Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal for Florence Normal College, October 1909.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Je Me Vois En Toi: La Construction D’Identité Nationale Française À Travers Les Représentations Filmiques De La Triangulation Franco-Américaine, De Demy À Godard, Molly E. Friedrichs

French Honors Projects

This project explores the role of cinema in the establishment and rupture of “Franco-American triangulation” through representations of the United States in French cinema. Through an analysis of films by Jacques Demy and Jean-Luc Godard, I apply theories of the definition of the nation, the image, and the spectacle to analyze the relationship between the French nation and the cinematic image of the United States in the Nouvelle Vague. Ultimately, this paper uses technical and visual analysis to understand the powers and limits of film both to facilitate Franco-American triangulation, and to represent and critique French national ideology.

It’S No Longer Greek To Me: A Gamified Parsing Study Tool, Josiah J. Lane

Senior Honors Theses

Learning Koine Greek presents significant challenges due to the language’s complex morphology, including multiple verbal forms encoding tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, and number. Traditional methods relying on rote memorization often fail to support long-term retention and rapid parsing ability. This project presents a web-based parsing study tool designed to address these challenges by integrating spaced repetition algorithms, active recall, and gamification principles. The system leverages a relational database of lexical forms and parsed words, enabling adaptive scheduling of practice items based on individual learner performance. Gamified elements, including scoring, progress tracking, and immediate feedback, sustain engagement and encourage consistent …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1911.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, October 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, May 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1910.

*Press of The Florence Times*

The Brain And Becoming: Integrating Play And Performance-Based Learning In The Community College Classroom, Hannah M. Green

English

Instruction in the community college classroom is in need of a shift, according to neuroscientific, pedagogical, and demographic data. Primarily, students in today’s community college classrooms are instructed in the form of lectures (Nilson 106), but research has shown that game-based learning would be the way to enhance learning experiences for these adult learners. Game-based learning specifically takes form in student learning through games, interactive reading activities such as performance pedagogy, discussions, and small group work. While research shows that play-based learning at the community college level is neurologically beneficial for students, there is a gap in implementing play-based learning …

Ameling Manor Drive, Dalia K. Al-Sagr

Art and Art History Honors Projects

This honors project has been an exploration of my relationship with time and memory. By studying old childhood photos, I translate them onto canvas, focusing on how my perception of specific memories affects my color composition and value structure. I explore the evolution of perspective by understanding how my adult self views these pictures. In turn, this captures time and impermanence. My paintings focus on specific details in the photos, while other sections appear faded. I use an oil glazing technique to represent how some moments are vivid, while others are fogged with emotion. This reflects how memory tends to …

Multicultural Marketing: Rebranding Chick-Fil-A For Chinese Audiences, Christina Pan

Senior Honors Theses

China is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and consumption is its main cause of growth. With a population of 1.4 billion people, many companies want to establish themselves in China. However, China and the United States markets are vastly different, and China’s post-COVID economy makes success increasingly difficult. Factors such as domestic competition, weakening US-China relations, and increased suspicion in foreign products calls for a new marketing and branding approach for United States companies. Fast-food giants such as McDonald’s and KFC have managed success in the past, but one company that also has potential is Chick-Fil-A. This …

Connected Pastors: The Importance Of Having Safe Support Systems In Ministry, Karin A. Hines

Senior Honors Theses

Pastors minister to broken people, but sometimes they need help themselves. Many pastors do not seek help or do not have anyone safe to go to, often for fear of losing their influence or job. This thesis argues that sharing one’s life with safe people is essential, especially for those who are in high-stress professions. It explores pastoral support systems, examines comparable stigmas against seeking help in other fields, analyzes the science of sharing and isolation and their effects on the brain and body, and considers the Bible’s instructions on living in community for one’s personal well-being. Pastors require intentional, …

Nietzsche And Socrates: Reflections Of Redefined Virtue In Greek Tragedy, Kyle M. Lowry

Senior Honors Theses

The works of Friedrich Nietzsche were used to study how Greek Tragedy was “born” and “died,” particularly in relation to the rise of Socratic philosophy in Ancient Greece. The intoxicated “Dionysian” and disciplinary, artistic “Apollinian,” are the elements Nietzsche claims encompass and catalyze human experience; the former containing the primal nature of the Being, and the latter containing the ordering through which identity is formed and art is created. Tragedy, the art form perfectly balancing these two elements was “born” within the conditions of a Dionysian Pessimism, by which the inevitable life of suffering was redeemed aesthetically. Socrates introduced rationality …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1911.

Spinoza On Invidia: A Social Theory Of Anti-Migrant Affect, Kevin Scott Jobe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This paper develops a Spinozist social theory of anti-migrant affect by interpreting contemporary hostility toward immigration through the concept of invidia (envy). Drawing on recent empirical research on ‘superiority-seeking’, whereby individuals derive status utility from excluding others, the paper interprets invidia as an affective hatred of equality. For Spinoza, envy is caused not by actual material loss but from the imagination that misconceives shared goods as exclusive possessions. This social theory of invidia inverts readings that locate envy in migrants themselves, instead arguing that, in Spinoza’s Political Treatise, the democratic multitude harbours invidia against migrants when they are perceived as …

Learning English Through Movies And Tv Series, Zilola Makhmadalieva

Language Study as a Gateway to the Humanities

No abstract provided.

From Central To Refinery: Labor And Hierarchy In The American Sugar Empire (1919-1962), Ben Woloch

History Honors Projects

From 1919 until 1962, the American Sugar Refining Company (ASRC) oversaw an empire, stretching from two Cuban sugar estates (centrales) to its Brooklyn refinery. The relationship between workers at both poles of the ASRC’s empire constituted a transnational labor hierarchy. Divergent management programs at the Brooklyn refinery and the centrales Jaronú and Cunagua confined the workers to distinct social positions. Brooklyn workers pursued labor-management collaboration in support of the sugar industry’s exploitative system, while workers in Cuba reimagined the sugar empire's power structure. The transnational workforce of the ASRC maintained a disunified relationship, which fractured the possibilities of working-class solidarity.

Spring Recital Community School For The Arts: May 3, 2026, Illinois State University School Of Music

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and seventh program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

May 3, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

2:00 p.m.

Ai And E-Commerce: A Comparative Analysis Of Amazon, Jumia, And Alibaba, Lauren Grace Barden

Honors Projects

Globally there is a great divide between consumer acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) and the reluctance of the services due to lack of knowledge on its systems. Major global shopping platform, Amazon has adopted the use of AI into their experiences for upholding their pillars of optimization, utilization, and personalization. In the global e-commerce framework,  adoption of AI has been similarly found also in companies like Alibaba (Chinese-based) and Jumia (Kenyan-based). Though these companies have seen customer satisfaction increase with the availability and quality of the service they provide, it is pertinent to note that there are still underlying issues …

Healing The Gap, Maria Gavriilidou

Honors Projects

This project examines healthcare accessibility in Greece, focusing on the disparities between urban centers and remote island and mountainous communities. It addresses systemic limitations within public healthcare infrastructure, including insufficient facilities, limited medical personnel, and transportation barriers that restrict timely access to medical services. Grounded in personal experience and observational research, particularly from the Cyclades islands and mainland medical contexts, the study highlights how geographic isolation and environmental conditions further intensify these challenges.

The work proposes an architectural response aimed at improving healthcare delivery in underserved regions through the design of sustainable, accessible, and adaptable healthcare facilities. It explores how …

Music As A Pathway To English Learning, Yu (Alice) Wang

Language Study as a Gateway to the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool (Ila 2026 Presentation), Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

This presentation introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a hybrid system for sentence-level propaganda detection that combines offline transformer-based classification with selective large language model (LLM) explainability. The system employs a two-stage pipeline in which a local BERT-based classifier evaluates all input text and filters non-propagandistic content, while only high-confidence candidates are forwarded to an LLM for rhetorical technique labeling and explanation. This design enables cost-aware, privacy-conscious, and scalable analysis by reducing unnecessary reliance on external models.

Propasafe-Hybrid identifies propagandistic techniques such as loaded language, obfuscation, and appeal to fear, and generates concise natural language rationales that make these techniques interpretable to users. By …

Isu String Project Spring Concert: May 2, 2026, Dr. Samuel Chen, Dr. Cora Swenson Lee, Dr. Katherine Lewis, Katelynn Lesinski

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and sixth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

May 2, 2026

Saturday Afternoon

11:00 a.m.

Designing Ai For Wellbeing, Emily Corrigan-Kavanagh

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

Design Knowledge, Paul Hekkert

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

The Megachurch As An Idol: How The Church Replaces God With Itself, Meredith Scheiner

Honors Projects

Megachurches in the United States draw massive crowds, bring in swaths of wealth, and are the locations of many controversies within and outside of the Christian faith. As demonstrated by two theologically divergent megachurches, Lakewood Church run by the Osteen family and First Baptist Church of Dallas lead by Robert Jeffress, the growth and current state of these megachurches is preeminently built upon the marriage of the American Dream and Christianity: resulting in overt or subtextual prosperity theology elements. The rise in Christian book and music industries, and advertising and marketing of products within the church are examples of these …

Learning English Through Music, Rafaela Espindola De Nascimento

Language Study as a Gateway to the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Making As A Method For Knowledge Production, Nithikul Nimkulrat, Camilla Groth

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

Sappho’S Flowers: Lyric Ἄνθεσιν And The Aeolic Dative, Jorge Alejandro Wong Medina

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

The retention of -ss- in the Aeolic dialects implies that Proto-Aeolic had s-stem dative plurals with -ss- (ἄνθεσ-σι). Yet the Lesbian lyric poets only have forms with a single -s- (ἄνθεσι). In an influential study, Morpurgo Davies argued that the ἄνθεσιν-type is native to Lesbian and used these forms as crucial evidence for the simplification of -ss- in Proto-Aeolic. However, a closer look at the epigraphic and literary evidence strongly suggests that ἄνθεσιν in Lesbian lyric is a poetic borrowing from Ionic and that Proto-Aeolic maintained -ss- in the dative plural of the s-stems. These findings have important implications for …

Unmaking And Remaking Crimean Tatar Identity Stalin’S Deportation, Sürgün Stories, And The Claiming Of Indigeneity, Milo A. Clarkson

International Studies Honors Projects

The Crimean Tatars exist within a framework of historical and modern Russian settler colonial oppression. By examining their preferred form of identification, this thesis argues that claiming indigeneity holds promise for combating this colonial structure. Further, it identifies the construction of collective memories of the Sürgün (1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars) in virtual museum project Tamirlar’s oral histories as a form of discursive decolonization—the reclamation of cultural, linguistic, and historical representation and primacy on the land. Novel analysis of fifty interviews with Sürgün survivors preserves indigenous Crimean identity and challenges the retrospective settler colonial construction of Crimea as “Russian.”

An Introduction To East Asian Art: Tour Guide #3, The Year 1591, Victoria Weston

OER Textbooks

Please Note: This tour guide is the third in Victoria Weston's An Introduction to East Asian Art in Three Journeys. To access the full book, visit https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/3/

For the remaining sections, visit:

Guide Part 1: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/4/

Guide Part 2: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/oer_textbooks/5/ This book is an introduction to important art forms practiced in China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan. It is in no way an encyclopedic treatment of the art histories of East Asia. Rather, it is a textbook for a single semester course. Each section is devoted to one year in time and framed by historical factors that naturally encourage comparative …