Digital Commons Network^™

Dismantling The Whiteness Of Legal Education, Doron Samuel-Siegel

Law Faculty Publications

Whiteness is not merely a racial description. Whiteness operates as allegiance to structural racism. The quiet engine of racial hierarchy, whiteness pervades and shapes traditional legal education, rendering legal pedagogy a structurally racist enterprise. Legal education not only reproduces the racism embedded in the law and legal profession, but also obscures the ways legal doctrine, professional norms, and pedagogical practices normalize, protect, and make invisible the advantages that accrue to whiteness itself. In doing so, itproduces lawyers ill-equipped to dismantle structural injustice.

This Article breaks new ground in the scholarship on legal pedagogy by defining whiteness as it operates within …

The Boundaries Of Corporate Politicking, Ashlee A. Paxton-Turner

Law Faculty Publications

As corporations become red brands and blue brands (whether purposely or accidentally), they are participating in the American political landscape in ways distinct from lobbying and political spending. Specifically, corporations are increasingly making statements or launching ad campaigns that appear to support one side (or the other) of a political or social debate. This Article refers to that activity as “corporate politicking.” Unlike political spending or lobbying, corporate politicking lacks a legal definition and is far less regulated—whether internally or externally.

This Article’s central contribution is an administrable framework to demarcate corporate politicking from other corporate activities and decisions. It …

Computational And Ai Literacy: Lessons Learned From Computer Science Education, Sharin Jacob, Yenda Prado, Quinn Burke

Journal of Computer Science Integration

This conceptual paper explores the intersection of computational thinking (CT) and artificial intelligence (AI) literacy, proposing a framework integrating AI literacy into existing computational literacy models. We argue that computational thinking (CT) skills form the foundation for AI literacy, and that lessons learned from decades of computer science (CS) education research can ably guide the development of AI literacy instruction for a wide range of  students and within integrative contexts. Drawing on Kafai and Proctor's (2022) conceptualization of computational literacy, as well as encompassing cognitive, situated, and critical dimensions, we extend their framework to advance our understanding of AI literacy. …

Unleashed: A Phenomenological Study Of Empowerment Leadership Among Elementary School Superintendents, Michelle Marie Ramirez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological study was to identify and describe the strategies used by exemplary superintendents of elementary school districts in Fresno, Kern, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties to create conditions for empowerment for everyone in their organization based on five variables: trust, love, belonging, strategy, and culture.

Methodology: This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of exemplary elementary school district superintendents in Fresno, Kern, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties. Purposeful, criterion sampling was used to identify 10 participants who met the study’s criteria. The semistructured, open-ended interview protocol was developed by a thematic research …

Seminario De Predicación Expositiva Para Los Líderes Del Distrito De Hood River, Oregon, Félix Toribio

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The leaders of the Hood River Adventist Church lack training in expository preaching, which constitutes a significant challenge in this area. With technological advances and access to various digital information sources, the church leaders prepare their sermons using information obtained from the Internet and other digital platforms, without conducting a hermeneutical study of the text.

Methodology

To achieve the central objective of this research, a study was conducted following a quantitative paradigm, using a pretest-posttest design, based on the analysis of biblical literature, the contributions of Ellen G. White, and the work of contemporary authors in the field. This …

Desarrollo E Implementación De Una Estrategia Para Mejorar La Asistencia Y Participación En El Culto Joven De La “Iglesia Nueva”, En La Asociación Central Dominicana, Yoel Lizardo

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The youth service, or “youth society,” of the “Iglesia Nueva” within the Dominican Central Association has experienced low attendance and participation among young adults between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. A preliminary study identified several contributing factors to this situation. These include program content that fails to capture sufficient interest, worship experiences that lack perceived relevance, limited opportunities for young people to discover and exercise their spiritual gifts and talents, a shortage of mentors, and inadequate planning and follow-up in ministry efforts.

Methodology

Theological foundations regarding the principles of youth participation in the church were examined. Contemporary literature …

Implementación Y Evaluación De Un Seminario De Liderazgo Para Dirigentes De La Iglesia Adventista Jardín En Neiva, Colombia, Andrés Palomino

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

A preliminary study, consisting of exploratory dialogues conducted with the church elders, revealed that the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Jardín, Neiva, faced limitations in the development of their local leadership. Although the leaders received instruction regarding the specific functions of their departments, they lacked knowledge in broader aspects of leadership, such as biblical leadership and contemporary perspectives (nature, models, styles, and theories). This deficiency limited the effective leadership of the church departments.

Methodology

The present study was framed within the field of applied practical theology, as it intentionally sought to intervene in ministerial practice and evaluate …

Read But Not Understood? An Empirical Analysis Of Consumer Comprehension In Homeowners Insurance, Daniel Schwarcz, Brenda J. Cude, Kyle D. Logue, German Marquez Alcala

Articles

Modern contract law assumes that consumers meaningfully assent to the standard forms that govern their daily lives. However, this assumption is widely regarded as a legal fiction for two key reasons: first, most consumers do not read standard forms, and second, even those who do often struggle to fully comprehend their terms and implications. Although the lack of consumer reading has been well documented through empirical research, consumers’ ability to comprehend standard-form contracts has received surprisingly little attention.

This Article addresses the latter issue by empirically examining whether providing excerpts from the dominant standard-form homeowners insurance policy improves consumer understanding …

Covid And The Great Retrenchment, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Articles

The past six years have seen two dramatic shifts in federal health and benefits policy. First, during the COVID pandemic, the government dramatically expanded public benefits. These expansions had incredibly positive effects, and recipients were largely satisfied with them. But after a relatively short time, Congress rolled back nearly all of the expansion. Worse, the immediate pullback set the stage for even more significant retrenchments in the second Trump Administration. Where in 2023 the United States came closest to universal health care in its history—with a record low uninsured rate of 7.7%—the Trump Administration’s Medicaid cuts and failure to extend …

Interpretive Facts: Textualism, Empiricism, And The Law-Fact Divide, Hannah Walser

Articles

This Article offers the first systematic examination of where empirical linguistic evidence should fit in the federal court system's division of labor based on law and fact. I begin by identifying interpretive facts : generalized empirical evidence about how a particular word or phrase has been used by a population of speakers, understood by a population of listeners, or both. Thanks to technological advances in corpus linguistics permitting the quantitative analysis of large numbers of texts, as well as methodological shifts that frame ordinary meaning as an empirical question, such facts are increasingly prominent in statutory and constitutional interpretation cases. …

Developer Perspectives On Licensing And Copyright Issues Arising From Generative Ai For Software Development, Trevor Stalnaker, Nathan Wintersgill, Oscar Chaparro, Laura A. Heymann, Massimiliano Di Penta, Daniel M. German, Denys Poshyvanyk

Faculty Publications

Despite the utility that Generative AI (GenAI) tools provide for tasks such as writing code, the use of these tools raises important legal questions and potential risks, particularly those associated with copyright law. As lawmakers and regulators respond to these questions, the views of users can offer relevant perspectives. In this article, we provide: (1) a survey of 574 developers on the licensing and copyright aspects of GenAI for coding, as well as follow-up interviews; (2) a snapshot of developers’ views at a time when GenAI and perceptions of it were rapidly evolving; and (3) an analysis of developers’ perspectives, …

The Executive's Takeover Of Independent Agencies: How Institutional Design Gave Way To Political Will, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

The anticipated demise of the independent agency is a saga that implicates Congress as much as it does the President or the Supreme Court. By capitulating to presidential initiatives and failing to defend their institutional prerogatives, Congress has facilitated presidential control of the administrative state. Indeed, irrespective of whether the Court formally repudiates Humphrey’s Executor, Congress has largely acquiesced to a regime whereby presidents essentially control independent agencies. By highlighting the competing incentives of Congress and the White House, this Essay explains the rise of presidential unilateralism vis-à-vis independent agencies. This Essay also casts light on a critically important but …

Firearms And Fora: Constructing Public Carry Doctrine, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

Where can a person lawfully carry firearms in public? Under what conditions can they do so? Now that the Supreme Court has formally recognized a Second Amendment right to public carry, these are among the most important unresolved questions regarding the right to bear arms. The Second Amendment’s public carry doctrine is in its infancy. How the doctrine develops will have a profound impact on the exercise of Second Amendment rights in public places and on the public square. Integrating a new constitutional right into the public square is not a novel problem. After the Supreme Court recognized First Amendment …

Where We Go When Reality Hurts: The Comfort Of Story, Margaret Nebens

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Trigger Warnings: Teaching Through Trauma, Ian Barnard, Ryan Ashley Caldwell, Jada Patchigondla, Aneil Rallin, Morgan Read-Davidson, Ethan Trejo, Kristi M. Wilson

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"The individual histories of both trigger warnings and trauma have evolved rapidly in the overlapping wakes of COVID, mental health crises, attacks on educational institutions in the United States, climate apocalypse, evergrowing economic inequities, and, more promisingly, attempts at political redress and educational equity. At the same time, trigger warnings and trauma have become exponentially more intimately linked in the past few years. But however often the topic of trigger warnings provokes heated discussion, the appeals and alignments of the interlocutors equally as frequently defy neat political binaries. Critiques of trigger warnings come from all sides of the political and …

Trigger Warnings And A Pedagogy Of Trust, Morgan Read-Davidson

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"While the larger conversation about difficult content and trigger warnings is not new, the sudden need for urgently scheduled meetings with me did not begin until the COVID- 19 pandemic crisis and our move to remote instruction, and the subsequent adjustment back to the classroom. This seems to coincide with the increase of online and social media interaction during the pandemic, where the use of trigger warnings and content warnings on social media, particularly on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, have made the conversation far more visible. For students, this seems to have given them validation and confidence, as well as …

Senolytic-Resistant Senescent Cells Have A Distinct Sasp Profile And Functional Impact: The Path To Developing Senosensitizers, Utkarsh Tripathi, Masayoshi Suda, Vagisha Kulshreshtha, Bryan T Piatkowski, Allyson K Palmer, Nino Giorgadze, Christina Inman, Nathan Gasek, Ming Xu, Kurt O Johnson, Tamar Pirtskhalava, Selim Chaib, Larissa P G Langhi Prata, Yi Zhu, Renuka Kandhaya-Pillai, Stefan G Tullius, Saranya P Wyles, Rambabu Majji, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili, David B Allison, Tamar Tchkonia, James L Kirkland

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The senescent cell (SC) fate is linked to aging, multiple disorders and diseases, and physical dysfunction. Senolytics, agents that selectively eliminate 30%-70% of SCs, act by transiently disabling the senescent cell antiapoptotic pathways (SCAPs), which defend those SCs that are proapoptotic and pro-inflammatory from their own senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Consistent with this, a JAK/STAT inhibitor, Ruxolitinib, which attenuates the pro-inflammatory SASP of senescent human preadipocytes, caused them to become "senolytic-resistant". Administering senolytics to obese mice selectively decreased the abundance of the subset of SCs that is pro-inflammatory. In cell cultures, the 30%-70% of human senescent preadipocytes or human umbilical …

Access To Digital Health Technologies: Personalized Framework And Global Perspectives, Sanjiv M Narayan, Mina K Chung, Demilade Adedinsewo, Luisa C C Brant, Leslie L Davis, David Duncker, Jennifer L Hall, Janet K Han, Carolyn S P Lam, Eldrin Lewis, Joseph Loscalzo, Manlio F Márquez, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh, Fatima Rodriguez, Prashanthan Sanders, Emma Svennberg, Kenneth Stein, Mintu Turakhia, Clyde Yancy, Antonis A Armoundas

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

The emergence and rapid adoption of digital health technologies (DHT) present unprecedented opportunities to democratize and reduce disparities in health care by monitoring health and disease at the point of care in all patients. However, limited access to DHT is becoming a major obstacle to realizing these goals. Access to DHT is influenced not only by well-recognized social determinants of health, but also by digital determinants of health, such as digital literacy and the need for broad access to digital infrastructure, as well as commercial and economic factors. Addressing these challenges and designing unbiased systems of care are essential to …

Anything But Endo: Diagnostic Buck-Passing In Endometriosis Diagnosis, Rita Dexter, Megan Kitts, Heather Welty, Melanie Jeske

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

People living with endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the body, often experience prolonged diagnostic journeys because of symptom variability, normalisation of period pain and other symptoms, and lack of awareness of the condition. In this article, we analyse the endometriosis diagnostic journey through the lens of epistemic injustice. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 52 people living with endometriosis in the United States, we introduce the concept of diagnostic buck-passing to characterise the phenomenon wherein individuals who seek treatment for their symptoms end up stuck in a cycle of seeing …

2026-2029 Strategic Plan, Susan Davies

Documents of the Brain Health Collective

No abstract provided.

The Political Disconnect: Working-Class And Low-Income People On What Politics Means To Them And How They Might Be Mobilized, Daniel Laurison, Kelly Diaz, Monica Guzman , '25, Zachary Kreines , '25, Kaj Tug Lee , '25, Lydia Orr, Sahiba Tandon , '25

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Works

A functioning democratic society must involve all kinds of people in deciding who will hold the power to enact laws and allocate tax dollars. However, working-class and low-income people vote at significantly lower rates than the more privileged in the US, and their participation has been declining in recent elections. In order to understand why those with fewer resources are less likely to vote and how this might change, a diverse group of researchers interviewed 232 low-income and working-class people (in every major racial group) from across Pennsylvania – 144 of whom either did not vote, or voted only occasionally. …

Construction Industry Preparedness For Generation Z And Millennials: Aligning Industry Characteristics With Workforce Job Preferences, Ameenullah Amiri, Dhaval R. Gajjar, Jason D. Lucas

The Professional Constructor

The construction industry in the United States suffers from workforce shortages, partly due to younger generations being hired more slowly than baby boomers retire. Generation Z’s (Gen Z) lack of interest in joining the construction industry, coupled with the retirement of older workers, has amplified the problem. This paper investigates existing literature to identify the work and career preferences of Gen Z and Millennials and determine where the industry may focus efforts to attract these two generations. Through a systematic literature review, this study identified overlaps and gaps between the current construction industry workforce’s perceptions of the industry and the …

Menendez De Aviles And La Florida, Juan Carlos Mercado

Publications and Research

The present volume is a translation of Solis de Meras and Barrientos,  Menendez de Aviles y La Florida: cronicas de sus expediciones, edition, notes, and introduction by Juan Carlos Mercado

2025 Annual Report Of The Officers, Town Of Orange, New Hampshire, Orange Town Representatives

Orange, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Town Of Harrisville, Nh Annual Report For The Year Ending December 31, 2025, Harrisville Town Representatives

Harrisville, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Anonymized Survey Dataset On Road Safety Assessment During Construction Of Bus Rapid Transit (Brt) Corridors In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Lorain Salufu

Open Data

This dataset contains anonymized survey responses collected for a study on road safety assessment during construction of the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Phase 3 corridor. The dataset includes responses from 400 participants, together with the survey. The data were collected to assess perceived safety conditions, adequacy of construction-phase safety measures, effectiveness of traffic diversions, and the effects of construction activities on road users and nearby communities. No personally identifiable information is included in the shared files.

“… It's Google That's Big Brother”: The Symbiosis Between Icac Investigators And The Private Sector Regarding Encryption And Privacy, Christopher G. Brewer, Kevin F. Steinmetz, Don Kurtz, Brian Schaefer

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Encryption technologies have become ubiquitous for both individual and commercial sectors. Perhaps no realm of law enforcement is so acutely affected by encryption than cybercrime, including internet crimes against children (ICAC) personnel. There exist a variety of encryption-based tools and authentication measures available to help online child sexual abusers and consumers of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) hide their activities and obstruct law enforcement efforts to gather evidence of criminal activity. Established here is the idea that ICAC investigative practice is ultimately shaped by these technologies as well as the relationship between the distributors of these technologies and private platforms …

Investigating The Effects Of Atg3 On Autophagosome Size And Number, Keeran R. Senthil Kumar

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Macroautophagy, or autophagy, is a highly conserved catabolic process in all eukaryotes which allows for the degradation of large cytosolic contents. It occurs in two forms: bulk autophagy, which is induced by nutrient deprivation and targets nonspecific cargo, and selective autophagy, which is induced by cellular stress and sequesters specific substrates. The process of autophagosome formation is carried out by a group of Atg (autophagy-related) proteins, one of which is Atg3. Atg3 functions as an E2-like enzyme by conjugating Atg8 — a ubiquitin-like protein — to phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), a step required for autophagosome membrane formation. This lipidation process is catalyzed …

Oligarchy And Democratic Decline: A Platonic Framework For Analyzing The Contemporary American Political System, Jonah Huskey-Wright

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This paper explores the idea that there is a meaningful philosophical connection between Plato’s account of oligarchy and the development of the modern American political order. Rather than approaching American politics only through constitutional design, electoral procedures, or institutional mechanics, the paper argues that political systems must also be understood as reflections of the values and motivations of the people who inhabit them. Drawing on Plato’s framework that links the ordering of the human soul to the ordering of political regimes, the project examines how the priorities a society places on certain goods—particularly wealth, economic achievement, and material success—can shape …

“If You Think This Vilifies The Police, Then You Think The Police Are Villains”: Teaching Reparations Won As An Antidote To Copaganda, Kaitlyn Selman, Hannah Carson Baggett, Justin Turner

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Building on prior research about copaganda and pro-police socialization, we argue that the Reparations Won curriculum in Chicago Public Schools is an antidote to police legitimization efforts in K-12 schools. Specifically, the curriculum affirms student experiences that are not accounted for nor deemed possible in a world built by and for policing; it emphasizes relationship-building and centers definitions of community that resist the alienation required for such a world; and it facilitates an understanding of local histories as inseparable from broader social structures. We conclude that in an era of contested curricula, Reparations Won provides the structure needed to grapple …