Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Samaritan's Purse Internship Strengthens Missions-Minded Student, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

As a young girl going on missions trips with her parents, Brianna Pacecca, senior civil engineering student from Largo, Florida, knew she wanted to be involved in missions. Seeing firsthand the need for the gospel worldwide has motivated Pacecca in her pursuit of this high calling.

Paid In Full: Pharmacy Student’S Path From Egypt To Cedarville University, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Caroline Abdelmassih experienced a life-changing moment when she learned her college tuition to Cedarville University in Ohio was paid in full by a stranger. Growing up in Egypt, Abdelmassih knew it would be almost impossible to attend Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy.

Georgia Hickingbotham Remembered For Generous Investment In Ouachita Students, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Having a residential campus helps give Ouachita Baptist University its uniqueness. And Georgia Hickingbotham was a friend of Ouachita who helped give residence living its heart.

Hickingbotham, who died Dec. 7 at 89, is well known for her successful business career. She was one of the first women in Arkansas elected to serve as an officer in a bank and was a co-founder of TCBY, which became the largest frozen yogurt chain in the world.

At Ouachita, “Mrs. Georgia” is also remembered for her generous personal investment in women students that began in 2013 when her husband of nearly 50 …

Dr. Lei Cai Inducted Into The Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall Of Fame, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Dr. Lei Cai, professor of piano in the Division of Music in Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Performing Arts, has been inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame. He was recognized during a ceremony held at the historic Steinway piano factory in New York City in October.

“We were absolutely thrilled, but not the least bit surprised, to hear that Dr. Cai was selected for this incredible honor,” said Dr. Caroline Taylor, professor and dean of the School of Performing Arts. “To have a pianist of his caliber on our faculty is truly a blessing.”

Cai was …

Exploring Local Elected Officials' Capacity To Govern Effectively, Mario King

Dissertations

A successful local government exemplifies inclusivity, innovation, and deliberate decision-making, all advancing responsible management of taxpayers' resources. In this qualitative investigation, a phenomenological approach is employed to delve into the lived experiences of local elected officials. The aim of this study was to gain insights into the capacity of these local elected officials for success in governance. Subsequently, the insights from these local elected officials' experiences are harnessed to evaluate their influence and impact on municipal performance.

The management of municipal performance encompasses the provision of social services, the maintenance of fiscal operations, and adherence to statutory obligations (Avellaneda, 2008). …

Cedarville Professor Goes To Washington: Seeks Common Ground With White House Staff, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Seeking common ground in political rhetoric was the goal of Dr. Andrew Harris, associate professor of communication at Cedarville University, and a group of communication scholars from the Religious Communication Association (RCA) met with Feven Solomon of the White House Office of Public Engagement on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

All In The Family: Parental Discount Helping Mom Earn Master's Degree, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

In large families, it’s not uncommon for siblings to be attending college at the same time. Even at the same university.

For Aileen Arreguin, a mother of two current Cedarville University students and a pair of alumni, this is certainly the case. But what is unique is that Arreguin is also a student at Cedarville — studying public health nursing in the university’s graduate school.

The Alumni Base Holds The Institution In Their Heart: Alumni Decision Making And Communication Strategies During University Leadership Change, Brandy Cox Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research was to understand how alumni executives make decisions and formulate communication strategies during university leadership change. The research was based on the trends found by the American Council on Education that the tenure of the college president has been on the decline since 2006 and is currently 5.9 years. Multiple factors have been identified in the literature that have led to this decline. The research focused on the largest constituency of most universities, its alumni base, and provides context and a description of decision making and communication strategies for alumni executives navigating leadership change. The …

Courageous Marketer Bringing Life To Christian Movies, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

The success of a motion picture is often dependent on a quality storyline, impactful themes, good acting and effective marketing. Scott Mills, a film marketer with Engage Media Partners, is confident that his firm’s most recent work on “Journey to Bethlehem” will help it become a holiday hit and a testament to the power of the new wave of Christian filmmaking.

Write On: Cedarville Student Secures Article In National Journal, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

What began as Emily Vest’s conversation with a Cedarville University professor, ended as a creative nonfiction piece on the front page of a national literary magazine, The Albion Review.

Navigating Leadership Pathways: Learning Module Development, Alana Skogen

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Navigating Leadership Pathways is an innovative learning initiative designed to address the challenges and barriers faced by women in their pursuit of mid to high-level leadership positions. Comprising three self-paced modules, this project delves into the intricate landscape of gender bias, second-generation biases, and cultural norms that hinder women's progression in the workplace. Drawing on extensive research and real-world insights, each module provides a dynamic and interactive learning experience.

Module 1: Introduction to Gender Bias in Leadership

This module lays the foundation by exploring second-generation biases, leadership style differences between men and women, the glass ceiling, diversity, and inclusion. Participants …

Staff Matters: Holiday Celebrations That Engage And Appreciate Employees, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This Staff Matters column addresses a dentist's concerns about organizing inclusive end-of-year holiday celebrations for the staff. The response emphasizes the importance of recognizing diverse religious practices and fostering camaraderie. Suggestions include a themed recipe exchange, outdoor activities, community service, or involving staff in event planning. Emphasizing the need for initial guidance to align with goals, the column encourages inclusive celebrations that contribute to staff satisfaction, retention, and a positive workplace atmosphere.

An Imc Plan For The Blue Dolphin Company, A Local Nonprofit, Allison Evelyn Campbell

Journalism

Alan Godley's journey into marine preservation began as a dock boy, a role that brought him face-to-face with the environmental impact of boat cleaning practices. Witnessing the washing of harsh chemicals into the ocean and waterways fueled his environmental consciousness. Years later, he founded the Blue Dolphin Company in 1989, an “organization focused on furthering the awareness of whales and dolphins, and all marine life … [supporting] the rehabilitation and release of marine mammals and other wildlife”. Over the three decades, Mr. Godley has operated this nonprofit and small business, leveraging educational initiatives to inform people of all ages about …

Designing A Drama-Based Arts Ministry For The North 10th And Treadaway Church Of Christ, Curtis Alexander King

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The North 10th and Treadaway Church of Christ (“Treadaway”) is a small, predominantly African American congregation located in Abilene, Texas, home of Abilene Christian University (“ACU”) and several other institutions of higher learning. Considering ACU’s Church of Christ heritage and continued affiliation with the Churches of Christ, it is no surprise that Treadaway has often served as a “home away from home” congregation for ACU students and recent graduates who choose to remain in the city. The level of integration of the students from ACU and other local colleges into the life and ministry of Treadaway has varied greatly over …

Be A Leader In Your Practice: What’S Your Style?, William Chase Dds, Maom

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In this Leadership Development feature, the author draws from a wealth of leadership experience in Rotary to explore the importance of leadership in dentistry. Emphasizing the need for self-evaluation through emotional intelligence, the article delves into five key aspects: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. The author introduces three leadership styles — Transformational Leadership, Situational Leadership, and Servant Leadership — highlighting their characteristics and benefits. Encouraging readers to adopt diverse leadership styles, the piece underlines the significance of effective leadership in dental practice, community engagement, and organized dentistry.

Language As The Catalyst Between The Relationship Of Subordinates' Communicative Competence And Supervisors' Communicative Behavior: A Canonical Correlation Analysis, Lindsey N. Tan

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Communicative competence could be understood as the ability to effectively use language in different contexts, and one of these contexts is the intricate framework of the supervisor-subordinate relationship (SSR). However, studies on SSR are mostly based on supervisors’ communicative behavior (SCB), and there is a scarcity of studies that investigate the role of subordinates’ organizational communication competence (SOCC) on SSR. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the relationship between SOCC and SCB in the SSR framework. Using the canonical correlation analysis, two sets of facets were used to analyze the relationship. The first set is the SOCC, which includes communicative …

The New E-Mind: Thinking Like An Entrepreneur, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Sometimes books come about in unusual ways. For Dr. Kary Oberbrunner, a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author and the Berry chair of entrepreneurship at Cedarville University, the idea of writing his newest book — The E-Mind — came while cycling the highest paved mountain in the Alps, Col de l'Iseran.

Argumentation For Critical Heterogenous Political Discussions: Constructing A Rebuttal, Rebecca Oliver

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity seeks to explain to undergraduate students how to craft a proper attack and defense in argumentation and debate, persuasion, or political communication courses. The activity teaches students 1) the parts of a basic argument structure and 2) how to construct a rebuttal using a basic argument structure. Students will argue against their true political typology by selecting an opposing typology from the Pew Research Typology Quiz. Broadly, this exercise is designed to encourage students to engage in dialogues with people who disagree with their political positionality. Specifically, the activity accomplishes this by teaching students the value of basic …

Encoding & Decoding: Artfully Modeling Communication, Daniel L. Foster, Ashley D. Garcia

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Drawing objects and concepts, such as cats, trees, love, democracy, and family, is probably the last activity students expect to do in a communication course. Although this sounds like an introductory art activity, creating visual representations provides a nuanced understanding of the encoding and decoding processes. Encoding and decoding are the most hidden and often the most unfamiliar and complex fundamental components of communication for students to comprehend. By engaging in this activity, students translate their decoding process into drawings, which serve as personal artifacts representative of their encoding and decoding. Students come to better conceptualize this cognitive process with …

“Party In The Communication Classroom”: Exploring Communication Competence To Raise Social Awareness, Nancy Bressler

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity demonstrates communication competence and allows students to observe, assess, and ultimately utilize the model of communication competence to engage with other people successfully. To understand how to engage in communication competence, students must recognize that appropriateness and effectiveness are crucial aspects of their communication. Through the communication competence model, students examine how to achieve effectiveness in their communication by setting goals for specific contexts; they also consider to what extent their goals are achievable given the particular situation. Using a 2014 MTV Video Music Award example, students can analyze why Miley Cyrus allowed a homeless man to accept …

Introducing Public Speaking Self-Concept (Pssc): A Novel, Qualitatively-Derived Communication Anxiety And Competence Variable, Karla M. Hunter, Joshua N. Westwick

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Despite numerous quantitative assessments of teaching interventions that have helped mitigate public speaking anxiety (PSA), this common barrier to public speaking persists. In addition, quantitative measures may not be appropriate for all instructional goals, especially with students from across a variety of cultures. To enrich educators’ capacity to help diverse bodies of students overcome the challenges presented by PSA, this qualitative study asked students to “Please describe yourself as a public speaker” at the beginning and the end of a freshman-level, general education public speaking class. Thematic analysis identified a two-dimensional pattern within student responses (N = 51) (a …

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Discourse: The Journal Of The Scasd, Volume 8 (2023), The Speech Communication Association Of South Dakota

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Holiday Cheers On The Basketball Court, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

As students return from Thanksgiving break, the Cedarville University Christmas Tournament will be held to promote fellowship through basketball.

Nobel Peace Prize Colleague Speaking At Cedarville University, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Earlier this year, Dr. Pierre Agostini of Ohio State University (OSU), won the Nobel Prize in Physics. On Thursday, Nov. 30, Dr. Louis Franklin DiMauro, a colleague of Agostini, will be speaking at Cedarville University’s Physics Colloquium at 4 p.m. in Engineering and Science Center Room 210.

Miss Michigan's Unexpected Turn: A Medical Mission Unveiled, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Sierra Bognear was on the fast track to entertainment and modeling stardom. With a modeling contract with Nike in hand and after being crowned Miss Michigan, Bognear’s professional future was bright.

Ultra Lyte Running: From Summer Startups To Full-Fledged Business, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Many students work summer jobs to fund their college experience. Aaron Perry decided to do something a little different — he created his own startup business.

Confidence For Graduation, Tiffany Pickett, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

“Fake it until you make it.” While a common phrase in the leadership/business management advice genre, it’s genuinely how I survived my freshman year as a first-generation college student.

I smiled. I nodded. I tried to exude the confidence that I knew exactly what I was doing, but in reality, to quote Michael Scott from “The Office”: “I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.” I would quietly ask questions to friends I could trust or pray that another classmate asked the question I wanted to ask in …

Medical Tourism & Communication, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

Medical tourism (MT), sometimes referred to as health tourism or medical travel, involves both the treatment of illness and the facilitation of wellness, with travel. Medical tourism is a multifaceted and multiphase process involving many agents and actors that requires careful planning and execution. The coordinated process involves the biomedical, transportation, tourism, and leisure industries. From the communication perspective, the process can be viewed as a 5-stage model consisting of the: (a) orientation, (b) preparation, (c) experiential and treatment, (d) convalescence, and (e) reflection phases. Medical tourism is uniquely situated in a nexus of academic literature related to communication, business …

Un Dubai Climate Conference Benefits Professor's Students, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

While most professors are gearing up for the end of the semester, Dr. Mark Gathany, a biology professor at Cedarville University who teaches environmental and ecology classes, will be attending the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, formally the UNFCCC COP28 – UN Framework Convention of Climate Change – Conference of Parties 28 (COP28) in Dubai, UAE, later next week. Gathany will attend the second week of the conference which takes place from November 28 through December 12.