Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Crisis Of Craft: Creative Writing In The American University, Brenna E. Derbish

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this essay, I aim to analyze the changing nature of the Creative Writing MFA through the lens of the American culture that shaped it. In the 1930s, creative writing in American universities began to take shape, citing itself as a way to reform the philological study of literature into a more active field, a way for the common person to learn through creativity and self-expression. However, as the number of MFA programs in the nation continued to rise, admittance became increasingly selective, with many universities accepting only between 5 and 10% of their applicants. This increase in exclusivity, coupled …

Adhd Diagnosis And Treatment Within Ethnic Minority Groups, Dianthe Hoang

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly diagnosed in childhood, and the National Survey of Children’s Health reported that ADHD had a prevalence of around 6.1 million children aged 2-17 years old (NSCH, 2016). This review discusses the cultural and socioeconomic barriers that contribute to the underdiagnosis and treatment in members of ethnic minority communities. Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian adults received less mental health care compared to White Americans. Previous findings indicated that cultural factors, such as misinterpretation of symptoms from families and teachers and cultural perceptions of mental health, contributed to disparities …

A Seat At The Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist And Womanist Theory, Natasha M. Capers

Student Theses

“A Seat at the Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist and Womanist Theory” critically examines how curriculum, even when well-intentioned, can perpetuate harm by excluding the lived experiences of marginalized communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ students. Using a real middle school immigration assignment given to the author's son as a case study, this capstone deconstructs the structural biases embedded in curriculum design and proposes a radical reimagining through the liberatory lenses of Afrofuturism and Womanism. Blending scholarly inquiry, personal narrative, and community-based interviews, this project offers a restructured assignment that centers joy, identity, and speculative storytelling as tools for educational …

Wild Women, Wild West: Queer Women’S Sexuality And Gender Presentations On The Western Frontier, Michaela White

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Political Polarization And Voter Turnout: A New Political Paradigm?, Kyle Thaller

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Political polarization has characterized most recent U.S. elections through further widening the gap between the two parties to the point that many people fear a second U.S. Civil war is approaching. This begs the larger question of how polarization impacts the electorate? Does it turn voters off or push them to vote? Does it have a negative impact on American elections, or is it merely a next step in the grand experiment we define as American democracy? This paper uses Logistic regression (via SPSS Statistics) with data from American National Election Studies (ANES) to address these questions by analyzing the …

In The Shadow Of Sovereignty: A Dark Examination Of Hobbes, Sovereign Power, And Genocide, Sidney Dombrovskis

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia through the framework of Thomas Hobbes’s political philosophy, focusing on his concepts of the state of nature and absolute sovereignty as articulated in Leviathan. The hypothesis asserts that Hobbes’s state of nature is not merely a hypothetical construct but a tangible reality that can be observed in the actions and failures of authoritarian regimes, such as those of the Hutu government in Rwanda and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. These governments, both authoritarian and endowed with seemingly absolute power, paradoxically failed to embody the Leviathan that Hobbes envisioned as the ultimate …

“Transgender Operations On Illegal Aliens”: Exploring Depictions Of Queerness In The Orville And Star Trek: The Next Generation, Caleb Adams

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

How Art Therapy And Emdr Help Asylum Seekers And Refugees Move Towards Healing Trauma: A Literature Review, Anna Mogilevsky

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In the past ten years, there has been a significant rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugee populations worldwide (UNHCR, 2022). Displaced individuals are extremely vulnerable to mental illness because of the compounded trauma experienced in their countries of origin with the stress of immigration, asylum seeking, culture shock, and language barriers. PTSD is affecting 500 million individuals globally, and refugees are especially susceptible to having these symptoms (Farrell, 2020). Art therapy and EMDR are identified as the most promising modalities for treating such trauma.

This literature review examines the various ways EMDR and art therapy have been …

Seeing Through The Incense Smoke: Understanding The Meanings Of Ancestral Rites In Vietnam For The Sake Of A Pastoral Approach In Christian Mission, J.P. Cima

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Cima, J.P. “Seeing Through the Incense Smoke: Understanding the Meanings of Ancestral Rites in Vietnam for the Sake of a Pastoral Approach in Christian Mission.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2025. 285 pp.

The veneration of ancestors at family altars has long been a defining feature of everyday Vietnamese life that poses a critical missiological problem for Christian mission in Vietnam. May Christians participate in ancestral veneration rituals? Current and historical responses to this question, among Protestants and Catholics alike, have not been uniform. Moreover, many responses have been based on assumed or oversimplified understandings of the rites’ meaning which recent …

Fellowship Of Christian Athletes (Fca) Social Expansion: An Analysis Of The Fca Brand Architecture, Victoria Williamson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has seen much growth over the past seven decades, after being created in a small town in Oklahoma in 1954 with only 15 members to now having 2,000+ staff and reaching 100+ countries (FCA Timeline, 2024). How did such a small organization with such a specific niche, become the well-known non-profit global ministry it is today? This thesis will discover how the Fellowship of Christian Athletes grew its brand worldwide pre and post-digital media through its marketing and communications methods.

Nightmare Blueprint: How Personality Types And Anxiety Levels Influence Enjoyment Of The Horror Genre, Bralynn Steppe

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Why do some people enjoy being scared while others avoid fear at any cost? This study investigated how individual differences in personality, anxiety, and morbid curiosity contribute to the enjoyment of horror. Drawing on frameworks such as Mood Management Theory and Threat Simulation, this research explored psychological and emotional responses to five horror subgenres. Thirty-five participants completed assessments on personality, morbid curiosity, and anxiety and enjoyment before and after watching clips. Results revealed that high negative emotionality was associated with significantly heightened anxiety responses, while low-anxiety individuals reported increased enjoyment. Familiarity with horror had an effect with lower anxiety and …

How Protests From 1913 To 1920 Led To The Ratification Of The 19th Amendment, Margaret Stell

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Framing The East: An Exploration Into Tony Blair’S And George Bush’S Speeches And Orientalism, Darcy Ross

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Orientalism is a theory that is heavily ingrained in Western Society. It is the theory which explains how the West portrays or views the East, or more specifically the Middle East. It is a way to separate or “other” a region. It is a degrading tactic used by the West to look at the Eastern regions differently from things such as religion (Said 2-8). Since the West views the Eastern region as uncertain or different, there is an urgency to label them as bad or unstable (Said 2-8). Western Society becomes uncertain about the East, creating a sense of danger …

Espionage And Counterintelligence During The Cold War, Natalee Coates

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Counterintelligence is a tool that is used in detecting espionage. This topic is important because it allows the United States government to determine if there is a spy in their midst. The purpose of this research is to identify different methods that have been used to catch spies, and how those methods can be implemented today by government agencies. It gives the intelligence community a framework for how to catch spies through the lenses of money and disgruntlement. The two hypotheses that this research tested are that issues around financial gain and workplace disgruntlement are or are not reasons that …

Discovering The Roots Of Terror: Understanding The Relationship Between Terrorism And Corruption, Mckenna Dahm

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This research investigated the relationship between terrorism and the factors of corruption, democracy, and human development by using a regression analysis with data collected from Vision of Humanity’s Global Terrorism Index (GTI), Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), and the Freedom House’s Global Freedom Scores. Based on previous research and other literature, it was hypothesized that corruption is a significant cause of terrorism. Using data from 2018 to 2022, 158 countries were included in the analysis. Expanding on the research, four case studies (Somalia, Israel, Liberia, and Georgia) were chosen to evaluate the …

Commercial Pressures And Editorial Independence: Egyptian Journalists' Perceptions Of Advertiser Influence In Contemporary Media, Mohamed Ahmed Salem

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the complex interplay between commercial imperatives and editorial autonomy in Egypt’s contemporary media landscape, focusing on journalists’ perceptions of advertising influence. Drawing on Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) and informed by Political Economy and Institutional Theory, the study investigates how Egyptian journalists navigate ethical tensions arising from advertiser demands—both state-linked and private—within a hybrid media system marked by economic precarity, political control, and digital disruption. Through 20 in-depth interviews with journalists, alongside insights from PR professionals, media managers, and academic experts, the research reveals a pervasive erosion of the editorial-commercial boundary. Journalists report widespread self-censorship, blurred content labelling, …

Exploring A Holistic Conceptualization Of Destructive Leadership: Perspectives From The Lived Experiences Of Latino Law Enforcement Command Staff Officers, Carmelin Rivera

Dissertations

Recently, there has been an increased interest in destructive leadership or what is characterized as the dark side of leadership. There is, in fact, no consensus in the literature about the definition of destructive leadership, and this murkiness has led to two somewhat different approaches to understanding this phenomenon: 1) a leader-centric approach that emphasizes the bad behaviors and traits of so-called toxic leaders and 2) a much broader, holistic approach, often discussed as the toxic triangle (Padilla et al., 2007), that focuses on how destructive leadership is co-created by a toxic system of bad leaders and susceptible followers …

Advancing Equity In Financial Aid For Black Students: A Document Analysis Study Of Student Equity Plans In California Community Colleges, Edwina Williams

Dissertations

This study examined how California Community Colleges (CCCs) constructed financial aid discourse in Student Equity Plans (SEPs) and assessed whether these strategies mitigated or perpetuated racial disparities for Black students. Previous scholarship identified racial inequities in financial aid systems and explored how equity planning documents addressed race; yet, the influence of institutional discourse on financial aid access remained underexamined. This study contributed to the literature by applying critical race hermeneutics (CRH) to examine how SEPs outlined financial aid strategies, with particular attention to the framing of work–study opportunities and the extent to which the SEP intended to employ race-conscious approaches. …

Becoming A Beloved Community: A Restorative Reckoning For A Radical Conversion To Transform Discourse In Higher Education, Latasha Tomay Varlack-Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation critically examines the misappropriation of Restorative Justice Discourse (RJD) within three predominantly white institutions (PWIs), analyzing 59 institutional documents through Critical Discourse Analysis, Relational Critical Discourse Analysis, and Rhetorical Criticism (Fairclough, 1995; Vaandering, 2021; van Dijk, 2008). Tribal Colleges and Universities and South African institutions have emerged as exemplars of authentic RJD, countering co-optation within PWIs. The findings demonstrate that RJD as applied in PWIs is framed in ways that attenuate its transformative potential, perpetuating color-evasiveness (Bonilla-Silva, 2017) and obscuring the intersectional experiences of Black, Indigenous, and disabled communities (Crenshaw, 1991; Million, 2009).

Grounded in decolonial praxis (Smith, …

A Comparison Of Museums From The U.S. And Mexico Within National History, Leticia M. De León

Museum Studies Theses

With the creation of nation-states, the implementation of museums within a society is used to propagate a national agenda. A Comparison of Museums From the U.S. and Mexico Within National History will discuss the social and historical contexts of public museums in the modern nations of Mexico and the United States of America. Using Benedict Anderson’s definition of a nation, this thesis will conduct a comparison between the two countries in how their museums uphold their chosen national identities. The topics of religion, politics, colonization, race relations, and more will be explored in a discussion of how these phenomena play …

7 Gateways In The Milky Way, Reina Alvarez

CGU MFA Theses

In a world saturated with digital distractions, 7 Gateways in the Milky Way offers an invitation to slow down, step inside a moment, and contemplate the unseen. This body of work reframes time and perception through a series of conceptual cosmic creations—immersive installations meant to be occupied, not just observed.

The series incorporates geometric abstraction, conceptual sculpture, and contemplative environments composed of textiles, wood, sand, sound, light, redefined found objects, and ram’s horns. Inspired by the mysticism of the number seven—often symbolizing completion or cycle—each piece acts as a portal, shifting the viewer’s sense of space and time.

These site-responsive …

Literature Review: Drama Therapy As A School-Based Intervention For Military-Connected Adolescents, Katherine E. Dooley

Expressive Therapies Theses

The following literature review will review current research surrounding military-connected adolescents mental health and the viability of utilizing drama therapy as a school-based intervention to improve their mental health. Military-connected adolescents are an invisible minority who experience a unique set of stressors. This population experiences frequent relocation, parental deployment, and the impact living this way can have on the entire family. The current research shows that military-connected adolescents are more likely than their civilian peers to experience mental health challenges, including depression and anxiety. School-based therapeutic interventions have been shown to help decrease symptoms. School-based interventions allow for the therapist …

Quixotes, Quacks, And Laughing Philosophers: Humor And Intellectual Authority In The Long Eighteenth Century, Macklin Fanning

English Theses and Dissertations

Quixotes, Quacks, and Laughing Philosophers: Humor and Intellectual Authority in the Long Eighteenth Century recovers the fascinating and forgotten story of John Elliot (1747–1787), a novelist, physician, mad scientist, pioneering optical theorist, criminal lunatic, and Gothic antihero whose life and work illuminate a strange new history of science, medicine, law, and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Beyond Borders: The Lubomirski Dürers And The Global Debate On The Ethics Of Art Restitution, Gabriela Bloch

Senior Theses

Despite the validity of national heritage claims and the legal principles governing ownership, the most ethical resolution to the restitution of the Lubomirski Dürers lies in a global collectivist approach. By prioritizing accessibility to the largest possible audience while acknowledging historical injustices, universal museums can serve as platforms for education and cultural exchange. This approach not only mitigates the exclusivity inherent in nationalist or legalistic solution, but also advances a shared human heritage that fosters global understanding and reconciliation.

Revolution Beneath The Burqa: Afghan Women’S Grassroots Resistance And A Goal Of Sustainable Change Under The Taliban (1990s-2000s), Ava Stover

Senior Theses

This case study examines two juxtaposing initiatives; The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and Beauty Without Borders, and their differing approaches to addressing systemic oppression and empowering Afghan women post-Taliban takeover in 1996. RAWA employs a grassroots model while Beauty Without Borders, a Western-led initiative, emphasizes beautification. The study considers RAWA’s effectiveness in addressing structural inequalities while highlighting the limitations of externally driven programs like Beauty Without Borders. This analysis contributes to understanding how grassroots movements can achieve sustainable systemic change, while the West’s continuous misinterpretation of cultures and lifestyles different from their own has perpetuated failed …

France’S Exclusion Politics: Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric And Political Capital (1972-2002), Alicia Strader

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the politics of exclusion in France, focusing on how immigrants have been marginalized due to politicians' strategic use of anti-immigrant rhetoric. The study examines the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the increasing political capital gained through his xenophobic platform, highlighting the pivotal moment when other politicians began to adopt similar tactics to secure their own electoral success. By examining secondary sources and magazine articles from 1972 to 2002, this research investigates how the politicization of immigration issues contributed to the marginalization of immigrant communities in France. It argues that the exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly after …

Sense, Drugs, And Rock 'N' Roll: A Critical Review Of Music And Psychedelic Literature, Sophia Harper-Hague

Expressive Therapies Theses

The use of psychedelics has been shown promising efficacy surrounding treatment-resistant mental health diagnoses, as well as improving quality of life for those not suffering from mental health conditions. Additionally, music has been seen as a significant part of psychedelic research, both by music therapists and other allied health professionals alike. This literature review explores the current research surrounding music therapy and psychedelic approaches, as well as the areas in which they intersect. The current review focuses on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and self-concept, delving into the perceptions of both music and psychedelic therapy as emerging treatment options …

Alive Old-Time Radio Play: Performance-Based Drama Therapy With Cognitively Healthy Older Adults, Aaron T. Dore

Expressive Therapies Theses

The live radio play format is uniquely positioned to offer social benefits for older adults when explored through a performance-based drama therapeutic lens. Though firsthand familiarity with old-time radio is not a prerequisite for meaningful participation in a group styled after this bygone era of storytelling, the format naturally supports accessibility needs common among the older adult population. The minimal blocking requirements, script-in-hand approach, and adaptable format make it especially accommodating to a wide range of skill levels and areas of interest. Research into therapeutic interventions for older adults tends to rely on reminiscence and life review approaches with an …

Music Therapy For Premature Infants In Neonatal Care: A Literature Review, Yu-Tzu Li

Expressive Therapies Theses

For both babies and their families, premature birth is a life-altering event that often brings out a complicated web of physiological and emotional challenges. In recent decades, music therapy has gained recognition as a support system for the smallest and most vulnerable patients in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), where they receive specialized care. This literature review explores how music therapy supports the development and emotional well-being of premature infants while also supporting the parents in navigating the emotional difficulties, engaging with their babies, and being more secure in the NICU environment. According to current research, this paper collects and …

Music Therapy And Cerebral Visual Impairments (Cvi) In Early Childhood: A Literature Review, Katie Hock

Expressive Therapies Theses

Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is the leading cause of visual impairment in children within the United States, and results from neurologic impairment to areas of the brain responsible for processing and interpreting visual input. Due to the brain-based nature of this impairment, improvement in functional vision is possible through the process of neuroplasticity and development of compensatory strategies to improve personal access to the environment and surroundings. Intact vision provides access to information about the world around us, and without this sense children are highly susceptible to developmental delays in the areas of cognition, motor skills, communication, and social functioning. …