Digital Commons Network^™

Considering Ai Adoption And Use: Promises And Paradox For Rural Education, Elizabeth Wargo, Juhee Kim, Jeff Simmons

The Rural Educator

This article explores the adoption and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) within rural education, with a specific focus on the rural context of Idaho. While AI offers new possibilities for educational transformation, its implementation in rural schools presents unique paradoxes. Using a mixed-methods approach involving a statewide survey, working focus groups, and associated documents, this study investigates how AI can empower and challenge rural educational practices. Drawing on Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory, we illuminate the AI opportunities and barriers perceived by rural education stakeholders. We conclude by discussing implications for advocacy, policy, practice, and research to ensure just and …

Evaluating A Research Experience For Teachers: Benefits And Challenges For Summer Stem Professional Development, Mark T. Felts, Darcy Tessman, Emily Simpson, Mark Nanny

The Rural Educator

This focus group study examined the participant motivation for and potential impact of the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program on rural STEM educators. Due to geographic isolation and low wages in rural areas, STEM teachers often engage in summer work, which provides practical, real-world applications of STEM principles and enhances instructional methods during the school year. By fostering university partnerships and providing summer research opportunities, RET aligns with the National Rural Research Agenda’s (NREA) priorities of enhancing community relationships and bolstering teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention. Findings indicate that participation in RET boosts teachers’ curricular skills, professional networks, and …

Grow Your Own Special Education Teachers: Lessons Learned, Jerrie L. Brooks

The Rural Educator

The special education teacher shortage is felt across the US. To address this challenge, 50 states and Washington, DC, currently have some type of grow-your-own (GYO) program. These programs often are an alternate route to licensure, preparing candidates who do not have an undergraduate degree in education to become teachers. The goal of GYO programs is to prepare teachers from the community for the community, with a focus on addressing the teacher shortage and increasing the diversity of the teacher workforce. The rural institution of higher education described in this article has implemented a GYO program for seven years. Through …

Identity And Autonomy: Schools And Lgbtq+ Students Amid “Don’T Say Gay” Legislation, Kathryn Watson

The Rural Educator

Iowa’s 2023 Senate File 496 prohibits schools from administering mental health surveys without parent permission, requires schools to secure parent permission for student nicknames, bans from schools discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation before grade 7, and bans from schools books that describe sexual activity. This exploratory interview study investigated how 30 educators and school board members across the state perceived Senate File 496’s influence on school micro systems, as outlined by Marraccini et al.’s framework for school-related influences on suicide-related thoughts and behaviors for LGBTQ+ students. The study also explored participants’ impressions of how the legislation influenced LGBTQ+ …

Sapientia Ex Machina: Engaging Ai As A Meaning-Making Tool For Philosophical Practice, Austin M. Pritchett

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper sets out to examine whether a Large Language Model can serve as a genuine interlocutor in philosophical inquiry. With a grounding in the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and in conversation with other works in philosophy on AI, language, and the mind, the author determines the extent to which an AI's contributions to conversation can be said to participate in understanding and meaning-making rather than merely simulate it, thereby making evident the extent to which it is useful in philosophical practice.

How Q-Succeed-Cny Connects Local Residents To Emerging Semiconductor And Quantum Career Opportunities, Moamer Hasanovic

SyracuseCoE

This slide deck is from Professor Moamer Hasanovic's talk, "How Q-SUCCEED-CNY Connects Local Residents to Emerging Semiconductor and Quantum Career Opportunities," presented at SyracuseCoE's April 2026 Research & Technology Forum.

Foundations For Change: A Year-One Analysis Of Thinking Maps Professional Development In Secondary Education And Classroom Adoption, Tiffani Isaacson

Boise State Graduate Student Projects

Following two years of Thinking Maps professional development, educators at the secondary level have increasingly integrated them into instruction; leading to improvements in student engagement, organization and explanation of thinking. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of Thinking Maps professional development in enhancing instruction. Survey results showed that staff found the training beneficial and felt comfortable utilizing Thinking Maps. To support proficiency both the curriculum coach and teacher trainer provided weekly structured activities with video instruction that modeled implementation, reinforcing student understanding and increasing staff confidence. Thinking maps showed promising results as an instructional tool. with continued reinforcement they will further …

Dry Needling For Migraine: A Critically Appraised Topic, Deanna Lowry, Christopher Hurt

Expo Student Presentations

2026 Spring Expo Poster Presentation

• Health Sciences & Health Professions

Sacrifice And Survival: Encountering Colonialism And The Bounds Of Christian Humanitarianism In The Cherokee Nation From 1819-1833, Avery Maples

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

As Maggie Blackhawk illuminates in the 2023 foreword of the Harvard Law Review, the United States government has had free rein to legally subordinate Indian tribes throughout its history. As the first ever foreword to be written by a Native American woman, let alone on the topic of Indian borderland constitutionalism, Blackhawk explains the inextricable nature of federal Indian law from the development of American constitutional jurisprudence. This legacy of oppression has been intentionally crafted throughout nineteenth and twentieth-century litigation and forms the basis of federal Indian law. Supreme Court cases such as United States v. Kagama in 1886, Lone …

Situating Ai Within The History Of Technological Adaptation In Law, Karin Mika

SLU Law Journal Online

This Article argues that the current anxiety surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal academy is the latest iteration of a recurring historical cycle. By examining the introduction of other technological enhancements in the law, the author demonstrates that each technological shift was initially met with skepticism regarding the potential loss of critical thinking skills. However, history shows that these tools ultimately pushed the profession away from a focus on mechanical form and toward a deeper engagement with substantive analysis and strategic advocacy. Rather than posing an existential threat, AI represents a logical next step that can automate the …

Revisiting The Missed Pigouvian Opportunity Of The First Industrial Revolution: A Carbon-Based Pigouvian Tax On Ai, Haozheng Jiang

SLU Law Journal Online

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the economy with comparative speed and scope as during the First Industrial Revolution, policymakers face a familiar dilemma: how to preserve technological progress while addressing its negative externalities. This article proposes a uniform, carbon-based Pigouvian tax on AI as a practicable and forward-looking solution to correct one of AI’s most readily measurable negative externalities without stifling innovation. Drawing on lessons from existing carbon-pricing systems, this article contends that such a tax should be designed with flexibility and transparency to promote both effectiveness and political feasibility. Properly structured, the tax would not deter AI development but …

Empowering Early Childhood Leaders: A Strength-Based And Ecological Approach To Leadership Development, Dora Sanders

PhD in Education

Professional development models for early childhood (EC) leaders are often generic and deficit-focused, overlooking their diverse strengths, contexts, and experiences. This study addressed that gap by exploring how EC leaders identify and leverage their strengths to enhance leadership effectiveness and how professional development can be differentiated to meet their unique needs. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, eight EC leaders representing varied educational backgrounds and community contexts were engaged. Semi-structured interviews captured their lived experiences, which were analyzed thematically through the lens of the strengths-ecological leadership framework designed by the researcher that integrated individualized professional development, strengths-based leadership, and ecological systems. …

Empathy, Compassion Fatigue, And Resilience In Central Florida Firefighters And Ems Personnel, Lisa M. Correll

PhD in Education

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to determine the relationship between empathy, compassion fatigue (CF), and resilience in firefighters and EMS personnel. Career firefighters and EMS personnel (N = 76) in Central Florida participated in an online survey that included demographic information, the Empathy Assessment Index, Professional Quality of Life Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10. Participants reported high perceptions of empathy (M = 4.11), resilience (M = 3.98), and quality of life (M = 3.28), but CF was perceived at low levels (M = 2.97). Empathy was not predictive of CF, indicating that overall empathy alone does …

A Mixed Methods Moderation Analysis Of Historical Trauma, Enculturation, And Drinking Among Southwest Indigenous Young Adults, Antonia M. Young

Psychology ETDs

Multicultural efforts to understand how enculturation could reduce alcohol-related harms among American Indian and Alaska Native and Mexican American young adults in the Southwest United States have been lacking. The present mixed methods study tested the cross-cultural applicability of Walters et al.’s (2002) Indigenist Stress-Coping Model, which suggests enculturation moderates the relationship between historical trauma and drinking, between these groups using moderated linear regression. Participants (N=120) completed an online survey with items from the Historical and Intergenerational Trauma Transmission Questionnaire (HITT-Q), the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) heritage subscale (i.e., enculturation), NIAAA’s 30-day drinking consumption questionnaire, and one …

Instrumental Avoidance Promotes Safety Learning Across Distributed Neural Circuits, Zhenfu Wen, Lihan Cui, Muhammad Badarnee, Kai Zhang, Isabel Moallem, Hannah Mcmanus, Zakiya Atiyah, Joseph Borrelli, Wen Li, L Elliot Hong, Peter Kochunov, Mohammed R Milad

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Instrumental avoidance is a coping strategy that plays a critical role in anxiety and trauma-related disorders. Yet, the neural mechanisms supporting instrumental avoidance and its interaction with extinction learning remain incompletely understood.

Methods: Fifty-nine healthy adults completed a two-day fMRI paradigm including Pavlovian threat conditioning, avoidance learning, extinction, and memory recall. Subjective reports measuring the 'fear ratings' for each CS were administered and analyzed across all experimental phases. Neural responses were analyzed using univariate general linear modeling and multivariate pattern analysis with a validated threat/safety decoder. To assess generalizability, the analysis pipeline was repeated in an independent cohort (n=59) …

Policy Design, And The Repeal Of Ghana’S Emissions Levy Act: A Multiple Streams Framework Analysis, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Collected Student Papers

Ghana’s 2023 Emissions Levy Act (Act 1112) imposed charges on large industrial emitters and vehicles, intending to internalize pollution costs and raise government revenue. This study applies to Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to explain the policy’s rapid repeal. Drawing on legislative texts, official reports, and media accounts, it categorizes influences into the problem (rising living costs), policy (design features), and politics (stakeholder mobilization) streams. Key findings reveal that the levy’s mixed design, a per-ton CO₂ fee on industry combined with a flat vehicle ownership tax, undermined its climate rationale and appeared more as a revenue grab. Implementation gaps exacerbated …

Research Day 2026 Program, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School Of Medicine

Research Day

No abstract provided.

Law School Record, Vol. 72, No. 2 (Spring 2026), Law School Record Editors

Law School Record

• Message from the Dean
• A new program launches for public interest leadership
• Law-themed children’s books and games in the D’Angelo Law Library
• The Path To Legal Academia
• Climate in the Balance
• Asked & Answered
• Theory in Practice
• Three faculty members received distinguished professorships
• Students reflect on what they learned in the inaugural AI Lab
• Scenes from around the Law School
• Development News
• Development News: Alumna receives prestigious fellowship
• Recent Books by Alumni
• In Memoriam
• Giving Back: Sean Carney, ’90, and Mimi Gilligan JD/MBA, ’91

2026-04-01 Caudill Connection, Morehead State University. Caudill College Of Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences.

Caudill Connection

Caudill Connection newsletter for April of 2026.

Unpacking Developmental Programming: A Conceptual And Historical Analysis In The Context Of Dohad, Andrea Gretchev, Heide S. Temples, Gillian England-Mason, Deborah Dewey, Sara M. Sarasua, Christopher Farrell, Vivian Haley-Zitlin

Publications

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm posits that early environmental factors may influence a child’s development and long-term health outcomes. Developmental programming (DP) is central to this paradigm, whereby specific early life exposures during critical periods of development are associated with changes to physiological and metabolic pathways, potentially predisposing individuals to disease. However, no standard definition of DP exists, and various terms have been used to describe similar processes. This analysis aimed to develop a conceptual definition for DP to inform interdisciplinary research, education, and practice. Walker and Avant’s eight-step method was employed to analyze the literature, …

Sequences That Do Frame Reconstruction, Chad Berner

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Frames allow all elements of a Hilbert space to be reconstructed by inner product data in a stable manner. Recently, there is interest in relaxing the definition of frames to understand the implications for stable signal recovery. In this paper, we relax the definition of a frame by allowing the operator in the frame decomposition formula to not be invertible. We provide a complete classification of sequences that allow this decomposition via a type of frame operator. In addition, we provide several examples of sequences that allow this reconstruction property that are not frames and illustrate in which ways they …

Dipl 6002 International Organizations, Purnaka L. De Silva Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

The focus and aim of this Course – DIPL 6002: International Organizations – is to understand International Organizations from the vantage point of the concept of Global Governance.  Global governance, central to international relations, refers to the loose framework of global regulation – both institutional and normative – that constrains conduct and attempts to maintain order.  When we speak of order, we need to specify order for whom – states, peoples, groups, or individuals.  Order may denote any regular or discernible pattern of relationships that are stable over time or may additionally refer to a condition that allows certain …

Dipl 4193 Aa Eastern European And Post-Soviet Politics, Margarita M. Balmaceda Phd

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course provides a systematic introduction to the main issues in Soviet, post-Soviet and post Soviet-Bloc politics. Some of the topics to be considered are the following: (1) the legacy of Soviet nationality policies and the Soviet planned economy system on the creation and development of new political systems in the former Soviet republics after 1991; (2) the political and economic diversity which emerged within the ‘Soviet Bloc” starting in the 1950’s, and its effects on the development of new political systems after the fall of  Communism; (3) the causes and consequences of ethnic conflicts in some of  the countries …

Celebration Of Scholarship And Creativity Magazine, 2024-2025, University Of Texas At Tyler

Celebration of Scholarship and Creativity Magazine

This annual review is compiled to promote scholarship and document a record of the published and creative works of The University of Texas at Tyler faculty for academic year 2024-2025. Information was compiled from Faculty180©, the university’s platform for faculty activity reporting.

A Stag In The Spring Meadow, Makoto Shinoda

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

No abstract provided.

Vol. 16, Iss. 1

Library Newsletter (2009-present)

No abstract provided.

Strengthening Communities Through Place-Based University Partnerships, Prajakt Pande, Marc T. Sager, Karen Pierce, Jessica Murillo, Rolonda Washington

Presentations

This multiple case study examines university-community partnerships through Place-Based Community Engagement (PBCE) framework, analyzing two nonprofit organizations participating in Community Connect, a university-led capacity-building initiative. Using thematic analysis, we explore how collaborative partnerships shape place-based relationships between universities and community organizations. Findings reveal complementary organizational strengths. Both cases illuminate shared challenges including transportation barriers, balancing funder requirements with community responsiveness, and achieving sustainable community ownership. Cross-case analysis demonstrates that effective PBCE requires systematic investment in relationship-building infrastructure, flexible evaluation approaches honoring community-defined outcomes, and cross-sector partnerships distributing power and resources. This research contributes to understanding universities' role as anchor institutions, …

Egg Tarts For Evie, Hannah Ko

LMU Theatre Arts Annual New Works Festival

A mother and daughter struggle to connect, facing barriers such as differences in language, culture and personality, ultimately proving that love is a compromise.

Use Your Voice, St. Mary's University Theatre Department

Theatre

Use Your Voice is a play devised by Dr. Grace Edgar and her students in the Theatre for Change & Social Justice course at St. Mary's University during the Spring 2026 semester. Acts: Lower the Ceiling; Did You Love Him?; Dad, Let Me in; Cartel Assassination; Two Towns; Paperball of the Past; Whale Noise; The Alysa Liu Moment; Since I Was Little; Lake House; The Dow Right Now; Cobbler

Faith-Based Coping In Crisis: How Religious Beliefs Shape Trauma, Resilience, And Recovery Across Contexts, Kailyn M. Howard

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between religious belief and responses to trauma, with a focus on how faith-based coping mechanisms influence resilience in crisis situations. Drawing on interdisciplinary research in psychology, theology, and education, the paper analyzes how individuals interpret and respond to trauma through religious frameworks. The biblical book of Job is examined alongside contemporary psychological theories of trauma and recovery to identify areas of alignment and tension. Using a comparative approach, the study explores common themes across religious traditions, including meaning-making, suffering, community support, and hope, and evaluates how these factors contribute to or hinder emotional healing. The …