Digital Commons Network^™

Leadership Development Programs For Elected Officials: Measuring The Impact Of Extension On County Leadership Capacity, Nathan Palardy, Matthew Sowcik

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Although Extension-led leadership development programs for elected officials are widespread, few evaluations assess their effectiveness. This study uses 2 years of survey data to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate several programs for Florida county commissioners, focusing on reaction, knowledge transfer, and behavior change. Results indicate high satisfaction with the program content and quality and substantial improvement in leadership competencies. Commissioners reported frequent application of the skills taught and cited networking opportunities as a key benefit. Findings suggest that Extension-led programs can strengthen local governments by enhancing the leadership capabilities of elected officials and offering insights to guide the design of similar …

The Power Of Core Memories In Financial Education For Gen Alpha Children, Karen Richel

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Financial education plays a critical role in shaping lifelong financial behaviors and decision-making skills. To create a lasting impact, it is essential to establish core memories associated with money management from an early age. This article explores the significance of these foundational experiences and their role in financial education for Gen Alpha children.

A series of eight immersive financial education events was developed to meet state and national standards for students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. These events employ play-based and object-based learning approaches, immersing students in engaging, age-appropriate activities that incorporate real-world scenarios. By creating a fun and memorable …

Enhancing Youth Learning Outcomes Of Travel Programs Through Storytelling, Gary Ellis, Parisa Paymard, Dottie Goebel, Darlene Locke, William F. Zanolini, Emily Catalan, Kelley Ranly

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

We conducted two studies to evaluate strategies that Extension educators may use to enrich youth travel program experiences. Study 1 evaluated the effects of telling stories about attractions before site visits on youth experiences and learning outcomes on site. Seventeen youth in a 4-H program designed to promote cultural understanding visited eight attractions in Costa Rica. The evening before visiting three sites, youth were told a fictional or cross-fictional story about the sites. The stories elicited imaginary travel to the site (narrative transportation). After visiting the sites, the youth reported the extent to which they felt like they were in …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Relationship Education For Latino Adolescents, Joshua J. Turner, Esra Şahin, Kay Bradford, Brian J. Higginbotham

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Adolescent romantic relationships are often characterized as exploratory and fleeting; however, they have lasting impacts on individual well-being and relationship quality during and beyond adolescence, shaping future relationship expectations and quality (Collins, 2003; Madsen & Collins, 2011). Adolescent relationship education is an important programmatic feature under the broader umbrella of family life education (Simpson et al., 2018). Previous evaluative studies document positive outcomes in educating adolescents on how to build and recognize healthy relationships (Bradford et al., 2023; Kerpelman et al., 2010); however, research remains limited in addressing potential benefits for adolescents from historically underrepresented groups. This study addresses this …

Referral Strategies For Recruitment And Engagement Of Community Adults Into Online Extension Health Programs, Cheryl L. Eschbach, Dawn A. Contreras, Holly B. Tiret

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This article shares details behind building organizational capacity to establish program referrals for statewide recruitment of community adults into Cooperative Extension’s online health programs. This study explores the role of intentional recruitment strategies (active and passive) to increase participant program enrollment into health education and shares examples from one state that has created a trained workforce that offers ongoing research- and evidence-based programs. After many years of trying paper, phone, and electronic medical record methods to increase program reach, Michigan State University Extension tried an electronic referral process via a QR code and web link, accompanied by program marketing, to …

Teaching Leadership In The Context Of Crisis: Connecting Organizational Leadership And Crisis Competencies In A Faculty Leadership Education Program, Caitlin Lunzmann, Nicole Lamee Perez Stedman, Matthew Sowcik

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This research focused on enhancing leadership instruction in colleges of agriculture. A multi-institutional research team initiated a program to teach agricultural and natural resource faculty how to create leadership-oriented case studies for undergraduates. Forty faculty members participated in an online training academy centered on Bolman and Deal’s Organizational Frames and case study writing. Following the academy, these faculty members participated in field experiences in the southeastern U.S. to gather data on natural disasters, which they used to write case studies about leadership in agriculture. Though the program focused on organizational leadership, it also discussed leadership in the context of natural …

Exploring The Educational Needs Of Family Caregivers For Patients With Dementia, Karen L. Franck, Janet Fox, Ann A. Berry, Kristen Johnson, Jessica Taylor, Matt Devereaux

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Family members who care for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia often face significant stressors and challenges that impact their quality of life. As part of a project to develop Extension educational materials and resources specifically for family caregivers, we conducted an online needs assessment survey with 196 adults in the U.S. Participants identified doctors, the internet, and caregiver support groups as top sources of information about dementia. They were interested in strategies to help them manage stress, address patient behavioral issues, and access locally available resources. Furthermore, they were interested in attending educational programs with other caregivers. These findings …

The Wisdom-Ing Of Academia: A Servant-Leadership Perspective, Kathleen Patterson, Jeffrey Brauch, Don Finn, David Wallace, Jeffrey Anderson, Dorothy Hargett

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This article looks at the wisdom-ing of academia as more faculty members choose to delay retirement, continue working in varied ways, and are vibrant to the academy. Robert K. Greenleaf (1998), who is best noted as the Father of Servant Leadership, called aging the ultimate test of spirit. The authors represent Regent University’s Faculty Senate and look at this wisdom-ing, or graying, of faculty members through a Servant Leadership lens, a Biblical perspective, and then cognitive considerations, to provide insight into higher-education at large. We, the Regent University Faculty Senate, then share insights we learned from anecdotal casual conversations with …

Reviving Civil Discourse: A Leadership Imperative In The Age Of Polarization, Katie Herritage

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

This paper examines the current erosion of civil discourse as a pressing leadership challenge in an era defined by polarization and distrust. Civil discourse, the respectful and constructive exchange of ideas, underpins democratic societies yet is increasingly undermined by hostile rhetoric and deepening societal divides. Drawing on servant-leadership and relational leadership theory, this study explores how leaders can counteract this decline by fostering trust, empathy, and open dialogue. The discussion is grounded in the philosophical contributions of bell hooks, Friedrich Nietzsche, Viktor Frankl, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., whose ideas illuminate pathways for revitalizing civil discourse through compassion, …

Teaching With A Servant's Heart: Pedagogy Of The Finest Kind, Rocky Wallace

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

In an age when improved customer service is receiving increased attention across the corporate landscape, current organizational thought is devoting a renewed emphasis on servant-leadership. Ironically, although often with a macro corporate focus, this “leading from the heart” is also transformative in the classroom and aligns well with what should be the core value non-negotiable for all educators in the world of higher education.

On Robert K. Greenleaf's Archival Writings And Selected Published Works, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

IJSL Associate Editor Jenny Song’s essay that follows, along with Robert K. Greenleaf’s four rare writings that are included here, provides an opportunity for me to share some thoughts on the Robert K. Greenleaf Archives, and on two of the five books of Greenleaf’s writings that I helped to curate and bring to the public some thirty years ago.

A Critical Reflection On Servant-Leadership Through The Lens Of Gender And Race-Ethnicity, Helen H. Chung, Don Lee, Brie Solberg

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

To date, gender and race-ethnicity as social identities are underexplored in the servant-leadership literature. In our critical reflection, we problematize this gap by discussing some underlying assumptions about the promise of servant-leadership flattening relational hierarchy and rendering women an advantage. This paper integrates a review of 51 journal articles published from 2009 to 2023 that explore servant-leadership related to gender and race-ethnicity and researcher paradigms that define constructs of gender and race-ethnicity. Our discussion is guided by two broad questions: 1) How are gender and race-ethnicity explored in the servant-leadership literature? 2) How do servant-leaders conceptualize or experience their own …

Dei And The Servant-Leader, Carmen Dela Cruz

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

After the June 2023 Supreme Court decision eliminating race as a consideration in college admissions, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education became a target. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, some states began closing or renaming their DEI offices even before President Trump’s reelection. Since President Trump began his second term, his administration has made dismantling DEI initiatives a top priority. So, now is a crucial time to continue the work of civil rights and social justice in the United States. It is essential that we have leaders that are willing to carry out DEI …

Chapter 8 Slides: Self-Care, Stress, And Safety In Rehabilitation Professions, Lisa Dunkley

Internship, Practicum, and Capstone: A Guide for Health Sciences

No abstract provided.

Wofford Today Winter 2025, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Wofford Today

No abstract provided.

Volume 109, Number 2 (2025)

Judicature

No abstract provided.

Globalizing The Factory Farm: International Organizations And The Spread Of Industrial Animal Agriculture, Zach Wulderk, Allison Troy Phd

General – Farm Animal Issues

This Faunalytics study explores the ways that development finance institutions, United Nations agencies, and others directly and indirectly support factory farming in low- and middle-income countries. With key insights from people working in and alongside these international organizations, advocates can ensure they are equipped with the most effective outreach strategies.

Globalizing The Factory Farm - International Organizations And The Spread Of Industrial Animal Agriculture, Zach Wulderk, Allison Troy Phd

General – Farm Animal Issues

This Faunalytics study explores the ways that development finance institutions, United Nations agencies, and others directly and indirectly support factory farming in low- and middle-income countries. With key insights from people working in and alongside these international organizations, advocates can ensure they are equipped with the most effective outreach strategies.

The Influence Of Tight Binaries On Protoplanetary Disk Masses, K. Flaherty, P. Knowlton, T. Smith-Gandy, A. M. Hughes, M. Kounkel, Eric L.N. Jensen, J. Muzerolle, K. Covey

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Binary systems are a common site of planet formation, despite the destructive effects of the binary on the disk. While surveys of planet-forming material have found diminished disk masses around binaries with medium separation (∼10–100 au), less is known about tight (< 10 au) binaries, where a significant circumbinary disk may escape the disruptive dynamical effects of the binary. We survey over 100 spectroscopic binaries in the Orion A region with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), detecting significant continuum emission among 21 of them with disk masses ranging from 1 to 100 M_⊕. We find evidence of systematically lower disk masses among the binary sample when compared to single-star surveys, which may reflect a diminished planet-forming potential around tight binaries. The infrared excess fraction among the binary sample is comparable to that of single stars, although the tight binaries without significant ALMA emission display tentative evidence of weaker 3–5 …

The Price Of Priorities: How Human Choices Fuel Climate And Ecological Decline, Keisha Hickman

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which human priorities and behaviors contribute to the escalating climate crisis and ecological systems. We will first analyze the role of social media in shaping public discourse on climate change and critically evaluate the priorities of institutions that have the means to assist in wildlife conservation. Both speak to the current behaviors of humankind prioritizing their own entertainment over meaningful efforts to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity. We will then shift to exploring the profound impact of human population growth and its associated activities on other species and ecosystems. Finally, the thesis will …

Examining Social Determinants Of Perceived Discrimination Among Refugees In The United States, Macy M. Hoff

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Refugees face a range of challenges as they integrate into a new culture, which can significantly impact their individual lives. This paper examines the impact of discrimination on refugees and how these experiences shape their rights, opportunities, and overall integration. It explores how institutional practices and public attitudes contribute to unequal treatment in employment, housing, education, and overall health. Consistent with previous studies, the study highlights the connection between perceived discrimination and negative outcomes for refugees, including social exclusion, limited participation within their new society, and poorer mental health. Results reveal that discrimination acts as a barrier to successful assimilation …

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Bridging Disability Studies And Nursing Education: A Curricular Intervention, Serena Karim

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

Although one in four Americans experience disability in their lifetimes, the majority of nurses and other healthcare professionals feel ill-prepared to care for patients with disabilities (PWD). Factors such as inaccessible healthcare facilities, insufficient clinical knowledge, and biases about the quality of life of PWD contribute to mounting health inequities between PWD and non-disabled people. To further understand how education can impact nursing students’ comfortability and confidence toward caring for PWD, a 30-minute disability studies lesson was implemented for junior-level nursing students. 51 students who attended the lecture provided anonymous pre- and post-lecture surveys, which contained Likert scale and free …

Privacy Rights: Their Evolution, Expansion, And Narrowing, Rebecca Nichole Ivans

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Privacy rights in the United States have evolved significantly through judicial interpretation, with reproductive rights playing a central role in their expansion and contraction. This paper examines how the Supreme Court's treatment of reproductive rights has shaped the broader understanding of constitutional privacy rights, focusing on landmark cases from Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) to Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

The analysis begins by exploring how the Court first established privacy rights through "penumbras" found within various constitutional amendments, particularly in Griswold's protection of contraceptive access for married couples. The paper traces the expansion of these rights through subsequent …

Assessing Response Diversity Of Spawning Conditions For Native Trout Among Streams To Interannual Changes In Snowpack, Autumn Kaye Zierenberg

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Stream habitat suitability for fish is controlled by physical, chemical and biological conditions impacted by interannual changes in climate. Intermittent streams are particularly sensitive to climatic variation and have long been overlooked as potential spawning habitats for fish and other riverine species. Spawning suitability in stream habitats is strongly influenced by connectivity to perennial habitats, the duration of surface flows and water temperatures, each of which are driven by annual snowpack and discharge conditions. Here, we examine how the spawning habitat suitability in different tributaries within a single river basin respond to changes in annual snowpack conditions. Specifically, we examined …

Error Reduction Methodology And Data Simulation For Interval Data, Ranik Christopher Jelinek

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive condition affecting hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. However, clinical datasets often record continuous laboratory measurements as categorical intervals rather than precise numerical values. This interval-censored structure presents methodological challenges for standard regression-based classifiers. This study compares three strategies for handling interval-valued predictors prior to fitting a logistic LASSO model: (1) midpoint imputation, which replaces each interval with its arithmetic center; (2) ordinal encoding, which maps intervals to integer ranks; and (3) a Monte Carlo simulation approach, which repeatedly samples uniformly from each observed interval and averages predictions across replications. Using a 10-fold …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Effects Of Gunshot Detection Technology In Detroit, Joe Davis

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This paper evaluates the impact of acoustic gunshot detection technology (GDT) on crime and policing outcomes in Detroit, Michigan. Leveraging the implementation of ShotSpotter across high-crime neighborhoods, I analyze outcomes including crime rates, emergency calls, police response times, and case clearance. My findings indicate that ShotSpotter installation is associated with a 6% reduction in violent crime but a modest increase in nonviolent crime. The technology also produces a large increase in the reporting of gunfire incidents—over 300% more gunshot-related calls for service—yet police respond 7% slower to ShotSpotter alerts than to citizen-reported gunshots. Consistent with prior research, I find no …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …

Worth The Risk? Standardized Screening To Identify Substance Use Among Patients Before Surgery, Samantha Cooley, Mark C. Bicket, Hanan Mohammed, Yenling Lai, Sarah Evilsizer, Chad M. Brummett, Jennifer F. Waljee

Student Publications

Objective:

We sought to compare the identification of unhealthy substance use before surgery using Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription medication, and other Substance use (TAPS), a standardized 4-item instrument, versus routine clinical documentation in the electronic medical record (EHR).

Background:

Over 20% of individuals exhibit unhealthy substance use before elective surgery. Routine EHR documentation is often based on nonstandard questions that may not fully capture the extent of substance use and are subject to bias. In contrast, brief standardized screening could provide a more efficient and systematic approach.

Methods:

We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults (≥18 y) at a preoperative clinic …

Characterizing Hexavalent Chromium Neurotoxicity Across Laboratory Models., Samuel Thomas Vielee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant and potent toxicant. Exposure to Cr(VI) in drinking water is primarily associated with cancers, inflammation, and hepatotoxicity; however, recent studies have identified Cr(VI) as a neurotoxicant in rodent and cell culture models. The literature suggest chromium accumulates in the brain, induces widespread neurodegeneration, and alters rodent behaviors. Despite these data, we lack a detailed and consistent assessments of Cr(VI) neurotoxicity across models, and interactions between aging and Cr(VI) neurotoxicity are not reported in the literature. In this dissertation, we characterize Cr(VI) neurotoxicity across 3 laboratory models: Sprague-Dawley rats, Caenorhabditis elegans, and …