Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Common Threads: An Examination Of Common Threads Of Design Value, Woven Together By Designers To Achieve Elevated Products Across Disciplines, Laura Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Though what defines good design is subject to personal opinion, some objectivity of good design in existing products is mutually and consistently recognized by design professionals, the business sector, and the consumer public. Despite the complexity of defining good design, there clearly exist measurable, objective, common threads of design value which create elevated designs, across disciplines, which are identifiable and accepted by those within and beyond design professions.

By first examining over 100 contemporary product designs and identifying measurable, objective commonalities which elevate them, this thesis then individually examines and outlines ten categories of common design values. Once these design …

Public Art And Land Value: Spatial Relationships In Denver, Colorado, Nicholas Decker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Public art is justified and sold based on a variety of purported public benefits, including spatial identity, enhanced use, and improved value. Very little research has been done to quantify these or any other large-scale impacts. In this study, the relationships between land value and public art are examined. Denver, Colorado was chosen as the area of study due to its extensive library of accessible data and its active public art program.

ArcGIS is used as an analytical tool to investigate these relationships. Public art data was obtained from Denver's GIS database and edited according to factors important to the …

Graphic Memoir As A Tool For Imaginative Leaping, Shay Larsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The idea for this capstone was sparked in the last semester of my third year of undergraduate research at Utah State University. I had been researching the ways in which creative nonfiction writers approached the realm of surreality in their work with my honors contract advisor, Dr. Jennifer Sinor. Sinor herself had written a piece ("Holes in the Sky") that dealt heavily in abstractions paralleled with the works of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. While discussing the difficulties of expressing surreality in writing I made an offhand comment along the lines of "makes you wish you'd been a painter instead of …

How Combining Constructivism And Open Source Code Can Open New Realms For Interactive Sculpture, Janell Angela Amely

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper establishes a philosophical link between Constructivism, open source code practices, and interactive artworks. Although the traditional way to teach art can be considered highly constructivist in nature, there are very few published papers that provide a direct link. My motivation for writing this paper is to provide that direct link, as well as to point out how open source code practices can be though of with a constructivist viewpoint by artists. I first describe and define Constructivism, open source code, and interactive sculpture. Then using constructivist terms and ideas I describe the design and programming with open source …

Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language: A Foreigner's Perspective, Frederick J. Poole

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio reflects the author’s beliefs on effective methods for teaching Chinese as a second language. The first section includes the author’s teaching philosophy, which focuses on communicative language teaching, developing literacy, integrating culture into instruction, and employing technology to facilitate learning. Following the teaching philosophy are three artifacts that were written throughout the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. First, the language artifact presents a study conducted by the author regarding three different approaches to teaching beginners of Chinese. Second, the literacy artifact is a proposal for a study that examines the effect of reading Chinese via an …

Understanding Second-Person Point Of View In Fiction, Anastasia L. Hawke

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis consists of a critical introduction followed by a short story and reflection. The critical introduction introduces and analyzes second-person point of view. The first section establishes a working definition for second-person narrative and maps out its unique relationship between narrator, protagonist, and reader. The second section explores the way second-person point of view is taught. The third and last section of the critical introduction focuses on the effects second-person point of view has on fiction narratives.

The short fiction “Pregnancy and Other Dysfunctions” following the critical introduction demonstrates a narrative effectively using second-person point of view. It follows …

Youll Find Out Here Pretty Soon I Have Ptsd Examining How A Vietnam Veteran Copes With Trauma, Matthew L. Stockett

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis is rooted in understanding trauma. Through a series of interviews with Zach Stockett, my grandfather and medical helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, I identify his unique coping strategies. Zach uses humor, religious beliefs, and his ability to contribute meaningfully to the war effort to cope with the traumas he experienced. I drew from trauma theorists such as Maurice Halbwachs, Dori Laub, Cathy Caruth, Ruth Leys, Dominik LaCapra, and Marianne Hirsch to build a framework for understanding the different aspects of trauma that Zach experiences. On a personal level, these interviews provide insight into my own personal identity …

Repeated Impressions, Shasta Krueger

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

MFA Shasta Krueger Creative Project

The Effect Of Medium On Perceived Authenticity In Graphic Design, Micah Joseph Bauer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Micah Bauer MFA Creative Project

Cumulus Accumulate, Suzanne Marie Fluty

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Suzanne Fluty MFA Creative Project

Irradicable, Katharina Erika Marchant

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Katherina Marchant MFA Creative Project

Image Object - New Works In Stone And Wood, Audrey Shakespear

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Audrey Shakespear MFA Creative Project

Those Who See: Emily Dickinsons And May Swensons Poetic Language Of Spiritual And Scientific Possibility, Samantha Latham

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Emily Dickinson and May Swenson are major American poets who use scientific language in order to explore the productive tension developed when core spiritual beliefs are challenged by new scientific observations and theories. Rather than shrink from the uncertainty resulting from the challenge to faith posed by Darwin in nineteenth-century America, Dickinson and Swenson blend scientific and spiritual language to move beyond the binary opposition often seen as separating these discourses. Dickinson responds most immediately to the advent of Darwinian thought, while Swenson builds on the work of Dickinson as she examines twentieth-century scientific discoveries ranging from the microscopic (the …

Navigating The Outdoor Recreation Folk Group: A Functional Analysis Of The Personal Narrative, Lori Lee

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Among the participants of the outdoor recreation folk group, or people who participate regularly in human-powered outdoor recreation as a lifestyle, personal narratives are an integral and integrated part of interaction. This group is particularly rife with stories, because in the natural order of their lifestyle they regularly engage in activities filled with adventure and challenge. As members of this folk group engage in recreation together they share their personal narratives because it is the common tie between them, not only in interest, but in current participation and thus natural conversation. This common and simple tie sets the stage perfectly …

I Know You Are But What Am I?, David Kern Cahoon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

David Cahoon MFA Creative Project

A Place For The Personal: Autobiographical Literary Criticism Through The Lens Of Transformative Learning, Jennifer Scucchi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Up through the 1980s, literary criticism scholarship had been primarily defined by New Criticism, an ideology which suggests that the approach to literary studies should be objective, focused solely on the text itself, and should not take into consideration authorial intent or readers’ response. While this approach to literary studies seems practical in undergraduate literature courses in which students are still learning how to read literature, excluding different approaches to reading, understanding, and writing about literature can and does have inadvertent consequences. Although literary scholarship has been increasingly welcoming of alternative forms of literary criticism since the 1980s, including cultural …

Flipping The Latin Classroom, Alicia Leitch

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In a rapidly changing and increasingly technology-dependent world, instructors in higher education are often confronted with challenges and opportunities unfamiliar to their predecessors of only twenty years ago. Students and instructors have instant access to more and better information than ever before. Ebooks, Youtube, video conferencing, and online research databases allow modern students to learn many subjects with little more than their smart phone. While the internet provides nearly unlimited learning potential, most students flooding into universities are more familiar with checking their phones than checking out library books, creating an inherent divide between how most subjects have been traditionally …

An Analysis Of Hegemony In Lds Discourse On Motherhood, Erin Sorensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Like many Mormon women in America, I was told from the time I was a young girl I would get married, have children, be a perfect homemaker, and live happily ever after. At least that was the story presented to me at church and at home. From the time Mormon children are in Primary (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [or LDS church] children’s organization for children ages 18 months to 11 years old) they are taught the importance of family and the different roles of mothers and fathers through songs and lessons. In Young Women’s (the LDS …

Reimagining The Rhetorical Canons For Professional Communication Pedagogy, Jocelin A. Gibson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

One of the most significant challenges for professional communication educators is identifying and providing the skills students need to succeed in their careers. The rapidly evolving professional landscape complicates this identification; the skills a college student needs when she enters the program could be dramatically different from what she needs when she graduates. A crucial change in the past decade is the shift from a largely solo composing environment to one featuring distributed work, in which professional communicators “find themselves becoming "dividuals" – one part writer, one part project manager, one part programmer, one part student”; this has them involved …

Killer Fandoms Crime-Tripping & Identity In The True Crime Community, Naomie Barnes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

During Ted Bundy’s 1979 murder trial in Miami, Florida, a “steady and unusual string of spectators” filled the courtroom and lined up outside (“Ted Bundy Groupies” 1979). News reels from the trial show that these spectators were young women around same age as the two sorority sisters Bundy was accused of murdering the year before. Though some of the women admitted to being afraid or unnerved by Bundy, they also admitted that they were fascinated by him, even if they were unsure as to why. Similar cases of attraction to the spectacle surrounding serial and mass murderers shroud killers such …

I No Longer Hear The Wind, Robert Tyson Steele

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

I No Longer Hear the Wind is a collection of poetry that explores an unnamed narrator's relationship with nature and civilization. The poems follow this narrator through his fragmented journey of trying to find nature in its most authentic form. As the narrator jumps in and out of civilization, he realizes that he ultimately cannot find nature, even in the most wild of places. Understanding this dilemma, the narrator seeks to connect with society while simultaneously avoiding, resisting, and even undermining civilization, technology, and authority.

The collection draws its influence from nature poets like Rumi, Whitman, Thoreau, and many others …

The Importance Of Appearances In Literature: What Does It Mean To Be A Redhead In Literature?, Chelsea J. Anderson

Honors Theses

In literature, appearances always seem to play a major part of each character. The physical descriptions of each character are important to the development of the story. Therefore, it seems that a character’s physical appearance becomes an important part of character development, and his/her physical traits help to determine the type of character he/she will be. Often times, different hair colors carry associations along with them. Redheads have been associated with certain temperaments and personality traits throughout history. In literature, red-headed characters often have the temperaments, traits, and negative connotations associated with redheads. One of the major assumptions made about …

An Analysis Of The Factors That Influence Ethnic Conflict And Minority Violence In The Western Balkans, Druanna M. Mozingo

Honors Theses

This research project explores factors affected levels of ethnic violence in the Western Balkans in the 1990’s. What caused the violent outbreak and further spread of civil unrest of the different ethnic groups, culminating in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990’s? Following a comparative analysis format, this project analyzes secondary sources such as government documents, reports by international human rights organizations and theoretical work from the field of international relations to help answer this question. While there are many factors that influence ethnic conflict and minority violence, NATO influence seemed to have the most impact in this area. The main …

“Forget The Old . . . The New Wonder Woman Is Here”: The New Wonder Woman And The Feminist Movement, 1968-1972, Kristi N. Fleetwood

Honors Theses

In 1968, Wonder Woman gives up her powers and embraces her human identity as Diana Prince. Powerless, she learns martial arts and continues to fight. The majority of discussion surrounding the Diana Prince era—Wonder Woman #178-204—argues for the period as embracing anti-feminist sentiment. This analysis of the Diana Prince era argues that the portrayal of Diana Prince without her superhero persona aligns with the ideals of the 1970s feminist movement. By incorporating general themes and ideas of feminism, the comic portrays Diana Prince in a feminist light throughout the comic. Even though her powers are striped, she is able …

The Impact Of The Civil Rights Movement On The Advertising Industry, Alexandra B. Bosarge

Honors Theses

Racism has a history in the United States of America that is also manifested in popular culture. Advertising is included in this idea of popular culture. This thesis focused on the advertising industry and the attempt of that industry to use African Americans to sell products to people. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not the Civil Rights Movement affected the way the advertising industry used images of African Americans for marketing purposes. A sample of advertisements was obtained from a newspaper and magazines in order to further analyze the hypothesis. This study contributes to the …

The Modern And The Celestial: Re-Imagining Hawthorne’S ‘The Celestial Railroad’, Connor J. Bell

Honors Theses

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s commentary through his works of fiction are said to be timeless. However, what would his fiction look like in response to the direction that society has taken since he has passed? This thesis seeks to illustrate Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sentiments in regards to modern society. Through close analysis of Hawthorne’s works, his life, and his morals, his ideas have been illustrated in a contemporary reimagining of one of Hawthorne’s most profound satires, “The Celestial Railroad.” In this re-write, modern technologies and mentalities are brought into consideration in accordance to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ideals.

St. John Chrysostom's And Philip Melanchthon's Views Of Justification (Δικαιωσις) In St. Paul's Epistles, With Special Attention To How Their Respective Intellectual Environments Influenced Their Interpretations, Cameron Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this thesis is to provide insights into why John Chrysostom (349- 407 CE), who was the most prolific scriptural commentator in early, Eastern Christianity, understood the core theological concept of justification differently than Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560 CE), who was the first, and one of the most influential, theologians of the Protestant Reformation. Furthermore, because of their prominent positions within their respective faith movements, their perspectives reveal broader implications regarding how Christians within their respective periods and geographical locations were interpreting Christian scripture, and how the ideological currents were influencing their interpretations.

By understanding what led Chrysostom and …

The Underground Gang: Cyclist Group Identity As Expressed Through Folk Art, Folk Events, Narratives, And Community Spaces, Anna P. Christiansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis is a study of the “underground” cycling community in Ogden, Utah. This thesis establishes a groundwork understanding of the nature of underground cycling culture, particularly in relation to identity. Using folkloric definitions of identity and subculture as my foundation, I conducted fieldwork with the Ogden cycling community to examine four different facets of cyclist activities: folk art, folk events, narratives, and the community’s use of space. Each of the four facets also illustrated the different levels of identity, shifting from individual levels, outward to the performance of identity as an individual and group within a larger local and …

"We Are Entitled To, And We Must Have, Medical Care": San Juan County's Farm Security Administration Medical Plan, 1938-1946, John Howard Brumbaough Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

From the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in 2010, politicians and laypeople have been given much debate on national healthcare. With these circumstances, the study of Farm Security Administration’s health plans, one of the earliest attempts of government sponsored healthcare systems, is both timely and prudent. A study of the FSA becomes a usable past, which one medical historian believed would illustrate “some of the enduring themes that punctuate the debate over the proper role of government in health care.

The research project consisted of exploring primary and secondary documents related to …

Gorongosa: A History Of An African Landscape, 1921-2014, Domingos João Muala

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gorongosa: a history of African landscape, 1921-2014, focuses on changes in the Gorongosa ecosystem, in central Mozambique, southeastern Africa. Environmental changes result from natural, non-human causes and from the activities of humans. I describe four socioecological events: African and Portuguese interactions, Gorongosa National Park, the effects of Mozambique's civil war, and the Park's restoration in the aftermath of the civil war. Prior to European partition of Africa in 1884-85, Mozambique did not exist as clearly a demarcated territory as it is now. Today, the sense of Mozambicanhood bears traces of Portuguese colonial era experience. The demarcation of Mozambique's boundaries and …