Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Being Multicultural In The Workplace, Fiorella Morales

Dissertations

As the workforce becomes increasingly diverse and organizations elevate their efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), it is critical to engage in a deeper investigation of the experiences of multicultural individuals at work. In this qualitative study, nine multicultural individuals were interviewed using a sociological lens to gain their perspective on the relationship between their identity and their work experiences. The primary research questions that guided this study were: (a) how do multicultural individuals influence the workplace? In turn, (b) how do their workplace experiences affect their identity and sense of self? Data was coded and …

Communicating Mental Health Coping Resources Among College Students Of Color: A Resilience Approach To Covid-19 Response, Najma Akhther, Khairul Islam

Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected African American college students and put them at high risk of mental health concerns. Guided by the community resilience model, this study examined how Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) communicated mental health resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of HBCUs’ website-based communication showed that mental health received minimal importance in response to the ongoing pandemic. Although larger and advanced degree-granting institutions provided a relatively greater amount of mental health resources than smaller institutions, those resources might not be sufficient to buffer against the COVID-19 induced stressors. Providing such inadequate mental resources indicate …

Buffer Or Backfire? Effects Of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities In Organizational Crises, Thomas Koch, Benno Viererbl

Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities can help an organization to build a favorable reputation; such activities can thereby serve as a buffer in times of crisis. However, research also suggests that these activities can backfire and reinforce the reputational damage caused by a crisis because they can lead to elevated expectations among the stakeholders. Drawing on prior research on buffering and backfire effects, this study examines the possible moderating effects of crisis type and severity. Two experiments show that CSR activities positively affect the perceptions of a company’s affective image. In times of crisis, this image boost indeed serves as …

A Light In The Darkness: Cedarville Senior Spreads The Gospel In Her Home Country, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Students at Cedarville University are encouraged to go on at least one international or domestic mission trip during their four years of college. For Angela Aad, however, missions is a way of life.

Pharmacy School Builds Model To Help Solve Food Insecurities, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Being a pharmacist is all about helping others. Inspired to help college students avoid issues like food insecurities, Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy and the Kroger Company are continuing their partnership that provides the university’s Doctor of Pharmacy and Prepharmacy students with a food pantry.

Nationally Recognized Research For Molecular Biology Student, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

A freshman-year speech class assignment came full circle for Jenna Martin, now a senior molecular biology major from Hebron, Kentucky.

Professor Takes Questions By Flight, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Dr. Jonathan Arnold has always tried to pass on his love for learning to his students. No matter what the topic, he seeks to ignite a passion for learning more. He strongly believes participation is important because there’s more to education than just getting a degree, and he uses unique teaching methods to encourage this.

Cedarville Students Supporting Families, Protecting Life, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Where do the passions of students in nursing, business, and biblical studies intersect? For seven Cedarville University students, that would be at the Pregnancy Resource Clinic (PRC) of Clark County in Springfield, Ohio.

Cedarville Retirees “Reconnect” At Monthly Events, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Retirement looks different for everybody – travel, rest, hobbies. For Michael DiCuirci, retired member of Cedarville University’s music faculty, it means reconnecting with his former colleagues.

Marketing Through Microcultures On Social Media: An Examination Of Booktok And Independent Bookstores, Wandzia Prytko

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the role of microcultures in social media marketing, by focusing on the BookTok microculture and its significant role in the marketing strategies of independent bookstores. The research includes an examination of microcultures and their impact on businesses, the effectiveness of the key social media marketing tactics used on TikTok, what BookTok is, how independent bookstores engage with BookTok, and an interview with an independent bookstore on their uses of BookTok.

Speaking To The Head And The Heart: Prioritizing Empathetic Communication In The Post-Covid Workplace, Kevin T. Caffrey

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

As of August 2022, COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives in physical, psychological, and financial ways. Many vulnerable individuals are struggling to adapt to returning to work and as a result, employee morale is at risk. In times of crises, empathy is needed in the workplace to support one another, but many leaders and employees may not have a firm grasp of the concept. This article seeks to define empathetic communication and explore the need for prioritizing empathy amid the current post-COVID-19 workplace. Through a literature review of empathy, psychological safety in the workplace, and crisis leadership, the author …

The Impact On Gay Men Of Support And Enforcement Of Workplace Dei Policies: A Meta Analysis, Steven M. Vega

Student Theses and Dissertations

The poor enforcement of workplace DEI policies affects gay men in ways that are unique and invite close attention. The nature of the impact of missing or unsupported DEI policies on gay men has been widely debated in the field of human resources and communication studies, with scholars such as David Wicks, Helen Seitzer, James Ward, and Diana Winstansley arguing that these effects include lasting negative mental and physical health effects and discomfort with self-disclosure in the workplace. However, the existing research on this topic has not sufficiently considered the effects of the poor enforcement of workplace DEI policies side …

75 Years Later: Faith Through Flames, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Even as an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, Daniel Kinnibrugh always kept a calm demeanor and rigid faith. Through countless combat missions, including an 11-day bombing assault over Hanoi, Kinniburgh never gave into a fear of death.

A Heart To Build And Serve: A Student’S Passion For Engineering And Missions, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Can a computer engineer go into full-time missions? Over the summer, Zoe Schmidt learned the answer is yes.

World Traveler Finds Home In Cedarville, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

When Alina Leo, instructor of management in Cedarville University’s Robert W. Plaster School of Business, left her hometown in Lithuania at age 22, she never expected to one day find a home in Ohio.

New Leader Seeks Graduate School Growth, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

As the Cedarville University Graduate School continues to experience exponential growth, Dr. Brian Shook, who was named assistant vice president for graduate enrollment in the fall of 2022, is preparing the program for the future.

Reconnecting With The Truth: Conspiracies, Perspective Taking, And Misinformation, Scott Sellnow-Richmond, Mili Pinski

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

“I’ve done my research.” Misinformation has become a prevalent topic in communication courses, particularly those focused on argumentation, public speaking, or even interpersonal and family communication. Students thus benefit from adapting public speaking-focused assignments to illuminate how to understand - and thus combat- disinformation in their own lives. This assignment works toward this goal in two stages, allowing students to argue not just against misinformation and conspiracies, but also to argue for them as an act of empathy and understanding. The applied nature of this exercise also empowers instructors with a way to concretely address this issue in the classroom. …

“People Don’T Always Show Up The Way You Want Them To”: Utilizing The Hunger Games To Differentiate Between Persuasion, Coercion, Propaganda, And Manipulation, Nancy Bressler

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

The ability to define and conceptualize persuasion and its nuances without engaging in coercion, propaganda, and/or manipulation can be difficult for students at first. This activity centralizes the fine points among these persuasive concepts. Students also recognize the role of their audience in the persuasive messages that they create. Rather than only having a conversation about the common characteristics of these terms and how they differ, students can observe them within the fictional movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (Lawrence, 2014). After discussing these ideas with their classmates, students then apply what they have learned by creating persuasive messages …

“Number Of Nonverbal Delivery Techniques”: Innovative Approaches To Gestures, Movement, And Vocal Delivery, Nancy Bressler

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Through this activity, students consider to what extent gestures, movement, and vocal inflection affect a speech. Using the same speech content as the rest of their group, each student is provided a prompt requiring them to adapt their speech delivery differently. Through these differences, students can better understand how to incorporate nonverbal speech delivery that is natural, balanced, communicates emotion, and effectively communicates the message of the speech. Students discover the importance of nonverbal delivery while using an entertaining speech they may have seen in a television show. Overall, students learn how planned versus natural speech delivery can alter nonverbal …

Listen Up!: Measuring And Mitigating College Students’ Most Commonly-Reported Listening Challenges, Karla Hunter, Erin Lionberger, Ashley Phillips, Kaitlyn Luebbert, Andrea N. Briggs

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This study updates the existing literature on listening education in two ways: 1) by providing an assessment of an effective listening education intervention and 2) by identifying what college students' self-assessment and reflection revealed as their most common barriers to listening and the actions that helped mitigate those challenges. Through content analysis, five graduate student coders analyzed six consecutive pre-Covid-19 semesters of student submissions to a Listening Log Self-Assessment assignment in an online interpersonal communication course (n = 186). This experiential activity was designed to motivate students' metacognitions to elicit accurate self-appraisals based on reflections of students' current listening encounters …

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Ouachita Team Places In Regional Ethics Bowl Competition, Abigail Gaddis, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

A team of Ouachita Baptist University students earned fifth place in the 25^th Annual Texas Regional Ethics Bowl on Friday, Nov. 12, in San Antonio.

Team members are Carter Bunn, a sophomore political science and history double major from Farmington, Ark.; Trey Nichols, a junior political science major from Cabot, Ark.; Parker Nelson, a sophomore biology major from Alexander, Ark.; Nathan Scolaro, a junior criminal justice major from Mount Pleasant, Texas; and Sarah Titus, a junior biology major from Alexander, Ark. They are coached by Dr. Byron Eubanks, Ouachita professor of philosophy, and Dr. Matt Douglass, assistant professor of …

Ohio Student Has Career Liftoff With Nasa Scholarship, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

When people hear the word “NASA,” they probably think of space and rockets. But for Tara Keller, a molecular biology major at Cedarville University, her interest in biology and health care landed her a research opportunity with the well-renowned organization.

Reyna, Plymale, And Pruett Publish Research Paper On Ar-Cure Program, Kaitlyn Stoddard, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University professors Dr. Nathan Reyna, Dr. Ruth Plymale, and Dr. Christin Pruett collaborated with colleagues at other universities on a research paper that has been published in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, vol. 50, issue 5. Their paper, titled, “From genetics to biotechnology: Synthetic biology as a flexible course-embedded research experience,” details the implementation and assessment of the Arkansas Course Embedded Undergraduate Research Experience (AR-CURE) teaching model developed at Ouachita by Reyna and Plymale.

Reyna is professor of biology, Plymale is associate professor of biology and J.D. Patterson Chair of Biology, and Pruett is associate professor of biology. …

A Life-Changing Experience, Kaitlyn Norris, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Many Christians have a chance to go on a mission trip, whether it be local or somewhere no one would ever think about going. At Ouachita, students are given the opportunity to travel and share their gifts and talents with people around the world. This summer, I got to travel to Poland to work with Breakthrough, teaching English to university students as well as having the opportunity to share God’s word. Before going to Poland, I was tasked with choosing a chapter of the Bible to read while I was there; I chose Mathew 28. Verse 19 states, “Therefore go …

It's A Small World: Cedarville Students Serving Refugees, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Each Sunday evening as Cedarville students knock on the doors of refugee children in inner-city Dayton, they are met with smiling faces. This year, approximately 40 Cedarville students are a part of King’s Kids, a ministry that serves children who have come to America from the Congo.

Help Or Hindrance: How Social Media Affects The Selection And Hiring Processes Of Businesses, Alexandra Krska

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Continually, young people have been advised to be conscientious of the imagery they put on social media regarding their personal lives in preparation for employment selection. However, the use of social media in the selection process may cause Human Resource professionals to have inadvertent biases toward candidates among other moral and ethical issues. Through extensive research of the thoughts and actions of a plethora of different corporate professionals, I will analyze whether using social media as a tool in the selection process authentically produces positive unbiased results, or whether social media poses more ethical issues. With the hopes to create …

Refining The Eden Community’S Pathways For Shaping Regenerative Christian Culture In The Apprenticeship For Regenerative Culture, Laura Callarman

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This Doctor of Ministry thesis presents a project designed to meet a need of the Eden Community, an intentional Christian community, regarding the pathways it uses to shape regenerative Christian culture among college students in its apprenticeship program, ARC. In this thesis, I connect the pragmatic aims of the Eden Community to theological foundations regarding the importance of ecclesial diversity and creative contextualization, features that empower the church to embody a variety of life-giving “alternative stories” with the capacity to present the gospel as truly good news to the entire world.

In this project, a team of nine stakeholders met …

Reconciling Self-Censorship: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of University Staff And Administrators, Leigh C. Morales

Doctoral Dissertations

In addition to a global pandemic, the past three years have been marked by racial, social, and political unrest. These circumstances add meaningful context to examine and better understand factors that undermine free expression and contribute to self-censorship among university staff and administrators. To date, few studies have holistically explored the unique experiences of university staff and administrators with self-censorship and how this phenomenon affects their experience on college and university campuses. Understanding why staff and administrators choose to self-censor may allow for a deeper discussion about speech climate and the degree to which colleges and universities implement and uphold …

When Advocacy Becomes (In)Voluntary: A Thematic Analysis Of Disability Focused Organizations, Michelle Brazeau

All Theses

Only 19.1% of people with disabilities are currently employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022b). Stigma associated with disability often forces people with disabilities to have limited options in terms of employment. This has caused organizations like Bitty & Beaus Coffee and The Prospector Theater to make it their mission to hire people with disabilities. To better understand how these organizations are communicating about disability online a thematic analysis of the Instagram pages of Bitty & Beaus Coffee and The Prospector Theater was conducted. The findings suggest that these organizations use the image and likeness of the employees with disabilities to …