Digital Commons Network^™

Teen Dating Violence, Janessa Rivera

Violence Against Women conference

Teen Dating Violence (TDV) is a topic rapidly increasing in the lives of our youth, however it is not discussed in the schools or in the community. Individuals who suffer from dating violence in their youth are more likely to experience domestic violence with an intimate partner as an adult. This presentation raises awareness of the term “dating violence” and highlights the impact of TDV in the Latino community in an interactive format that includes open discussion of cultural norms and appropriation in the Latino community, which can enable TDV. Healthy strategies to prevent/identify/escape TDV are also included, along with …

The Constituent Women Of Violence Against Women, Wilmer Morales, Jocelyn Martinez, Samantha Amaro

Violence Against Women conference

The Violence against Women Initiative is a very important framework in a time in which women need a platform to be able to discuss the problems and inequality they face in society. Throughout history women have been demonized, abuse, and treated unfairly, which has affected the way women respond to acts of violence. However, recent events have allowed women to gain the courage to stand against acts including verbal, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse. Society, in general, has to be educated and be made aware of how to respond and meticulously act during events that violate the rights of women, …

Demanding Accountability In Domestic Violence Courts, Johnna Pike

Violence Against Women conference

This presentation explores whether specialized domestic violence courts are achieving their stated objective of abuser accountability. Domestic violence emerged from the private realm of family life into the public consciousness during the 1970s. Since then, there has been a largely successful movement to reframe domestic violence as a “real” social problem necessitating meaningful criminal justice intervention. Within the criminal justice system, victim and feminist groups have mostly prevailed in controlling the discourse around domestic violence as a gender-based offense. As a result, a criminal court model aimed at empowering victims and at holding abusers accountable has emerged. However, the efficacy …

The “Pedagogy Of Cruelty ” In The “Putero” Narrative, Agueda Gómezsuárez

Violence Against Women conference

This paper is focused on research regarding the sexual grammar of the narrations of prostitution customers in Spain in relation to the work of anthropologist Rita Segato, with the purpose of understanding why men pay for sex. In order to understand the causes that articulate the “putero” narrative, the discourses of prostitution customers were analyzed through semi-structured in-depth interviews, group interviews, and discussion groups. The succession of socio-sexual paradigms in our country illuminates the comprehension of this phenomenon that places Spain as the European country with the highest rate of make prostitution consumption. The stories are classified in four categories: …

Breaking The Silence: Discussions About Disability, Sex, & Gender Identity, Janet Sauer, Kirsten Bond, Cassidy Donahue, Molly Wolber, Hannah Hunter, Elizabeth Bellin, Katherine Deluga

Violence Against Women conference

Silence often accompanies topics about disability, sexuality, and gender identity. This panel of Lesley students, alumni, and faculty discuss the issue of silence involving social stigma and ignorance that can often lead to violence against people with disabilities. The panelists participated in an interdisciplinary course, Disability Studies, in which students chose to research these topics for their social action projects and papers. Panelists who see themselves as allies and/or self-identify as disabled share their research, personal experiences, and interviews with the audience to provide insights into some of the systematic exclusion of people with disabilities in these discussions, particularly in …

A Scholar’S Reflection On Intimate Partner Violence In The Cape Verdean Community, Dawna M. Thomas

Violence Against Women conference

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have brought about a social shift and cultural change that validates women and men who have reported sexual abuse in the workplace and other forms of abuse, including intimate partner violence. This movement follows in the footsteps of several decades of other pioneers who advocated and fought for survivors of all types of abuse. Their efforts have not only increased public awareness, but also brought about legislation, support systems, and a greater understanding regarding the complexity of intimate partner violence. Yet culturally diverse communities such as the Cape Verdean community continue to face a variety …

Documenting The Visual Literacy Infusion Project Through Mini Learning Stories, Martha Barry Mckenna, Chris Clark, Janet Sauer, Andre Ruesch, Ellen Schon

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The Visual Literacy InFUSION Project is a professional development program designed to increase the creative teaching and assessment of learning in visual literacy to transform undergraduate student learning experiences. Funded by the Davis Educational Foundation, Lesley University created a model for infusing visual literacy across the liberal arts and sciences disciplines and professional majors in the College of Art & Design and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Collaborating in cross-school partnerships, a group of 16 faculty explored visual literacy across their various disciplines to create pedagogical projects to expand students’ understanding of the power of images as tools for …

Action Research And Teacher Voice: A Pathway For Transforming Our Schools Into Learning Organizations, Susan Inman

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Our PreK-12 schools face increasing complexities such as accountability, diversity, closing the achievement gap, and working in an era of standards-based reform (Drago-Severson, 2009). The purpose of this inquiry was to understand teachers’ experiences with one type of learning experience, action research, and to investigate the impact of this experience on the teachers’ practice and voice. Three research questions guided this inquiry:

• What are the experiences teachers have as they utilize the action research process?
• How do teachers find that their experiences with action research impact their practice?
• What connections are there between the action research process and …

Addressing Bodily/Kinesthetic Practices In Dance/Movement Therapy Programs, Nancy Jo Cardillo

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

This doctoral dissertation attends to concepts, curriculum, and pedagogy related to bodily-kinesthetic factors that unite the Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) field and differentiate it from other clinical approaches. The research evolved from 35 years of participant-observation as the DMT field developed and witnessing the negative consequences of applying narrow definition and compartmentalization of bodily-kinesthetic factors—such as kinesthetic empathy, body image, performance, and related intersectional factors (e.g., able-ism, size-ism). The mixed methods design incorporated the following triangulated perspectives in DMT training to discern in what ways programs identify and address bodily-kinesthetic factors: 1) information from program websites; 2) DMT director/coordinators’ perceptions of …

What’S The Real Bottom-Line? Cultivating Compassion: Leading From The Heart In Memory Care Facilities, Paula Webster Ms., Laurie Smith

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The aim of this panel is to present an emerging if not visionary approach to caring for patients with neurodegenerative disorders. We will present the thesis work of Laurie Smith “A New Approach to Dementia Care Including Visual Cues and Person-Centered Activities” and Paula Reardon-Webster “Cultivating Compassion as a Tool for Everyday Leadership”. Using research and personal experience, the presenters will consider the possibilities of applying mindfulness-based leadership to provide compassionate care in memory care settings. This session will appeal to students of compassionate care, creative therapies, and applications of mindfulness practice.

• Laurie Smith’s work says: “Providing quality care for …

Sidewalk Math: An Innovative Approach For Engaging All Children In Mathematical Learning, Martha Barry Mckenna, Siobhan Dennis, Maureen Loony, Merideth Ekwall

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

In kindergarten classrooms in six schools across Massachusetts young children are developing numbersense by walking, hopping, jumping, and skipping through colorful mathematical designs on carpets and sidewalks. The patterns and accompanying counting activities provide teachers with tools to engage young children in learning mathematics through movement and observation activities on colorful floor designs.

Lesley University’s Creativity Commons partnered with 20 kindergarten teachers and their 6 principals to form the Early Childhood Math Collaborative Inquiry Project in Fall 2017 to study the impact of the use of Sidewalk Math carpet patterns on children’s development of numbersense. Teachers from 3 urban schools …

Wellness & Psychoeducational Empowerment: An Innovative Approach To Mental Health & Education, Myisha R. Rodrigues

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Given our current cultural and sociopolitical climate, it is highly imperative that first generation, black and brown students are positioned to live sustainable lives of choice. Traditional and non-traditional post-secondary opportunities will afford them the ability to have the skills and the knowledge they need as advocates for unheard voices and to challenge equitably unjust institutional systems. However, these leaders of our future will not be able to fully access such success if their general wellness and mental health is not intact. It has been my personal mission for the last 7 years, developing myself as a leader for a …

Anxiety And Alternative Facts: An Arts-Based Critical Social Improvisation Project, Rebecca Zarate, Nancy Beardall, Talaye Zarafshandardaky, Brooke Rutstein

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

According to Grayson and Meilman (2011) the stakes are too high in current campus culture to not acknowledge the social roots of mental health issues such as anxiety, and concerns of students as related to campus safety. This arts-based, music performance project responded to concerns on campus from recent political and social events. More specifically, it aimed to explore the concept of “alternative facts” and how this idea plays with the collective concepts of truth and falsifications. It explored applications of clinical improvisation and the concept of collective anxiety as a social phenomenon expressed through arts including music, dance, and …

Leading From The In-Between: Disability, Leadership, And Identity, Xochitl Mendez

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The daily lives of individuals challenged with physical disabilities shed light on the intersections, as well as the friction, between the identities we forge as individuals, and the social identities of the public space. In this interdisciplinary presentation, I will explore the fault lines between the social concepts of disability and the personal realities and specifics of biology and adaptation.

Exploring my own experiences with disability, pedagogy, and art, I will further delve on how the social realm (Arendt, 1958) evaluates and judges identity from expected modes of interaction that are often not available to the disabled person. Further, using …

Bringing Dis/Ability Identity Into The Curriculum & Pedagogical Practices For Social Change, Janet Sauer, Simone Dupont, Molly Wolber, Lizzy Bellin, Cassidy Donahue

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

This panel is comprised of a faculty member, students, and alumni from CLAS whose work focuses on bringing about equity that includes dis/ability identity markers. Each of the students were or currently are enrolled in an interdisciplinary Disability Studies course involving a social action project. For their project, two Special Education majors responded to the need for ual education curriculum for youth with disabilities. A counseling major produced a photo essay “to get able bodied people to see things from a different perspective, specifically the perspective of people with disabilities” by creating “normal body” access signage around the Lesley community. …

Lesley University And Unitwin: International Network On Life Design And Decent Work, Donna M. San Antonio, Meenakshi Chhabra, Marion Nesbit, Raquel Stephenson

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Two years ago, a UNESCO-affiliated international network of organizations and universities (UNITWIN) was established to collaborate on research, innovative leadership, and education, focusing on concerns related to access to work and working conditions for the most vulnerable groups at a time of increasing economic and political instability and inequality.

A year ago, Lesley University became the only university in the country to join this effort, along with 17 other universities and institutes in South America, Africa, and Europe. Through this project, Lesley faculty have attended international conferences and have been engaged in an international research project titled, Perceptions of Decent …

An Intermodal Approach To Identity Formation And Empowerment In The Latina Community, Amanda Bravo

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

For many in the Latinx community, the question of “Who am I?” depends heavily on your skin color, your gender, your hair texture, your accent, and other factors that distinguish you as non-caucasian, rather than on how many languages you speak, how well you can dance, your passion, or how deeply you love. Identity reflections are at the core of self-esteem and empowerment and can take place in a variety of settings, but unfortunately, many of these settings are tailored to the majority group as well as the individual running the exploration, leaving many Latinx individuals left out.This workshop was …

Expressive Flamenco: Healing Possibilities With The Art Of Flamenco, Laura Sanchez

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The objective of this presentation is to share the results of an auto-ethnographic arts based research project that explores the holistic healing possibilities with the art of Flamenco, which hypothesizes that flamenco can be considered an expressive arts therapy approach.

Flamenco an art form that is born of profound emotion, facilitating the process of self-knowledge and allowing individuals connect with their inner self to find their true identity, their DUENDE. We will begin by describing the origins and roots of flamenco to understand the nature of this art and thus demonstrate that its essence has a therapeutic component. We assert …

The Effects Of Rhythm For Social Emotional Learning Skills Development, Jonathan O. Mande

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Many people talk about the importance of music in school and learning, we all know about its effects on cognitive development for children and adults. Though despite these universally known facts, music education programs are increasingly underfunded in schools, private lessons are not accessible to most people, while our country is simultaneously suffering from an increase in academic retention and destructive societal conflicts. Music brings all people together and at its core is rhythm. It makes available a space for joy; to fully express love, build bonds and strengthen our individual spirits. When used intentionally, music heals and is a …

Clas Research/Conference Grant Application Workshop, Brooke Eisenbach, Anne Elezabeth Pluto

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) now offers grant awards for students who are conducting research or presenting/attending area conferences. Students can apply for funding to assist with the cost of research study materials, to compensate for time spent on research, or to offset expenses associated with conference travel and registration. This workshop is intended for CLAS students and faculty mentors as a means of detailing the purpose of the CLAS grant, providing assistance with the grant application process, and to answer questions regarding applicable research and conference expenses.

Cross-Cultural Virtual Exchange: Innovative Learning For Social Change, Jo Anne Hart

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

I want to demo for my Lesley colleagues the cross-cultural virtual exchange that my undergrad students are taking part in for 8-weeks this semester. Each Lesley student in my Modern Middle East History course is matched into a weekly two-hour live video discussion group of about 12-15 other undergraduate students living in the Middle East, Europe, and around the US. This is a structured, moderated, synchronous international forum with a trained facilitator run by an international non-profit called Soliya.

Intended as a deep-dive into diversity and difference, this innovative approach allows students to “explore how their identity …

̶T̶H̶E̶ ̶ A Possibility For Light, Daniel Burmester

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

How can an educator help young people feel a reverence for and connection with the world? I asked myself this three years ago as I began thinking about how, as an educator, I could better the world. I believe that harmful action on our world can occur when reverence for and connection with it erodes or has never given a chance to flourish. Researchers in cognitive psychology have suggested that experiencing the emotion awe allows people to feel greater connections with elements of our world. (Keltner, 2016; Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007) My work at Lesley focuses on the emotion …

Social Media's Influence On Adolescent Identity, Kerri Doble

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

The fact that social media plays a prominent role in many lives today led me to ask the question: how does digital stress from social media use influence adolescent relationships? This research question was formulated out of concern that the shifting norms related to social media use may impact identity formation and a teens search for belonging, potentially stalling development. Taking the perspective that if we lead by example, we will help them lead, my aim is to share information with adults involved in the lives of teens to promote the modeling of healthy social media behavior. My creation of …

A Visual Tool For Interdisciplinary Investigations, James J. O'Keefe

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Interdisciplinary investigations using the Gapminder dynamic interactive software will be the focus of this seminar.

Metacognition At The Program For The Advancement Of Learning, Philip Hulbig

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

This is a pilot study of metacognition, and how it is defined and utilized by practitioners at Curry College's Program for the Advancement of Learning (PAL) in Milton, Massachusetts. Presently there are several distinct approaches to metacognitive practice in education, pulling from different traditions. Examples are Self Regulated Learning Theory (Bandura, 1997, Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001), which focuses on behavioral problem-solving strategies and their uses, psycho-dynamic developmental approaches (Kegan, 1996), the self-talk approaches of Mindset Theory (Dweck, 2008), dialectic approaches (Montgomery & Baxter 1998) of philosophical traditions (Popper, 1945), and contemplative mindfulness approaches (Gautam, 1999). Educationally these approaches to metacognition …

Embodied Compassion In Teaching--Subversive Dismantling Of Inequity, Melanie Brown

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Community of Scholars Day at Lesley University

Creative Approaches To Enhancing Relationships With People With Dementia, Meg Chang, Donna Newman-Bluestein

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Dance/Movement Therapy and nonverbal communication research for caregivers of people with dementia (PWD)--training program

Ego Development, Defense Mechanisms, And Adaption In Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Individuals, Jack Girardi

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

This presentation talks about ego development, starting in early childhood, for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals and how that in turn manifests into defense mechanisms. These defense mechanisms are being misattributed to other factors as a result of societal stigmas that also play out in the immediate home, school community, and clinical atmospheres of the individual. Early psychoanalytic theories are used to explain the transgender and gender nonconforming individual's negative sense of self and low self-worth. This negative sense of self is then transformed into defense mechanisms which then have the power to destroy interpersonal relationships, career development, and academic …

Developing New Apparatus For In-Situ Vermicomposting And Varying Diet Parameters To Understand Optimal Conditions For Soil Fertilization., Nataliya Ryzhenko

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Vermicomposting is the process of decomposing vegetable and other food waste using earthworms.

We investigate apparatus for in-situ vermicomposting and vary diet parameters to understand optimal conditions for soil fertilization.

As a pilot project, we created a small in-situ vermicomposting apparatus which can be used in a home or at a small farm. In this setting, we need to ensure that the setup does not produce repulsive odor, since it is meant to be kept indoors. Also, the setup should be easily maintained: the food waste easily added, and the bedding kept moist.

Based on results seen, in-situ vermicomposting farm …

Leadership In Lgbtq Research And Practice Within Counseling Psychology, Sue L. Motulsky, Sidney M. Trantham, Kimberly Cherry, Maura Mccullough, Carla Rosinski

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Many issues affecting the well-being of LGBTQ individuals and communities need more research to inform clinical and counseling practice. Transformative leadership employs a social justice framework to focus attention, resources, and research on critical LGBTQ agendas so that this marginalized and underserved population can receive needed services and programs. This panel of Counseling and Psychology faculty and doctoral students discuss how they are taking a leadership role through research, practice, and training in specific LGBTQ issues.

• Bisexuality is commonly misunderstood as society struggles to move from binary conceptualizations of sexuality and gender to new paradigms. Queer women are often confronted …