Digital Commons Network^™

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.

Evaluating The Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On Defensive Back Skills In High School Football Players: A Focus On Man Coverage, Malachi James Jackson-Talmadge

Theses

Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an intervention package that involves instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. BST has been used to enhance athletic performance in several sports (e.g., soccer, field hockey, bowling). In football, two prior studies have shown improved football-specific skills following BST. Although effective, both studies implemented BST individually with each player, which can be time-consuming during football practices. Providing BST to groups of players may be an efficient alternative. Currently, no study has evaluated the effects of group BST in sports. The current research used a multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of group BST on man …

Applying Aba In Early Learning Classrooms: A Service-Learning Experience At Mitchell’S Place, Ligaya Gapud, Maria Hopkins

Expo Student Presentations

2026 Spring Expo Poster Presentation

• Service-Learning

“At The Yale Women’S Center, Some Women Aren’T Welcome”: Reproductive Activism, Defining Feminism, And Determining Belonging In Women’S Spaces At Yale In 1987, Emi Glass

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

Tucked into the back pages of the Yale Daily News issue published on October 6, 1987 sits two opposing opinion pieces: one authored by members of the student organization Yale Students for Life (YSFL), and the other written by members of the Yale Women’s Center Coordinating Committee. While each article was addressed “to the editors,” these two groups were really in conversation with each other. The left-three quarters of the page features the piece written by YSFL, titled “Pro-life merits space at Women’s Center.” The right-hand side features a shorter piece written by the Women’s Center coordinating committee entitled “Center …

Readder: An Evidence-Based Rsvp Speed Reader For Students With Adhd And Convergence Insufficiency, Adrian Mangine

IPHS 484: Senior Seminar

readder is a web-based Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) application designed to improve reading speeds and accessibility for students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and convergence insufficiency (CI). ADHD affects approximately 9% of school-age children, and CI affects 5–15%, with recent evidence suggesting a 73% comorbidity rate between the two conditions (Moussaoui et al., 2025). Traditional reading demands coordinated saccadic eye movements that are disrupted by both ADHD and CI, leading to fatigue, reduced comprehension, and reading avoidance. RSVP eliminates saccadic demands by presenting words sequentially at a single fixation point and has been shown to improve reading comprehension in adults …

Experiences That Influence Nurse Educators To Stay, Dana L. Crowder

PhD in Education

By 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts a worldwide RN shortage of nearly 5.7 million (Poole & Spies, 2022; WHO, 2024a). The need for more RNs necessitates the need for more students to graduate nursing programs; however, in 2024, almost 66,000 qualified applicants were not accepted into nursing programs because of limited space due to a shortage of nurse educators (AACN, 2024b; Welch et al., 2023). A nurse educator shortage exacerbates the national nursing shortage, ultimately decreasing the quality of patient care and positive patient health outcomes. The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to understand why nurse …

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 …

How Leaders And Followers Make Meaning: Perceptions Of Spiritual Leadership And Organizational Culture, Joshua J. Yancey

PhD in Organizational Leadership

This dissertation was grounded in the premise that spiritual leadership behaviors significantly influence organizational culture within faith-based nonprofit organizations yet remain insufficiently understood as lived experiences across organizational levels. While prior scholarship has established theoretical links between spirituality, leadership, and organizational outcomes, fewer studies have examined how such leadership is perceived by both leaders and followers within real organizational contexts. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how spiritual leadership behaviors were experienced and interpreted in relation to organizational culture, mission alignment, morale, and work meaning within a faith-based nonprofit setting. Data were collected from fifteen participants …

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 …

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

Research Day

No abstract provided.

Closing The Loop In Sustainable Fashion: Recycling Textile Waste And Its Environmental, Social, And Consumer Impacts, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Collected Student Papers

Fast fashion has intensified textile waste, emissions, and social inequities across global supply chains. This study examines sustainable fashion frameworks and the role of textile recycling in advancing circularity. It employes a qualitative integrative literature review synthesizing interdisciplinary research on waste streams, recycling technologies, policy instruments, and consumer behavior. However, advanced recycling technologies offer environmental benefits but remain limited in scale. Nonetheless, rising consumption offsets efficiency gains, while economic and behavioral barriers hinder systemic change. Technological innovation alone is insufficient; circular design, regulatory enforcement, and reduced overproduction are essential for sustainable transformation.

Gender Attitudes And The Effects On Adolescent Boys' Psychosocial Well-Being In The Context Of Forced Displacement, Nicole Jones, Jennifer Seager, Sarah Baird, Zuhrat Inam, Stella Leung, Charlotte Greenbaum, Sarah Alheiwidi, Khadija Mitu, Astha Ramaiya, Kara Hunersen

GW Research Showcase 2021-2026

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

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, …

Dipl 6801 Us Foreign Policy In Latin America And The Caribbean, Benjamin Goldfrank Phd

Diplomacy Syllabi

This seminar examines the major foreign policy doctrines applied by the United States in Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine through the Good Neighbor Policy and the Alliance for Progress until the recent agendas combining the “War on Terror” and “Free Trade” (and now the “Donroe” Doctrine?). We will ask questions such as how US policy is shaped, why it has changed over time, which policies are most effective in securing mutually beneficial relationships, and what the policy options are with regard to key issues such as trade, immigration, drugs, and democracy promotion. The seminar focuses on developing analytical, writing, …

Dipl 6311 Na Master's Research Project, Omer Gokcekus Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course provides students with the opportunity to conduct supervised research on a policy issue and to prepare a formal report. The report should contribute to the understanding of a policy issue and should include more in-depth analysis and research than a term paper in a graduate seminar course. Each report should include either analytical and/or quantitative analyses, whichever is/are the appropriate and necessary one(s). Students will have an option to work either on a pre-defined project or on their own projects after getting the instructor’s written approval.

Dipl 6277 Global Health Security In A Changing World, Matthew Brown Phd, Mps

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of global health security at a critical juncture in international health governance. The Spring 2026 semester unfolds against the backdrop of dramatic shifts in U.S. global health policy, including the withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the dismantling of USAID, and the introduction of the "America First Global Health Strategy." These changes, coupled with ongoing threats such as the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak and climate-driven health challenges, create an unprecedented moment for examining the intersection of health and security.

Students will analyze how the reconfiguration of global health architecture affects disease surveillance, pandemic preparedness, …

Dipl 6105 International Political Economy, Robert Shaver Phd

Diplomacy Syllabi

Over the course of history the world has witnessed successive waves of what we today call globalization, resulting in increasing economic interdependence between otherwise independent political communities. Simultaneously, the dominant type of these communities has become the modern territorial nation-state. This course explores these processes, studying the interlinkages of political and economic systems within an increasingly globalized world. Over the course of the semester, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine IPE theory, history, trade, development, multinational corporations, the international monetary system, and finance. Primary source readings are paired with the textbook so that students may understand ideas in …

Dipl 3350/6350 Religion, Race, And International Relations, Brian K. Muzas Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course offers an overview of the role of religion and race in international relations. Students explore the causes, nature, and consequences of key issues related to the interplay of religion and race in history at the practical and theoretical levels. By understanding what scholars have learned and connecting these lessons to current events, students will acquire tools to approach contemporary and future issues.

Because of the nature of religion, some guiding questions naturally arise. These include questions like: What is the best way to live? What is the relationship between religion and society? Is religion a strictly private matter? …

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 4108 International Political Economy, Robert Shaver Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

Over the course of history the world has witnessed successive waves of what we today call globalization, resulting in increasing economic interdependence between otherwise independent political communities. Simultaneously, the dominant type of these communities has become the modern territorial nation-state. This course explores these processes, studying the interlinkages of political and economic systems within an increasingly globalized world. Over the course of the semester, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine IPE theory, history, trade, development, multinational corporations, the international monetary system, and finance. Primary source readings are paired with the textbook so that students may understand ideas in …

Dipl 2110 Aa/Ab Comparative Foreign Policy, Michael Curtin

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course is an introduction to theories of foreign policy analysis and a survey of the foreign policy of major states. The first part of the course examines alternative theoretical approaches to the study of foreign policy. These conceptual models are then applied to a series of seminal events, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The second part of the course examines the foreign policy trajectories of several important States and explores critical foreign policy dilemmas through two in-class simulations.

Dipl 3104 Public International Law, Philip Moremen Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

This course explores the nature and content of the law governing relations between states and relations between states and non-state actors.  The first part of the course examines the building blocks of international law; the second part applies this knowledge to particular topics, such as the use of force, human rights and international humanitarian law.  By the end of the course, students will possess an understanding of the operation of the international legal system and the role of international law in international affairs.

Students will also develop their critical thinking skills and gain an introduction to legal reasoning and to …

Dipl 3201 Sustainable Development, Jeremy Levine

Diplomacy Syllabi

Explores the concept of sustainable development. Examines sustainability issues related to both industrial countries and developing countries, for example aging of populations, sustainable consumption, institutional adjustments, managing growth, and pressures of population change.

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.

The Synapse, April 2026, School Of Medicine Student Senate, New York Medical College

The Synapse

No abstract provided.

A+ For Attitude: How Social Emotional Learning Impacts Academic Achievement In Private Schools, Abigail Wheatley

Honors Theses

This study examined the relationship between social emotional learning (SEL) and academic achievement in private elementary school settings. Data were collected from a sample of private elementary school teachers in Kentucky (n=33) using a mixed methods design. Teachers completed an anonymous survey where SEL exposure was measured by the CASEL School-Based Staff Survey, and teacher behavior was measured by the Social Emotional Checklist of Early Care and Education Practice for Teachers (SEC-ECEP). Academic achievement was operationally measured by the number of students that were actively at or below 89% in various core subjects. Correlation analyses revealed largely nonsignificant relationships between …