Digital Commons Network^™

Reimagining Castañeda To Analyze How Districts Use Esser Funds To Support Latinx Spanish-Speaking Multilinguals: A Multiple Case Study, Mariano Lozano-Soto

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This study applies a reimagined Castañeda framework grounded in intersectionality theory to examine how California K–12 districts used Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to support Latinx Spanish-speaking multilingual learners (MLs) during the pandemic. The research design for this study was a qualitative multiple-case study (n=6) using multiple data sources, including semi structured interviews and public-district documents. Data analysis consisted of deductive, descriptive, and theoretical coding to analyze a district’s ESSER allocation practices through the lens of the reimagined Castañeda framework. The findings reveal that the Castañeda standard guided districts’ use of ESSER funds to support Latinx Spanish-speaking …

Unpacking K-12 Teachers’ Creative Identity, Ariana Mungia

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite increasing emphasis on creativity as a core competency in K-12 education, limited research has examined how teachers understand their own creativity and how these perceptions shape their professional identities and instructional practices. Existing scholarship has largely focused on pedagogical strategies, curriculum design, and student outcomes, often overlooking the role of teachers’ beliefs, experiences, and self-perceptions. Addressing this gap, this study unpacks how K-12 teachers construct their creative identity and how this identity informs their approaches to teaching for creativity. Guided by a constructivist grounded theory methodology, this qualitative study explores the lived experiences on current K-12 teachers in Southern …

Entre Nos: A Three-Part Study Exploring The Experiences Of The American Association Of Hispanics In Higher Education Members, Monique Posadas

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Membership and participation in national associations or professional societies are the cornerstone of academic and career advancement in higher education. These organizations allow faculty and career professionals to connect and grow their networks. However, like other social structures, they can also reflect, reinforce, and reify exclusionary colonial, hegemonic norms. Professionalization for people of color in the academy, through formalized organizations and societies, was grossly delayed, despite the emergence of “mother societies” at the turn of the century. Academics of color took matters into their own hands to build professional networks. While associations are assumed to be academic and professionally rich …

Blazing Turquoise And Coral Light Jewels Of Veiled Empowerment: Buddha Ye Shes Mtsho Rgyal (ཡེ་ཤེས་མཚོ་རྒྱལ) And Saint Hildegard Von Bingen In The Lotus Of Ever-Excellent Feminist Dialogue, Janice Leigh Poss

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This Women's and Gender Studies in Religion dissertation seeks to restore awareness of women's religious leadership using the actual embodied experience of Yeshe Tsogyal and Hildegard von Bingen embedded in the philosophical terms Erlebnis (German), Padartha/Bhava (Sanskrit), and srid pa (Tibetan). Brief definitions are: Erlebnis as enthusiastic, lived experience and awareness, Padarthas as categories of real things or actualities, Bhava as the act of emotional or spiritual feeling, and Srid pa as becoming in possibility. Drawing on the above four terms encapsulated in a feminist transnational and intersectional methodological framework, this project reinforces women’s authority and influence in religion as …

Institutional Responses To Racial Incidents In California Public Higher Education: A Qualitative Historical Document Analysis, Shannon Dominique Quihuiz

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite stated commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, racial incidents remain a persistent structural problem on college and university campuses. These incidents encompass a wide taxonomy of racialized harm, ranging from bias-motivated violence and hate symbols to controversial White supremacist speakers, structural inequities, and interpersonal microaggressions. Administrators responding to these incidents must navigate complex, often competing tensions between fostering safe, inclusive learning environments and upholding civil liberties protections, all while operating under intense political scrutiny, public relations pressures, and legal risk. To understand how these tensions are rhetorically managed, this qualitative historical document study examined how California public higher education …

Pathways To (Prevent) Radicalization: How Uncertainty And Identity Complexity Shape Vulnerability, Michelle Blaya Burgo

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Violent radicalization and politically motivated violence are pressing concerns that threaten global peace, security, and social cohesion. Violence is costly, in both lives and resources, and reactive measures have failed to decrease its occurrence. In a world marked by uncertainty where some degree of conflict is unavoidable, the focus should be on preventing violence. Previous research had demonstrated that various group- and individual-level factors can lead people to radicalize; this work extends that research by introducing social identity complexity (Roccas & Brewer, 2002) as a potential buffer against radical pathways. The current research proposed that complex identity structures – defined …

We Can Be Heroes: Sustaining Vitally Engaged Social Heroes In A Heroic Organization (Act Up/New York), Michael Condren

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Contextual factors are particularly important in understanding social heroism, which is characterized by heroic action in the service of existing and emerging community values, principles and ideals (Franco et al., 2011). Social heroism almost always entails serious risks for the hero and frequently requires committed action over long time periods to achieve positive social change. Unlike other types of heroism, social heroism frequently emerges from and is enacted through organizations. However, heroism research has focused largely on individual factors involved in different types of heroic actions, such as character, moral development and courage. The goal of this study was to …

Work Disengagement: Motivational Regulation Shaped By Psychological Need Frustration And Perceived Injustice, Stephanie R. Dailey

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Employee disengagement represents a persistent global challenge, yet remains theoretically underdeveloped and is frequently conflated with burnout, behavioral withdrawal, or deviance. Building on Kahn’s (1990) original conceptualization, this dissertation reconceptualizes disengagement as a distinct motivational state characterized by the withdrawal of cognitive, emotional, and physical energies from role performance. Drawing on Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), and the Job Demands–Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), I test a model where disengagement emerges as a motivational response to psychological need frustration, where organizational justice functions as an upstream contextual antecedent. Two complementary studies …

Exploring The School-Family-Community Partnership: How Do Parents Perceive Its Influence On The Reclassification Of Long-Term English Learners In Middle School?, Luis Enrique Galván

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explored middle school parents’ perceptions of school-family-community partnerships and their influence on reclassifying long-term English learners (LTELs). LTELs often face limited access to the full curriculum, increasing risks of dropout and reduced college-prep opportunities. The California Department of Education (2023a) reported that English learners graduate at significantly lower rates than non-EL peers. While parent involvement is widely linked to academic success (Heymann & Earle, 2000; London, 2018; Norris, 2018; Panferov, 2019; Walker, 2012; Wei & Zhou, 2012), little research has addressed LTELs in middle school, particularly regarding reclassification. To address this gap, the researcher conducted semi-structured Zoom …

Momentary Psychological Well-Being Of Informal Caregivers Of Young Adult Cancer Patients: A Feasibility Study, Ximena Giesemann

CGU Theses & Dissertations

While caregivers of cancer patients across all ages experience fluctuations in psychological well-being, informal caregivers of young adult cancer patients (ICCYAs) may be especially vulnerable due to the distinctive developmental context of the young adult cancer patient and the unique challenges of facing cancer during this life stage. However, research that examines ICCYA psychological well-being is limited and utilizes methodologies that are insufficient in capturing both the dynamic nature of psychological well-being and the ICCYA role. As a result, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding how ICCYA psychological well-being unfolds, and the moment-to-moment factors associated with it. …

Beyond Access: Black Women Alumnae’S Perspectives On Navigating Russell Group Universities As Undergraduates In The United Kingdom, Varaidzo Felistus Kativhu

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study examines the lived experiences of Black British women who attended Russell Group universities, investigating how they navigated identity, belonging, racism, and institutional support within elite higher education. The study was guided by three research questions: how Black women experienced identity and belonging in these environments; what survival and resistance strategies they developed in response; and what institutional changes they recommend to better support Black women students. Drawing on Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2000), Strayhorn’s (2018) sense of belonging framework, and Tuck’s (2009) desire-based research framework, the study employed a phenomenological methodology adapted from Seidman (2019). The research …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Early-Career Women Of Color In Student Affairs, Nora Anitzya Jin-Leyva

CGU Theses & Dissertations

At the time of this study, data revealed student affairs professionals were exiting the profession at high rates (Chamberlain et al., 2022). This rate was higher among new student affairs professionals (Buchanan & Shupp, 2015). Professionals in the field face common challenges including low job satisfaction and high levels of burnout (Aros, 2022; Chamberlain et al., 2022; Quaye et al., 2024) and a lack of appropriate supervision (Shupp & Arminio, 2012) and mentoring opportunities (Aros, 2022; Maramba, 2011). However, people of color and women in the profession face additional challenges, including racial battle fatigue (Quaye et al., 2024), racism and …

Middle School Girls' Math Self-Concepts In Japan And The United States: A Socio-Ecological Approach, Kimberly A. Megyesi-Brem

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In Japan and the United States, women’s underrepresentation in STEM fields in tertiary education limits opportunities for social mobility and economic stability. Efforts to address this issue need to consider the role played by the intractable girls’ inferiority in math (GIM) myth that contributes to girls’ lower engagement in math through lower math self-concepts. Prior research shows that perceived teacher support through is one area where the GIM myth relates to girls’ math self-concepts through teacher bias about girls’ math competence. However, research has predominantly been focused at the individual level, including studies that conclude that girls’ lower math self-concepts …

Prevention Beyond Deterrence, Benjamin A. Barsky

Emory Law Journal

This Article reconceptualizes preventive justice—the public safety paradigm that seeks to prevent harm before it occurs. Scholars have long documented how cities have advanced this paradigm through largely punitive measures, notably variants of broken windows policing, which posit that aggressive misdemeanor enforcement deters more serious crime. Yet in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests, and as underscored recently in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, these measures have faced a legitimacy crisis—prompting calls for nonpunitive responses to nonviolent incidents.

This Article establishes a preventive justice approach that advances health and safety without emphasizing crime deterrence. It draws …

Lunch Shaming And The Right To Privacy, Ira P. Robbins

Emory Law Journal

Lunch shaming is the practice of penalizing students who cannot afford to pay for their meals, resulting in them being denied food, served alternative meals, or publicly identified. The origins of lunch shaming can be traced to the financial pressures faced by school districts that struggle to balance tight budgets with the mandate to provide free or reduced-price meals to eligible students. Despite legislative efforts and advocacy campaigns aimed at mitigating the problems associated with lunch shaming, the practice persists, exacerbated by rising food costs and the expiration of pandemic-era food programs.

Many law journal and other articles have correctly …

Regulating Manipulative Design Is Not Preempted By Cda 230 Or The First Amendment, Brett Frischmann, Peter Ormerod

Emory Law Journal

For over two decades, there has been a heated debate among legal scholars, activists, judges, and others about the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. A persistent theme in those debates has been hyperbolic claims about the necessity of immunity from state laws for digital tech platforms and fearmongering that anything less than maximum immunity will destroy the Internet.

This Article argues that states retain considerable discretion to regulate digital platforms’ design and engineering decisions. We argue that manipulation, engineered behavior, and even habituation and normalization of engineered behavior by digital platforms are content-agnostic harms attributable to …

Moderating Role Of Perceived Staff-Replacement Likelihood On Self-Ordering Kiosk Adoption: Evidence From The Restaurant Industry, Wanmo Koo, Archana Kumar

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The restaurant industry widely employs self-ordering kiosks (SOKs). However, the increased use of automation in restaurants is causing job displacement, raising concerns about the lack of sufficient human support in restaurants. The study examined variables influencing customer willingness to use SOKs while considering how staff replacement perceptions alter these effects. Partial least squares structural equation modeling reveals that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and perceived security significantly influence behavioral intention to use SOKs, and behavioral intention strongly predicts actual kiosk usage behavior. Among the moderating effects, only perceived staff replacement likelihood significantly influences the relationship between perceived security and …

Beyond Ssris: Omega-3 Fatty Acids And The Neurobiology Of Impulsivity In Borderline Personality Disorder, Sujean Doo

Scripps Senior Theses

Impulsivity is a central and clinically significant dimension of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and is strongly associated with self-harm, aggression, and suicide risk. Despite its prognostic importance, pharmacologic management of impulsivity in BPD remains inconsistent. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed; however, randomized controlled trials demonstrate limited efficacy for impulsive-aggression, and some patients experience a paradoxical behavioral activation. Meta-analytic and systematic reviews further suggest that mood stabilizers and second-generation antipsychotics may outperform antidepressants, yet no specific medication is indicated to target impulsive behavioral dyscontrol.

This thesis synthesizes findings from systematic reviews, randomized trials, and neuroimaging research to evaluate …

Stitched In Precarity: Labor Exploitation, Immigration Policy, And Resistance In The L.A Garment Industry, Reyna Guadalupe Silva Carrillo

Scripps Senior Theses

Los Angeles hosts one of the largest garment manufacturing industries in the U.S., built on the labor of undocumented immigrants who often work under exploitative and unsafe conditions. This paper explores how the intersection of broken labor laws and punitive immigration enforcement creates systemic vulnerability for these workers. Despite recent reforms—such as California’s SB 62, which bans piece-rate wages and holds brands accountable—enforcement remains weak, and wage theft continues to persist. State-level protections for undocumented immigrants clash with federal policies that prioritize detention and deportation, leaving workers in a state of constant precarity. While grassroots movements have secured important legislative …

The Rise Learning Theory: A New Paths-Way For Teaching Social Emotional Learning Curricula, Rebecca L. Demeo

Scripps Senior Theses

This study aims to look at the effectiveness of the Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) Social Emotional Learning curriculum when taught through the second and fourth principles of the RISE learning theory. The implementation will take effect within United States elementary schools, and consenting students will participate in the quasi-experimental design where classrooms will either be assigned to the control group, PATHS program taught as normal, or the experiment, PATHS taught with the RISE principles. During the study, participants will complete pre-experiment, post-experiment, and follow-up assessments to measure differences in mean scores of competence and application throughout the implementation. I …

The Effects Of The Opioid Crisis On Contraceptive Decisions And Fertility In Pakistan, Simren R. Khan

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper examines how the opioid epidemic influences household fertility behavior in Pakistan by analyzing contraceptive use and fertility outcomes across regions with differing levels of opioid prevalence. Using household-level data from the 2017–18 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and estimating OLS regression models, the study compares households in high-prevalence regions with those in low-prevalence regions. The results show that exposure to high-opioid regions is associated with lower fertility outcomes and a higher likelihood of respondents wanting their last child. These patterns suggest that households may respond to opioid-related economic and caregiving burdens by limiting family size and treating …

The Economics Of Accountability: Learning From German Holocaust Reparations, Grace I. Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing on microdata from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, this study compares European Holocaust survivors who received reparations with similar Europeans who did not. It finds that, decades on, recipients are not systematically better or worse off on core outcomes like life satisfaction, savings, and debt. This is consistent with the argument that reparations restore parity rather than create new advantages. Where differences emerge, they point to stabilization in more vulnerable settings (e.g., lower likelihood of high debt in parts of Eastern Europe). The main takeaway from effective reparations is applicable to the United States debate: …

The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Sixth Grade Adolescents: Improving Metacognition For Self-Regulated Learning, Julie H. Chen

Scripps Senior Theses

The Dunning-Kruger (DK) effect is a cognitive bias where low-performing individuals overestimate their own abilities, and top-performing individuals underestimate their own abilities relative to their peers. The purpose of this proposed study is to investigate the DK effect in sixth grade adolescents and to use metacognition as an intervention to improve self-assessment calibrations. This study will investigate adolescents in Piaget’s formal operational stage, aiming to improve metacognition levels. The study will occur over 12 weeks, and participants will be given a preparation handbook with or without metacognition activities for the purpose of preparing for the California Assessment of Student Performance …

Resilience As A Pathway From Openness To Eustress In College Students, Karis H. Choi

Scripps Senior Theses

College students experience high levels of stress, yet not all stress leads to negative outcomes. This study examines how personality and coping resources contribute to eustress—a positive, motivating form of stress—by investigating whether resilience mediates the relationship between openness to experience and eustress. Undergraduate participants completed baseline measures of openness and resilience before engaging in either a high-demand mental arithmetic task or a low-demand control task. Following the task, participants reported their emotional and behavioral responses using the Measure of Emotional, Physical, and Behavioral Markers of Eustress and Distress (MEDS). Consistent with expectations, individuals higher in openness were predicted to …

Exploring The Moderating Role Of Ethnic Identity In Asian American Multi-Ethnic Youths’ Sense Of Purpose And Life Satisfaction, Grace Cheung

Scripps Senior Theses

The rapid increase of interracial and interethnic families globally creates a need for researchers to understand the unique experiences and development of multi-ethnic youths’ sense of identity and purpose as they relate to well-being. Emerging research in Asian American psychology also suggests the urgency and need to reexamine the experiences of individual ethnic groups. The current study will examine the moderating role of ethnic identity in Asian American multi-ethnic youths’ sense of purpose and life satisfaction through a mixed methods approach that includes an online survey followed by an interview for a subgroup of participants. Anticipated results will show how …

An Analysis Of Eating Disorders As A Comorbidity Of Autoimmune Diseases, Madeleine Shore

Scripps Senior Theses

For many autoimmune disease patients, psychiatric conditions are a common comorbidity. Although there are many shared mechanisms between autoimmune disease and psychiatric conditions, current research surrounding mental health among autoimmune disease patients often focuses on mood disorders rather than eating disorders. Despite the high risk for developing psychiatric conditions, most autoimmune disease patients are not screened for eating disorders. This lack of screening is significant, because if an eating disorder is missed by a healthcare provider, the autoimmune or eating disorder condition could be exacerbated, resulting in severe illness or even fatality. Given an existing link between comorbid psychiatric disorders, …

Effects Of Teacher Training On Identifying Inattentive Type Adhd In Afab Students, Gabrielle A. Boles

Scripps Senior Theses

Teachers are more likely to detect hyperactive ADHD symptoms than inattentive ones, which often results in students, especially girls with inattentive symptoms, being under-referred (Willcut, 2012). This study evaluates whether a targeted, inattentive-focused, and gender responsive teacher training reduces gendered and symptom-based biases in referral decisions. K-5 teachers will be randomly assigned to receive either standard general ADHD identification training or an inattentive-focused, gender-responsive training, and will then be asked to review vignettes depicting children with hyperactive and inattentive symptoms, with varying student genders. Referral accuracy and knowledge of ADHD will be measured. Training condition, symptom presentation, and student gender …

Why We Can’T “Get Over It”: Offense And The Moral Limits Of Epistocracy, Yui Kurosawa

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines whether an epistocracy — rule of the knowledgeable — could ever be implemented as a morally permissible alternative to democracy. Building on Jason Brennan’s instrumental critique of democracy in Against Democracy, I lay out his argument that systematic voter ignorance undermines the epistemic capacity of “one person, one vote” to reliably generate just and well-informed political decisions. Brennan argues that epistocratic institutions, which allocate political power according to political competence rather than by equal distribution, are better positioned to achieve such decisions and therefore more legitimate than democracy.

Epistocracy, as an aspirational alternative, may indeed be promising; …

The Emergence Of Buy Now Pay Later Platforms: A Business Analysis Study, Asher Frye

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis dives into the growth of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) financing and its implications for consumer financial health. Using Affirm’s 2019-2024 data and recent reporting from regulators, it documents strong BNPL expansion alongside emerging concerns about repayment risk and credit score impacts. These insights motivate me to conduct an experiment testing whether clearer disclosure affects consumer BNPL choices. While the experiment shows no statistically significant effects, it underscores the need for further study of BNPL understanding and consumer behavior.

Platform Polarization?, Matthew B. Lawrence

Emory Law Journal

This Essay explores what the ongoing politicization of Americans’ relationships to and through the technologies they use to interact online might come to mean for the workings of American government and for the constitutional law questions—especially First Amendment and separation-of-power questions—that depend on those workings. James Madison described the workings of government as a function of the interaction of human nature, law, and social movements (factions). From local newspapers to national magazines to radio to broadcast TV to cable news, experience has taught that a fourth variable—the communications technology through which people interact—is also critically important. In the recent era, …