Arts and Humanities Commons^™

New Insights From Old Sources: Using Hot Spot Analysis Of Fire Insurance Documents To Characterize The C. 1800 Built Environment Of Fredericksburg, Va, Grace Hannah Buck

Research and Creativity Symposium

The field of historic preservation makes use of many types of archival resources to understand past events, practices, and spaces that would otherwise be difficult to parse from extant objects.  Though they can be used in their initial state, application of geospatial methods to certain archival resources can improve their ease of use, reveal missing context, or provide new insight to the information they hold.  In that vein, this study applies geospatial analysis to a collection of historic insurance policies issued by the Mutual Assurance Society (MAS) of Virginia (1796-1867) for buildings in Fredericksburg, VA, at the turn of the …

Watching The Screen, Sarah Thul

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

Inspired by the news today, hopefully it will inspire people to stand up and fight together.

Discussion From Andrea Smith's Book, Conquest: Sexual Violence And American Indian Genocide, Alexis M. Auman

Student Publications

Discussion from Andrea Smith's book, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide

Jdm And The Formation Of Japan’S Underground Car Culture: Street Racing, Identity, And Regulation, Lizhou Chen

Student Publications

Japan’s underground car culture is often associated with street racing, JDM, and modified cars, but these visible features developed from broader economic, social, and regulatory conditions. This paper argues that Japan’s underground car culture was shaped by three factors: postwar economic growth that made mass car production feasible, social identity and status attached to car type and driving behavior, and government regulation of the road system and driving habits that forced reckless driving into less visible times and locations. By examining car ownership, kei cars, youth self-expression, gendered meanings of vehicles, road design, and moral expectations around safe driving, this …

"Nobody Forced My Mom To Stay Home": College Men’S Perspectives On Parental Leave, Marisa Conners

Student Publications

From "The Second Shift" to Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize-winning research on women in the labor market, the inequities affecting women in the labor market have been widely documented. However, progress on this issue has been largely one-sided on behalf of women, perpetuating gender inequality. The goal of my research is to understand how social subgroup values influence male-identifying Gettysburg College students’ predictions on how they will engage with parental leave. This project gathered information on ways to increase male uptake of parental leave, which, if implemented, will help improve gender equity in the labor market.

How are male-identifying Gettysburg College …

Neurophenomenology: A Research Method Combining Neuroscience And Philosophy, Jonas Lokensgard

Posters - 2026

Neurophenomenology – Cognitive Sciences + Phenomenology Phenomenology – the study of consciousness (basically just how you experience things) Cognitive Sciences – The study of the functional processes of the mind, and the operations of the brain that enable these processes to be performed. (“Cognitive Science” 2004)

The Effects Of Low Stimulating Music Vs. High Stimulating Music On Visual And Auditory Reflexes In Young Adults, Monabelle Elbayeh, Vania Galindo, Ria Modi, Gianna Montelongo

Posters - 2026

This study investigates the effects of high-stimulating versus low-stimulating music exposure on human reflexes, specifically examining how different levels of auditory stimulation influence reaction time. Music is known to impact cognitive and motor performance, but its direct effect on reflex responses remains less understood. In this experiment, participants are exposed to high-stimulating music and low-stimulating music in separate trials, with reflexes measured before and after each condition using visual and auditory tests in the LabScribe program. It is hypothesized that after listening to high-stimulating music for five minutes, individuals will demonstrate shorter reaction times compared to after listening to low-stimulating …

Life Experiences To Lyrics: What Mental Health Looks Like In Music, Ashley Salinas, Ashley De La Fuente

Posters - 2026

● Music conveys human emotion and mental states, often reflecting societal struggles such as depression and anxiety. Lyrics often shape how listeners experience these emotions, influencing mood, identity formation, and emotional processing in young adults (Gustavson, 2021; Chen, 2023). ● Depression, characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, and withdrawal is frequently expressed in music through explicit descriptions or metaphorical language (Shriram, 2015). Whereas, anxiety involves excessive worry, restlessness, and hypervigilance, is less studied yet similarly present in music (Kim, 2023). ● Previous studies have highlighted that pop lyrics often emphasize relational uncertainty, country songs depict fear of loss, and …

Texas Rangers & The Porvenir Massacre, Flavia Delgado

Posters - 2026

On January 28, 1918, in West Texas, the small village of Porvenir - now a ghost town - was the site of a deadly and unjustified act of violence. In the early morning hours, a group of Texas Rangers an U.S Army soliders killed 15 Mexican American men and boys. Prior to their deaths, the victims were disarmed and detained without legal justification and were executed without due process or the opportunity to defend themselves against unsubstantiated accusations.

From Stacks To Scholarship: A Legacy Of The Academic Library (1968-2000), Diane Duesterhoeft, Janet Ojinnaka

Posters - 2026

In 2027, St. Mary's University will celebrate the Dodransbicentennial (175th) anniversary of its founding. 

In 2025, the Louis J. Blume Library celebrated the 25th anniversary of its renaming from the Academic Library. Here, we highlight some milestones from the library's history.

More information is available here: https://lib.stmarytx.edu/tour/timeline

Thomas Frost: Slave Catcher?, Charles Ryan Ricketts

Posters - 2026

Thomas C Frost, founder of Frost Bank, has long been regarded as a well-spoken individual whose legacy has caused exponential growth in the San Antonio Area. However, Frost’s legacy has deep roots within the Texas branch of the Confederacy and even less known a key enforcer of slavery.   He was a Ranger thru and thru but the type of ranger he was is terrifying.

Queer Okayness & The Modernist Influence: A New Form Of Queer Poetics In Ocean Vuong’S Night Sky With Exit Wounds, Sophia Behnke

Audre Lorde Prize

This paper analyzes poems from Ocean Vuong's 2016 debut collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, as a contemporary evolution of queer modernist poetics from the early twentieth century. Using conceptual frameworks from Sara Ahmed and Audre Lorde, the author argues for the cultural power of poetics as an inherently queer art form which artists are constantly redefining. By studying how prominent lesbian and queer modernists disrupted heteronormative ideals through non-conformist poetic strategies, the author develops a comparison to Vuong's work as a contemporary queer poet who both draws from past forms and develops a more nuanced understanding of queerness …

Addiction And Dalits: The Impact Of India’S Caste System, Ava Jackson

Audre Lorde Prize

Across global public health and psychology, addiction is defined as a chronic condition that involves compulsive seeking and taking of a substance. In Western frameworks, addiction is often treated as an isolated condition, where the individual is blamed for their actions. In reality, addiction is rooted in biological, psychological, and social factors and is more complex than an individual level. Looking at the Global South, addiction is prominent in Dalit or “untouchable” individuals in India’s caste system, who face exclusion from all forms of society, including education, work, and social experiences. Addiction among Dalit women in India, Bangladesh, and the …

Velcro, Sarah Welker

Audre Lorde Prize

An artwork that aims to focus on the gender euphoria, dysphoria, and different emotions that come with having breasts.

Giovanni Da Legnano’S Reception Of Thomas Of Ireland’S Manipulus Florum (1306) In The Prohemium To The Somnium, Chris L. Nighman

History Faculty Publications

This article demonstrates the reception of the influential florilegium Manipulus florum in Giovanni da Legnano’s Somnium, a discovery that has major implications for future scholarship on not only this text, but all of this author’s surviving works. It also reports some very unusual, probably unique, contextual evidence for his reception of the Manipulus.

Face-Work In Frontier Models: Benchmarking Sycophantic Behavior In Llm-Based Educational Tutoring, Nick Chen

IPHS 300: AI for Humanity

Since OpenAI’s famous rollback of GPT-4o for being “overflattering” in April 2025, sycophancy in large language models, which reflects the tendency to prioritize user satisfaction over truthfulness, has become a major concern in AI alignment. Sycophancy is widely recognized as a byproduct of Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and deserves attention in educational contexts where such responses to student errors will reinforce misconceptions. This project builds on the social sycophancy framework introduced by Cheng et al. (2025) in ELEPHANT, which applies sociologist Goffman's classical theory of face work to LLM behavior, extends it to educational settings, and raises the …

Whose Ethics? Auditing The Moral Defaults Of Large Language Models Against Ubuntu Philosophy, Davelle Akosua Ampofo-Twumasi

IPHS 300: AI for Humanity

As LLMs are deployed globally, the moral framework they u se matters. This study tested if four frontier LLMs default to Western ethics and how naming Ubuntu, a communal Southern African philosophy, changes their moral reasoning. Five dilemmas were presented to Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and DeepSeek V3, unprompted and with Ubuntu named. Responses were scored on seven Ubuntu dimensions (e.g., relational inclusion, dignity, reciprocity). All models defaulted to Western individualist reasoning when unprompted. With Ubuntu named, DeepSeek (57/70) and Claude (56/70) significantly outperformed GPT and Gemini (32/70 each). Gaps were largest in reciprocity and relational inclusion. …

Thy Rod And Thy Staff Comfort Me, Drew Moser

2026 MFA Visual Arts

No abstract provided.

Resonant Cracks In The Music Curriculum: Integrating Social And Emotional Learning In The Secondary Music Classroom, Margaret E. Lerch

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Music education has long been recognized as a subject that encourages student learning beyond the walls of the music classroom. While elementary music programs often foster language development and social awareness, secondary music instruction tends to emphasize performance skills and technical development. The explicit secondary orchestra curriculum for this middle school includes only instrument skill-development standards and learning-target descriptions. In this fourth-marking-period sixth-grade orchestra class, coursework—including students’ journal reflections, classroom dialogue, and comparison soundscape projects—operated intentionally “within the cracks” of the formal curriculum to create opportunities for the students to express and engage with emotions, identity, belonging, empathy, perspective-taking, and …

Young Life: A Philosophy Of Incarnational Youth Ministry In Grant County, Indiana, Symon Cater

Christian Ministries Senior Capstone

This paper presents a vision for Young Life ministry in Grant County, Indiana, framed around William K. Francena’s model of moral education, with the unifying theme that adolescents are transformed from the inside out when they encounter the reality of being known and loved. Box A establishes the ultimate purpose of human existence as being known by God, knowing God, and being with God — a purpose that anchors every subsequent section of the paper. Box B builds upon this foundation by articulating five theological and sociological premises touching on prayer, Scripture, human relationality, adolescent cultural formation, and identity development, …

Rooted Families: A Whole Family Ministry, Aubree Nelson

Christian Ministries Senior Capstone

Rooted Families is set in the context of a family dynamic: a mother, a father, and children. Parents often drop their kids off at church on Sunday, yet many feel unqualified to disciple their children at home. This paper is the philosophy of ministry for Rooted Families, which is located at First Missionary Church in Fort Wayne Indiana. The goal is to provide a framework for churches to enable them to create spaces for parents to learn and be equipped to disciple their children. This paper describes the theological, anthropological, and sociological premises that affect parents and their influence over …

Artifacts As Ambassadors: How Archaeological Artifacts Dictate Modern Diplomatic Relations And Repatriation, Emma Boyd

Honors Papers and Posters

In this thesis, I examine and re-center the roles of archaeological artifacts and conceptions of ownership in global politics, drawing on debates about cultural heritage and diplomacy. This thesis will emphasize debates around ownership and repatriation, articulating their value in international relations and diplomacy between Western countries and postcolonial nations, as well as between federally recognized Native American Indigenous Tribes and the United States government. The thesis review takes the Elgin Marbles, arguably the most debated subject, as a model for my case study analysis. I will explore complications driven by conversations of repatriation. Overall, this thesis will propose theories …

The Impact Of Traditional Gender Roles: Direct Harm To Individuals And Society In The United States, Sydney L. Parker-Coyne

Gateway Reader- Individual Papers

The Problem: Traditional gender roles in the United States restrict individual identity, limit overall productivity, and cause direct psychological and physical harm.

The Method: An evaluation of gender restriction frameworks using Victorian-Era literature, modern interpretations of women's and transgender rights, 2020s social media trends, and contemporary aerospace milestones.

Quantitative Finding: In 2026, 30 U.S. states maintain legal exemptions from rape by a judge and jury; males account for nearly 80% of suicides; 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced and over 85 passed into law in 2023; over 500 additional anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced and over 40 passed across …

War And Communism In 50s-70s Sci-Fi Movies, Nathaniel Smith

Gateway Reader- Individual Papers

• The Problem: The researcher addresses how 1950s–1970s science fiction cinema reflects prevailing post-war societal anxieties, specifically the fear of nuclear Armageddon and the geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• The Method: The framework analyzes thematic elements and narrative structures across a selection of mid-to-late 20th-century speculative fiction films, specifically The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), and Godzilla (1954).

• Quantitative Finding: The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1949; the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock in 1947; the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in …

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2026 Research Day Program, Lincoln Memorial University

Research Day

This program contains abstracts and presentation summaries from LMU's 2026 Annual Research Day conference.

Reconstructing A Legacy: Zygmunt Lakociński, The Polish Research Institute’S Archive, And The Women Behind It, Alanna Gallo

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Abstract: In 1945, Polish historian Zygmunt Lakociński embarked on a project to “document the truth against all myths.” Following the arrival of 7,300 Polish former prisoners, 6,000 of them women, to Sweden after liberation, Lakociński created the Polish Research Institute Archive (PIZ). The result was a collection of over 500 highly detailed and corroborated witness testimonies of Nazi war crimes at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. From its interview procedures and methodology to the composition of its staff, the Polish Research Institute Archive was utterly unconventional for its time. Aside from its scope, much of the archive’s importance lies in its …

Spring 2026, History Department, Csusb

History Department Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Studies In Rio Grande Valley History - Volume 19, Thomas Daniel Knight, Antonio N. Zavaleta, Anthony K. Knopp, Andrik Gonzalez, Milo Kearney

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Early Days of the U.S. Mexican War in South Texas / James W. Mills -- La Configuración de la Frontera Mexicana Desde El Mar / Arturo Zárate Ruiz -- Ethnic Trends in The Growth of Brownsville / Anthony Knopp -- How McAllen Became the Economic Center of the Rio Grande Valley: Further Considerations / Edward F. Wallace -- Cobbling in the Rio Grande Valley / Noe E. Perez -- Cultural Crossroads: Expressions of Identity, Resistance, & Belonging on the Texas-Mexico Border / Andrik Gonzalez -- Two Women, Two Journeys, One Border: Stories From the Migrant Generation / Manuel F. Medrano …

Ai Mcat Tutor: Personalized Study Planning, Daily Check-Ins, & Slideshow Generator For Pre-Medical Students, Luke Latterman

IPHS 300: AI for Humanity

Preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is among the most demanding academic challenges facing pre-medical students, yet access to professional tutoring remains prohibitively expensive for many. This paper describes the design, implementation, and iterative evaluation of an AI-powered tutoring system built using Claude Code, Anthropic’s command-line interface for the Claude large language model, intended to serve pre-medical students directly, whether or not they have access to a professional tutor. The system integrates three components: a personalized multi-phase study schedule generator, a daily check-in assistant, and an AI-driven instructional slideshow generator for targeted content review. Each component was designed …

Bibliography For Pubfest Display, Annikah Carpio, Sally Park, Katherine Roth

Library Displays and Bibliographies

A bibliography created to accompany a display about PubFest during April 2026 at the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University.