Systems Of Survivance: Exploring Armenia's Ancient Past Through Dungeons & Dragons, Jango Janigian

English Honors Theses

Systems of Survivance: Exploring Armenia’s Ancient Past Through Dungeons and Dragons is an English Honors and Classics undergraduate thesis that brings the hidden voices of Armenia’s past into dialogue with the present. Opening with an exploration of D&D and a reflection on the field of Ancient Studies from an Armenian-American perspective, Janigian questions the priorities of “Classics” and its amplification of Eurowestern voices. This thesis draws inspiration from the fantasy anthology Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, where a team of writers tell folkloric stories of their cultures through a D&D setting and adventure. Likewise, Janigian provides scholars and tabletop …

Women In War In The Ancient Middle East, Margaret E. Kimbro, Margaret Kimbro

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women are often overlooked as contributors in conflict and warfare throughout time, both modern and ancient. Women in positions of authority through politics, religion, or both contributed to the management of conflict and warfare through propaganda, political ritual, and direct involvement in the army. This thesis focuses on five different women from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Syria beginning in the 2200s BCE to the height of the Roman Empire. It focuses on the utilization of primary sources such as translated writings, statues, art and iconography, and documentation of the works of these women. Women’s contributions continue to be overlooked or erased …

The Use And Implications Of The Visual Presentation In The 2024 Presidential Debates, Emma L. Rasmussen

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this study, the two 2024 presidential debates were analyzed for a variety of different trends including: who was on screen, the different camera shots used, and camera movement. Looking specifically at who was on screen, coding counted the moderators, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris. Six different camera shot types were also analyzed including: wide-overview shot, split-screen format, single medium shot, two-shot head on, two-shot low camera angle, and two shot high-camera angle. Camera movement behaviors were: counterclockwise motion, clockwise motion, zoom-in, zoom-out, and no movement. Video formats of the 2024 CNN and ABC debates were run through …

For You, By Who? Undergraduate Students Enacting Critical Digital Literacy With The Tiktok "For You Page" Algorithm., Rachel Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores undergraduate students’ digital literacy practices and algorithmic beliefs and awareness on algorithmically driven social media platforms like the TikTok For You Page (FYP). TikTok is a very successful social media platform with over 135 million users in the U.S. alone, nearly half of the U.S. population (Statista, 2025a). Central to TikTok’s popularity and success is its unique technological infrastructure, specifically the underlying algorithm of the FYP that shapes user experience. With a mixed-methods approach, I utilize survey data and text-based interviews (Prior, 2004) to examine participants’ experiences on the TikTok FYP. Drawing on a technofeminist methodology (Wacjman, …

Everything And Nothing Found In The House Of Leaves: A Multiliterate Analysis Of Multimodal Writing., Jennings Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The postmodern horror novel House of Leaves engages in a bevy of discourses across the humanities, a complex work that invites readers to engage with several multimodal forms of reading and writing to experience it fully. This thesis hopes to explore the novel’s place in various sites of discourse including film theory, philosophy, and horror genre theory; applying a multiliterate perspective to the work to study how the novel encourages multimodal and multiliterate thinking by applying studies of typography, experimental literature, and literary ontology. This thesis will emphasize a filmic analysis of text-within-text The Navidson Record, to address a …

From Slaveship To Championship: Pan-Africanism, The Black Atlantic, And Reframing The Rumble In The Jungle., Garret S. Mccorkle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “Rumble in the Jungle” is often remembered as Muhammad Ali’s triumphant return to boxing glory, yet its deeper historical and cultural context remains understudied. This thesis reframes the 1974 heavyweight championship in Zaire as a global spectacle shaped by Pan-Africanism and Paul Gilroy’s theory of the Black Atlantic. More than a fight, it was a performance of Black identity, unity, and cultural return. However, this work argues that these themes—though deeply meaningful to many—were also strategically deployed by figures like Don King and Mobutu Sese Seko for promotional and financial gain. Through an analysis of marketing materials, fighter personas, …

The Ten Commandments Goes Hollywood: A Century's Film Adaptations Of The Moses Narrative As Reflections Of American Culture., Aaron Nusz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the various film adaptions that the American Hollywood has released about the Biblical character Moses. The scope of this examination is limited to theatrical releases from Hollywood in English, which spans roughly 100 years of history. Each of the five films examined in this dissertation represents a different period in American culture, and all are from a different film genre. Starting with The Ten Commandments (1923) which represents the silent-film era of Hollywood, to the 2014 blockbuster Exodus: Gods and Kings, the film industry has continued to produced films which examine the life and deeds of Moses …

Gastropoda A Song Cycle In 7 Movements For 10 Musicians., Jonathan Krueger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Inspired by Gnostic myth, biosemiotic forms and Basilides of Alexandria's Seven Sermons to The Dead, Gastropoda tells a creation myth of the opposite yet complementary processes of birth and consumption. The subject of the myth, an unnamed Gastropod, is thrust from the formless ocean to a land more differentiated; full of boundaries and obstacles which obscure the source from wence it came. Through communion with the darkest and lightest aspects of this world, a worm-like entity known as Abraxas, the Gastropod follows two separate yet simultaneous sequences of events that lead to the same essential outcome. One is the path …

Necessitating Autonomy: Performing Black Womanhood., Krystal Chavonne Waller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the ways in which Black womanhood should autonomously be represented on the stage and/or the screen. By defining the theories of Black Feminist Thought, Black Performance, Trap Feminism and Sankofa, I create a praxis that provides Black femme performers with tools for authentic characterization. By acknowledging and respecting that Black women are not monolithic, this thesis also explores the evolution of theatrical representations of Black Womanhood—particularly U.S. Black womanhood from the late 19^th century to modern day. Using historical narrative, analysis, acting techniques learned during my MFA program, and personal reflection, I advocate for Black women …

Black Childhood In Focus: Counter-Histories Of Black Urban Childhood In Preserve The Baltimore Uprising, A 21st Century Digital Participatory Archive., Ameena Basheera X Ruffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the (mis)representation of Black urban childhood in the United States and proposes a framework for Black children’s inclusion in historical narratives. Black children have been excluded from constructs of childhood innocence, justifying violence against Black children and perpetuating anti-Black social hierarchies. This study builds on the work of Saidiya Hartman, advocating for a critical approach to studying, archiving, and understanding Black childhood through the lenses of region, race, age, and gender. Using the participatory digital archive Preserve the Baltimore Uprising as a case study, the research explores Black children’s presence and contributions during the 2015 Baltimore Uprising. …

A Black Sherlock Holmes: An Exploration Of Nonconforming Characterization., Faith Janaye Artis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of diversity initiatives in the greater American theatre landscape, we are now including more Black actors than ever. Whether that be through the inclusion of diverse playwrights or implementing new casting protocols, we now have Black people in the room. However, when portraying the Black “version” of a character (i.e. Black Annie, Black Ariel, Black Juliet) a question still plagues the Black Actor’s mind: how am I meant to fit here? I evaluate my process of portraying Sherlock Holmes as my thesis role. By challenging the implied white perspective in this “universal” story (despite its feminist retelling), …

Demon In The Dark: A Collection Of Short Stories., Giovanna Claudia Burkett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This creative thesis is a collection of short stories revolving around themes of grief, isolation, and survivor’s guilt. Each story is standalone even though they share overlapping motifs, as well as having a few references within the same universe. These protagonists often appear to be unreliable narrators, though the amount of reliability they depict should be determined by the reader. The protagonists encounter situations that cause them to question their own sanity and make them relive their greatest fears and confront traumatic memories, which may serve as a connection to the supernatural elements within the stories. Settings within each story …

Creating New Points Of Access: How Integrating Black Acting Methods Strengthens The Western Theatre Canon., Darrin Edward Dispenza-Mosley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Western acting techniques have historically disregarded the contributions and techniques of black and non-Western performance to the detriment of black actors. This disregard has created barriers for black actors when engaging in what has now become standard theatre training. This training is enforced by implementation of acting techniques in academia that favor codified techniques of Eurocentric acting. Despite black acting techniques being codified and taught within the black community and academia, outside of a few historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), predominately white academia has implemented valuable training methods that black/African American Acting techniques can offer. By looking at American …

Untitled: Study., Annabela Cockrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Untitled: Study is an exploration into “The Work”, which is a constant evolution of the idea of the same piece. Every new work is an evolution of the one before. Previous works are often reworked and self-cannibalized into the next generation. The Work will never be presented the same way twice. There is a temporality in making and installing the work this way, what with the form, the space, the ness of it never being the same. All the while conflicting by being viewed as being the same in the same breath.

Light Without Memory., John Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collective work and thesis sought to remedy a fragmented sense of self in the wake of addressing trauma (Personal and generational) through therapy and diagnosis. Visualizing the experience of isolation and loss through deterioration of gelatin and pixels, it exposes the fragility of memory and our tools of preservation in the presence of time. While the images of my family, past and present, cannot speak, they can activate memory evoking a desire to foster relationships with those closest to us. As I explore my identity through family photographs, I find myself embodied within them. Fragments of a whole, bound …

A Sacrifice On The Altar Of Unity: The Loss Of Black Identity In The Unification Of Kynett And Lagrange First Umc., Rebecca Sue Wishnevski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the 1996 merger of Kynett United Methodist Church, a historically Black church, and LaGrange First United Methodist Church, a traditionally White church in LaGrange, Kentucky. The study provides insight into nonurban Black churches, showing that while they may have smaller congregations in smaller towns, the Black church remains central to Black life and connection like its urban contemporaries. Methods for collecting primary source material relied heavily on oral histories performed by the researcher with Black and White individuals attending said churches and their experiences during the merger. The study reveals that although unification promised a modern building …

The Light Farm., John Wrestling Brewster Clay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Light Farm is a creative examination of the convergence and divergence of truth and meaning, told in a collection of three short stories that both supplements, and is supplemented by a thesis exhibition of fine art. These stories are told using an episodic format that facilitates world building across time periods, while the sculptures, photographs, and text within the exhibition function as a physical entry point into a space in which the line between fact and fiction is tested. The impetus for this project was a lifelong interest in the disorderly confluence of corporatism, power, mortality, morality, human potential, …

The Marginality Of Women In Narratives: Reflections On Iranian Women's Struggles Through Saeed Roustayi's Films, Narges Azami

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Using the concept of intersectionality, this thesis explores how women are marginalized in three post-revolutionary Iranian films (made after 1979), directed by Saeed Roustayi. In these three films, Life and a Day (2016), Just 6.5 (2019), and Leila’s Brothers (2022), the intersectional lens helps investigate how different types of oppression, such as gender and class, often come together to affect women’s lives. In the analysis, four main themes emerge, including emotional labor, symbolic erasure, limited visibility, and intersectional oppression. Roustayi’s films point out how systems like patriarchy, poverty, and tradition hold women back. The study also explains how multiple social …

Exploring Spatial Arrangements And Smart Technology To Manage Cognitive Load In Kitchens For Aging In Place, Monique Chabot

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

Older adults undergo natural physiological changes in various physical and cognitive functions, including balance, strength, memory, attention, and executive functioning. Memory, attention, and executive functioning integrate to form functional cognition, a skill that allows people to safely and efficiently complete daily tasks. Functional cognition is integral to the ability to age in place and is sensitive to demands in the environment. While a decline in some cognitive functions is expected with age, it is not typically observable except in the presence of pathological conditions or situations of cognitive overload from complex tasks or high environmental demands.

Older adults have identified …

Grief Is Isolating. The Elegy Is Not: An Exploration Of Loss And Grief In Poems, Jennifer Terry

All Theses

Grief is a messy, complicated process, one that can be all-consuming and isolating after a loss. Victoria Chang’s poetry in Obit and Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things both explore loss and grief by using forms and free verse to characterize the stakes that come with a loved one’s decline and the aftermath of death. Michelle Zauner’s memoir, Crying in H Mart does similar work through the use of poetic elements in the memoir form. In my collection, Elegies of Home, I encounter the same struggles like the loss of identity, loss of a parent, and use the elegy as …

“More Than What [They] Made Us To Be”: From Passing To Perception In Victorian And Modern Vampire Media, Lauren Sieberg

English (MA) Theses

Throughout Victorian Gothic horror fiction, vampires function as deviant figures, maneuvering within social confines of passing until their status quo-threatening identity is exposed. Of the popular vampires from this period, most gradually fail to maintain status as social insiders—as demonstrated with Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, who possess the temporary capacity to pass until their hidden monstrosity is revealed over time. Even if Gothic monsters are confined to a limited space and time far from society, this is still not enough; in accordance with the Victorian culture of morality policing by dominant groups, the vampiric Other …

Curated: The Impact Of Architectural Sequence On The Journey Through The Art Museum, Zairis Padilla

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The museum is a culturally significant institution used for learning, thought, and contemplation from its conceptualization in The Enlightenment Movement of the 17th century. The art museum has the potential to create a powerful relationship between the art and the architecture that houses it. The architecture of an art museum becomes a critical participant in the experience of art and affects the spaces in a dramatic way. If the art or architecture overpowers the other, the user experience is impacted; therefore, the connection created between the two within the museum is one of great importance. When a symbiotic connection, or …

All Mud In The End: Exploring Registration Between Handcraft And Digital Craft Through Ceramic 3d Printing, Emily Kloostra

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this research was to investigate the possible interconnections between handcrafted objects and digital fabrication technologies, specifically in ceramic 3D printing workflows. Digital fabrication tools have advanced rapidly in recent years, raising questions about the role handcraft can still play in the making of objects and buildings. While many artistic endeavors have investigated how far digital technology can be pushed, this study was focused on bringing handcrafted objects back into the conversation. Specifically, it sought to understand how irregular, handcrafted objects may be registered in the digital space and then used in 3D printing processes.

The study used …

One-To-One Chromebook Best Practices In Secondary-Level English Language Arts Classrooms, Jonathan M. Cook

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This hermeneutic phenomenological study aims to examine the lived experiences of secondary-level English Language Arts (ELA) teachers to better understand what, if any, best practices exist for the use of one-to-one Chromebooks in these teachers’ classrooms. Seventeen participants agreed to be interviewed for this study. All participants had at least two years of teaching experience and at least two years of Chromebook experience. Interviews took place over Zoom and were digitally recorded. Five common themes emerged from these collected data: 1) the importance of training; 2) the frequently problematic oversight from administrators; 3) the overall lack of innovation in classroom …

An Exploration In Using Aesthetic Creative Modalities In Professional Supervision, Linda Young

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the integration of aesthetic and creative modalities into professional supervision, traditionally dominated by conversation-based methods. Drawing on over thirty years of experience in education, ministry, and supervision, it addresses the need for more creative, diverse, expressive, and reflective tools to be used in professional supervision practice. The study proposes a theoretically and theologically grounded curriculum to equip supervisors in postgraduate training with creative approaches that enrich learning, insight, and practice within the evolving landscape of professional supervision in Australia.

Critical Period Constraints And Learning Strategies: Balancing Incidental And Intentional Vocabulary Acquisition In Japanese Second Language Acquisition, Emma Ward

Honors College Theses

The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) supposes there is a biologically determined window during which language acquisition occurs most efficiently. This theory has profound implications for Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, suggesting the timing of language learning can significantly impact one's ability to achieve native-like proficiency. As vocabulary acquisition is a fundamental aspect of language learning, understanding how to optimize learning strategies within the constraints imposed by the critical period is essential for maximizing language learning outcomes. The Japanese language, with its complex writing systems and unique syntactic structures, presents significant challenges for learners, especially those who begin learning the language …

Telling Their Stories: Contextualizing The Narrative, Legal Atmosphere, And Need For Individualized Care For Human Trafficking Victims, Joy M. Brown

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Though known in name, human trafficking is a silent plague that often goes unseen. Its prevalence is rendered invisible by both the circumstances in which trafficking occurs and the correlation it possesses with other criminal matters. Human trafficking is a deeply individual crime that is multi-layered, and thus is one that requires unique legislation. This essay seeks to ignite clarity as to what prevention, rehabilitation, and healing look like for victims of human trafficking via interviews with providers of legal and social services for survivors. Building on the content of these interviews and my own experience as a direct-care volunteer …

The Evolution Of Dental Aesthetics: An Artistic And Cultural Journey Through History And Race, Naya L. Weems

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis explores the intersection of art, dentistry, race, and healthcare through a critical analysis of how visual culture has shaped societal perceptions of dental aesthetics from antiquity to the modern day. Beginning with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Renaissance anatomical drawings, the study traces how artistic portrayals of teeth evolved into tools of both medical education and social hierarchy. Particular attention is given to the racialization of dental aesthetics, examining how caricatures, colonial pseudoscience, and exclusionary marketing practices contributed to enduring stereotypes and disparities in oral healthcare. Through the lens of cultural symbols like grills—once markers of status among Etruscans, …

The Space Between: Engaging And Withholding The Self, Maya Mcdonald

All Theses

This thesis, The Space Between: Engaging and Withholding the Self, documents my journey in understanding the self through the act of oil-painted self-portraiture. Through an exploration of eye contact, body language, non-performative representations of self, and the tension between engagement and detachment, this body of work examines the complexities of visibility, agency, and self-perception. Using my own body as both subject and metaphor, I investigate the interplay between revealing and withholding, questioning the boundaries between what is seen and what remains obscured. Blending classical figure painting techniques with abstracted elements, my work engages in a dialogue between tradition and …

Untethered And Unraveled: Isolated Motherhood In The Liminal Stage, Ashton K. Wronikowski

All Theses

In examining Kate Chopin’s The Awakening alongside anthropologic theories of liminality, this paper examines the becoming women traverse as they transition between various social roles: girl, woman, mother. Edna is a maternal character attempting to unweave herself from her roles as mother and wife, and she finds this desire to go backwards to the freedom she experienced as a girl is proven to be impossible. The unmooring of her psyche and her subsequent suicide is indicative of a failure, not of her own accord, but in the social preparation and support she receives within her new identity. Social anthropologists further …