Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Unheard Voices Of The Arkansas Delta: Living Through School Desegregation, Tameka D. Williams

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This study was guided by the central research question: What are the lived experiences and perceptions of former African American teachers and students that endured segregation, desegregation, and integration in Arkansas' Delta? The phenomenological study used eight former African American teachers and student participants. Of the participants, there were four former teachers and four former students. In this study, the participants' voices are captured as they share their experiences and perception of each phase of education that influenced their lives and left an everlasting imprint. Through counternarratives, the participants provided insight into education in the Arkansas Delta during school segregation, …

Determining The Preparedness Of Nursing Programs And Faculty For The Next Generation Nclex-Rn, Heather Hartness

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Fifty-two nursing faculty from ADN (Associate Degree Nursing) and BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) programs in the state of Arkansas were surveyed to examine the preparedness resources and interventions to prepare for the Next Generation NCLEX-RN (NGN) and to explore the perceptions of nursing faculty on their readiness to teach critical thinking, clinical judgment, and their competency with NGN item writing. A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive design was used for this study utilizing a self-created survey. The survey revealed 40% of participants felt adequately prepared with item writing, and 35% reported feeling adequately prepared to test using the new NGN …

Analyzing The Relationship Between Aid Agencies And The Union Army In Civil War Arkansas From 1862 To 1865, Kimberly Green

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This thesis examines the administration of Arkansas’s contraband camps. The Union Army originally failed Black refugees in their quest for freedom as it was unprepared for the large number of African Americans seeking protection and guidance from the army. Arkansas historians have analyzed the effect the war had on the state as a whole and the operation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, but none of these works detail the various agencies that worked with federal authorities. This thesis follows the Western Sanitary Commission and the American Missionary Association as they assisted the federal government by providing supplies and forming partnerships with …

Little Rock’S Unique Political Opportunities For Black Arkansans, 1865-1905, Isaac J. Cross

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Little Rock, Arkansas offered unique political opportunities in the late nineteenth century. Unlike the rest of the state, Little Rock housed a prominent middle-class black community that earned political office positions in local and state government. The current historical scholarship on the state’s African American political power in these years lacks detailed treatment of the political power of black Arkansans in Little Rock. Using newspapers, census data, and local and state government documents, this thesis argues for the unique position of the state’s capital for black Arkansans. In the late nineteenth century, the black middle class was especially strong in …

Examining The Perceptions Of African American Students In Regards To Disciplinary Policies And Procedures, Sylvia A. Grady

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This qualitative study aimed to examine African American students' perceptions regarding their school’s disciplinary policies and procedures. This study was an attempt to answer the following central questions: What are the perceptions of African American students regarding their high school’s disciplinary policies and procedures? What is the experience of African American students suspended one or more times? Other questions to consider were: According to African American high school students, what conditions are perceived as barriers to effective discipline practices?

To find answers to the above questions, African American students who have been suspended or recommended for expulsion one or more …

Feminism, Femininity, And Arkansas First Ladies: Hillary Rodham Clinton And Janet Mccain Huckabee, Spencer A. Hurlbut

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Through the 1970s and into the 2000s, Hillary Clinton and Janet Huckabee served as first ladies. Their husbands were elected and ran campaigns for Arkansas Governor and President of the United States. While the two men were the elected officials that constituents cast their votes for on election day, Hillary and Janet were beside the men playing a tremendous role in securing or discouraging votes. Third wave feminism ran rampant throughout these two decades and resulted in higher numbers of women in the workforce, later years of marriage, less children, and greater awareness of sexual harassment and sex discrimination. Hillary …

The Impact Of Virtual Learning Modalities On The Academic Success Of Students In One Arkansas School District, Diane F. Richards

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way Arkansas public schools’ offered students an education. While moving through this pandemic, many Arkansas schools implemented optional methods of delivery for their students. Some schools tried to maintain face-to-face classes, while others offered completely online classes. Still, others offered a hybrid format where students attended some face-to-face classes and online classes. One Arkansas school district offered all three options. School districts need guidance as to which teaching methods worked well. The long-term effects of the educational impact of COVID-19 are not known at this time. Schools could benefit from a guide with useful strategies …

Teacher Preference In Professional Development, Cheri L. Keyes

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Teacher Preference in Professional Development

Teacher professional development (PD) is seen as best ways to ensure teacher quality and guarantee positive student achievement outcomes; however, there is a lack of appropriate and effective PD. This quantitative study examined teachers’ preferences in PD content and delivery. Teachers from a K-12 public school district in Northwest Arkansas were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey, and 292 teachers responded. The measured variables were the professional development preferences of the teachers, the teachers' years of experience, the grade level at which teachers teach, gender, the content of preferred PD, and the delivery or …

Students Of Color Perceptions Of Their Relationship With White Teachers, Shawn T. Hinkle

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

As the student population across the country becomes more diverse (Bryant et al., 2017) and the teacher population remains relatively consistent with little diversity (NCES, 2013), a better understanding of how male students of color are perceived, interact and relate with their White teachers become necessary to ensure their academic success. The purpose of this study is to study the perceptions male students of color have of their White teachers. The following research questions are utilized to explore the lived experiences of 10 high school male students of color in Northwest Arkansas: (1) How do high school male students of …

Dialysis Patient Education On The Prevention Of Kidney Disease Prior To Patients Receiving Dialysis: A Retrospective Descriptive Study, Jamie D. Jones

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Fifty-two adult patients at an outpatient dialysis center in central Arkansas were surveyed regarding the education that was provided by medical professionals related to kidney disease and dialysis during treatment of hypertension and diabetes. The twenty-question survey inquired about demographic information, medical history, and the timing and perceived comprehension of education received. The researcher discovered that the majority of patients did not receive education that identified hypertension and diabetes as contributing factors of kidney disease until after diagnosis of kidney disease. The vast majority of participants reported that education regarding the life implications of dialysis, including fluid and dietary restrictions, …

A Descriptive Pilot Study On Travel Nurses' Risk Of Burnout During The Covid- 19 Pandemic, Lashanda Head

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that results from long-term involvement in work situations that are difficult (Schaufeli & Greenglass, 2001). Burnout leads to a significant occupational problem in various professions that involve people who work with others, including nurses who work with COVID- 19 patients. This pilot study aims to determine if travel nurses who have worked or are currently working during the COVID-19 pandemic in acute care hospitals are at increased risk for nurse burnout. A convenience sample (N=9) of travel nurses working at CHRISTUS St Michael Health System were asked to …

Public School Nurse To Student Ratios: Does It Affect Absenteeism?, Laura Beth Hobbs

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The demands for adequate nursing workloads in public schools have increased with special needs children in Arkansas. School nurses are a necessary component of student academic achievement and physical well-being. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects that nurse-to-student ratios have on absenteeism by providing a convenience sample questionnaire to Arkansas K-12 public school superintendents. The questionnaire has examined the relationship between school nurse ratios and school absentee numbers. A four-question survey was sent out to 233 Arkansas K-12 public schools using a QuestionPro survey. Superintendents were asked about their school district numbers for the 2020-2021 school …

Intentional International Presence Of United Nation's Locations, Kelsea Nicole Duvall

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The United Nations chose specific locations to house its main headquarters and major offices. While there are many smaller regional offices of the United Nations, this focuses only on the four main offices and the Hague, which houses the International Court of Justice. The different locations of New York, the Hague, Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi were chosen over a time period of fifty years with New York, the first permanent location, chosen in 1946, and Nairobi, the most recent addition, finalized in 1996. The locations were not chosen purely because of monetary concerns but because they met specific qualifications set …

Determining The Psychosocial Needs Of The Nurses Of Covid-19 Patients, Allison Stevens

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Nurses are a vital element of the COVID-19 healthcare crisis and have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 response. The professional strain put on nurses included, but is not limited to: changing professional roles, rapidly changing policies and procedures, an influx of patients—particularly of high acuity, and change in workplace morale. However, nurses also had to carry the burdens of living as a member of society, family member, friend, community member, and above all, simply as a person surviving a pandemic themselves. With all of the stressors nurses have endured, it stands to reason that their psychosocial needs have …

Perceptions Of High Achieving High School Students Regarding The Professionalization Of Teaching And Their Interest In Becoming Teachers, Jonathan Crossley

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This study was designed to highlight the factors that contribute to high-achieving high school students not deciding to join the teaching profession. There is growing evidence to indicate that the teaching profession is comprised mostly of educators in their first five years in the profession and educators with more than 25 years of teaching experience. Increasing numbers of educators are leaving the profession within their first five years in a classroom. On the other end of the spectrum, as teachers with more than 25 years of experience ultimately retire, the question remains about the viability of the profession for younger …

"I Am A Arkansas Man:" An Analysis Of African-American Masculinity In Antebellum Arkansas, Tye Boudra-Bland

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This thesis examines the experiences of African-American men in the years leading up to and through the American Civil War in order to understand how they constructed their own sense of manhood. Contemporary slave narratives and abolitionists’ expositions routinely tailored their definitions of manhood to white notions of gender in order to garner white support. Prominent abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass tailored their language of resistance against slavers to cast them as honorable martyrs as opposed to vengeful slaves so as to undermine racist caricatures of brute violence. But black southern men struggled against the confines of their bondage and …