Digital Commons Network^™

Swosu Department Of Psychology History, Janice L. Sperle

Department of Psychology

SWOSU DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY HISTORY
1948-2025

By Janice L. Sperle

Fifty-Ninth Commencement (Undergraduate), Sacred Heart University

Commencement Programs

Program for undergraduate ceremonies, May 10, 2025.

Tsenacommacah, Wylan Blair

Persimmon Creek

This poem is about the area that was once called Tsenacommacah, the Powhatan people, and the horrors of the centuries that followed 1607.

Fifty-Ninth Commencement (Graduate), Sacred Heart University

Commencement Programs

Program for graduate ceremonies, May 6 & 7,  2025.

“Bottom Nature”: Embodying History In Gertrude Stein’S The Making Of Americans, Yasmin Tehrani

Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to connect Gertrude Stein’s conception of being in The Making of Americans with her vision of the production of history. This paper then concludes that for Stein, historical subjects themselves, both individually and collectively, and the imbued qualities in their being, shape history.

The Tales Of Maruni, Sikuma Rai

Theses and Dissertations

Sikuma Rai journeys into the fading indigenous genre of Maruni—an eastern Nepali song and dance form—narrating letters to her late grandfather. Accompanied by her father, and a devoted folk musician from an upper-caste background, she traces echoes of memory, identity, and the fragile inheritance of indigenous culture.

“Take This Job And Shove It”: How Black Women’S Fight For Economic Rights Informed Their Participation In The Broader Social Movements Of The Twentieth Century, Kyndle Diane Lee

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the vital role of Black women in the American labor movement during the twentieth century, emphasizing how their leadership and union participation were central to both labor organizing and the broader fight for human rights. Black women workers navigated and resisted the effects of racism, sexism, and class exploitation in a century marked by industrial expansion, economic upheaval, and major civil rights struggles. Far from passive participants, they emerged as key organizers, negotiators, and strategists in their communities, labor unions, and national movements. Additionally, their work extended beyond their demands for better wages and safer working conditions. …

Cultural Appropriation And The Commodification Of Heritage: The Nimiipuu Legacy In Joseph, Oregon, Juston W. Rogers

Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement

This paper explores the cultural appropriation and commodification of Nimiipuu heritage in Joseph, Oregon, by examining the history of the annual Chief Joseph Days (CJD) festival held by the residents of Wallowa Valley every year since 1946. While CJD purports to celebrate the legacy of both the Nimiipuu in Wallowa Valley and the traditional American West, instead it perpetuates a simplified and exploitive narrative that benefits the white residents of Wallowa Valley. Through historical analysis, this paper traces the dramatic erasure and forced removal of the Nimiipuu from their ancestral lands within Wallowa Valley in 1877, followed by their subsequent …

Queer X Trans Memoir: In Sight Of An Embodied History, Rhyan Warmerdam

English (MA) Theses

Are queer and trans identities innate or constructed? What constitutes a queer or trans identity? What prompts a person to identify with a particular queer or trans identity category? Prominent queer theorist Judith Butler contends that “There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted” (Butler, Gender Trouble 34). However, many scholars have claimed that Butler’s theory is “not compatible with lived experience” (McCann & Monaghan 134). This project utilizes the genre of memoir to gain insight into lived experiences to put this theory to the test. Through a mini historical archive of twelve …

Guide To The Linfield University Outdoor Plaques Collection, Linfield Archives

Linfield Archives Finding Aids

This finding aid represents a collection of outdoor plaques found throughout the Linfield University campus in McMinnville. It includes information about stone/bench engravings, plaques, and other memorials, with new material added since the initial inventory created in 2020. There had been no previous inventory of these plaques.

Poets, Pioneers, And In-Betweeners: Musicians Of The South Asian Diaspora, Kancana Preetika Kathiravan

Music Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sid Sriram, Arooj Aftab, and Ganavya Doraiswamy are three Asian American musicians who have experienced a meteoric rise over the past five years. These artists are signed to major labels, receive mainstream media exposure, have multiple Grammy nominations, and tour internationally. Through different avenues, they have built up diverse audiences that include members of the South Asian diaspora who see their own stories and music represented. Rather than being a single part of a cross-cultural collaboration, these musicians belong to both worlds. With backgrounds both in South Asian and American musical styles and grammars, these musicians are like their work: …

White Supremacy In Music Theory Academia, Tristan Gianelli

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores the history of music theory academia in the West, and examines the hierarchical power structures from which music theory pedagogy was constructed.

The Proverbial Milk And Honey: Frontier, Racial Lines, And The Development Of California Foodways, Ahlys Gandara

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis proposes that the development of foodways in the state of California occurred concurrently with the development and failures of Americanization and the American frontier. This is done with respect to the fact that California has a much longer history than that of the United States. While foodways are often discussed and examined within the ideas of nationalization, this becomes harder to do within the United States as there is no unifying idea of a national identity and any attempts to do so were hampered by the lack of consensus as to a singular identity. This is especially true …

Sisterly Bonds Beyond The Grave: The Ethical Implications Of Posthumously Publishing Jane Austen’S Persuasion, Ashleigh Jay

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

By the time that Jane Austen died in 1817, she had only published four novels. After her death, her family retained her other writings. Later that year, they published one of Austen’s finished manuscripts which became the novel Persuasion. This act of posthumous publication invokes inquiries into whether the action was ethical. In order to better understand the ethics of publishing Persuasion posthumously, one can look at information from Jane Austen’s life and ideas around posthumous actions. Even though Persuasion by Jane Austen was published posthumously, Austen’s choice to leave the manuscript with her sister and her completion of …

Glands Of Moll: History, Current Knowledge And Their Role In Ocular Surface Homeostasis And Disease, Michael Stopfer, Ingrid Zahn, Katharina Jüngert, Gerhard Aumüller, Frans L Moll, Martin Schicht, Helen P Makarenkova, Cintia S De Paiva, Friedrich P Paulsen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Over the last 20 years, research into the Meibomian glands of the eyelids has increased exponentially and is now widely recognized as a field of research. It is all the more astonishing that knowledge about another type of gland in the eyelids, the Moll glands or ciliary glands, has almost stagnated and there has been little to almost no progress, even though this type of gland as a whole takes up a relatively large volume in the upper and lower eyelids. There is not much information about the namesake Moll or the function of the glands although these are listed …

Historical Perspectives On Bloodletting In The Management Of Asthma In Children And Adults, Joudeh B. Freij, Bishara J. Freij

Conference Presentation Abstracts

Background: Current asthma management consists of a combination of drugs with different mechanisms of action. Ancient asthma care, by contrast, focused on loosening the humours using remedies such as drinking animal blood, eating rabbit fat and fox lungs, inhaling or consuming certain herbs and plants, bloodletting (including wet cupping), diet (eating raisins, dried figs, vegetables, barley, capers, bread, cake), steaming, baths, wet compresses, and moderate helpings of wine with dinner. Bloodletting was believed to purge the body of noxious humours that caused human disease and thereby reduce inflammation. Here we address the use of bloodletting in asthma management over the …

Herman Melville’S Bartleby And A Critique Of The Market Revolution, Emma Williams

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Emma Williams ’25, History and English major

Faculty mentor: Dr. Steven Smith, History

Moonstorm In The Mainstream Or On The Margins?: Constellating St. Louis Lesbian Rhetorics From The Archives, Aurora Blanchard

Theses

Combining rhetorical analysis, oral history collection, and archival study, this multi-genre research project explores lesbian feminist organizing in the 1970s. Moonstorm was a St. Louis lesbian feminist magazine that operated in the 1970s and 1980s. The sample in this research project focuses on the issues of Moonstorm published between 1973 and 1977. Issues of Moonstorm are available for viewing in the archives of the State Historical Society of Missouri. Building on V. Jo Hsu’s theory of constellating, the poems and stories found in Moonstorm serve as sites of both contested and unconditional belonging for modern LGBTQ+ activists. Constellating, specifically in …

Mythic Arcana - A Tarot And Mythology Guidebook, Kiya Whitaker

English Student Scholarship

Mythic Arcana is part of my senior thesis show and the culmination of my writing and design journey at the college. It is a creative spin on the Major Arcana tarot deck and features mythological characters from around the world. Tarot is used for spiritual guidance, and the Major Arcana cards represent the Soul’s journey from naivety and vast potential (starting with 0, the Fool) to success and fulfillment (ending with 21, the World).

Enjoy this celebration of our world's rich and diverse cultures. Immerse yourself in enchanting art and storytelling. Allow this work to bring you to the past, …

Newport Dorrites And The 1842 Dorr Rebellion, Erik J. Chaput, Russell J. Desimone

Dorr Scholarship

The Dorr Rebellion Project http://library.providence.edu/dorr

The Dorr Letters Project
https://library-projects.providence.edu/dorrletters

The Evolution Of Ems: Chauffeur To Clinician, Allie L. Lamb

Honors Theses

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are young and developing. These agencies provide pre-hospital care to individuals in communities across the United States. Despite their prevalence, research on EMS and its history is lacking. This study tracks the evolution of EMS in the United States by outlining its history, investigating major events during its life span, identifying major positive or negative influencing factors on its evolution, and conducting a survey to analyze the thoughts of the modern provider. The outline of the evolution of EMS exemplifies the evolution of the provider, which leads to the primary question. Are EMS providers clinicians? The …

The Ascent Of The Balthi: The Emergence Of Visigothic Kingship In Late Antiquity, William Deloach

Tenor of Our Times

The first four centuries of the First Millennium AD witnessed the rapid development of political infrastructure among the Gothic people. Emerging from Scandinavia, Gothic group consolidated into more nuanced political confederations by the third century. Challenges to these power structures, both internal and external, became the catalyst for further consolidation. The adaptations of the third and fourth centuries resulted in the emergence of a more easily recognizable political unit: the Visigoths under a Balthi monarchy. These challenges, and forthcoming adaptations, places the Goths within the tradition of the Late Antique world. Late Antiquity, therefore, should not only be thought to …

Dangerous And Unusual: How Heller’S Ahistorical Assumption Violates The Founders’ Original Intent, Oliver Krawczyk, Gilbert Ambler

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

When the U.S. Supreme Court ended its generational silence on the Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court held that “a prohibition of an entire class of ‘arms’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society” is “invalid.” In so holding, the Court suggested that the Constitution protects only those weapons “in common use at the time,” a limitation thought to be “fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons.’” The Court defined none of these terms then, and it has not since.

Over a decade of constitutional infidelity ensued. …

“Gli Scheletri Della Dittatura”: Fascist Art, Architecture, And Monuments In Modern Italy, John "Jack" Moore

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

When Italy reconstituted itself as a republic in 1948, it inherited the art, architecture, and monuments that were constructed under Fascism. Many of these artifacts contained inherent Fascist imagery and were made to exalt the regime, but Italy’s postwar government – known as the First Republic – neglected to systematically confront them. This mirrored the First Republic’s approach to shaping Italy’s memory of Fascism, as the government established an anti-fascist narrative without addressing the country’s support for the regime. During the 1980s, notions of anti-fascism began to fall alongside the political power structure upholding them. This coincided with the rise …

Melville And The Market: Literature And The Language Of Capitalism In Nineteenth-Century America, Emma Williams

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Race And Greek Mythology: An Analysis Of A Racialized Hierarchy In Literary And Artistic Depictions Of The Line Of Io In Archaic And Classical Greece, Angie Pierre

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Following the emergence of the Greek alphabet in 8th century B.C.E, Greece produced literary works which demonstrated contemporary beliefs, customs, and practices. Additionally, pottery during this era began to be more expressive. The use of geometric shapes and imagery from Egypt were later used to create stories and induce emotions in pottery. Following the Archaic period, the Classical era has produced a plethora of literary and artistic material that expands on material from the Archaic era while simultaneously providing commentary on its own period. While not in a consistent manner, an underlying theme within the art and literature of the …

The Lost English Roots Of Notice-And-Comment Rulemaking, Rephael G. Stern

Faculty Scholarship

Notice-and-comment rulemaking is arguably the most important procedure in the modern administrative state. Influential accounts even frame it as the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act’s “most important idea.” But its historical origins are obscure. Scholars have variously suggested that it grew out of the constitutionally sanctioned practice of congressional petitioning, organically developed from the practices of nineteenth-century agencies, or was influenced by German conceptions of administrative rulemaking. These histories, however, are incomplete. Using original archival research, this Article demonstrates that notice-and-comment rulemaking was the product of a series of American transplantations of English rulemaking procedures that developed in the late nineteenth …

Legal Precedents For Slavery And Manumission In Colonial Virginia, Sydney Gilbert

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

Legal precedence played a significant role in the development of Virginia’s slave and manumission laws. Virginia’s society and government is derived from English legal traditions and common law; however, as the colony developed, the Virginia courts and General Assembly produced their own traditions and precedents in response to its growing society. Similarly, the colony’s slave system initially relied on principles from English law but was established in response to Virginia’s unique societal and economic developments through court rulings and laws by the General Assembly. In addition to the laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly, the status of Africans and …

“La Flor Más Autóctona De La Revolución:” Celia Sánchez And The Complexities Of Constructing A Distinctly Nationalist Feminist, Hayley Lonergan

History & Classics Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2024 Lifetime Achievement Award: Biology Unbalanced: Genes, Gene Dosage, And Disease Susceptibility, James R Lupski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This article is based on the address given by the author at the 2024 meeting of The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) in Denver, CO. A video of the original address can be found at the ASHG website.