Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Carrying On With Wayward Sons: With Their Brains Not Maturing Until Their Mid-20s, It’S Time To Use A Different Approach To Life And Learning With Our Young Men, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

Henrik Lagerlund and Erika Simpson argue that due to the later development of the male brain, which isn't fully matured until around age 25, a different approach to education and life planning for young men might be beneficial. They suggest delaying university entry until after high school and encouraging young men to explore the humanities and social sciences. This delay could allow them to mature and develop more responsibility before diving into higher education. The authors believe that such an approach could better prepare young men for future roles by focusing on a well-rounded education that includes classical studies, philosophy, …

Education About The Adverse Health Effects Of Recreational Marijuana: The Role Of Type Of Persuasion And Source, Dina Mattern

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In recent years, efforts have been made to legalize cannabis based on increasing research supporting medical benefits and the assumption, albeit questionable, that this is a safe drug. Statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) demonstrate a sharp increase in users, especially among the youth population (2014). This is problematic because smoking marijuana during the teenage years has been shown to have possible adverse effects, such as despondency and potential complications in cognitive development. (Crane et al., 2012) This current study aims to explore effective ways to educate the public on the adverse health effects of recreational marijuana …

When Meaningful Writing Reflects Vincentian Values, Michele Eodice, Anne Ellen Geller, Neal Lerner

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

In The Meaningful Writing Project – our study of over 700 seniors at three universities – students describe how education values are embodied in writing projects in and out of school. In brief, our results show that students find meaning when they are invited to tap into the power of personal connection, see what they are writing as applicable and relevant to the real world, imagine their future selves, immerse themselves in what they are thinking and writing about, and experience research for learning. In many cases, the experiences students reported are aligned with Vincentian values for higher education, namely …

Summary Report Of A Faculty Colloquium Held On The Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ Of The Holy Father Francis On Care For Our Common Home, Mark C. Kiley

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

The Papal Encyclical, issued in summer of 2015, elicited the attention of ten faculty members in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. All but two of the participants were faculty members based primarily in Staten Island. What follows is a collection of highlights from the formal presentations.

Development Of A Mission-Aligned Campus-Community Partnership Model: The Urban Institute Flu Vaccine Initiative For The Indigent Of Nyc, John M. Conry

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Despite its position as a powerful country which offers the opportunity for state-of-the-art high-quality patient-centered care, many people within the U.S. do not have access to or cannot afford health care. The Urban Institute of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at St. John’s University was successful in developing a community outreach initiative that provided free flu vaccines to an underserved indigent patient population in New York City in an effort to decrease their risk for flu-related morbidity and mortality.

From Mission To Scholarship: Welcome To Jovsa, Deanne A. Southwell, John M. Conry

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

St. Vincent de Paul’s devotion to addressing the needs of the poor is rooted in the foundation of a Vincentian education. As a Catholic and Vincentian institution, the University provides a distinctive, value-based education to its students. In addition to this proud tradition, the University continues to enhance its resources to address the needs of a transforming world. In 2008, the University created a new unit to highlight and strengthen the distinctiveness of its mission. The Vincentian Institute for Social Action was created as part of the University’s strategic plan, with a goal of broadening the Catholic and Vincentian mission …

A Prison Of Education: The School-To-Prison Pipeline In Low-Income Schools, Adam Le

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This paper examines the relationship between prisons and education in American culture, comparing public schools in California cities to wealthier private schools. The essay critiques the American dream’s notions of social stratification and success of the individual in racialized areas. The first section compares funding disparities between education and prison and argues that while funding is an integral part of the inner-city’s problem, the curriculum itself is ineffective. The second section takes a closer look at differences in the curricula and educational settings of an inner-city school and a private school. It offers ethnic studies in secondary education as a …

The Burden Of Student Debt: Findings From A Survey Of Low- And Moderate-Income Households, Mathieu R. Despard, Samuel H. Taylor, Dana C. Perantie, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Center for Social Development Research

Completing a college degree continues to offer a pathway for enjoying greater earnings. Yet tuition has risen sharply and state higher-education funding has declined in recent years, shifting the burden of paying for college to students and their families. As a result, most students (70%) depend on loans to help pay for college and student debt is now greater than credit card debt in the United States. Student debt is increasingly difficult to manage, as debt-to-income ratios, loan default rates, and delinquency rates are on the rise. This brief utilizes data from the 2014 Refund to Savings study to examine …

Educating Spouses May Be Key To Helping Veterans, Shawn J. Gourley

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Veterans’ and family members are facing great difficulties when the veteran returns home to transition into civilian life. Marriages are struggling, and families are being torn apart when the veteran returns home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although there are many programs that have been created to educate spouses about PTSD, however, they often fall short of being able to prepare a family for the actual experience of transition. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is starting to come up with programs to help couples and research is starting to gain empirical support; there are still many couples left …

Analysis Of African American And White American Cognitive Profiles For Language And Cultural Influences, Nicole Jones

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Abstract

One of the most concerning aspects of special education is the overrepresentation of African American minority youth receiving special education services. Samuel Ortiz and colleagues considered the issue of the representation of the Latino, English Language Learner (ELL) population in special education services based on cognitive performance in relation to the mainstream population. To target this concern they determined an estimated level of expected cognitive performance of ELL’s and impact of language and cultural differences to help eligibility teams more appropriately interpret and place students with the aid of the Culture-Language Interpretive Matrix (C-LIM) model they developed. The current …

An Examination Of The Feasibility And Impact Of A Mindfulness And Nature Based Intervention For At-Risk Middle School Students, Nahal L. Khalatbari

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Public schools are faced with the daunting task of both educating students and managing their behaviors exhibited at school. Unfortunately, many schools do not have prevention measures in order to decrease the amount of behavior problems and office referrals. Instead, they handle behavioral issues as they arise in a reactive manner and many times use detention and suspension as consequences. Thus, students miss academic and instructional time and often do not decrease the behaviors. A majority of students who are suspended will be suspended again in the future (Losen & Martinez, 2013). Another issue facing students is a dismal lack …

The Missing Elements Of Change. A Response To "Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners", Matthew L. Goldwasser

Democracy & Education

By establishing a set of theoretical frameworks to view and compare the work of youth organizers and youth commissioners, and through personal interviews, the authors of the paper “Youth Change Agents: Comparing the Sociopolitical Identities of Youth Organizers and Youth Commissioners” presented their explanation of the development of the sociopolitical identities and civic commitments of each group. This response paper asks questions about the authors’ limited use of context and complexity to explain how their youth arrived at their opinions, perspectives, and ultimately their sociopolitical identities. Their work also raises questions of how and why civic engagement and social activism …

The Transformation Of High-Risk Youth: An Assessment Of A Faith-Based Program In South Africa, Bennett M. Judkins, Karen Mundy

Interdisciplinary Journal of Best Practices in Global Development

This paper considers the case of Outward Bound South Africa (OBSA), an outdoor adventure education program specifically designed for disadvantaged youth in the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa. Founded by American philanthropist Charles Stetson, the goal of OBSA is to provide recourse for South Africans who are victims of history and culture. OBSA seeks to instill values and to create economic empowerment for at-risk youth in the midst of severe social and economic deprivation. Recently, OBSA initiated a faith-based component to their program that follows many of the tenets of the original founder of Outward Bound, German educator Kurt …

2016-05 Library Impact Statement For Edc 302 Jumpstart Seminar, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

Library Impact Statement submitted in response to new course proposal for EDC 302 JumpStart Seminar. This class was supported with no need for additional resources. Responding library faculty: Joanna Burkhardt. Requesting faculty: Susan Brand.

The Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting Education For Utility Or Transformation?, Radhika Mitter

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper uses the analytical approach of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the dominant discourse(s) surrounding sustainable development and education that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) espouse. Focusing on SDG 4, which aims to “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and promote lifelong learning,” I analyze the extent to which SDG 4 promotes a utilitarian and/or transformative approach to education, and what the implications of such approaches are on achieving sustainable development. I use the official United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development policy document as the basis for my analysis, as well as …

A Study That Critically Engages Secondary Language Acquisition And How It Relates To Immigrants Developing Cultural Competence, Susan Alecia Nelson

Sustainability and Social Justice

This study seeks to critically engage in the topic of secondary language acquisition to explore the role it plays in immigration, particularly as this relates to developing cultural competence. Further, the research examines the barriers to second language acquisition, and also makes recommendations for reducing those barriers. This will be done by examining literature that analyzes the role that secondary language learning plays in immigrants becoming culturally competent within the United States, and will look at this more in depth by focusing on Mexican immigrants who have come to the United States.

Path To Higher Education, Rebecca L. Francis

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study focuses on the career aspirations of middle and high school students living in an impoverished area of Cape Town, South Africa. It was discovered that students in this area tended to have high expectations of themselves pertaining to success after graduating high school, as well as their classmates. They believed they would be accepted into prestigious universities and achieve their career goals, despite being unaware of several key pieces of information, such as how to apply to university and how to get financial aid. The ultimate conclusion of the study was that these students required more extensive career …

Artifacts Of Representation: The Makings Of Indigeneity In Argentine Museums, Amy Kathleen Sartor

Anthropology ETDs

Museums are an integral part of a nation's identity formation - showcasing to national and international visitors what it means to be part of that nation. In Argentina, where national identity is tied to deep colonial roots, indigenous contributions in museums are often essentialized into a form that can easily be absorbed and appropriated by non-indigenous Argentines, as part of a legacy of an ethnic past. For my research, I visited museums in Argentina and cataloged how indigenous people were represented in order to analyze Argentina's interactions with the indigenous people that are often believed not to exist. My thesis …

Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents

Honors Theses

This research project examines the relationship between urbanization and political party competitiveness in Mississippi. Using elections results from the 2011 and the 2015 Mississippi House of Representatives races, this project seeks to find if there is a relationship between urbanization and competitiveness in Mississippi, and if not, which factors do affect competitiveness. Previous research indicates that as an area urbanizes, its elections become more competitive among different political parties. However, this study finds that there is no clear correlation between urbanization and party competitiveness in Mississippi elections, and that other factors, including race, education, and geographic location, may have more …

The Creative Entrepreneur Leading Innovation, Karina Loera Barcenas

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The Creative Entrepreneur Leading Innovation is a course designed for undergraduate students. Students will learn the entrepreneurial mindset through the creative process triggering innovation and leading transformation to face and adapt in the current constant and fastest changing era. This course also has a skill development component through which students will be able to experience personal transformation towards positive change.

An Examination Of Teacher Understandings Of Technology Integration At The Classroom Level, Shawn M. Carlson Phd

All Student Scholarship

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe and understand how teachers describe the changes in their practices as a result of ten years participation in a one-to-one environment. This research study focuses on one successful middle school’s adoption of laptops to support teaching and learning. A qualitative study using interviews of key participants was undertaken with teachers and administrators. The Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was used in conjunction with Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation framework to understand from the participants’ perspective changes to their practice. The results indicate teachers underwent changes in their use of technology to …

Comunicando Emociones: Language Preferences For Hispanics In The Rio Grande Valley, Elim Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

According to the U.S Census Bureau, more than one million Hispanic or Latino individuals live in the southernmost area of Texas called The Rio Grande Valley (RGV). However, being Hispanic in the RGV does not mean you speak Spanish. In fact, most of the population speaks English and/or Spanish or “Spanglish” (Tex-Mex). As a result, individuals face code-switching (switching back and forth in two languages) when they communicate with one another. Which language do they prefer to express their emotions in? The study posed a research question along this line. Nine college students who met the research criteria were interviewed …

Global-To-Local-To-Global: A Model For Tutoring Esl Students In The Writing Center, David Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the writing center has always focused on traditional students, and today that tradition is continued in such a way that the overwhelming amount of research dedicated to writing center theory and practice addresses the concerns of those students. However, universities with unique student populations, such as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with its majority of Hispanic students, require novel practices within their writing centers. Moreover, much of the linguistic, social, and cultural factors of the region are not well documented and therefore are not addressed by the mainstream theory and practices of other universities. With …

Tell Your Story: A Phenomenological Examination Of The Experiences Of Single, Latina Mothers Experiencing Poverty, Thaeda Franz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study involved an examination of the experiences, parenting practices, and utilization and perception of community supports among single Latina mothers experiencing poverty. Purposive sampling was used in requesting volunteers from local parenting education programs. Six Latina mothers living in Reading, PA, were interviewed. Participants reported experiencing neglect and abuse as children and struggling to meet their children’s needs. They also reported feeling as though they were the “black sheep” of their families of origin and having a lack of connection to their families. The mothers in the study described wanting to give their children a better experience …

Perceived Relevance Of Special Education Performance Indicators: Teacher Excellence And Support System, Tiffany Kristin Mrla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted to investigate the perceived relevance of using a teacher evaluation rubric with performance indicators specific to special education services in place of the standard rubric for teachers used in the State of Arkansas Teacher Excellence Support System (TESS). Through a multi-method approach, the perceptions of special education teachers and administrators regarding implementation of the current model, the significance of perceived differences in pedagogical factors, and potential barriers to effective implementation were identified. This was achieved through survey, interviews, and observations.

Special education teachers and administrators in a given school district were sent a brief survey to …

Influences Of Temperament, Symbolic Gesture, And Caregiver Beliefs On Infant Emotional Expression, Mary Sugg Bassett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to analyze the relationships of infant temperament, communication through symbolic gesture, caregiver beliefs with emotional expression in infants. Participants were the parents and childcare teachers of sixteen infants and toddlers, between the ages of six and 25 months, currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas child development study center. The independent and combined influence of infant temperament, use of symbolic gestures, and the beliefs of parents and teachers were significantly related to infants’ emotional expression in the study. Parent-reported scores of emotional expression competence were positively correlated to teacher-reported positive temperament levels (r …

Selling College: Student Recruitment And Education Reform Rhetoric In The Age Of Privatization, Paige Marie Hermansen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the success of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) as a socio-cultural phenomenon that hinges on distinct public discursive strains and neoliberal rhetorics. This project examines the role of language in creating and sustaining particular discourses of higher education and how those discourses are reinforced and reflected in channels of discourse like documentary films and advertisements.

In the context of shifting demands on and representations of higher education, this project critiques the evolving rhetoric of American education and the shift toward a wider acceptance of privatization efforts, as well as the effect this shift has had on prospective …

Using Computer-Mediated Communication As A Tool For Mentoring To Latina/O Sophomore College Students, Carly C. Peden

Theses and Dissertations

The sophomore year of college can be challenging for many students specifically Latina/o students. New initiatives are being created to increase Latina/o enrollment, retention, and completion of higher education with research indicating Latinas/os are successful academically when they had a mentor or perceived someone on campus cared about them. Mentoring programs use various tools to communicate, but computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools have not been examined in Latina/o peer mentoring relationships.

The current research study examined secondary data to see if Latina/o sophomore college students in a peer mentoring program were academically successful when using CMC to communicate with their mentor. …

Refugee And Employer Perceptions Of The Effects Of Capital On Refugee Employability In Utah, Christian L. Fritz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology Department at Utah State University conducted a state-wide needs assessment of refugees in Utah for the Utah
Department of Workforce Services. Using the data collected for this project, I analyzed the interview transcripts of twenty-four participants in the study including eight employers of refugees, eight Iraqi refugees, and eight Burmese refugees. I looked at the skills, education, finances, personal connections, personal attitudes, and cultural knowledge of the refugees and compared those to the desires of the employers of
refugees.

I found that the employers favored refugee employees because they work hard and do not …

The Ethics Of Care And Refugee Education: Promoting Caring Envrionments In U.S. Urban Schools To Address The Needs Of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, Tina Meetran

Sustainability and Social Justice

The United States has resettled more than 2 million refugees since 1975 and approximately one third of them are children. Some of the children who arrive in the U.S. are unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), meaning they arrive without a parent nor guardian. The absence of a parent figure heightens the adversities of escape and acculturation for URMs. However, due to the lack of available information on URM experiences, their physical, emotional and psychosocial needs in the U.S. are continually unmet. This paper considers the role that schools and teachers have as agents of care to foster positive growth and acculturation …