Digital Commons Network^™

Entry Points, Barriers And Institutional Support For Social Justice In Engineering Curricula, Diana A. Chen, Gordon Hoople, Jon A. Leydens, Cindy Rottman

School of Engineering: Faculty Scholarship

While the scholarship around engineering and social justice has seen substantial development, engineering curricula have been comparably slower to adapt. This chapter examines both the ways that social justice has made its way into engineering curricula and the barriers preventing wider adoption, particularly over the past decade. How does social justice emerge in diverse curricular contexts? What social justice frameworks and paradigms are engaged? This chapter examines three initiatives to infuse social justice into engineering at three different institutions and discusses entry points and barriers associated with integrating social justice into an engineering curriculum as well as the role institutional …

An Ancient Thread Of “Inseparable Oneness”: A Theoretical Exploration Of Community And Kinship In Grassroots Environmental Justice Movements, Izzy Dean

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis arose from a particular fascination and frustration with the prescribed nuclear family unit and the competitive isolation that capitalism breeds within normative communities, particularly in the United States. In this paper, I use the approach of theoretical exploration combined with case study research to explore the role of community and kinship within grassroots environmental justice organizations. I initially wanted to explore examples of people and groups who found strength and resistance by engaging in “non-normative” or “queer” community-building practices. I have since redefined my topic as a broad theoretical exploration in which I cite theories of non-normativity, among …

Indigenous Storytelling As Decolonial Praxis, Ceremony And At Colby, Georgia Goodman

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to amplify Indigenous lifeways, diplomacies, sciences, diplomatic relations, and the power of storytelling. This is not a piece analyzing Indigenous culture. Rather, this thesis returns the gaze to the settler colonial state, specifically its storytelling ideologies, to show that systemic practices of inequity in storytelling can be disrupted and decolonized through a recentering of Indigenous ideologies. For example, reciprocity with lands and animals, reflection on positionality and decentering colonial understandings of time and place.

Perspectives From Frontline Organizations In The Portland Metro Region On Addressing Food Insecurity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan Horst, Meg Grzybowski, Huijun Tan

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

See video of related event: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/metropolitianstudies/155/

The main goal of this project was to contribute to an understanding of how frontline-serving food security organizations in the Portland region adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies in 2020-2022 and how they addressed increased rates of food insecurity among the region’s residents. We discuss the experiences of these organizations in serving the region’s food insecure residents, the many adaptations they made in the past few years, barriers experienced, and positive and critical reflections on local government. We identify lessons learned and promising ideas for how to better prepare our region, in …

The Ultimate Green Playbook For Condos And Coops, Robert B. Sobelman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Online Early Childhood Teacher Education Program: Practices And Future Possibilities, Yasmeen Mehboob, Silpa Aziz Karim

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The study aimed to test the effectiveness and the feasibility of Zoom and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) for early childhood teacher education (ECTE) at a university in Pakistan. The study addresses how a Community of Inquiry (COI) framework can be embedded within Zoom and VLE to make the online course meaningful, interactive and accessible. This is an exploratory case study with a mixed method approach. Data was gathered through survey, focus group discussion, reflective journals, observations and meeting notes. Pre- and post-online knowledge tests and assignments were used to assess changes in participant’s knowledge and understanding. Survey result indicated positive …

Analysis Of The Introduction Of Green Laboratory Certification Program At The University At Albany, State University Of New York To Increase Sustainability In Laboratories, Samantha Long

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Universities around the world are making changes to become more sustainable including lowering energy and water consumption, reducing waste production, and looking at procurement methods. At the University at Albany, State University of New York, there is an ongoing effort to increase sustainability and climate resiliency to align with state and international goals. One of the key areas needing improvement are scientific laboratories because they have a substantially larger energy consumption than other buildings. An analysis of current practices on campus was conducted and improvements suggested from research of similar programs. This included expanding and testing a campus specific “Green …

Ecologies Of Learning For Inclusive Pedagogy In Spanish Secondary Education, Inmaculada Orozco, Anabel Moriña

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

From the theoretical basis of the ecology of learning and inclusive pedagogy, this article explores the activities, resources and interactions practised by 25 Spanish teachers in compulsory secondary education. This qualitative study involved semi-structured and individual interviews. A progressive analysis of the data was carried out using an inductive system of categories and codes. The results show that the activities were varied and all of them put students at the centre of the teaching-learning process. The resources that stood out were technologies and peer support. Interactions were characterised by the need to nurture affection and get to know and motivate …

Economic Impact Of Land Use Planning (Transit-Oriented Development): A Comparative Analysis, Sam M

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The problem explored in this mixed-method research is that many cities are unprepared for urban growth, which can only increase poverty and crime. The traditional transportation system is inadequate to support the increase of urbanism; it is responsible for polluting the air, increasing greenhouse gases, and losing thousands of lives annually due to car crashes and road-related accidents. The transportation sector is responsible for 28% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions (Environmental Protection Agency, 2018), and the economic costs of vehicle crashes in the United States totaled $340 billion (Department of Transportation, 2019).

This study aimed to measure how Transit …

Bail And Mental Illness, Samuel Wiseman

Faculty Scholarship

In many parts of the United States, the bail system is strikingly unfair, imposing burdensome, and often unmeetable, financial conditions on pretrial liberty even for low-risk defendants. Reforms that reduce or eliminate cash bail and lower pretrial detention rates have made progress in recent years, but now face growing opposition even in generally progressive jurisdictions such as San Francisco and New York City. One source of this opposition is rising concern about crime—particularly crime associated with the unhoused, who disproportionately suffer from mental illness, including substance abuse disorder. This is not a coincidence, as one effect of a cash-bail system, …

Creating Homeplace In Chicago's Public Housing, Camille Forte

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis rediscovers the history of Chicago’s public housing through the voices of residents. Under the guidance of bell hooks’ “homeplace,” Black Chicagoans consistently demonstrated their struggle to find a homeplace in Chicago after systematic residential segregation before, during, and after the height of the institution of public housing. Using the voices of mothers, gang members, and children, this paper highlights the contradictory and multidimensional lives, thoughts, and desires of Chicago’s public housing residents.

Using The 3-30-300 Rule To Assess Urban Forest Access And Preferences In Florida (United States), Andrew Koeser, Richard Hauer, Michael Andreu, Robert Northrop, Mysha Clarke, John Diaz, Deborah Hilbert, Cecil Konijnendijk, Shawn Landry, Grant Thompson, Rebecca K. Zarger

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Background: Public engagement is needed to make sure urban forestry management efforts align with the values of the public being served. Noting this, we determined current and desired urban forest access of Florida (United States) residents using the criteria from the 3-30-300 rule (i.e., 3 trees visible from home, 30% canopy in neighborhood, and a green space within 300 meters of home). Methods: A survey of 1,716 Florida residents was conducted to assess canopy coverage and green space access. Respondents were then asked if this level of urban forest access was sufficient for their needs. We also asked their perceptions …

Transitioning Residents Out Of Public Housing, William Franklin Myles

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examined the transition low-income residents out of federally subsidized housing. Housing programs are important because they provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing to millions of individuals who are economically disadvantaged. In some research, it has been determined that people from public housing experience difficulties in gaining access to resources that would enable them to transition out of public housing successfully. This becomes an added hurdle faced by those who desires to transition out of public housing. Understanding their experiences, their feelings, and their belief system provides a level of education into why it becomes difficult for individuals to …

Catalog Revision Gen Ed, Academic Affairs

Executive Actions

No abstract provided.

General Education Catalogue Revisions, Academic Affairs

Program Revisions/Additions

No abstract provided.

Integrating Cultural Planning Approach In Urban Parks : Case Of Fateh Garden, Iran, Mehdi Nilipour

Journal of Urban Culture Research

Cultural planning has been used in some instances of urban planning and regeneration, but it is less frequently used in the planning of urban parks. The present study proposes a cultural planning model for urban parks and provides cultural planning recommendations to improve the condition of Fateh Garden as a case study. The four steps of this study are case study selection, cultural mapping, cultural assessment, and cultural planning Cultural mapping has been done using ethnography and the grounded theory method, cultural assessment has been done using interviews with the park authorities, and cultural planning has been done using creative …

Shades Of Justice: Racial Profiling Then And Now, F. Michael Higginbotham

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Community Health Workers As Change Agents In Improving Equity In Birth Outcomes In Detroit, Jennifer K. Straughen, Jaye Clement, Lonni Schultz, Gwen Alexander, Yolanda Hill-Ashford, Kimberlydawn Wisdom

Public Health Sciences Articles

We examined whether pairing pregnant women with community health workers improved pregnancy outcomes among 254 Black women with singleton pregnancies participating in the Women-Inspired Neighborhood (WIN) Network: Detroit using a case-control design. A subset (N = 63) of women were recontacted and asked about program satisfaction, opportunities, and health behaviors. Michigan Vital Statistics records were used to ascertain controls (N = 12,030) and pregnancy and infant health outcomes. Logistic and linear regression were used to examine the association between WIN Network participation and pregnancy and infant health outcomes. The WIN Network participants were less likely than controls to be admitted …

Completing Streets: Improving America's "Complete Streets", William J. Zurborg

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Part I of this Note discusses the history of city planning in the United States, starting in the early twentieth century, as well as the rise of auto-centric cities. Part II examines how states and local governments across the United States are adopting policies called Complete Streets initiatives in order to create safer streets that accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation users, as well as cars. Finally, Part III discusses the shortcomings of Complete Streets policies and argues that unless broader measures are taken to address failures in city and road design from a systems perspective, Complete Streets initiatives cannot …

Treasure Island: Gold Dust Or Radioactive Soil?, Ari Daniels

Scripps Senior Theses

Former Naval Station Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay is undergoing an expensive redevelopment process to be turned into a sustainable living community. However, the area has a long history of mishandled radioactive material, irresponsible behavior on behalf of authorities, environmental instability, lawsuits, and administrative complaints. This research project focuses on Treasure Island’s history and redevelopment plan, utilizing San Francisco government documents, local newspapers, literature on environmental justice and racism, and state legislation to draw conclusions on the efficacy of the project from a sustainability standpoint and the responsibilities of the planners and developers. After providing a historical overview …

The Centrality Of Community In Education About Gender-Based Violence, Catherine Vanner

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The Time to Teach about Gender-Based Violence in Canada project asked teacher and student participants how Canadian educators could improve young people’s critical consciousness in relation to gender-based violence. Data collection involved individual interviews with 14 teachers, participatory workshops with three groups of students, and a virtual workshop in which teacher participants validated and expanded upon initial analysis of their interview data and responded to cellphilms produced in the student workshops. Drawing upon feminist and engaged pedagogy and situating gender-based violence as a form of difficult knowledge, analysis identifies community as a central concept for effective teaching about gender-based violence …

Going The Extra Mile: Expanding The Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit Act, Emily Casey

Law Student Publications

The Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit Act (“Act”), introduced in Congress in June 2021 and signed into law six months later, proposes a goal of balancing the disproportionately-high costs of housing and transportation felt by lower-income families by combining these resources in one project: transit-oriented housing developments. Middle-income and wealthy suburbanites have ready access to cities by car, but lower-income urbanites lack access to the suburbs without a private vehicle. While the goal of the Act recognizes this disparate outcome, the Act’s failure to include expansion of mass transit into the suburbs will continue to restrict low-income minorities to urban …

A Value-Based Modeling Framework For Solar Energy Utilization And Monitoring, Muslat A. Alanizi

All ETDs from UAB

We have developed and presented a value-based modeling (VBM) framework for optimal solar energy utilization and monitoring. Our model adopts a universal approach that prioritizes values to ensuring a comprehensive analysis of solar energy systems by recognizing the complexities and intricacies of the renewable energy landscape. To determine the robustness and applicability of our VBM framework, we subjected it to a real-world test through a detailed case study focusing on Net-Metering Monitoring System. This validation reinforced the model's efficacy and showcased its potential as a dynamic tool for decision-making in solar energy. Using Shannon's entropy method, we recorded the optimal …

บทบาทสตรีมุสลิมในการพัฒนาวิสาหกิจชุมชนอย่างยั่งยืน: กรณีศึกษาวิสาหกิจชุมชนดารุ้ลอิบาดะห์, ธิดาศิลป์ เปลี่ยนละออ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การศึกษาในครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อทำความเข้าใจบทบาทสตรีมุสลิมในการพัฒนาวิสาหกิจชุมชน ตลอดจนการรวมกลุ่ม ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างภายในและภายนอกชุมชน และผลกระทบที่เกิดขึ้นใน 3 ด้าน คือด้านเศรษฐกิจ ด้านสังคม และด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม โดยศึกษาผ่านกลุ่มตัวอย่างที่เป็นสตรีมุสลิมในกลุ่มวิสาหกิจชุมชน จำนวน 10 คน ภายใต้ทฤษฎีสตรีนิยมอิสลาม ร่วมกับแนวคิดเครือข่ายทางสังคม หลักการเศรษฐกิจหมุนเวียน และเป้าหมายการพัฒนาอย่างยั่งยืน ผลการศึกษาได้แสดงให้เห็นว่ากลุ่มสตรีมุสลิมพยายามธำรงบทบาทตามที่พระมหาคัมภีร์อัลกุรอานได้ระบุไว้อย่างชัดเจนในด้านบทบาทและสิทธิที่สตรีมุสลิมพึงปฏิบัติที่มากกว่าโลกส่วนตัว หากแต่กลุ่มสตรีมุสลิมได้ก้าวออกมาสู่โลกสาธารณะ การรวมกลุ่มสตรีเพื่อหารายได้และการก้าวขึ้นมาสู่บทบาทของผู้พัฒนาชุมชนที่ได้รับการยอมรับจากคนในชุมชน นอกจากนี้กลุ่มสตรีมุสลิมยังมีการเพิ่มพูนความรู้อยู่อย่างสม่ำเสมอเพื่อพัฒนาทักษะและความสามารถของตนเอง อีกทั้งยังมีการสร้างเครือข่ายทางสังคมทั้งกับคนภายในชุมชนและหน่วยงานภายนอก โดยการปฏิสัมพันธ์กับคนในชุมชนนั้นเป็นความสัมพันธ์ที่เข้มแข็ง มีความเรียบง่าย สนิทสนมและความเป็นเครือญาติกัน จึงให้ความช่วยเหลือซึ่งกันและกันอยู่อย่างเสมอ สำหรับหน่วยงานภายนอกจะทำหน้าที่แจ้งข้อมูลข่าวสารต่างๆ รวมไปถึงการให้ความช่วยเหลือสนับสนุนด้านงบประมาณในการพัฒนาวิสาหกิจชุมชนให้มีศักยภาพมากยิ่งขึ้น ทั้งนี้การเติบโตอย่างมั่นคงและการพัฒนาวิสาหกิจชุมชนอย่างยั่งยืนมีความสอดคล้องกับหลักการเศรษฐกิจหมุนเวียนโดยเมื่อนำมาประยุกต์ใช้กับการพัฒนาวิสาหกิจชุมชนพบว่าได้ก่อให้เกิดผลกระทบต่อชุมชนใน 3 ด้าน ประกอบไปด้วย ด้านเศรษฐกิจคือวิสาหกิจชุมชนมีบทบาทในการส่งเสริมการจ้างงาน การเพิ่มการกระจายรายได้ให้แก่คนในชุมชน การเลือกใช้วัตถุดิบท้องถิ่นมาเพิ่มมูลค่าด้วยการแปรรูป ด้านสังคมมีการดึงการมีส่วนร่วมจากคนในชุมชนอย่างเป็นรูปธรรม และด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมคือลดปัญหาการเกิดขยะ การพยายามอนุรักษ์น้ำ และส่งเสริมความตระหนักด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมแก่คนในชุมชน ซึ่งเป็นไปในทิศทางเดียวกับเป้าหมายการพัฒนาอย่างยั่งยืนจำนวน 6 ข้อด้วยกัน ประกอบไปด้วย ข้อที่ 1 ขจัดความยากจน ข้อที่ 2 ขจัดความหิวโหย ข้อที่ 4 การศึกษาที่มีคุณภาพ ข้อที่ 5 ความเท่าเทียมทางเพศ ข้อที่ 8 การจ้างงานที่มีคุณค่าและการเติบโตทางเศรษฐกิจ และข้อที่ 13 การรับมือกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงสภาพภูมิอากาศ

Theorizing Cultural (Mis)Recognition In Rural School Staffing: Implementing A Social Justice Frame To Understand Challenges To Attract Rural Teachers, Hernan Cuervo

The Rural Educator

Attracting teachers to rural schools continues to be a problem in Australian education. Debates on how to remedy staff shortages are based on a better distribution of financial and material resources. This emphasis on distribution has sidelined the role of recognition theory in understanding the challenges of rural staffing. I draw on the social justice frameworks of Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth to argue that rural staffing challenges are anchored not just on matters of distribution but on issues that lead to the cultural misrecognition and disrespect of teaching and learning in rural places. Using data from a qualitative research …

Making America A Better Place For All: Sustainable Development Recommendations For The Biden Administration, Goal 4: Quality Education, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

In 2015, the United Nations Member States, including the United States, unanimously approved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are nonbinding; each nation is to implement them based on its own priorities and circumstances. This Article argues that the SDGs are a critical normative framework the United States should use to improve human quality of life, freedom, and opportunity by integrating economic and social development with environmental protection. It collects the recommendations of 22 experts on steps that the Biden-Harris Administration should take now to advance each of the SDGs. It is part of …

Introducing Creative City Factors As A Solution In Sustainable Urban Development : A Case Study From Bushehr City In Iran, Pourbeh Tayebeh, Jafarinia Gholamreza, Shamsoddini Ali, Kamran Jafarpour Ghalehteimouri

Journal of Urban Culture Research

Bushehr city is located in one of the provinces rich in both oil and in historical sites with an international port on Persian Gulf. However, it has never been successful in terms of sustainable development and planning. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effective factors in constructing a creative city, as well as its relationship to Bushehr's sustainable urban development. The primary data was collected over the course of 18 years, and the Cochran formula was used to determine the exact size of the statistical population, which was 384 people. Pearson's correlation coefficient, path analysis, and regression analysis were …

Sustainable Roots: The Environmental Genealogies Of Chicanas And Latinas, Marlene Andrade

Master's Theses

Ingenuity and tending to the land are anything but contemporary to Communities of Color (COC). Even when our communities become targets of environmental racism and experience the brunt of institution-based degradation, COC resist in a multitude of ways. While there is a plethora of documented social movements led by the Chicanx community for civil, educational, and labor rights, there is a paucity of Chicanx presence in environmental discourse. Thus, my scholar-activist commitments are to highlight Chicana/Latina herstories, epistemologies, and praxes that debunk the narrow white-heteropatriarchal male narrative in mainstream environmentalism. This dominant narrative fails to: (a) address the historical and …

All Along The Ivory Tower: Black American Identity As Voiced By Poetic Youths, Jeremy D. Greene

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to help amplify and analyze Black American elementary student voice in a post-2020 world. Discussions and writings were conducted at the students’ charter school in spaces where students voiced what it meant to be a Black American youth through both verbal and written means. The current qualitative study focused on using discussions and creative writing to help participants make sense of their identity in their school, community, and the United States. This research provided students’ counternarratives regarding stereotypes associated with being Black American students and focused on how such spaces can positively impact …

Amplifying Civil Rights Collections With Oral Histories: A Collaboration With Alumni At Queens College, City University Of New York, Annie E. Tummino, Victoria Fernandez

Publications and Research

Representing a shift in archival methods, oral history is increasingly used alongside more traditional methods of documentation to capture institutional and community histories. In this article, the authors demonstrate how the Student Help Lived Experience Project at the Queens College Library’s Special Collections and Archives (SCA) provided a vital supplement to more traditional methods of archival documentation. SCA was able to leverage resources provided by a partnering organization and a newly established graduate fellowship to bolster its relationship with other entities on campus and to engage alumni in a participatory, collaborative effort that centered their knowledge and interests. This article …