Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Stanislavski And Operatic Acting: What Caused The Divide Between Stanislavski’S Ideals And The Opera World?, Max Smith

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There is a difference between the realism of acting in opera and in other theatrical art forms. One reason for this might be due to theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski’s ideals not being readily adopted in the opera world. Due to translation and publication issues in both the West and in the USSR, his work on opera has been largely neglected by theatre and opera historians. Certain demands of opera as an art form limit or make more difficult the ability for realism in portraying a character, but Stanislavski and others show that it is possible. A look at literature reflecting …

Designing Intentionally: Color Psychology In Graphic Design, Savannah Jons

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study will explore the role of color in graphic design and the psychological processes behind viewersʼ emotional and perceptual responses. Research will investigate how color psychology is influential on design, how the selection of color guides design appeal, and how it can alter commercial messaging.

What Musical Meaning Does Conducting Gesture Convey, Jacob Benson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research proposal explores the meaning behind conducting gestures and their impact on musicians' interpretations of a piece. The project aims to determine whether individuals, regardless of their musical background, can watch a silent conducting video and infer musical intent based on gestures alone. Inspired by conducting studies, particularly those by Dr. Brian A. Silvey, the researcher will investigate how different conducting styles influence perception and ensemble response. The methodology involves recording a professional conductor during rehearsal and then showing the footage to participants from various skill levels, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members. Participants verbalize …

Reconnecting The Body With Nature: Inspired By Advances In Biomimicry, Elyse M. Orosa

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Reconnecting the Body with Nature: Inspired by Advances in Biomimicry will visually address the symbiotic relationship between nature and humans. The drawing series is inspired by the growing design field of biomimicry and its technological and architectural innovations influenced by nature’s systems and physical adaptations. Just as nature is limited by human misuse, humans are physically and neurologically limited by the state of the environment, and with this, form and function of both nature and humans will be equally represented and explored throughout the body of work presented. Biomimicry can help solve environmental issues such as rising CO2 emissions and …

An Exploration Of The Status And Legacy Of The Latin Language, Jean M. Allison

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Latin language, widely referred to as a "dead language," has historically held a great influence throughout various cultures and dialects, still holding some of this importance in the contemporary world. This project intends to explore these influences, both modern and historical, as well as how the language is now considered dead. A variety of written material spanning several centuries will be utilized to examine these aspects of the project posed within the presented overarching theme. All of the relevant information from these texts will ultimately be summarized and critically detailed within a written report that displays the findings of …

Seminario De Predicación Expositiva Para Los Líderes Del Distrito De Hood River, Oregon, Félix Toribio

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The leaders of the Hood River Adventist Church lack training in expository preaching, which constitutes a significant challenge in this area. With technological advances and access to various digital information sources, the church leaders prepare their sermons using information obtained from the Internet and other digital platforms, without conducting a hermeneutical study of the text.

Methodology

To achieve the central objective of this research, a study was conducted following a quantitative paradigm, using a pretest-posttest design, based on the analysis of biblical literature, the contributions of Ellen G. White, and the work of contemporary authors in the field. This …

Programa Para Fortalecer La Identidad Denominacional Entre Los Jovenes De La Iglesia Adventista Del Septimo Dia De Central Quisqueya En Republica Dominicana, David Alexander Uribe Garabito

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Central Quisqueya Seventh-day Adventist Church has a registered membership of 1,231 individuals, as recorded in the Adventist Church Management System (ACMS), which serves as the church’s official management tool. Of this total, approximately 600 members are active, with 80 being young people between the ages of 18 and 35. This indicates that slightly more than one-eighth of the congregation comprises young people. However, discussions with this group have revealed a considerable lack of understanding regarding the pillars of Adventism. To date, the church has not implemented any seminars or programs specifically designed to deepen young adults’ comprehension of …

Desarrollo E Implementación De Una Estrategia Para Mejorar La Asistencia Y Participación En El Culto Joven De La “Iglesia Nueva”, En La Asociación Central Dominicana, Yoel Lizardo

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The youth service, or “youth society,” of the “Iglesia Nueva” within the Dominican Central Association has experienced low attendance and participation among young adults between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. A preliminary study identified several contributing factors to this situation. These include program content that fails to capture sufficient interest, worship experiences that lack perceived relevance, limited opportunities for young people to discover and exercise their spiritual gifts and talents, a shortage of mentors, and inadequate planning and follow-up in ministry efforts.

Methodology

Theological foundations regarding the principles of youth participation in the church were examined. Contemporary literature …

Slay Her: The Rhetoric Of Violation In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Lea N. Wright

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research draws on feminist theory and monster theory to perform a close rhetorical analysis of incidents in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy) where female characters are violated physically, psychologically, and/or sexually. Buffy is one of the most-analyzed television shows of all time, with a particular emphasis on the show’s engagement with feminism; however, the issue of violation has received little scholarly investigation despite multiple instances of it within the show. Through examining the rhetorical elements (such as dialogue, camerawork, body language, and character response) that surround incidents of violation, this research reveals that Buffy …

Bodies Of Knowledge: The Accuracy Of Medical Anatomical Drawings From The 14th To The 18th Century, Marina G. Mitchell

Honors Undergraduate Theses

From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, European anatomical illustration underwent major transformations in response to changing scientific methods, technologies, and visual conventions, reflecting critical transitions in anatomical history. Scientific evolution allowed these images to achieve increasing structural precision and internal detail, though they frequently diverged from anatomical forms as they are understood today. This study examines how anatomical inaccuracies across five centuries emerged not from ignorance, but from deliberate mediation between purpose, observation, pedagogy, artistic convention, and cultural ideology. Through close analysis of works in visual comparison to their modern counterparts, this thesis identifies specific deviations from the twenty-first …

Intergenerational Bible Study As A Means Of Discipleship At The Waukesha Community Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Myoung Kwon

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Waukesha Community Seventh-day Adventist Church faced a plateau in Bible study engagement. Newly baptized members were disengaging from continuing Bible study and not reproducing disciples, resulting in a spiritual growth process that was minimal and heavily dependent on the pastor.

Method

The DMin student chose action research as a method for developing, implementing, and evaluating an intergenerational Bible study strategy to revitalize discipleship. The three-phase intervention included: (1) a sermon series featuring intergenerational activities to recruit participants; (2) a workshop to equip lay members as Bible study teachers; and (3) an eight-week program with two tracks: a one-on-one …

A Transnational Feast Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe: Globalization, Identity, And Collective Memory In Dodge City, Kansas, David A. Solis-Enriquez

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This work examines the transnational connections of Dodge City’s Mexican immigrants and their celebration of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and how their cross-border activity were parts of larger systems like globalization, identity, and collective memory. With migration into Southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle increasing intensely in the 1980s, because of the economic opportunities that the livestock and meat manufacturing industries offered, Dodge City’s Mexican population reached unprecedented heights. These migration waves mark the starting point of this thesis.

The incoming Mexican population flooded the city’s Catholic facilities, which prompted the community and the local diocese …

Beyond Judicial Intent: The Agency Of The Defense Counsel In Ozawa’S And Thind’S Supreme Court Cases, Bret K. Luchs

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This thesis seeks to examine how specific legal strategies by the defense counsel in Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922), and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), compelled the Supreme Court of the United States into a reactive and contradictory position. A re-examination of Ozawa and Thind delves deeper into the legal briefs and arguments made by Takao Ozawa and Bhagat Singh Thind, alongside their legal teams. These briefs, opinions of the court, past lower court cases, and personal statements by Ozawa and Thind demonstrate how they did not surrender to the confines of …

Signs & Symptoms, Bridget Mara-Williams

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

My body of work centers on verbal and nonverbal communication, and how meaning can be conveyed, distorted, or withheld. Since living in Kansas, I’ve struggled to understand the layers of Midwestern niceness, as I am more accustomed to the directness of the East Coast. Both ways of communication are valid, but often go past each other when put together. In Kansas, East Coast bluntness can appear callous. I've felt more like a Nor’easter, than merely a Northeasterner– disruptive and maybe a little difficult.

The difference has me tuned in to the colloquialisms around me, to phrases that slip by relatively …

Vessel Of Survival, Jonah W. Simmons

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Survival is not innate or effortless, but learned, regulated, and sustained through continuous labor, both visible and unseen. Vessel of Survival is an exploration of the human body as a site of containment, adaptation, and endurance shaped by trauma, systemic pressure, and the conditions of contemporary life. Through ceramic form, ruptured surfaces, photographic imagery and narrative intervention, this work explores how trauma, chronic illness, and socioeconomic systems inscribe themselves onto the body. Within this framework, the body becomes a vessel that continually negotiates fragility and resilience.

This investigation is informed by my diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes, a condition that …

A Cautionary Tale, Holly C. Hendrick

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

A Cautionary Tale presents a series of narrative ceramic sculptures, each functioning as a short story rooted in the realities of contemporary American life. While fictional, these works draw directly from real social and political conditions, including disinformation, systemic corruption, the abuse of power, and the exploitation of the vulnerable. Through symbolic narrative and visual metaphor, each sculpture operates as both story and social critique.

My work merges artistic practice with engagement in contemporary issues, examining how wealth, technology, and ideology shape human behavior and societal structures. I am interested in how harm becomes normalized and how individuals are both …

Exploring Design Tools, Naomi Torgler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For my Honors Research Project, I developed skills to 3D model and render using Rhino 8, Tinkercad and Adobe Illustrator. In the process of developing these skills, I created six digital renderings and one model. The works produced using these software programs are to be used in a developing portfolio to seek future opportunities in the field of architecture.

Throughout this project, I explored connections between different programs when designing and building each piece. This project also reflects my focus in the Sculpture program at the Myers School of Art by considering elements of design in a three-dimensional form. In …

Creativity Through Thought Exercises: Developing A Personal Heuristic For Choreographic Decision-Making, Jalisa R. Johnson

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis explores the development of a personal set of heuristics, or accessible thought tools, that can be used in choreographic or creative decision-making. Through an in-depth study of the visual art of Romare Bearden paired with an evaluation of patterns of the author’s personal history, three tools or “dials” emerge: derealization, contextuality and inversion. A close study of Bearden’s work demonstrates a pattern of repurposing and distorting ideas in ways consistent with the three dials. The author found similar patterns emerge in an excavation of her personal narrative, indicative of a cyclical and prophetic re-imagining of previous life experiences. …

Open Casket: The Black Press And The Unmasking Of America, Clarence J. Hood

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

The Speculative Mode Of The Image: Destabilizing Reality In Crash, Invisible Man, And Beloved, Steven Connors

Open Access Dissertations

In an exploration of the dimensions of speculative fiction, which is a prominent cultural and academic apparatus wanting definition in the twenty-first century, this dissertation examines the speculative mode of the image in various transatlantic novels, ranging from J. G. Ballard’s Crash to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man to Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The image in itself is a multivalent term that warrants analysis. As a concept, the abstract nature of the image serves to destabilize reality. It is always in conversation with the notions of reality. Indeed, images inform our senses of reality. In part, they constitute our social forms. …

Restructuring Actor Training For Psychological Wellbeing, Caroline C. Byce

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis highlights the importance of performer mental health as it relates to performance pedagogy. Based on a comprehensive review of traditional western actor training methods, survey data, and interviews, this research proposes a framework through which educators, directors, and performers alike can acknowledge both the artistic value and psychological harm prevalent in many prominent acting techniques. The insights put forth by this thesis extend beyond theatre acting and into television and film acting respectively, culminating in a series of practical steps -transferrable to any medium - for implementing a restructured and more human-centered approach to classrooms, workshops, and rehearsal …

The Long Shadow Of The Boys In Blue: Civil War Memory & The Evolution Of Veteran Identity In Twentieth Century Pennsylvania, Alexander L. Barbolish

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a case study of the transformation of veteran identity and civic culture in Northeastern Pennsylvania, tracing the profound shifts in the way Americans remembered war, commemorated sacrifice, and defined what it meant to be a veteran, from the turn of the twentieth century to the dawn of World War II. By examining the complex interactions and relationships between three distinct and overlapping generations of veterans—those of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I—this study argues that veteran identity was neither static nor monolithic, but was continually renegotiated through commemorative practice, organizational culture, and public …

Re-Sense, Nneoma Njoku

Theses and Dissertations

Re-Sense examines artist’s books as perceptual tools capable of reshaping how readers encounter history, memory, and archival absence. Beginning with the idea that books teach us how to know and how to see, the text argues that conventional book structures often reinforce Western knowledge systems through overemphasis of linearity, coherence, and containment. In contrast, artist’s books' experimental structures support novel modes of knowing and relation to ourselves and the world of humans and non-humans. The author describes this process of exhuming perception from Western constraints as re-sensing.

Through re-sensing, the historical past becomes less like a fixed record and more …

In Search Of The Soul Of Creativity: Authorship, Agency, And Meaning In Refractive Collaboration With Generative Ai, Fatima Nazir

Theses and Dissertations

When images can be generated in seconds, what remains uniquely human in the act of creation? In Search of the Soul of Creativity: Authorship, Agency, and Meaning in Refractive Collaboration with Generative AI investigates where authorship, agency, and meaning reside within design practices mediated by generative AI. Rather than using AI to produce predictable results, this research deliberately relinquishes control to observe how generative systems interpret language through their own learned associations. Through a practice-led investigation across four generative models within the Higgsfield platform, user prompts were progressively shortened from full sentences to single words, revealing recurring patterns and cultural …

The Ethereal Being That Is Me, And Maybe You, Hwiy Chang

Theses and Dissertations

The Ethereal Being That Is Me, and Maybe You is a 23-minute video collection of short stories accompanied by an installation at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. This thesis explores the work’s creation as a visual and narrative meditation on self-transformation, drawing from personal experiences in therapy and philosophical texts including Carl Jung’s concept of the unconscious. The paper examines how each story represents a distinct stage of transformation—from recognizing patterns to confronting setbacks to reshaping internal dialogue—and how watercolor’s fluid, unpredictable nature serves as a visual metaphor for the process of change. The installation component …

A Mutant Perfect, Amelia R. Baxter

Theses and Dissertations

A Mutant Perfect examines how embodied knowledge can be made visible and transmissible through ceramic figures. The research asks what forms emerge when making is understood as a mode of thinking rather than a vehicle for pre-formed ideas, and how those forms might activate somatic recognition in a viewer. The primary method is coil-built ceramic sculpture. Color is applied in layered coats and removed by hand-sanding to expose varying strata beneath, producing a speckled, worn surface. In a second approach, pigment is built directly into the clay body through coil construction, making color structural rather than applied. Narrative prose and …

Walking And Wondering, Helen T. Tran

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis approaches walking as a form of inquiry and the Flood Wall as a site open to reinterpretation. I believe that the way we walk changes the way we observe and experience the world around us. This contrast between purposeful and leisurely walking reveals how time and intention shape our awareness of space. When walking is no longer dictated by urgency, it invites observations and questions. Slowing our pace allows curiosity to emerge, which aligns with my design ethos of asking questions as a foundation for understanding and creating meaningful experiences.

The Flood Wall’s emphasis on uninterrupted movement prioritizes …

In-Between Echoes, Jiayi Liang

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore memory, diaspora, labor, and intergenerational trauma through constructed photography and experimental film. Informed by Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the Third Space, I examine how identity is shaped through displacement, cultural negotiation, and inherited memory. Drawing from my relationship with my grandmother and my experience as a Chinese woman living in diaspora, I consider labor as both survival and care, tracing how domestic gestures and emotional structures continue across generations. Through collage, reconstruction, and animation, I rework fragments of family archives, colonial landscape imagery, and personal photographs to address grief, racialized perception, belonging, and the …

Analyzing Early Medieval Perspectives Of Fetal Development, Nivedha Srinivasan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines early medieval perspectives of fetal development by analyzing two manuscripts: British Library, Cotton Tiberius A III and Leiden University, Vossianus lat. Q69. This study will investigate how knowledge of pregnancy was shared throughout England before the establishment of universities. Interest in medieval reproductive language has piqued in importance in recent years, especially due to modern legal debates surrounding reproductive rights. By examining descriptions of the nine months of fetal development in these two manuscripts, as well as in widely known earlier medical texts like Pliny’s Natural History and Vindicianus’ Gynaecia, this research explores how monastic writers in …

Who Cares? A Critique Of Digital Classrooms In K–12 Education And What It Means For Students And Teachers, Jade R. Mccobb-Pratt

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis presents a critical analysis of digital classrooms, i.e., pre-made digital curriculum modules being used in in-person K–12 schools as a replacement for face-to-face instruction. By applying Martin Heidegger’s critique of modern technology, I will demonstrate that digital classrooms fundamentally alter the traditional classroom structure, centering it around domination and exploitation. I will expand Heidegger’s critique by drawing on Albert Borgman’s work to explain how digital classrooms commodify education, thus removing the possibility of a meaningful and enriching educational experience. These critiques run parallel to Michel Foucault’s critiques of discipline in schools. I will recount Foucault’s critiques, apply them …