Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Service Learning And Social Justice: A Qualitative Study Of International Service Learning And Students' Perceptions Of Social Inequality, Sara Boro

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology the researcher analyzed the perspectives of students on service trips taken to Haiti by the Newman Catholic Center in (1) educating students about social injustice and (2) cultivating a desire for students to advocate for social change. Overall participants were impacted by their experience in Haiti. Participants articulated a deeper awareness and understanding of social inequality and of their own privilege. Participants also communicated a commitment to continue service, change their career plans and change their lifestyles. Student development occurred in three phases including pre-departure, experience, and re-entry. Engaged preparation, reflection, consequential connection, and human connection were …

Hyper-Gender Roles In Relation To Sexual Aggression, Jaclyn May D'Andrea

Masters Theses

This study analyzes sexual aggression according to hyper-gender roles and fraternity/sorority membership at a midsize, midwestern university. The question examined through the research was whether hyper-gender roles affect an individual's sexual experience and whether fraternity and sorority communities are more likely to endorse hyper-gender roles. Secondly, it researched the risk factors behind fraternity and sorority groups through membership and traditions concerning these groups such as hypermasculinity male bonding and desensitization of sorority women. Hypermasculinity, hyperfemininity, and sexual aggression were collected using Koss and Gidycz (1985) Sexual Experience Survey, Mosher and Sirkin (1984) Hypermasculinity Inventory and Murne and Byrne (1991) Hyperfemininity …

Separating The Whites From The Chaff: Whiteness, Blackness, Racial Exclusion In The Midwest Agrarian Mind, Philip Mohr

Masters Theses

This thesis approaches the construction of race through the vantage of one agrarian magazine, the Prairie Farmer. It analyzes the rhetoric of the people who wrote for this magazine to distinguish changing attitudes toward whiteness and blackness in the rural and agricultural Midwest from the end of the Civil War to the Great Migration. While whiteness was equated with what the Prairie Farmer saw as the active, progressive farmer, blackness was associated with stupidity, laziness, and threat to property. From this, the thesis argues we can build a base of knowledge from which to analyze the roots of racism …

The Inmate Code: The Stories Lived And The Stories Told Of Men Behind Bars, Pauline Matthey

Masters Theses

Using Coordinated Management of Meaning, this study links socialization and identification with the intricate levels of the inmate code that male prisoners live by, or live with anyway, while being incarcerated. In doing so, the research showed that the more highly identified to the inmate code a prisoner is, the less likely he is to have a desire to coordinate the meaning of his stories lived with the stories told of others. Furthermore, this project uncovered a characteristic of metamorphosis, the TRAP, or Temporary Relapse Alluding to the Past. TRAP takes place when prisoners who have developed the ability to …

The Impact Of An Immersion In Long Term Care Course On Gerontology Graduate Students, Sheila M. Greuel

Masters Theses

Developing gerontology professionals seek purpose for their careers which can become more evident through experiential learning opportunities with older adults (Vandsberger, & Wakefield, 2005). Older adults need caring professionals with true understanding of their needs and dedication to nurturing their physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. Empathy education through immersion learning is being used to increase awareness in developing professionals to help improve service to older adults in their care. Students, who participate in immersive learning opportunities, experience for themselves what an elder witnesses, lives and copes with on a daily basis.

An immersion learning course was developed for graduate students …