Digital Commons Network^™

Socialist Legality On Trial: The Purge Of The Ukrainian Nkvd, 1938-1943, Reide Petty

Honors Theses

In the winter of 1938, Grigorii Iufa was put on trial in a Soviet court for the violation of socialist legality, a charge alleging that he had manipulated Soviet legal processes and undermined the rule of law during his work. Prior to his arrest, Iufa had worked in the Moldavian division of the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s state security agency. In that capacity, he had played a significant role in the Great Terror, which was a highly concentrated campaign of mass violence conducted by the Soviet Union between 1937-1938 against perceived enemies among its own citizenry. This campaign primarily consisted …

Spectrum, Volume 50, Issue 11, Sacred Heart University

Newspapers (Obelisk & Spectrum)

Highlights include: Board of Trustees Panel Set for May 2 -- Mifepristone Access Granted by Supreme Court -- UAE spacecraft takes close-up photos of Mars' little moon -- A Curtis Hall Carnival -- New Leaders Coming Soon -- The Last Dance -- From Your DS to the Big Screen -- A “Masterful” Job Done by Coach McGreevy

The Buck Stops Somewhere: An Analysis Of Global Governmental Responses To Covid-19, David Roundy

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

This study reviews a global sample of noteworthy governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus first discovered in 2019, officially known as SARS-CoV-2, sparked radical change in every country across the globe, but as we enter the post-pandemic era, it is clear that some nations fared better than others when it came to addressing the situation. Some countries were better prepared to handle a viral outbreak before COVID-19 even began to spread, while others were aided by swift and effective leadership to ensure national success in the face of an international dilemma. This study makes use of both qualitative …

Iron Ore Occurrences In Oman

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On 5 April 2000 three BYU geology professors and a professional geologist reported on their work of evaluating the presence of iron ore in southern Oman. Titled "Nephi's Tools: An Overview of Iron Ore Occurrences in Oman," the session featured reports by Ronald A. Harris, Eugene E. Clark, Jeffrey D. Keith, and W. Revell Phillips. Their recent work in Oman is part of the university's larger effort to learn more about the history and culture of ancient southern Arabia.

The History Of Geriatric Emergency Medicine, Teresita M. Hogan Md, Lowell Gerson Phd, Aurthur B. Sanders Md

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Abstract: Excellent emergency care does not happen by chance. The standard emergency approach that excels in the young, fails in older patients. Older adults experience unnecessary morbidity and excess mortality in our emergency departments. This article describes the pursuit of excellent emergency care in the historically challenging older adult population. A pivotal point occurred once emergency physicians recognized older patients as a distinct population in need of unique evaluation and treatment.

In the early 1990s a group of geriatricians, philanthropists, and emergency physicians joined forces to improve older patient care. Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) emerged as a subspecialty as these …

Moving Forward By Looking Back: How Family Firms Create Competitive Advantage By Embracing Their History, Adam Goldman

Dissertations

Family businesses are the engine that drives the United States economy. While extensive implications have been made in the literature about the advantages or disadvantages of family-owned businesses compared to non-family-owned businesses, the focus of this study was to show how small to medium-sized family-owned firms (FF SMEs) based in the United States can use their unique history to create a competitive advantage. Drawing on imprint theory and the resource-based view (RBV), this history-informed study helped identify the impact that founder imprints, business traditions, and storytelling have on the business performance of FF SMEs. Using quantitative methods, the findings of …

Robert Hall Merrill: An American Engineer In China, Annie Benefiel

Scholarship and Professional Work

Presented at the 2023 Archival Kismet Conference "Thinking About Stuff," this presentation explores historical documents found in the Robert H. Merrill papers in the Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives.

In 1920, Robert Hall Merrill, a young civil engineer from Grand Rapids, Michigan, traveled to China to serve as Assistant Principle Engineer on a reconstruction project of a portion of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal system in the world. Merrill's work produced a comprehensive survey report of the Grand Canal construction area near the Yellow River. The report contains numerous …

Glass: The Material That Defines Us, Madisyn Rex

Honors Projects

This Honors Project is an exploration of the intersections between glass science, geology, glass art, and my own personal experience with glass.

The Theological Error Behind Post-Liberalism’S Bid For Political Power, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

Storyteller: They Speak, I Listen, Sara M. V. Garcia

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Since February of 2022, I have been an intern working at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Throughout the museum, there are books and binders everywhere that feature individual stories from veterans of World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and even stories from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. As an intern, I was able to make these binders and put them together. I was given letters, photos, documents, journals and more and it feels like these veterans are talking to me and telling me their stories. I would not have known …

Times Of Uncertainty, Connor Plant

HCOM 434: Creative Publishing and Critical Storytelling, Spring 2023

I created this piece because graduation is around the corner, and with graduation brings new exciting beginnings but also a sense of uncertainty. COVID-19 has taught us more than ever before that the future isn't guaranteed. Art was a major inspiration for this piece as artist David Popa demonstrates his incredible and creative brain in his exhibit "Fractured."

Out With The Old And In With The New: Something Museums Always Do, Chloe White

The Diana McDonald Writer's Challenge

Chloe White describes the evolution of museums from private collections of curiosities to publicly funded institutions serving the purposes of education, entertainment, and historical preservation. Recounting ways in which museums have adopted technological advances (gramophones, dramagraphs, films, audio guides), White urges museums to employ virtual and augmented reality technologies to revive interest in museums (at a time when people have endless entertainment options available) and to make museums appealing to a wider audience.

Patriotism And Democratic Education, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether patriotism has a valuable part to play in the educational system of a democratic society is now a highly contentious matter. This chapter argues that it does, principally because such a society is a kind of cooperative practice that requires its members to enact, enforce, and – in most cases – obey the laws that govern their self-governing polity. Democracies rely on rules, and especially the rule of law, to provide the reasonably clear expectations necessary to coordinate public activities and to overcome collective-action problems. By encouraging citizens to set aside personal advantage and play a cooperative part in …

Res Historica, Volume 2, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The 2023 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg. Johnathan Sorce, and Helen Smith. Cover art for this volume by Helen Smith.

Robert Hall Merrill: An American Engineer In China, Annie Benefiel

Presentations

Presented at the 2023 Archival Kismet Conference "Thinking About Stuff," this presentation explores historical documents found in the Robert H. Merrill papers in the Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives.

In 1920, Robert Hall Merrill, a young civil engineer from Grand Rapids, Michigan, traveled to China to serve as Assistant Principle Engineer on a reconstruction project of a portion of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal system in the world. Merrill's work produced a comprehensive survey report of the Grand Canal construction area near the Yellow River. The report contains numerous …

May We Remember How The Great War Changed The Practice And Ceremony Of American Memorialization In Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1868-1939, Grace Heffernan

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The emotional and psychological damage wrought by the Great War has long been rendered exceptional. The sheer numbers of dead and wounded coupled with new kinds of wounds – physical, emotional, psychological – perhaps justify this view. Yet in declaring that the Great War was a shock, a watershed, a tragedy, there is an implicit presupposition that some kind of precedent existed. As long as war had existed, so too did loss, grief, and mourning. The Great War did not introduce human sorrow to the world, though perhaps it altered human remembrance. When American families grieved their loved one, was …

“A Scepter Of Terror Or A Sword Of Freedom”: Elaine Brown’S Time In The Black Panther Party, Maeve Plassche

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This project highlights the activism of Elaine Brown, who was the only female chairperson of the Black Panther Party. It looks to enhance the way in which the Black Panther Party is remembered, by placing gender and gender relations in the center of the conversation. Even though women were crucial participants in the Party, they often did not receive the respect that their male counterparts did, and the historical scholarship, using male-centered sources, reiterates this point. While conducting research in the Dr. Huey P. Newton records, located the Stanford Libraries, I delved into the newspapers, internal Black Panther Party documents, …

The Formation Of A Hellenic Identity: The Impact Of Herodotus On The Ancient Greek And The Reception Of His Histories, Conor James

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The ethnic identity of the ancient Greek is a complicated idea that developed over hundreds of years unbeknownst to the communities that would one day be identified as ‘Hellenes.’ The advent of the polis in the Archaic era was followed by nearly three hundred years of rapid development within the scattered communities of ancient Greece before conflict with the Persian Empire necessitated inter-polis cooperation. This phenomenon prompted a movement in which the aspects of life that were once viewed as mere similarities between different societies were clung to and presented as proof of a common ethnic identity that called for …

When The Silenced Became The Voice: Argentina’S Military Dictatorship And The Fight For Memory And Justice, Brigid Mcevoy

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

A Soldier And A Statesman: The Evolution Of George Washington’S Political And Military Career During The Encampment At Valley Forge, Dean Costalas

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Toward the end of 1777, George Washington was burdened with major obstacles on his path to becoming not only a victorious general, but a political figurehead for the budding United States Government. Mounting losses, men in disarray, and a lack of resources all led him into dire straits as his army huddled together for a long, solemn winter at Valley Forge. The result was a contentious relationship between Washington and the Continental Congress, an already strained dynamic thanks to Congress’ lack of efficiency in getting Washington the necessary supplies to equip and care for his men. And while he is …

Redefining Roman Women: Powerful Benefactresses & Patrons Of The Early Roman Empire, Jacqueline Elia

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The history of the Roman Empire has thus far been largely dominated by male narratives. With ancient literary sources predominantly having been written by and for wealthy male audiences, a dangerously limited scope of the Roman Empire has been perpetuated as marginalized groups such as women have been left out of the historical record. Despite what mainstream history has been led to believe by authors such as Livy and Tacitus, Roman women were not simply one-dimensional, domestic creatures who acted as passive witnesses to male dominance. Rather, middle-elite women throughout the empire frequently existed outside the bounds of the domestic …

The Americans Progress Forgot? An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Role Of Media In Opiate Politics, Rachael M. Erickson

Senior Theses

The most recent opioid crisis in the United States was largely described, by politicians, the media, and subsequently members of the voting public, as being an issue primarily affecting rural White communities. This phenomenon is shaped by the fact that the rate at which White Americans use opiates is outpaced by the frequency with which White American use of opiates is described as an issue of human interest in opinion or editorial articles in news media. In this thesis I aim to understand how the racialized public and political perception of opiate use is shaped by local media.

The following …

From Raqs Sharqi To Belly Dance: The Influence Of Western Cultural Values On A Middle Eastern Dance Form, Molly Talbot

Dance Department Best Student Papers

This paper examines the history and development of two Middle Eastern movement forms, raqs sharqi and belly dance, through an analytic lens of Western cultural influence. Raqs sharqi originated around 5500 b.c. and holds strong cultural values in honoring female rites of passage. During Napoleon's occupation of Cairo in the late 18th and early 19th century, raqs sharqi performers split into two paths. Some performers appealed to new norms imposed by French spectators while others refused such norms and removed themselves from the scene to create various movement subcultures. This rift began a theme in belly dance history of subjection …

We Can Do It, Or Can We?: Women’S Domestic And Workplace Roles In Advertising During Wwii And Postwar America, Jillian Brissette

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the dramatic change from the empowering image of women workers that appeared in World War II advertisements and the domestic picture of women’s lives as depicted in the Cold War era. In examining this transformation, I seek to understand why there was such a drastic shift and how it affected real women. I examined hundreds of advertisements from the 1940s and 1950s that featured women in domestic or workplace roles. Contrary to the popular image of Rosie the Riveter, World War II era advertisements did not truly empower women. Instead, the emphasized women’s war work as a …

Twentieth Century Education Reform: Centralization And The Integration Of Providence Public School, Emily Cavanaugh

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

James Madison And The Supreme Court The Evolution Of The Madisonian First Amendment In Early America, Thomas Mcsweeney

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Digital Flashcards To Increase Content-Specific Vocabulary Knowledge And Perceptions Of Motivation And Self-Efficacy In An Eleventh-Grade U.S. History Course: An Action Research Study, Jill Lee Steinmeyer

Theses and Dissertations

Text- and document-dependent courses like high school U.S. History require students to have strong content literacy and vocabulary skills. Traditionally, content-area courses neglect vocabulary skills and those that do address vocabulary often teach words in isolation without context. Students needing more content comprehension skills frequently need more motivation and higher self-efficacy.

Three research questions were used to evaluate the impact of digital flashcards on learning content-specific vocabulary and student perceptions in an eleventh-grade U.S. History course: (a) How and to what extent do digital flashcards affect eleventh-grade U.S. History students’ learning content-specific vocabulary knowledge?; (b) How and to what extent …

From Passive To Immersive: Metaverse As A Pedagogical Approach In History Class - Presenting A Constant Reminder Of Historical Remnants And A Customizable Reality For Future Preferences; Beirut As A Case Study, Hiba Mohsen, Mohamad Tohme, Rawan Nashi

Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ)

It is widely acknowledged that passive, non-immersive strategies of teaching adopted in history classes in Lebanon do not offer the right platform for knowledge retention in students. With that said, virtual reality and the use of Metaverse as a pedagogical approach is prophesied as the most apt to invoke a positive attitude from children towards the topic being studied, and thus, in this case, it increases their awareness of the existing built heritage they live amidst. This research sets out from a recent project implemented by Beirut Arab University, together with three UN agencies. The latter aimed for “developing children …

Legislating Healthcare: A Legislative History Of Healthcare Equity And Access In The Mid-20th Century United States, Jazmin Alvarez

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Historically, the United States has struggled to provide accessible healthcare to all Americans. Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country must rebuild its healthcare system to account for the devastating loss of healthcare personnel and the impending physician shortage. This paper discusses four U.S. laws that were intended to increase accessibility and how their history can guide the nation to better healthcare.

Spectrum, Volume 50, Issue 8, Sacred Heart University

Newspapers (Obelisk & Spectrum)

Highlights include: Biden’s Willow Project Disapproved by Gen Z -- SHU Doctoral Students Tackling Education and Race Relations -- Silicon Valley Bank Facing Major Collapse -- Connecticut Invests in Healthcare Workers of the Future -- Fraternities & Sororities Gear Up for Greek Week -- SHU Welcomes Panel of Women in Film & TV -- Women’s Basketball, A Year to Remember