Art and Design Commons^™

Space-Praxis: Towards A Feminist Politics Of Design, Mary C. Overholt

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Outside of the academy and professionalized practice, design has long been central to the production of feminist, political projects. Taking what I have termed space-praxis as its central analytic, this project explores a suite of feminist interventions into the built environment—ranging from the late 1960s to present day.

Formulated in response to Michel de Certeau’s theory of spatial practices, space-praxis collapses formerly bifurcated definitions of ‘tactic’/‘strategy’ and ‘theory’/‘practice.’ It gestures towards those unruly, situated undertakings that are embedded in an ever-evolving, liberative politics. In turning outwards, away from the so-called masters of architecture, this thesis orients itself toward everyday practitioners …

Fine Roman Dining At Affordable Pompeian Prices: A New Evaluation Of The Non-Domestic Gardens Of Pompeii, Claire Campbell

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous scholarship has designated Roman gardens into otium or negotium designations; however, this research on Roman gardens suggests that these concepts often exist in the spaces simultaneously. To address this issue, I compiled catalogs of garden spaces identified at Regio I and Regio VI of Pompeii. This methodology cuts across traditional public and private or productive and aesthetic designations, which will allow me to draw connections between the gardens found in different types of settings. This new catalog methodology of Roman gardens presented in this thesis allows for an integrative analysis of garden spaces, which reveals that these commercial gardens …

Platforming Gamification As A Means Of Engagement In Employee Recruitment And Onboarding, Samuel D. Lipson

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gamification, generally understood as the application of game elements and design concepts in non-game contexts, is a field of academic study and multibillion-dollar business tool whose popularity is growing as a means of employee engagement, education and training, and talent selection. While there are companies that attempt to gamify separate processes within the employee life cycle, no company exists that gamifies the stages surrounding talent selection: attraction and recruitment of applicants and onboarding of final candidates. To this end, this thesis proposes a software and consulting company, GameON Business Solutions, that will work with small and medium enterprises to expand …

Look Over Here: A Brief History And Exhibition Of Black Women In Photography, Millie Drury

English and Creative Writing Presentations

This is an informative online photography exhibition. It contains a brief history of black women in photography before presenting ten black female photographers in chronological order according to years active with a short profile and examples of their work. This exhibition is meant to give students and faculty exposure to the work of black female photographers and understand the history behind their present status in the field.

Critical Success Factors For Implementing Blockchain In The Supply Chain For Product Traceability, Gary Lee

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Satashi Nakamoto’s introduction of blockchain in 2008 initially directed the technology for the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (Nakamoto, 2008). In recent years the technology has been identified for other use cases. Businesses are currently developing this technology to reduce or eliminate transactional costs. Along with this anticipated use, businesses are using this technology to include traceability across the supply chain. This research looks at implementing blockchain technology in supply chain traceability. Clohessy (2019) identified critical success factors for implementing blockchain, but what is not existing in the literature are the relative importance of each factor for implementation of …

Weather Permitting, Acadia Kandora

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weather Permitting is an exhibition of objects and printed matter, primarily in the form of publicationsthat examine my relationship to nature and the idea of nature as both sanctuary and armor. At a young age, my parents would take my on a hike every Sunday instead of going to church. The hikes acted as a weekly pilgrimage deep into the woods and a ritual instilling the idea of nature being a place of spiritual refuge and retreat. A sanctuary - of course, weather permitting.

As I grew up and experienced hardship, my first instinct has always been to go hide …

Turning Tides, Lauren Whitmore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Synthesizing personal narrative, sociological phenomenon, and art historical analysis, Turning Tides examines the relationship between power dynamics and sexual assault. Inequities and injustices with regard to the handling of sexual assault, and the norms that allow this issue to be pervasive, are woven throughout the cultural fabric of the United States. Feminists and feminist activist artists in the 1970s brought the matters women, and other marginalized groups, were facing to the forefront of political and social dialogue. The resulting work left an indelible mark on public perceptions and allowed for other activists and artists to build upon the foundations; creating …

Optimistic And A Little Flawed, Christian Schultz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The accompanying exhibition to this paper, Optimistic and Flawed is a body of drawings and objects that explores the liminal space between playful and intended actions. Inspired by the landscape of the yard and the actions that take place within, the goalless play of a child and the laborious maintenance of an adult. The value of play exists within labor and labor exists within play. The drawings observe this through the theoretical framework of telic and paratelic motivational states as they relate to drawing. Abstracted yards and landscapes provide a space for the labor of the hand. A history of …

Heartwork, Lance Taylor Loftin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heartwork is a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures that explore the many ways identity is shaped by familial histories and personal memory. Focusing on my time growing up on a pine tree farm in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 90s, Heartwork explores gender, religion, regional traditions, family, and art. Through conversations and collaborations with my family, painting acts as an impetus for strengthening relationships. By reevaluating the past, I am able to create a web of interconnected narratives that inform and shift my understanding of the present.

Do You Want To Be Tender?, Leah Grant

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, you will find a body of writings and artworks that reflect Leah Grant’s art practice and research. Throughout the paper, you will see Leah alternate back and forth between her artwork and writings. Leah Grant addresses her personal experience as a Black woman and what it means it explore vulnerability through understanding how the relationships around her affects the relationship she has with herself. Leah has created a collection of poems, prints, and video and audio collages that assist her with revealing and concealing.

Made Of Water, Covered In Mud, Nicole Norman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My fixation on water as metaphor is a product of my cosmic design; Scorpio sun, Pisces moon, Pisces rising. I am made of water, begging to be held. Anything liquid has this same desire. I use my art practice to examine the fluidity of physical and digital spaces; how they transform almost constantly. This is only possible through the use of containers that give form to abstract ideas and make them easier to drink (read: digest). Containers can vary in size and shape, but their purpose remains the same. A drinking glass, a swimming pool, a creek bed. These are …

What's Going On Here, Joanna R. Pike

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is an installation depicting shirts and pants in various degrees of Recognizability. The Components vary from somewhat Unrecognizable to entirely Unrecognizable; Bumps and Blocks are interspersed and interrupt the Semi-logic of What’s going on here while adding repetitive elements to clarify the existence of the Semi-logic. The arrangement of the Components in the installation makes the Unrecognizable forms surrounded by the In-between Space into somewhat Recognizable versions of shirts and pants. The viewer does not fully recognize all the Components, but instead understands the implied Recognition given their existence within the installation. The ideas of Lists, Patterns, Systems, …

In-Between Spaces, Trinity Kai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In-between Spaces is a paper based in personal narrative that uses Critical Race Theory and art to analyze the history of photography and systems of discrimination facilitated by hegemonic culture. Body is at the center as a symbol of the physical and psychological impacts systemic inequalities have on people that are classified as other and how one can be absent and present in institutional and public spaces.

Determining How Team Communication And Project Outcomes Evolve In A Midwestern Healthcare Company: A Case Study Approach, Gregory J. Ash

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the perspective of the Business Operation team and IT team during project team communication and interaction towards an awareness of the critical business processes and systems needed to ensure project success. For companies to remain competitive, a catalyst for growth through software development projects is required. Impediments to successful software project outcomes include inefficient communication, one-sided team communication, siloed team interaction, lack of business knowledge, lack of information sharing, and insufficient training resources. This study was a Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Design with survey questions for the quantitative component and open-ended questions …

Growth, Taylor Sijan

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I craft functional pottery that is richly decorated with layers of abstracted botanical imagery. While working within the parameters of function, I explore the possibilities for expressing and evoking beauty through altered porcelain forms and lush surfaces. As a potter, I create forms that inspire curiosity and interaction through a balance of originality and suggested function. I connect myself to others through the intermediary of the vessel, conveying my reverence for plants, nourishment and beauty. People then interpret how to use my work, adding their own sentiments as it becomes part of their lives. Pots live in the home, bridging …

Devastation Experienced When Two Individuals Stop Kissing One Another, Isaiah Jones

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The work in Devastation Experienced When Two Individuals Stop Kissing One Another is an excavation of the private self in relation to love and desire and an exploration of the chaos that ensues in their passage. Desire describes a state of attachment to a person, an object, or an idea. It produces a cloud of optimism between that which is desired and she who is full of desire . It presses against need, the obsessive 1 phenomena of all amorous sentiment, and in its dissolution, total devastation ensues2. With this work, I explore my own desires, observations, uncertainty, and anger, …

Saga Beyond The Gate: Chapter One, The Coming Of The Gate Ghost, Tristan B. Miller

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

“Saga Beyond the Gate: Chapter One, the Coming of the Gate Ghost” explores performance sculpture used as religious ritual. My work emphasizes ritual, creation myths, relics, physical manifestations of lived religion, and the power of narrative belief. One often turns to religion, science, or spirituality, to seek answers to questions about being a conscious entity, and one’s journey to the end. This saga uses scripts from all three of these schools of thought, placing the world of the Gate Ghost into tangible reality, as a play on a stage. Artefacts represent objects of power and mystery. Characters embody morality tales, …

The Good, The Bad, And The Unspoken: Complex Layers Of Motherhood, Casaundra R. Beard

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This body of work represents my frustrations about domestic life, by

communicating the raw, unfiltered side of how sometimes my anxiety and

motherhood coincide. By addressing the harsh stigmas society has towards both

anxiety and motherhood, I hope to normalize the reality rather than continue the

cycle of these idealized notions of what motherhood is supposed to be. Each piece

represents a small seemingly insignificant moment from my average day, but it is

when they start to accumulate together that results in an anxiety attack. The titles

of each piece are the positive mantras I repeat endlessly to convince myself …

Book Review: Anna Watkins Fisher. The Play In The System: The Art Of Parasitical Resistance, Nora Almeida

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Black Mental Health: Unravelling The Stressors And Stigma Surrounding The Mental Health Of Black Men, Joel Isimeme

Masters Theses

Mental health and illness have become increasingly relevant concerns in contemporary society. While the collective conversation around psychological health has begun, within the black community, mental health remains taboo. Mental illness is seldom seen as affecting black people. All individuals, however, are susceptible to mental illness, especially black men of African descent. This thesis, therefore, aims to explore the everyday experiences that adversely affect the mental health of black men. Specifically, it seeks to identify the factors that contribute to this mental ill-health. To this end, it will examine the role of society, religion, and the media in stigmatizing poor …

Visualizing A Woman’S Journey Through The Old Testament Prophetic Books: Improving Female Study Methods Through Visual Supplementation, Olivia Martin Smith

Masters Theses

Christians are often less likely to read the Old Testament prophetic literature compared to other books in Scripture. This poses a problem within the Church for Biblical literacy and understanding Scripture as one complete narrative that points to Christ. The aim of this research was to discover what causes a struggle for Christian women understanding the prophetic literature, why Old Testament prophetic literature is important for women to study, and the best methods for communicating this information to a female audience. The following research questions were asked: 1. What is the standard perspective of an average Christian when studying Old …

Disconnected, James H. Reeves Ii

Masters Theses

Even with complications, remote learning can be successful with the development of user friendly designed solutions. While there are educational tools and platforms available that electronically support remote learning, many students and teachers do not have deep technological knowledge and many lack internet access outside of school. Without access to the internet, many of them experience interruptions in their education. This underscores the needs of both the educator, and the students during sudden and unexpected periods of school closure. The research objectives of this project focus on current learning tools, their design, and their accessibility during remote learning. The level …

Organizational Role Conflict: The Lived Experience Of The Long-Term Department Chairperson In Higher Education, Susan M. Frey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a hermeneutic investigation into the phenomenon of organizational role conflict as experienced by five long-term department chairpersons, four long-term department heads, and two former long-term department chairpersons working at universities and colleges located in Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Organizational role conflict for department chairpersons and department heads is a byproduct of their frontline manager position. By occupying a position between the collegiate and administrative branches of their institution, these managers serve as an important link in the chain of command, but suffer from ambiguous, contradictory, and competing expectations placed on them because of their hybrid status as …

Manipulimi Pelhurës Dhe Ndikimi Tij Në Dizajnin E Modës, Albina Hajrullahu

Theses and Dissertations

Ky punim tregon ndërveprimin ndërmjet pëlhurës dhe zbatimit të teknikave të manipulimit të pëlhurës në vendosjen e rrobave në një karakter 3-dimensional, shpjegon rëndësinë dhe aplikimin e saj në modë. Për më tepër për të kuptuar potencialin e pëlhurave ku një stilist duhet të zgjedhë pëlhurën bazuar në cilësinë, përshtatshmërinë dhe tendencat ekzistuese të modës, duke marrë parasysh se çfarë do të funksiononte më së miri për modelin. Nga ana tjetër për të kuptuar rëndësinë e pëlhurave dhe materialeve të cilat mund të manipulohen duke përdorur një gamë të gjerë procesesh, teknikash, mediash të njohura për zbukurimin dhe manipulimin e …

Coherence, Travis Walthall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

COHERENCE is a series of oil paintings and pen drawings that explores open narratives, or different ways to read artwork. The paintings and drawings showcase harmony, or tension, between ambiguous and representational forms. The visual experience requires the viewer to create their own narrative and decipher forms to do so. COHERENCE is a psychological and aesthetic exhibition fueled from human experience— one of fragility, uncertainty, imperfection, beauty, faith and memories.

Regional Disputation Between North Halmahera And West Halmahera Regencies, 2003-2010, Liliane Mojau

International Review of Humanities Studies

Ideally, the proliferation of the administrative region is aimed at improving the welfare of society. In reality, the proliferation of the administrative region often triggers the regional disputation. The regional disputation between the North Halmahera and the West Halmahera regencies is one of the cases that took a long time. There are six villages that contested in this regional disputation, namely Dum-Dum, Gamsungi/Akesahu, Akelamo Kao, Tetewang, Bobane Igo, and Pasir Putih. At first, the government of the North Halmahera and the West Halmahera regencies coordinated to settle their region boundaries. But it develops to the status issue of the six …

Improving Access And Health Outcomes Through Carepartners And Medaccess Programs, Elora Way, Becky Wurwarg

Publications

Access to Care, a division of MaineHealth, works to ensure that Maine residents have access to comprehensive and affordable healthcare that improves community wellbeing. In 2020, as part of its ongoing commitment to evaluating the effectiveness of its programs, Access to Care partnered with the University of Southern Maine’s Data Innovation Project to conduct a multi-year retrospective evaluation of its two longest-running initiatives, CarePartners and MedAccess. Established in 2001, CarePartners coordinates donated healthcare services for low-income, uninsured residents across six Maine counties by connecting participants with case managers, primary care providers, and pharmacy benefits. Between 2016 and 2019, 4,426 individuals …

Beauty And Lifestyle Subscription Services: A Modern Retailing Format For The Vigilante Collaborative Consumption Consumer, Melisa Spilinek

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Advancements in technology and ease of use of online shopping via phone applications (apps) and subscription services have fundamentally changed how consumers shop. Now more than ever, consumers are turning to time-saving technological tools that are subscription services. Subscription services provide a multitude of benefits to consumers and contribute to collaborative consumption in nearly every product and service category from coffee to apparel. To investigate beauty and lifestyle subscription services and collaborative consumption this study will utilize a mixed methods convergent design to analyze user experience including price sensitivity, subscription service apps and ease of use. Anticipated contributions to the …

The Health Benefits Of Video Games, Zachary Shanks

Emerging Writers

This paper seeks to evaluate if video games are useful as more than just entertainment.  The research shows that they can be utilized in the educational, medical, and business fields. Video Games have been shown to benefit the physical, emotional, and mental health of players, as well as create more efficient learning and working environments. The article argues that video games are no longer just a source of entertainment, as they are now becoming useful tools in society.

Spectrum, Kara Kellett

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

Many people believe their memory works like a video camera, capturing and storing their experiences. However, memories can be manipulated or planted without us noticing. If this seems insignificant, consider the big consequences of false memory: although eyewitness identification of a criminal is often unreliable, it has an incredible power to sway a jury.¹

My interest in studying memory and my introspective nature has led me to create this series of work—a visual collection of my experiences as a spectrum of color and shape. These pieces have been influenced by age, emotion, personality, and bias. With each piece, I …