Digital Commons Network^™

Professor George Neal, "The Art Of Star Wars" Lecture, George Neal

Research Week

Professor George Neal demonstrates how our pop culture obsessions can be the site for academic research in this engaging talk.

J.R.R. Tolkien In Central Europe: Context, Directions, And The Legacy (2023), Edited By Janka Kaščáková And David Levente Palatinus, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Andrew Higgins, of J.R.R. Tolkien in Central Europe: Context, Directions, and the Legacy (2023), edited by Janka Kaščáková and David Levente Palatinus

Proper Stance, Kassie Lane

Playwriting Contest

Setting: An unoccupied park at midday. Honking, people, and other city sounds can be heard in the background. Bianca and Timothy are walking towards the spot under the railroad bridge that goes over the park, where the rest of their small dance troupe is waiting.

Actors: Jamiya Haynes; Nicholas Washington; Matthew Sagols

Stage Directions: Hannah Grimm

Scorpion, Breane Barrios

Playwriting Contest

A young couple struggles with an unwanted intruder.

Director: Corinna Rodriguez

Actors: Chrissy Graham; Jimmy Kalal

Stage Director: Ryan Cosillo

Resilient Wild Violets, Bee Bishop

Playwriting Contest

Characters:

LESLIE is butch woman around late fifties/early sixties and is the owner of a local floral arrangement shop “The Green Carnation” that has been running since 1969.

DOROTHY is a frantic woman in her late teens/early twenties looking for some gardening help

Director: Morgan Erickson

Actors: Maddie Poorman; Lexi Schiro; Ethan Diaz

Stage Directions: Ethan Diaz

Her Hair, Avery Smith

Playwriting Contest

SETTING: Inside Keira’s bedroom. A door on the left side, a twin-sized bed in the back corner, and a desk with a full-body mirror on the right side of the room.

Director: Bre Auriemme

Actors: Sophia Marino; Ross Dumont Snider

Stage Directions: Neela Lugo

Dance Partner, Basil Jaber

Playwriting Contest

Setting: A modest, cozy living room with a TV.

Director: Ashley Chavez

Actors: Elyse Byron, Taylor Baird

Fitness Instructor/Stage Directions: Katrina Spencer Fenner

Documentary Review: Dope Is Death: Community-Led Community Care, Jennifer Woody Collins

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Telling The Truth, Seeking Justice: Feminist Pedagogy And The Comfort Women Legacy, Sina Lee

Feminist Pedagogy

This commentary explores the pedagogical significance of teaching the legacy of comfort women—women subjected to sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II—in U.S. gender studies classrooms. Drawing on feminist pedagogy, the essay examines how testimonies from survivors like Hak-sun Kim and Bok-dong Kim empower students to critically engage with the intersections of war, colonialism, gender-based violence, and transnational justice movements. Through assigned readings, survivor testimonies, and documentary media, students confront the ongoing impact of colonialism and are encouraged to reconceptualize peace as a radical, actionable process. The essay also highlights the role of the United States in …

A Pedagogy Of Peace & Prose: Helping Students Engage With And Articulate Perspectives On The Plight Of Palestine Through A Tripartite Textual Analysis, Sydney E. Brammer

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Developing An Ethical Trauma-Informed Pilot Process For The Inclusion Of Physical Violence In Visual Rhetoric Instruction, S. B. Mccullouch

Feminist Pedagogy

Interpersonal, gun-related, and other types of physical violence are all too common experiences for students. This critical commentary centers on the introduction of an expansive view of visual rhetoric, including the visible signs of physical violence, in an undergraduate writing class. This serves as a way of exploring broad notions of communication and physical violence as suasive in some contexts. An examination of the visible symbols of physical force is provided with trauma-informed methods.

Towards A Pedagogy Of Unruly Bodyminds, Muhammad Ali Imran, Jane L. Saffitz

Feminist Pedagogy

This commentary underscores critical practices from Jane’s “Unruly Bodies” seminar that Ali, a student in the course and Jane’s advisee, has since mobilized towards anti-colonial organizing. Purposely experimental, the seminar attempted to rethink embodiment as intercorporeal and thus as capable of generating new ways to think about agency and solidarity in contexts marred by forms of militarization, medical violence, and histories of domination. Thinking through our bodyminds as both terrains of contestation and weapons in broader struggles for liberation required us to cultivate a classroom space of radical openness and vulnerability. We describe these efforts, as well as our broader …

A Pedagogy Of Howling: Testimonies Of Pedagogies For Peace At The University For Peace, Stephanie Marie Knox Steiner, Abigail Rose Ciccarone, Cecile Adrian, Dhvani Rajen Thakkar, Luiza Duarte, Sarah Jampol

Feminist Pedagogy

In this critical commentary, we (five masters’ students and one faculty member) share testimonies of what has felt essential in our experience of pedagogies for peace at the University for Peace (UPEACE). Co-creating this article in a collective voice[1] is a living example of the heart of our pedagogical praxis of disrupting separation and expressing interconnectedness through collaboration. We practice as we write, together.

Pedagogy Of The Taboo As Feminist Pedagogy: Embracing An Invitational Rhetoric Orientation, Mark P. Orbe

Feminist Pedagogy

Within this essay, I highlight a pedagogy of the taboo (Orbe, 2018) as a productive framework to counter anti-DEIA attempts to silence diverse voices in our class rooms and across campus. As an extension of Paulo Freire’s (1990) pioneering work, this orientation to critical pedagogy promotes teaching←→learning that questions authoritative meaning-making as a means to empowerment, liberation, and social justice. Central to this framework is a belief that labeling particular topics (e.g., race and racism; sex, gender, sexuality, sexism) as off-limits constitutes a rhetorical device used by those in power to maintain the status quo which benefits them (Orbe, 2018).

Conversations Before The Conversation: Readying Dissidence Through Norm-Setting, Ashley N. Watson

Feminist Pedagogy

How can educators speak truth to power in ways that decenter whiteness while supporting student learning across different levels of awareness? What does the right balance of challenge and support look like in today’s unpredictable college environment? These questions are drawn from my experience as a Black predoctoral fellow teaching “Intercultural Dialogue” at a traditionally white public liberal arts university in rural Minnesota. This paper—both a reflection and recommendations for practice—outlines my approach to co-constructing and scaffolding a conducive learning environment rooted in emancipatory pedagogy.

Measurement Of Groundwater And Contaminant Fluxes In Fractures Using A Combined System Of Passive Flux Meter And Multiport Sampler, Qasim Raza Khan

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Groundwater and contaminant movement in fractured rock aquifers is highly variable. Its dependence on fracture apertures and orientation as well as fracture network interconnectivity is not well understood. This poses a challenge to the measurement of groundwater and contaminant fluxes, especially when using open-hole techniques, which significantly alter natural flow conditions by connecting different fractures along an open borehole or a well. In this work, the use of Fractured Rock Passive Flux Meter (FRPFM) with invisible tracer and visible dye component to measure groundwater fluxes and identify geometric fracture parameters is explored through laboratory experiments. The invisible tracer component results …

Elementary Education Capstone, Emily Rindos

Academic Festival

This capstone project focuses on developing and implementing a literacy unit centered on textual evidence. The unit includes three lesson plans designed to help students understand how to find, analyze, and use textual evidence to support their ideas. Each lesson builds on the previous one, using a mix of direct instruction, guided practice, and independent work to gradually increase student confidence and skill in citing evidence.

To measure student understanding, a variety of assessments were integrated throughout the unit. These included formative assessments, such as class discussions and written responses, as well as summative assessments that evaluated students’ ability to …

E-Cigarettes Vs. Traditional Cigarettes: Assessing Potential Links To Gum Disease And Oral Cancer, Julia Bednarik

Academic Festival

No abstract provided.

Image Processing: Gaussian Filtering And Principal Component Analysis, Yuna Ukawa

Academic Festival

Image processing refers to a series of techniques that transform images, modify color tones, enhance features, and so on. Beyond image editing, these techniques play a crucial role in preprocessing for machine learning-based image recognition. This study explores the practical applications of linear algebra and statistics through two methods: Gaussian filtering and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We specifically detail how Gaussian filters utilize linear transformations, combining linear algebra and statistics, to remove noise. PCA uses the statistical information of observed data to extract features that are less affected by noise while reducing data size.

Three Dilemmas, John Guarini

Academic Festival

The Monty Hall Problem, Deal or No deal, and Sleeping Beauty Paradox are all subjects which have contested notions on how to achieve a singular answer to their dilemmas respectively. Each has a simplistic opening that, when delved into deeper, reveals itself to be three sets of the same problem. Each problem gaining complexity as the reader progresses. In this paper, we use Bayes’ Theorem to help explain how each answer is possible, as well as how they are alike in their math and structures.

The Crossroads Of Empires: The Eastern Romans Connections To The Red Sea Trade Network From 300 Ad To 650 Ad, Gaelen Purnell

Academic Festival

No abstract provided.

Old Folks Home Financial And Service Report, August To September

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Monthly financial and inmate service report for the Old Folks Home, August to September. Undated.

Old Folks Home Financial And Service Report, September To October

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Monthly financial and inmate service report for the Old Folks Home, September to October. Undated.

Old Folks Home Financial Report For May

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Monthly financial report for the Old Folks Home for May. Undated.

Case History, Effie Frazier

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Social work case notes for Effie Frazier. Undated.

Case History, Ben Moseley

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Social work case notes for Ben Moseley. Undated.

Case History, William Presley

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Social work case notes for William Presley. Undated.

Various Case Histories

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Various social work case notes. Undated.

Individuals Working In Various Welfare Departments

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: List of names of people working in various welfare departments. Includes handwritten note. Undated.

Case History, Pinkney Family

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Social work case notes for the Pinkney family. Written on blank 1927 tax form for Duval County. Undated.