2026-04-02 Faculty Senate Newsletter, Morehead State University. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Records

Faculty Senate newsletter from April 2, 2026.

Percy Green: A Legacy Of Tactical Innovation And Leadership In St. Louis' Black Freedom Movement, Christopher M. Fletcher

Dissertations

Abstract

            This study explored Percy Green’s efforts against systemic racism, his innovative protest tactics, leadership qualities and principles, and his lasting impact within the Black Freedom Movement in St. Louis, Missouri, throughout the 1960s and 1970s. A qualitative single-case approach was utilized, analyzing archival records, interviews, a documentary about Green’s activism, newspaper articles, and Green’s own documentation of his work in the movement—all examined through thematic analysis. This process revealed key themes related to Green’s activism. The findings showed that Green employed non-violent, creative, and provocative protest tactics, including civil disobedience and direct action. These strategies revealed hidden racial inequalities, …

Effective Community Awareness Strategies For Nonprofit Sustainability And Performance, Lina Gabrielle Rugova

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The absence of formalized governance, measurement systems, and standardized processes in nonprofit organizations can limit performance, accountability, and long-term sustainability. Nonprofit executive leaders and board members are concerned about fulfilling their responsibilities for organizational effectiveness and community social effectiveness. Grounded in the Baldrige Excellence Framework and the resource-based view theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies nonprofit leaders use to improve organizational performance and governance effectiveness. The participants were six organizational leaders and board members from a Canadian nonprofit training organization. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analysis of organizational documents, and were …

Psychosocial Experiences Of Custodial And Caregiving Grandparents With Adjudicated Violent Offending Grandchildren, Clifton George Burns Jr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Primary caregivers of teenage violent offenders play a vital role in identifying and addressing safety concerns, providing emotional and financial support, and meeting individual developmental and psychosocial needs. As more grandparents assume the role of primary caregiver, the need for targeted interventions to support their emotional and psychosocial health continues to grow, emphasizing the increasing importance of population-specific support for grandparents caring for their grandchildren. Problems arise when grandparents take on this role without access to interventions or resources that are designed for caring for adjudicated teen violent offenders. This qualitative generic study involved exploring emotional challenges faced by custodial …

Everyday Tracking And Extraordinary Harm: Item Finder Misuse In Digital Coercive Control, Vivian Hocking, Shirley Atkinson, Hai-Van Dang, Nathan Clarke

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

PurposeWhere one in three women worldwide experience some form of intimate partner violence, the rise of technology facilitated abuse means that abusers have increased access and control over their victims. This extension paper aims to examine the threat potential for technology misuse as pertains to item finder devices that make up part of the Internet-of-Things. Item finders have increasingly become the weapon of choice for abusers leveraging technological advantages against their victims.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining digital ethnography with 12 individuals engaged in a participant study to evaluate the misuse potential of Apple AirTag, Chipolo …

Judicial Legacy, Presidential Controversy: Ronald Reagan’S Appointment Of Sandra Day O’Connor, Katie Cassady

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

The Mission Of America: A Reminder Of Who We Are And Where We Go From Here., Shannon Morlock

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Picking Sides: How Political Polarization Has Impacted The Understanding Of The Judicial Restraint Found In The Dobbs Decision., Ellie Shoemaker

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Concepts Of Nationality And Ethnicity Within America, Katrina Jorquez

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Energy, Computation, And The Nuclear Renaissance: Material Foundations Of The Data Economy, Apolo Fernandez

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

The Illicit Fentanyl Crisis In The United States: Root Causes, Federal Policy Responses, And State-Level Solutions, Lydia Courie

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Assisted Suicide And The Absolute: Autonomy Or God’S Word?, Venture Ciccarelli

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Beyond Therapy Culture: Solutions For Our Digital Hubris, Spiritual Bankruptcy, And The Moral Imperative Of Humility, Giancarlo Newsome, Andrew Bibb, Merrick Davis

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Health Care Policy, Luke Lee

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Task Relevance Modeling In Sequential Neural Training, Priyanka Thakur

Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) Conference

Sequential neural training frameworks typically emphasize the preservation of performance across previously encountered tasks as the primary indicator of learning stability. However, in environments characterized by evolving objectives and task distributions, intelligent systems may benefit from dynamically adapting internal representations in accordance with changing task relevance. This paper explores the role of adaptive task relevance modeling in continual neural learning, where sequentially trained models are permitted to reconfigure behavioral policies based on shifts in task importance over time. We evaluate the impact of relevance-aware adaptation through sequential training experiments conducted on multiple classification datasets under varying adaptation constraints. Results indicate …

Dual Mechanisms Of External Pressure: The Impact Of Sanctions And Aid On State Capacity In Iraq And Jordan, Emily P. White

Global Tides

This essay examines the influence of external economic pressures on state capacity in the Middle East through a comparative analysis of Iraq and Jordan. In the late twentieth century, both states faced fiscal shocks, including rising prices for staple goods, elevated unemployment, and revenue shortfalls that constrained regime distributive capacity. Against this backdrop of mounting domestic volatility, contrasting instruments of international economic statecraft were employed, namely, comprehensive UN sanctions against Iraq and sustained Western-led foreign aid to Jordan. Through exogenous state-building, foreign actors sought to exert punitive leverage in Iraq and pursue an agenda-setting partnership in Jordan. Despite pursuing different …

Human Rights, Equality And The Quest For Liberty, Michael Macharia

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

A Quantitative Study Of The Influence Of Natural Rights On Virginia Manumission, Stephen Langeland

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review: A Hallmark Of American Jurisprudence, Or A Weapon Of The Judicial Activists?, James Black

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Quasi-Law: Administrative Governance And The Erosion Of America’S Constitutional Order, Lawrence Berdan

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Manipulation Behind The Pro-Choice Movement, Madeline S. Schlautman

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

When Morals And Systems Fail: Understanding The Roots Of Youth Violence, Alex Perry

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Ccp Political Warfare Campaigns Against The U.S., Naomi Park, Rael Worrhen, Hannah Worthen

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Numinous Matter: Time, Image, And The Sacred In Tarkovsky’S Cinema, Pamela Breda Phd

Journal of Religion & Film

In an era increasingly defined by acceleration, fragmentation, and commodification, the act of watching cinema has become subject to the same regimes of optimization that govern nearly all other domains of life. Streaming platforms quantify attention and the rhythms of visual consumption seem to be calibrated for distraction, rather than immersion. As film theorist Jonathan Beller stresses, in the contemporary attention economy, spectatorship itself becomes a form of labor enlisted into the machinery of value extraction. Within this cultural (and ocularcentric) regime to engage with the cinematic oeuvre of Andrei Tarkovsky is a radical counter-practice. Operating in the liminal space …

Not Yearning To Be Saved: Arranged (2007) And The Politics Of Liberal Savior Narratives, Shaheer Afaqi

Journal of Religion & Film

In recent decades, Western film and television platforms have devoted growing attention to portrayals of Orthodox Jewish and Muslim communities. However, a significant subset of these productions is marked by an important limitation: the trend of savior narratives. Such narratives are based on the notion that Orthodox Jewish women and observant Muslim women are often yearning to escape their customs and communities. These narratives are a product of the liberal assumption that individual autonomy is central to human flourishing. However, this article argues that Arranged (2007) prepares audiences to question this assumption and thereby revisit savior narratives. Analyzing the film …

Contemplative Absence: Sacred Experience In Abbas Kiarostami’S The Wind Will Carry Us And The Aesthetics Of Slow Cinema, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) creates sacred experience through systematic absence within contemporary slow cinema aesthetics. While previous scholarship has focused on religious content in spiritual cinema, this analysis demonstrates how formal techniques—particularly strategic concealment and extended duration—generate contemplative states without explicit religious references. Drawing on Paul Schrader’s transcendental style theory and recent slow cinema scholarship, the article traces how Kiarostami adapts Persian poetic traditions, particularly concepts of pardeh (veiling) and the interplay between bāṭin (hidden) and ẓāhir (manifest), to create meaning through what remains unseen. The dying woman who never appears, the …

Artificial Intelligence Liability: Implications And Best Practices For Legal Professionals And Ai Developers, Alyssa Heinze

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into the legal profession has transformed legal research, drafting, and decision-making, while simultaneously introducing novel ethical, regulatory, and liability risks. As attorneys increasingly rely on generative AI systems, concerns surrounding hallucinations, bias, confidentiality breaches, and deceptive outputs have exposed both legal professionals and AI developers to heightened scrutiny. This presentation examines the current and emerging landscape of artificial intelligence liability in the United States, with particular attention to the absence of a comprehensive federal regulatory framework and the constitutional controversy surrounding Executive Order 14179 and its preemption of state AI legislation. By analyzing federal …

Inter Arma Silent Leges: How War And Emergency Legislation Can Impact Constitutional Foundations And Freedoms?, Dimitar S. Stoyanov

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

The Right To Rock The Cradle: Parental Leave And Flexible Work Arrangements As Social And National Capacity Priorities For 21st-Century U.S. Public Policy, Georgiana Constantin-Parke

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

No abstract provided.

Alignment Of Servant Leadership Dimensions With Desirable Job Characteristics Drives Team Performance, Noah T. Currie

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Organizations creating cultures of servant leadership continue to experience immense success in the business world and the nonprofit sector despite an ongoing lack of clarity of the concept. The aim of this paper is twofold, first to provide clarity by proposing an improvement to the definition offered by Laub (1999; 2004) and second to provide a conceptual model describing how servant leadership, mediated by intrinsic motivation as described by the Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) and perceived organizational support, is positively related to team performance. Relating servant leadership to motivation, perceived organizational support and team performance provides leadership …