Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling Accreditation Standards And Evaluation Methods To Inform Strategic Planning In Public Health Education, Debra Rich

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Public health has long benefited from the relationship between postsecondary education, accreditation, and government employment. Assessment and accreditation are important tools in postsecondary education to ensure fiscal responsibility, professional competencies, and quality assurance. The competency standards implemented in post-secondary education are not under the direct control of the federal government; however, policy amendments aimed at specific accreditation criteria could result in changes to public health curriculum and create eligibility barriers for students who rely on federal financial support. The Central Washington University Public Health program has provided educational support in professional public health for decades, and there is an increased …

From Panels To Power: Empowering Middle Schoolers Through Comics, Ali Geigerman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores how craftivism, grounded in feminist theory and informed by multiliteracies, can be used to disrupt and reclaim the traditionally male-dominated genre of comics for girls and non-binary students. While the New London Group’s concept of multiliteracies expands definitions of literacy to include visual, spatial, and multimodal forms of meaning-making, it does not fully address questions of power, representation, and voice. Drawing specifically on the work of bell hooks as a theoretical anchor, this study positions comics not only as legitimate multiliterate texts but also as sites of feminist intervention. By blending multiliteracies, feminism, and craftivism, this research …

Effects Of The Menstrual Cycle Phase On Rpe, And Symptom Characteristics In Pre-Professional Female Soccer Players, Emily Potts

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Hormonal fluctuations across the distinct phases of the menstrual cycle have been shown to influence physiological and psychological responses to exercise, with some evidence suggesting phase-dependent changes in symptom presentation and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE); however, findings remain inconsistent, and few studies have examined these relationships across an entire competitive season in female soccer players. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in RPE and menstrual symptoms across cycle phases, as well as the relationships between RPE and symptom reporting in pre-professional female soccer players. A total of 22 female soccer players (age 22± 1.85) were recruited …

Mirroring Memory: Material, Reflection, And Becoming, Nila Mojaveri

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis explores how memory shapes identity through material, reflection, and tactile processes. Drawing from my personal experience of migration from Iran and the emotional distance from home, the work examines memory as a shifting, layered, and embodied phenomenon rather than a fixed narrative. Through the use of mirror, clay, fabric, and paint, I investigate how materials can hold, reflect, and transform lived experience. Each material carries specific meaning: mirrors introduce fragmentation and reflection, clay records touch and grounding, fabric evokes softness and domestic memory, and paint creates atmosphere through layering and tone. Together, these materials form a visual …

A Community Affair: An Exploration Of The Queer Community, Nightlife, Performance Art And Their Adjacent Qualities, Tatiana M. Castro

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the importance and roll of community in queer artwork, such as drag and burlesque and retroactively also all the work that I create. This paper aims to express this importance by exploring my personal relationship with building community. By interviewing performers selected through a customized-for-savannah voting process, I allowed the community to directly influence my thesis, as well as directly referencing photos of the hands of community members as a continued motif used throughout my work to represent community. This culminated in a two night thesis performance and installation  exhibition that explored performance and how its environment …

Body Image Perception In African American Women, Ages 20-55 Years, Trina Suttles

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the factors that influence body image perception among African American women in the metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia area and examined how these perceptions shape physical activity and dietary behaviors. Body image perception is a critical psychocultural factor influencing obesity-related behaviors, particularly among African American women who navigate culturally specific beauty standards and health beliefs. Guided by the Socioecological Model, this study addressed three research questions: (1) how African American women perceive their body image, (2) how these perceptions influence health behaviors, and (3) what multilevel factors shape body image perceptions. This study employed consensual qualitative research (CQR) …

Subliminal Nature: Dialogues In Performance, Carlos A. Carvajal

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

I will discuss how my artwork sets for the development of various layers of experience within the same context and space, to stimulate the subconscious of the audience. This layering is a combination of stimuli of senses (the inclusion of sound and active participation) and the syntax of the dynamics of audience interaction. Sound and visuals create a performance to acknowledge and read, while also pertaining to participation by a sort of instruction for the viewer to partake in the work. These are all different layers of experience that happen simultaneously within a piece, setting up different possible outcomes from …

"Spectrum", Mackinzey H. Critzer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

These body of works explores themes centered around ASD/Autism Spectrum Disorder, including symptoms involved, my personal views/experiences of it, social issues, and other related topics. My work consists of various mediums, digital pieces/prints and physical installations that involve bright color tones, human/humanoid figures, and various symbols.

Effect Of Wall Movement On Porosity Formation In Ductile Iron Castings Under Varying Processing Parameters, Shamsul Alam

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Shrinkage porosity is a major defect that significantly impairs the mechanical properties and overall performance of ductile iron castings. Although graphite formation during solidification induces volumetric expansion, this expansion alone is insufficient to fully compensate for the shrinkage occurring throughout solidification. During the solidification and cooling of ductile iron, multiple phase transformations occur, resulting in dynamic volume changes that exert pressure on mold walls and internal cavities. These pressures can deform mold walls and casting surfaces, leading to defects such as swell and porosity, while also influencing shrinkage formation. This study aims to analyze the mechanisms of porosity formation and …

I Am Because We Are: A Narrative Inquiry Of Waiver Teachers’ Sense Of Belonging In Title I High Schools, Bernard Young

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative narrative inquiry examined how former waiver teachers in low-performing Title I high schools in Georgia experienced a sense of belonging within their school communities and how that sense of belonging influenced their engagement in professional learning and their perceived effectiveness in supporting student achievement. Grounded in the Belongingness Hypothesis and guided by narrative inquiry methodology, the study framed participants’ experiences through the Bildungsroman structure to explore their journeys of professional becoming. Data were collected using a life-story interview protocol that combined open-ended narrative invitations with responsive follow-up questioning and were analyzed through a multi-phase narrative inquiry process informed …

Spieltrieb, Edward F. Newcomb

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis investigates the creative and pedagogical intersections of nostalgia, play, and neurodivergent experience through a mixed-media studio practice. Grounded in Friedrich Schiller’s concept of Spieltrieb—the human drive to play as a balance between sensual and rational impulses—this work explores how childhood memory, instinct, and impulsive mark making inform both artistic production and art education.

Drawing on theoretical frameworks by Susan Sontag and John Berger, the work resists overinterpretation in favor of sensory immediacy, inviting viewers into direct, embodied encounters with material form. Sontag’s critique of mimetic representation and Berger’s analysis of reproducibility and context inform a practice that …

Disrupting Ableist And Heteronormative Narratives Through The Other-Abled Body In Octavia E. Butler's "The Evening And The Morning And The Night", Morayo Joy Akingbelue

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Ableist discourse has historically positioned disabled people as ‘unfit,’ resulting in their marginalization within society. This marginalization is not only manifested in terms of their physical performance but sometimes in the way disability intersects with race, gender, and sexuality, reinforcing the construction of disabled individuals as ‘other.’ While prominent feminist and disability scholars have challenged deficit based narratives of disability, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s concept of the misfit, Sami Schalk’s Defamiliarization, John Swain and Sally French’s Affirmative Theory, and Moya Bailey and Izetta Autumn Mobley’s A Black Feminist Disability Framework, Black women’s speculative fiction, offers a critical intervention by defamiliarizing dominant narratives …

Cytonuclear Incompatibilities In Hybrid Systems: Oxidative Phosphorylation Capacity And Nuclear Marker Transmission Ratio Distortion In Hybrids Of An Introgressed Strain Of Parasitoid Wasp, Julie Kessler

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Speciation is an evolutionary process resulting in the divergence of populations into reproductively isolated species, a key concept that supplies our planet with an abundance of biodiversity. Mechanisms for speciation center on obstacles to fertilization and include post-zygotic barriers, such as intrinsic deleterious interactions, that arise in hybrid systems where genetic variants are combined. Genes from separate parent lineages are often incompatible due to the co-evolution of paired genes within a singular species not matching their complement genes in another species, and the result is a reduction in fitness of the hybrid when these genes come together. The mitochondrial OXPHOS …

Flexible Membrane Electrodes For Use In High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries, David A. Denemark

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Wearable electronic devices require high-capacity flexible batteries to improve user comfort and increase usage time per charge. In this thesis, flexible lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes are prepared using a novel and scalable phase inversion method, embedding one-dimensional SnO₂ nanowires and double-walled carbon nanotubes within a porous polyacrylonitrile asymmetric membrane. The optimized electrode delivered an initial specific discharge capacity of 915.93 mAh g⁻¹, approximately 2.5 times greater than conventional graphite anodes, with 61.99% capacity retention after 45 cycles. The incorporation of a carbon mesh substrate further enhanced both electrochemical and mechanical performance, achieving 89.46% capacity retention after 45 cycles and a …

Female Athletes’ Mental Health Help-Seeking Experiences: Understanding The Impact Of The Coach-Athlete Relationship And Coach Sex, Verena Zaisberger

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Mental health help-seeking remains stigmatized in the world of sports (Cosh et al., 2024). Evidence suggests that female athletes may prefer to disclose vulnerable topics to individuals of the same sex (Keil et al., 2023), including help-seeking (O’Keeffe et al., 2022). However, no investigations have explored how coach sex or the coach-athlete relationship may influence female athletes help-seeking experiences. This is despite the importance of coaches in promoting and facilitating mental health services utilization (Bissett et al., 2020). To further understand this topic, the aim of this study was to explore what female athletes’ mental health help-seeking experiences are under …

Tall Orders: A Comparison Of Resident Food Behaviours By Dwelling Type And Apartment Characteristics In Australia, Joelie Mandzufas, Siobhan Hickling, Kevin Murray, Sarah Foster, Gina S.A. Trapp

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

To accommodate population growth, Australian cities are becoming denser, with more Australians living in apartments. However, there is little understanding of whether this shift towards apartment living raises any potential short- and long-term implications for dietary health. Using an Australian nationally representative household survey, this cross-sectional study compared meal-purchasing frequency and fruit and vegetable intake by dwelling type, apartment block height, and number of bedrooms in the apartment. Adjusted mean differences were derived from linear regressions, adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics. Apartment residents purchased 0.72 more meals out each week than house residents (p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.599,0.831]) and consumed 0.10 fewer daily serves of vegetables (p = 0.002, 95% CI [0.038,0.163]). Among apartment residents, those in high-rise blocks purchased 0.80 more meals out each week than low-rise residents (p = 0.012, 95% CI [0.250,1.348]), and residents of one-bedroom or studio apartments ate 0.25 fewer serves of fruit per day than residents in apartments with at least three bedrooms (p = 0.003, 95% CI [0.038,0.163]). These findings provide important evidence to inform policy and targeted interventions that promote healthy food behaviours in apartment-living populations.

The Complex And Multifaceted Nature Of Social Media: Perspectives From Young Adolescents, Parents And Experts, Cindy Branch-Smith, Diarmuid Hurley, Nasim Salehi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: This study explores the complex and multifaceted nature of social media use among young adolescents, drawing on the perspectives of young adolescents, parents and experts. It examines both the benefits and risks of social media and associated implications for adolescent mental health, self-development and social relationships. Methodology: A qualitative, interpretive design was utilised, using interviews across three stakeholder groups, with data analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings: The analysis identified a range of perceived opportunities, benefits and challenges associated with adolescent social media engagement. Participants highlighted its role in fostering connection, education and self-expression, alongside significant risks, including cyberbullying, …

The Justice–Empowerment Nexus: Pathways To Inclusive And Sustainable Tourism Development, Raymond Rastegar, Siamak Seyfi, Mostafa Rassolimanesh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As the pursuit of sustainability increasingly calls for social inclusion and equity, this study examines how social justice shapes community empowerment in tourism destinations. Although justice is central to sustainable development discourse, limited empirical understanding exists of how its dimensions collectively influence empowerment. Focusing on the tourism across three major tourism destinations, Australia, the UK, and the USA, the research examines the relationships between recognition, procedural, and distributive justice and different dimensions of community empowerment including psychological, social, economic and political empowerment. Utilizing a quantitative approach and guided by equity and social justice theories, the study employs partial least squares …

What Are Information Literacy Skills? Western Australian Primary Teachers’ Interpretations Of The Ict Curriculum, Louise Moroney, Vaille Dawson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Teachers must equip students to navigate an increasingly complex world of unique challenges and opportunities, necessitating the development of a diverse range of transferable skills. These skills are embedded in the General Capabilities (GC) of the Australian school curriculum. Upper primary school teachers’ interpretations of one of the GC, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) learning progressions, was examined, as these skills have become increasingly important with the rise in generative and assistive artificial intelligence. Using an interpretivist paradigm, an exploratory study was used to determine the areas where 36 teachers differed in their interpretations of the learning progression. Data collected …

The Best Practice Guide For Early Childhood Education And Care Food Environment: Module 4: Staff And Family Engagement (Version 1.0), Ros Sambell, Audrey Elford, Connie N. Ihlein, Lochie Clark, Amanda Devine, Helen Helen Alexiou, Lennie Barblett, Fiona Champion, Penelope Clark, Kathy Cologon, Wendy Cook, Katie Dix, Kirsty Elliott, Leanne Elliston, Amanda Ferguson, Yuna Ribeiro Ferreira Alves, Ricky Gelman, Jodie Gray, Natalie Gulberti, Lena Harle, Jill Whelan, Karen Krist, Ashton Leach, Deana Leahy, Stacey Mckenzie, Lauren Moore, Merryn Netting, Ciara O’Flaherty, Asha Rojahn, Blake Stewart, Aimee Sullivan, Suzanne Tamone, Henry Tan, Courtney Trezona, Sandra Vale, Kathy Cologon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Engaging with families is a core responsibility of ECEC services and staff. By building positive, personal relationships with families, ECEC staff are able to share concerns or queries about the children in their care in a sensitive way.

One of the more sensitive topics that can come up is food – what they are eating, how much they are eating, their eating behaviours and skills, and everything in between. Through quick conversations at drop-off or via formal communication platforms, services can share a range of information about a child’s eating patterns and behaviours, and also gather information from families to …

A Systematic Review Of Children’S Digital Funds Of Knowledge In Early Childhood Education And Care: Beginning The Conversation, Jess Hardley, Lennie Barblett, Maria Enriquez-Watt

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Children's ‘funds of knowledge’ (FK) offer a strengths-based approach to recognising how children contribute to the curriculum. Growing up in a postdigital world, young children's lives are enmeshed with digital technologies. Yet the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector remains hesitant to embed digital experiences in play and learning. While the concept of ‘digital fund of knowledge’ (DFK) has been explored in primary and secondary education, it remains underexamined in ECEC. This systematic review of four databases identified seven studies spanning Europe, Australia, the USA, Malta, Sweden and Finland. These highlight challenges including limited educators' understandings of children's DFK, …

Beyond Compliance: Transformative Co-Design For Gender-Based Violence Prevention In Higher Education, Narelle Lemon, Christina Gray, Jason Goopy, Lisa Holmes, Bec Ball, Melissa Perry, Elisa Fear

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study examines how university staff and students experience transformative learning through voluntary participation in a gender-based violence (GBV) prevention programme that transcended compliance-oriented approaches. While universities increasingly rely on mandatory modules that fail to create sustainable change, this research investigates whether self-nominated participation and co-design pedagogy can foster genuine transformation and voice development among participants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. A qualitative multi-method design examined eight university students (aged 18–24) at an Australian university through pre-post focus groups, observational field notes, and artefact analysis. Participants voluntarily engaged in workshops co-designing peer-focused social media prevention messaging. Inductive thematic analysis identified patterns …

Conference Program 2026, Georgia Southern University

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

2026 Conference Program

Georgia Southern Basketball Media Guides, Zach S. Henderson Library, Special Collections

Finding Aids

The collection consists of Georgia Southern media guides for men’s and women’s basketball prepared for journalists by the Athletics Department’s Office of Media Relations, dating from 1991–1992 and 2015–2020. The guides include schedules, statistics, win/loss records and notable accomplishments from previous seasons, profiles of coaches and players, general information about the university, and other information useful to reporters covering the team’s current season.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Georgia Southern Baseball Media Guides, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of Georgia Southern media guides for baseball prepared for journalists by the Athletics Department’s Office of Media Relations, dating from 1973-2012. The guides include schedules, statistics, win/loss records and notable accomplishments from previous seasons, profiles of coaches and players, general information about the university, and other information useful to reporters covering the team’s current season.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Faculty Handbook, Georgia Southern University

Faculty Handbooks

Faculty Handbook for Georgia Southern University for the 2025-2026 academic year. The Faculty Handbook is published online by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and archived in Digital Commons@Georgia Southern.

2025 Georgia Southern University Softball Media Guide, Georgia Southern University

Women's Softball Records

No abstract provided.

2025-2026 Georgia Southern University Women's Swimming And Diving Roster, Georgia Southern University

Women's Swimming Records

No abstract provided.