based Artificial Intelligence Research Assistant (Aira), Hamid Vakilzadeh, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Encouraging Self-Regulation In An Online University Course For Preservice Teachers: An Intervention Study, Karen T. Arnesen, Charles R. Graham, Heather Leary, Alison I. Mcmurry

Faculty Publications

Although self-regulation (SR) has long been seen as an important educational concept, we know little about how to foster it in higher education online student populations. This research addresses this need by introducing an SR intervention into a preservice teacher course. The 30 students who participated used an intervention consisting of weekly student goal setting and self-reflection. Using data collected from a self-regulation survey, weekly reflections, final exam reflections, and interviews, all but one student indicated that the process of setting a goal weekly and especially reflecting on their actions during the week increased their self-regulation abilities. More than half …

Examining Pathways For Front-Country Camping Access In The Rural American West: An Application Of Access Theory, Hayley Ann Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Access to front-country camping on North American public lands has historically been preferential to those who are White, relatively wealthy, and highly educated. In theory, however, all activities on public lands are available to all people, and everyone has equal right to enjoy the benefits from recreational activities like camping in these spaces. Since the 1960s, research on access has focused on the barriers, or constraints, that influence overall participation in leisure activities; however, few studies have examined access specific to front-country camping.

As a complement and extension of traditional leisure constraints theory, this study presents a unique application of …

"I'Ve Never Felt A Pain Like This" A Dialogic Analysis Of Parent-Child Estrangement Narratives On Reddit, Grant W. Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

How do adult children estranged from their parent(s) create meaning and make sense of their estrangement in Reddit posts on the subreddit r/EstrangedAdultChild? This study analyzed Reddit posts written by estranged adult children for a presumed audience of other estranged adult children. Using relational dialectics theory (RDT) as a lens for analysis, this research examined the competing discourses that influence the meaning-making and sense-making processes of estranged adult children in their posts when the intended audience is fellow estranged adult children. Seventy-four posts from r/EstrangedAdultChild, authored by adult children who self-identified as estranged from at least one parent, were collected …

Love At First Words: A Communication Competency Approach To Romantic Relationship Initiation, Grace E. Wiegand

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Initial interactions are essential to romantic relationship formation, and both parties must desire a second interaction after an initial encounter for the relationship to advance. Many studies have explored the communication styles and tactics that are effective in a person desiring a second interaction from a dating initiation scenario. However, existing research has yet to explain why some communication strategies do or do not result in second interactions. The current study seeks to examine this phenomenon further, testing the extent to which perceived partner communication competence influences a person to want to see another again after an initial interaction. In …

Effect Of Exercise In Children, Jessica L. Moler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although the health benefits of exercise in adults are well established (Ruegsegger & Booth, 2017), the role of physical activity in promoting health in children is often overlooked. This narrative review synthesizes current research on the physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits of exercise in children aged 5 to 18, with a focus on providing practical, evidence-based guidance for families, educators, and healthcare providers. Studies consistently show that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity reduces cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors (Dias et al., 2017; Kovács et al., 2009; Migueles et al., 2023), improves insulin sensitivity (Bell et al., 2007; Davis et al., 2012), and …

An Interdisciplinary Unit For Today's Learners: Integrating Science, English, And Art To Teach Climate Change, Sydney M. Ruby-Pasternak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As today’s global challenges grow increasingly complex, interdisciplinary thinking is essential for students to make meaningful connections in their learning. Despite this need, high school students continue to have educational experiences in one-subject classrooms, often preventing them from engaging in integrated learning models. This professional project addresses the gap by developing a five-week interdisciplinary unit titled Brushstrokes of Change, which combines climate science with English language arts and visual arts to amplify student understanding of climate change concepts. This unit was designed for grades 9-12 and prioritizes 21^st-Century skills in critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration through …

The Relationship Between Student Engagement And Academic Performance, Ying Guo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

China’s higher education system has undergone rapid expansion since the implementation of the 1999 enrollment policy, transitioning through stages of scale expansion, quality improvement, and program development. While increasing access to higher education, this expansion has also led to challenges such as low student engagement, high dropout rates, and employment difficulties.

This study examined the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, particularly in China's higher education system. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, in this study there was a focus on how five specific domains of engagement, Level of …

Eros And The Sublime: Tools For Reaching Toward An Altered Ecological Consciousness, Aineka Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores connections between the Kantian sublime and Anne Carson’s ideas regarding “eros.” Since Kant’s Critique of Judgement was published in 1790, the Kantian sublime has grown in popularity and been utilized by theorists and creative writers alike. While the Kantian sublime is often associated with nature in popular culture, there are certain egocentric and phallocentric elements of this mode of thinking that might inhibit a biocentric mindset. Through a character study of Oryx from Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, this thesis draws relations between the subjugation of women, nature, and the ways in which the popularized …

An Exploration Of Resilience In Native American Older Adults, Georgie Victoria Ferguson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American older adults remain underrepresented in psychological research. The unique cohort of participants in this study (born 1924 - 1957) possesses experience and knowledge that can greatly enhance the knowledge base and contribute to the overall understanding of culturally embedded resilience. Participants contributed to the identification of Spirituality and Humor as positive, culturally embedded coping factors through a set of qualitative interviews, and the present study further investigates those specifically identified coping processes using quantitative measures. This research explores how these constructs (measured by the Spiritual Well-Being and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scales) might counteract (main effect) or buffer …

Exploring The Potential For Cynophagy, Working Dogs, And Village Dogs At Housepit 54, Daniel O. Nohren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Several field seasons at the Bridge River Archaeological Site have recovered a vast faunal assemblage subject of numerous archaeological and genetic investigations, several of which have focused on potential roles of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). In order to examine the highly fractured nature of the Housepit 54 canid assemblage, the calculation of a fracture freshness index was performed which created quantitative units of measure useful in the comparison of bone fracture taphonomy over time and across taxonomic groups. This method has been employed specifically to investigate the potential for exploitation of within-bone nutrients among both a sample of …

Understanding The Factors That Influence University Environment: Gender Differences In Perceptions Of Female And Male Stem Graduate Students., Rachel Robinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite increasing female representation in higher education, women remain underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. This thesis investigates gendered perceptions of university environment among STEM graduate students, focusing on the role of faculty-student interaction as a form of social capital. The survey was developed and administered with Qualtrics Online Survey Software by members of the Social Science Research Group of the Pacific Northwest Circles of Success: Mentoring Opportunities in STEM. All graduate students in the participating universities pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in a National Science Foundation STEM recognized program were eligible to complete the survey. Using …

The Power Of The Visual Arts To Explore Who We Are And Where We Come From: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study, Jemina Watstein

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Globalization has changed education, how external influences in our world make us who we are, and how we identify ourselves. Changes caused by globalization have had psychological consequences that have made formulating one’s identity more challenging than ever before, especially for a third culture kid (TCK) who lives a multicultural lifestyle and may attend a different school every year.

One developmentally appropriate way of reducing the adverse outcomes for TCKs is through visual art education. Engagement in genuine inquiry and creation through the process of making, perceiving, and reflecting provides students an opportunity to investigate their multicultural, mobile, and fluid …

The Glass Ceiling In Chinese Higher Education: The Experience Of Female Deans, Mingyu Zhao

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study was designed to explore the phenomenon of the glass ceiling encountered by Chinese female deans in higher education, using a systematic qualitative research approach to uncover the phenomenon's nature and influencing factors. Adhering strictly to Giorgi's (2009) phenomenological methodology, the study conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 female deans from various regions and institutional types across China, collecting rich data on their career trajectories, multi-level challenges, and coping strategies.

Through data analysis, eight themes and three key structures were identified, revealing that the glass ceiling is a product of the complex interplay between institutional constraints, personal challenges, and …

Jurisprudence Of Problem-Solving Courts: A Study Of Structure, Success, And Sociological Theory, Lauren M. Boos

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In response to the failures of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, Problem-Solving Courts (PSCs) have emerged as alternatives to traditional prosecution. These courts employ therapeutic-informed and rehabilitative practices aimed at addressing the root causes of criminal behavior. While widely regarded as more effective than traditional courts, PSCs have developed largely without a formal theoretical foundation. This is notable given their alignment with Sociological Jurisprudence (SJ) and Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ), which view the legal system as a vehicle for promoting individual and community well-being.

Despite being celebrated as therapeutic innovations, PSCs often embody these principles unevenly. Using …

The Relationship Between Principals’ Transformational Leadership And Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior Within Public Primary And Middle Schools In Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, Chuxuan Yin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This non-experimental causal-comparative study was designed to explore the relationship between principals’ transformational leadership and teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior within public primary and middle schools in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, as well as the differences in principals’ transformational leadership and teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior based on demographic characteristics. A sample of 142 principals and 675 teachers was recruited. Data collection utilized two validated instruments: the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire for evaluating principals’ transformational leadership level, and the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale for Primary and Middle School Teachers for measuring teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior level. Both descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, mean, standard …

Acl Prevention Programming For Female Athletes, Julia Korklewski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Visual Semiotics In Parks: Assessing Pictorial Symbol Effectiveness In Outdoor Recreation Settings, Miranda Jane Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As interest in outdoor recreation grows, so does the need for effective communication in parks and protected areas. With a larger, more diverse visiting population, managers face new challenges, including intensified recreational use, staffing demands, and barriers to communication presented by cultural and linguistic diversity (Manning et al., 2017; Perry et al., 2021). Effective, indirect communication tools, such as pictorial symbol signage, are essential for addressing these challenges. Pictorial symbol signs are widely used in recreational signage and serve as vital indirect management strategies for communicating to diverse visitors as a universal visual language (Davies et al., 1998). However, research …

"A Changed Understanding Of Our Present": Moby-Dick As Prophetic Ecological Activism, Katie Ann Schini

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Moby-Dick: Or, The Whale is a classic of American literature, spanning multiple genres and remaining culturally relevant nearly 175 years after its original publication. Though on the surface Moby-Dick reads as an adventure story of a man who experiences the whaling industry firsthand, Herman Melville’s text continues to invite new generations of readership through the framework of the twenty-first century climate crisis.

In this thesis, I position Moby-Dick as a text that can be used to understand our modern society’s current dispositions of ecological grief. My thesis operates at the intersection of three main literary critical theories: ecocriticism, affect, and …

Tenaciously Curious, Joe Mark Taylor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis paper, I will outline the journey I’ve taken throughout my graduate studies at the University of Montana and how it has culminated in my thesis exhibition, Tenaciously Curious. I’ll begin with an Introduction that speaks to the importance of finding ways to connect to nature, and the benefits we gain by recognizing our bodies as extensions of the organic world.

In the following section, Influences, Theory and Lineage, I’ll explore the themes that drive my research, highlight artists who have influenced my work, and discuss why this inquiry feels vital within our contemporary moment.

In the section …

Examining Rural Second-Graders' Literate Identities In Relationship To Reading Proficiency: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Ashley R. S. Olsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although the act of reading is inherently multi-faceted, encompassing an array of interrelated cognitive, social, and cultural processes, the bodies of reading research typically align to either qualitative or quantitative methodologies. This routinely bifurcated approach to reading research reflects the ongoing disagreement surrounding best practices for literacy instruction. Numerous quantitative findings have supported the use of systematic and explicit foundational skill instruction to improve students’ reading proficiency. On the other hand, previous qualitative studies have emphasized the existing identities that children bring to any learning community and the benefit of nurturing literate identity formation in the classroom. Intersecting a modified …

Increasing Nature Connection And Decreasing Climate Change Distress In An Indigenous Population: The Development Of A Traditional Ecological Knowledge Intervention Framework, Olathe Antonio

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research suggests that nature connection is positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors, concern for the climate, general wellbeing, and subjective levels of climate change distress. Few research studies have examined how to increase nature connectedness without increasing psychological distress. Such research is especially important for those who are disproportionately affected by climate change such as Indigenous Peoples. To address this discrepancy, we developed a culturally-grounded psychological intervention framework based in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for Indigenous populations and offered an adapted example for a Navajo population. The intervention was created in collaboration with TEK experts to conceptualize key psychologically-relevant TEK principles, …

Community Resilience Factors For Gsm Individuals: Considering The Roles Of Transgender Identity And Age, Benny Ilac

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Gender and sexual minority (GSM) individuals face a variety of health disparities, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, and substance use. One explanation for the presence of these health disparities is the minority stress model, which suggests that proximal (internal) and distal (external) experiences of minority stressors contribute to poorer health outcomes in GSM populations. An important yet understudied component of this model is resilience, which acts as buffer against the negative impacts of minority stressors. Focus on community resilience factors, as opposed to individual resilience factors, may be particularly important in GSM populations in reducing the onus placed on …