Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Loyal Sons: German-Jewish Patriotic Assimilation In Modern Germany, Yitzi Dear

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

The modern history of Germany’s Jews developed through two contemporaneous and parallel transformations across the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries: first, the development of the German national identity and creation of the German state; second, the gradual emancipation of Germany’s Jews and their integration into society. As a result of these two simultaneous developments, the majority of German Jews increasingly defined themselves through their German nature and connection to the state. Assimilation became not only a path to survival but also a sincere expression of ideological and cultural conviction.

Amid the social, political, and economic crises of the Weimar Republic, a …

Subversive Speculative Theology In Women's Stories From The Mormon Home Literature Movement, Rachel Meibos Helps

Theses and Dissertations

In the 1910s, Mormon women used sentimental speculative fiction published in official Relief Society Magazine to engage theological questions often reserved for male ecclesiastical authority. This paper examines three short stories: Edna Coray's "A Quitter–Almost." (1918), Lucy May Green's "A Whiff of Ether" (1919), and Laura Jenkins's "Beyond the Portals" (1916), each of which depicts a woman's encounter with the spirit world at the moment of death or near-death. Drawing on the Mormon Home Literature movement and the broader tradition of sentimental fiction as political and moral discourse, I argue that these authors used narrative to fill gaps in official …

An Examination Of K-12 Administrators' Philosophical Views On Music Education, Kathryn Ann Smith

Theses and Dissertations

K-12 administrators' beliefs about the purpose and value of music education have resulted in inconsistent support for students' access to music education in public schools. This study sought to examine administrators' philosophical views about music education and factors that may influence those beliefs, contributing the first known application of a praxial framework in assessing administrator belief systems. I developed a survey incorporating Song's (2025) Philosophical Beliefs Scale (Ph.B. Scale) to measure utilitarian, aesthetic, and praxial philosophical perspectives, along with key demographic and contextual characteristics. Participants (N = 65) were recruited via e-mail and K-12 administrator Facebook groups and represented a …

How Has The War On Drugs Influenced American Political Discourse, Fabiola Gamez-Lopez

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

The War on Drugs was a political initiative designed to eliminate illegal drug use and trafficking through law enforcement and punitive legal measures. Early policies marked a shift from relative deregulation in the early 1900s to a transition to “zero tolerance” policies. Over time, American political discourse has evolved from a strict legal enforcement frame to raising awareness of drug addiction as a public health concern, with growing attitudes of reformation of the previous frame. The methodology used in this study consisted of a qualitative analysis of existing literature, including historical policy documentation, political rhetoric, and scholarly research. By comparing …

Culturally-Responsive Schooling Of Native American Students: A Case-Study Of Oklahoma’S U.S. History Curriculum, Lorelani Riley Ladislao

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

For generations, formal schooling has been utilized as a tool for colonization and assimilation, resulting in lasting negative impacts on Native Americans. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2020), Oklahoma public schools serve the second largest proportion of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States, making this context critical for understanding how contemporary education practices are impacting Native students. Scholarly literature posits that culturally responsive schooling enhances academic outcomes and helps combat historical injustices in marginalized communities. In alignment, the Diné Institute for Navajo Nation Educators (DINÉ) created a tool for assessing cultural responsiveness …

Relationship Between Supplement Use And Eating Disorder Symptoms, Hannah Segura, Lisa Menegatos, Danielle Morabita, Maegan Nation

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Background: Eating disorders encompass a spectrum of cognitive, behavioral, and physical symptoms related to eating and compensatory weight management behaviors. Supplement usage is becoming increasingly common, especially among younger populations. Using supplements has been shown to put adolescents at an increased risk for body dysmorphia, disordered eating behaviors, as well as other potentially harmful health effects, like electrolyte complications, heart issues, or even death. However, there is less research done on supplement usage in the college student population, especially in men. Across the past 10 years, supplement use in college students has increased 19.5%. Overall, there is a lack of …

Symphonic Winds: Dr. F. Mack Wood, Conductor; April 17, 2026, Dr. F. Mack Wood, Wes Anderson

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and sixty-fourth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

April 17, 2026

Friday Evening

8:00 p.m.

Senior Recital: Berkshier, Saxophone; April 17, 2026, Seth Berkshier

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and sixty-fifth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 17, 2026

Friday Evening

9:00 p.m.

Senior Recital: Carico, Voice; April 17, 2026, Kennedy Carico, Pepe Guillen Prados

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and sixty-third program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 17, 2026

Friday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Is Diversity Good?, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Even where we get it wrong, God shapes Creation so that the riotous diversity of our world, whether in complimentary or contrasting tones, cannot fail to highlight His glory."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­using discernment in promoting diversity from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Is Diversity Good?

The Spirit And The Letter: Performance Practice, Piano Pedagogy, And The Steinway Spirio, Rachel Chia, Jesse Puglia

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

Steinway’s Spirio high resolution player piano combines technology and musicmaking in ways that open new possibilities for piano pedagogy. But as of yet, these have not been extensively researched. The present study focuses on how classical piano students can emulate historical style and performance through the practice of embodiment as made possible by the Spirio. Steinway’s iPad app features historically significant video performances of “Steinway Immortals” which are synched to the piano as it replays performances by these musicians, bringing the past to life on the instrument the students are practicing on. To better understand character as expressed in performance, …

Dialects In Narration, Olivia Dunphy, Madeline Ellingson, Alexandra Kroger, Elise Ferguson, Annie Lou Howell, Claire Doty

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

This study examines differences in Spanish dialects among native speakers from various countries, while focusing on pronunciation and the use of local slang. Fifteen native Spanish speakers participated in the study, which was divided into two parts. In the first part, participants told a free-form story to elicit and observe their natural speech. In the second part, they completed two more activities that were structured with specific prompts. All the responses were recorded and then later analyzed to identify dialectal features. The analysis was completed by the researchers, with the help of artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT. By comparing linguistics in …

The Storied Life: Biblical Metanarrative And The Human Experience, Samantha Jones

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

The storytelling animal. This eclectic title was coined by Alasdair MacIntyre in his famous philosophical work After Virtue. Notice MacIntyre does not call man “the working animal who also tells stories,” nor the “rule following animal who enjoys the trivial pursuit of narrative.” He calls man the storytelling animal because he has discovered that stories are not the just one characteristic of the human experience, they are so much more. To be a human is to be a storyteller, and to be a storyteller is to be human. This claim is not specific to philosophers like MacIntyre, but is an …

Layers And Ambiance: Latin American Female Perspectives In The Early 21st Century, Layla Rumble

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

Female Latin American authors have been studied from various perspectives, mainly based on their roles in society and their representation in literature. This project had two major goals: to produce an academic paper on Chilean film 1976 and to create a database of fiction — written and filmic— produced in the 21st century. The research paper The Dictatorship Aura: Layers and Soundscapes in Chile 1976 (2022) is in the process of incorporating reviewers’ feedback and it has pointed to various relevant hypotheses. Notably, Chilean cinema seems to be going through a paradigm shift. Whereas film directors used to overemphasize the …

Toward A Horizonal "I": The Infinite Subject In William Wordsworth's The Prelude, Gabriella Lee Schwartz

Theses and Dissertations

In an 1805 letter to Sir George Beaumont describing his autobiographical poem The Prelude, William Wordsworth remarked that it was "a thing unprecedented in literary history that a man should talk so much about himself." Since then, critics have only affirmed Wordsworth's reputation as a poet, if not the poet, of selfhood and consciousness. Perhaps the most renowned scholarship on Wordsworthian subjectivity was produced by the so-called "Yale School" of the late twentieth century, as J. Hillis Miller, Harold Bloom, Geoffrey Hartman, and Paul de Man all published influential works on the topic. The latter two staked out stances on …

Senior Recital: Brown-Givens, Cello; April 17, 2026, Kahauri Brown-Givens

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and sixty-second program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 17, 2026

Friday Evening

6:00 p.m.

Convocation Recital: April 17, 2026, Illinois State University School Of Music

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and sixty-first program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 17, 2026

Friday Afternoon

1:00 p.m.

2025-2026 Performance Forum - April 17, 2026, Brooke Gunter, Sheng Yuan Kuan, Kade Gordon, Nabil Hetman, Paola Nava, Ruzanna Usmanova, Sarah Conley, Maria Savelyeva, Zion Pe Montebon, Rebeca Sierra, Laura Gonzalez, Nia Morgan, Roey Dushi, Verse Tomac, Mia Cotton, Daniel Cruz, Juanita Jaimes, Michael Shipps, Derek Lund

Performance Forum

No abstract provided.

Sunday In The Park With George Poster, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotions

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Sunday in the Park with George, Music by Stephen Sondeim, Book by James Lapine

April 17th - 26th, 2026

Sunday In The Park With George Playbill, Providence College Department Of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Playbill and Promotions

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance, & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Sunday in the Park with George, Music by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine

April 17th - 26th, 2026

Director, Dan Foster

Music Director, Dr. Eric Melley

Lighting Design, Jessica Winward

Sound Design, Gabriel Luxton

Movement, Nina Kossler

Voice & Dialect, Megan Chang

Scenic Design, Trevor Elliott

Costume Design, Jessie Darrell Jarbadan

Hair/Makeup Design, Michael Dates

Voice Coach, Elizabeth Heath

Assistant Director, Lia Chernysh

Cast: Jade Bocciarelli - Celeste #2/Elaine; Jack Cormier - Jules/Bob Greenburg; Claire Dancause - …

My Laments (Grief Is Cyclical), Delaney Harrington

Ex Sapientia Loqui

No abstract provided.

Science Experiment, Rachel Miller

Ex Sapientia Loqui

No abstract provided.

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt: Examining The Female Gothic In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Bram Stoker's Dracula, Delaney Harrington

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This paper establishes characteristics of the Female Gothic subgenre, traces the origin of the fiction subgenre throughout the years, and applies these characteristics to argue that Frankenstein and Dracula should be considered prime examples of feminist literature. I analyse the characters of both novels, as well as the authors' respective intentions and social contexts.

“I Care For Nothing Else”: Prayer In Purgatorio And Paradise Lost, Clara Kernodle

Ex Sapientia Loqui

In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitent souls reform themselves through physical penance and constant prayer. Dante depicts the power of sincere, repentant prayer, as God is more merciful than the earthly institution of the Church, and participates equally with the sinner in the soul's salvation. The efforts of souls in Purgatorio are like our own lives; we too ought to engage in the holy sacrifice of constant, repentant prayer. Further, in Paradise Lost, Milton demonstrates how honest prayer is imperative to salvation.

Cloudless & Childlike, Clara Kernodle

Ex Sapientia Loqui

No abstract provided.

Review Of Ancient Near Eastern Thought And The Old Testament, Walker Sharp

Ex Sapientia Loqui

A relatively short overview of Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, I attempt to address important aspects of Ancient Near Eastern culture and its relevance to interpreting Scripture. By addressing different aspects of the cultures and by using certain methods to understand them, we can gain a deeper understanding of the contexts of a lot of the Old Testament history.

Beasts Of Burden: Human Dignity And Roman Slavery In The Silver Age Latin Literature, William Deloach

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This article evaluates rhetoric used to describe enslaved persons in Petronius's Satyricon and Statius's Silvae through the lens of human dignity. Human dignity is evaluated through ancient and modern lenses, drawing upon Cicero's conception of civilitas and contemporary views by luminaries such as George Kateb and Michael Rosen. Silvae and Satyricon utilize conceptions of dignity to uplift the value of slaves, though in some cases the opposite is also observable. Overwhelmingly, the two works lean towards recognizing enslaved persons' dignity rather than rejecting it.

Galen Of Pergamum: Life, Literature, And Legacy, Elyse Rogers

Ex Sapientia Loqui

Galen of Pergamum was a second-century physician whose work had an enduring impact on the field of medicine. His extensive writings were the primary reference and teaching materials for the medical community for over a millennium. While his ideas were revolutionary for his time, they were eventually outdated. Nevertheless, there was a continued reliance on his authority, which hindered scientific advancement. Galen both advanced the world of medicine with his emphasis on observational analysis and constrained its progress through the profound dominance of his theories.

This paper aims to understand the life of Galen and the significance of his work …

Sacramental Intimations, Clara Kernodle

Ex Sapientia Loqui

No abstract provided.

Solitude And Busyness, Eliza Kuhlmann

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This essay addresses a prevalent problem in modern society: excessive and out-of-control busyness. It outlines some of the problems of busyness and then offers a solution---namely, solitude. Along with defining the phenomena, the benefits and practical applications of solitude are shared in an attempt to counteract some of the harms of busyness.