Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Wright State University Magazine, 2026, Wright State Alumni Association And Wright State Foundation

Wright State University Magazine

Fifty-two page issue of the Wright State University Magazine. This magazine is published once a year and focuses on news related to Wright State alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the university.

Growing With Purpose: An Organizational Life Cycle Analysis Of Capacity, Strategy, And Client Centered Practices, Jackie Robinson Brock, Stacy Wilson, Yadira Guerrero-Adams

Doctor of Education Capstones

Single parent families and the costs associated with child care are on the rise. The burden of single parenthood and child care costs is not limited to financial strain; emotional and psychological stressors create an additional “burden of care” (Ha et al., 2015) that is a significant factor in single-parent households. The capstone project team worked with a Virginia-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting middle income single parent families experiencing an undue burden of financial hardship amid rising child care costs. The capstone project team used an improvement science approach (Hinnant-Crawford, 2020), parallel convergent mixed methods, design, and the organizational life …

Southside Greening Plan: Leveraging Community-Based Partnerships To Foster Resilience In Richmond, Virginia, L. Nicole Roemer

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Southside is a frontline community within the City of Richmond that disproportionately experiences urban heat island (UHI) effect and stormwater flooding. Southside residents are vulnerable to climate change and have a low adaptive capacity for resilience, largely because of disinvestment and reduced access to greenspaces. This makes them more vulnerable to heat-related and respiratory illnesses, more likely to experience higher energy bills and less affordable housing, and more likely to be impacted by extreme weather. The city master plan Richmond 300: A Guide to Growth, adopted in 2017 (amended in 2021), acknowledges this context. However, community-based organizations (CBOs) struggle to …

Redeveloping Underutilized Faith-Based Properties For Affordable Housing Through Education And Engagement Strategies, Ananya Joyita

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Across the United States, many faith-based institutions are confronting declining attendance, underused property, and growing financial strain while their surrounding communities face severe affordable housing shortages. This plan explores how structured education and engagement strategies can help congregations redevelop underutilized land for affordable housing, using Trinity Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia as a pilot site for a model that can be adapted by other churches across the Diocese of Virginia.

Trinity’s 1.2-acre campus along Columbia Pike presents both urgent challenges and strong redevelopment potential. The church operates at a financial deficit, uses only a small portion of its facilities, and …

Turning Local Strength Into Regional Change: An Operational Plan For Capacity Building In Virginia’S Tobacco Region, Ellie Plisko

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Virginia's Tobacco Region possesses meaningful community assets including committed local leadership, established social networks, and demonstrated resilience, yet many localities consistently struggle to translate those strengths into high-impact economic development projects. The gap is not one of vision or funding, but of organizational capacity: the ability to develop, manage, and implement complex projects over time.

This capstone plan was developed for the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) to address that gap directly. Drawing on semi-structured stakeholder interviews, document and case analysis, and comparative institutional assessment, the research identifies the structural, relational, and process-based conditions that distinguish successful projects from …

Finding Rural Nodes: A Tool For Node Site Selection In Surry County, Va, Marisa Perez

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Surry County is a beautiful and historically agriculturally based community. Current residents have expressed the desire to expand their current grocery, retail, services, and amenity options while still retaining its rural character that they have grown to love. This rural character comes in the form of low cost of living, low cost of public services, and protection of farmland. However, Surry’s population has faced a decline over the last ten years and is seeking new and creative ways to retain and attract new residents. To facilitate this new growth while preserving Surry’s characteristically rural character, the County has decided to …

Evaluating Tenant Education Programs At Portsmouth Redevelopment & Housing Authority, Jordyn Taylor

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This professional plan evaluates the effectiveness of tenant education programs offered by the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority (PRHA) in Portsmouth, Virginia. The study incorporates both tenant and staff perspectives while acknowledging the historical and structural inequities embedded within public housing systems. It focuses on how existing programs support tenant empowerment, housing stability, and long-term self-sufficiency.

Findings indicate that while PRHA programs provide meaningful support to residents, there are notable gaps in accessibility, engagement, and program clarity. In response, this plan recommends enhancements that emphasize more structured, outcome-oriented programming, particularly in areas such as financial literacy, credit repair, and pathways …

An Indigenous Sovereign Approach: Developmental Strategies And Guidelines For The Berger-Patawomeck Preserve Trail Network, Lauren N. Usher

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This planning document serves the Patawomeck Tribe's cultural, environmental, and sovereign needs by providing research and recommendations to sustainably steward ancestral lands through integrated Indigenous and Western practices. The plan adapts sustainable design strategies to guide trail maintenance and activities within the Berger-Patawomeck Preserve, examining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) alongside Western practices. A decolonized, sovereign lens guided the mixed research methods drawing on legal, regulatory, planning, and ethical frameworks to strengthen tribal health, education, and sovereignty. The research explores local ecology, Indigenous culture, and implementational strategies. The ecological findings document the Preserve's sensitive resources, including the Coastal Piedmont transition zone, …

Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Passenger Rail Performance And Ridership Study, Matthew S. Sturgis

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This study evaluates how targeted infrastructure and operational improvements could improve speed, reliability, and, by extension, ridership on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Corridor between Richmond Main Street Station and Washington Union Station. Although the corridor carries all 198 weekly Amtrak trains operating in Virginia over some portion, passenger rail remains materially less competitive than automobile travel on I-95 when compared under ideal travel conditions or by mode share. In 2024, the corridor carried 1,046,255 riders and held an estimated rail mode share of 2.4 percent relative to 42,598,057 vehicle trips on comparable I-95 segments. At the same time, average …

Marinship Park's Green Infrastructure Plan, Parris Hunt

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Marinship Park’s Green Infrastructure Plan looks to improve Marinship Park by adding amenities that promote community engagement and protect or help the environment. The background information mentioned in the plan is relevant to the history in the study area. The plan later discusses environmental conditions and problems that support why this plan is needed. The methods section is after the precedent plans, and it entails the research questions, stakeholder outreach methods, and analytical methods. The research method section states that case studies and surveys are the best ways to gather data and collect responses for the research questions. The real-life …

Quantifying Parkland: Data-Informed Classification System Recommendations For Chesterfield County, Megan F. Negri

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan evaluates and redefines the park classification system for Chesterfield County Department of Parks and Recreation to improve how parks are understood, managed, and planned over time. It responds to limitations in the County's existing acreage-per-capita level of service (LOS) standard, which does not accurately account for park function, provision of amenities, or equitable distribution in relation to population density. Using a comprehensive park inventory and SPSS two-step fixed cluster analysis, the study developed and evaluated three alternative classification models consisting of four, five, and six park categories. Findings indicate that park function is strongly defined by amenity composition …

Restorative Sustainability On Richmond's Fall Line Trail: Opportunities For Addressing Urban Resilience And Historical Inequity In Southside Through Sustainable Design Standards, Sera S. Erickson

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Linear parks and urban trails not only serve a unique function as both green space and active transportation infrastructure, they present opportunities to address historical inequities in frontline communities through intentional investment in green infrastructure and sustainable practices. Using equity-based sustainable design frameworks leads to reparative planning solutions by operationalizing the restoration of both social and environmental aspects of communities. This plan uses the City of Richmond's framework released by the Office of Sustainability, the Sustainable Design Standards (SDS), to analyze the Richmond section of the Fall Line trail, a 43 mile regional shared-use path that will connect 7 localities …

Rva Parkland Acquisition & Maintenance Strategy, Natalie E. Somerville

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Parks and green spaces offer myriad benefits to physical and mental well-being, environmental health, climate resilience, and community connection. Richmond, Virginia has added several new parks in recent years. However, there are still gaps between existing conditions and the City’s goal of having all residents live within a 10-minute walk of a quality park. The plan presents a land acquisition and maintenance strategy for future parkland expansion in the City of Richmond. Three questions guided the research: 1) which areas in Richmond are priority areas for creating new parks? 2) what processes should Richmond use to acquire land to expand …

Nostalgic Rhetoric: Unraveling An "Authentic" Past, Quinn Thomas Gienapp

Dissertations and Theses

Our changing awareness of time and memory can generate feelings of nostalgia that impact perceptions of the past, present, and future. Nostalgia should not be described as inherently good or bad. In certain contexts, nostalgia can be used as a positive or negative tool to convey values, arguments, and reactions to the past that are much more than simply appealing to feelings of longing. In this thesis, I examine how nostalgic rhetoric is used to convince individuals of various ideas surrounding memory, culture, and politics. In particular, I identify and describe three modes of nostalgic rhetoric: gratification, denial, and subversion. …

Perceived Discrimination And Posttraumatic Stress In People Of Color: The Moderating Role Of Ethnic-Racial Identity And Psychological Flexibility, Jacinta O. Anyanwu

Dissertations and Theses

Perceived discrimination is highly prevalent among people of color (POC) and is strongly associated with elevated posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity, even after accounting for socioeconomic factors. Guided by the minority stress model, this study examined whether two resilience factors - ethnic racial identity and psychological flexibility moderated the association between everyday discrimination and PTSS in a trauma exposed adult sample of POC. Participants (N = 355) were recruited through Prolific, an online crowdsource platform, and completed self report measures assessing discrimination, PTSS severity, ethnic racial identity, and psychological flexibility. Everyday discrimination was a robust predictor of PTSS severity across …

Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of A Therapeutic Assessment Clinic Model For Children With Prenatal Alcohol And Substance Exposures, Lauren Perovsek

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Prenatal alcohol and/or substance exposure (PA/SE) affects an estimated 6% to 23% of the U.S. population and is associated with complex neurodevelopmental profiles impacting cognitive, adaptive, and behavioral domains. Children with PA/SE frequently experience co-occurring early adversity, face significant diagnostic complexity, and encounter challenging systems of care. This often leads to individuals with PA/SE and their caregivers navigating substantial barriers to care, including stigmatizing experiences and fragmented service systems. The Specialized Neurodevelopmental Assessment and Consultation Service (SNACS) clinic addresses these needs through an FASD-informed model that integrates therapeutic assessment techniques within a brief, multi-session evaluation process. While prior research has …

Determinants Of Digital Piracy: An Integrated Model, C. Christopher Lee, Peiyao Chen

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Digital piracy is a form of copyright infringement, and challenges persist in addressing it effectively. Accordingly, understanding why people engage in digital piracy is crucial. Although prior studies have examined digital piracy from multiple perspectives, existing studies on the explanatory factors of digital piracy remain fragmented. To address this research gap, this study develops an integrated model that incorporates key theoretical perspectives, neutralization theory, social learning theory, and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), along with key determinants including gender, age, and the technology factor. Rather than conducting a meta-analysis of previous studies, this study adopts a survey-based approach to …

Too Warm To Win Big? Unpacking The Backer Dynamics Behind Female Crowdfunding Success Using A Warmth And Competence Perspective, Dan Liu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

While crowdfunding is often heralded as a democratized funding avenue that empowers women with higher success rates, this study reveals a more nuanced picture of gender dynamics. The Stereotype Content Model suggests that women are often perceived as warmer but less competent. Using a large dataset from Kickstarter, we find that female-led projects can attract more backers, likely due to warmth-driven appeal, but receive smaller average contributions, potentially due to concerns about risk linked to lower perceived competence. However, the total funding raised by female-led campaigns is comparable to that of male-led ones, showing no clear advantage or disadvantage. This …

Online Community Dynamics: An Analysis Using Louvain During Major Sporting Events, Anushka Jaint, Yashodhan Karulkar, Kashish Jindal, Sri Sai Harshita Gadavarthi, Sanya Gulati

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

With the power of social media transforming the way people connect and interact with each other, the dynamics of community formation on platforms such as X during major events are of crucial importance. While social media is an increasingly key driver in determining interactions, little is known about the online influence forming and developing fan communities in high-stakes events. This study looks into the development of user communities for datasets drawn from Kaggle on two of the world’s largest sporting events: the FIFA World Cup 2022, or football, and the T20 World Cup 2022, or cricket, with the aim of …

Modern (Networked) Warfare: Its Concepts, Evolution, And Issues, Ramesh Subramanian

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The on-going Russo-Ukraine war (February 2012-present), the recent India-Pakistan war (May 7-10, 2025), and the Israel-US attacks on Iran (June 13, 2025) have become interesting for a variety of reasons, and garnered a lot of attention in international defense publications and weapons manufacturers. To many defense analysts and defense industry professionals, these wars have become real-life testing platforms to examine and evaluate various present-day war technologies. They have opened up discussion on the future of war, the increasing use of inter-connected networks in warfare, and the increasing use of remote-operated drones in conducting surveillance and in offensive actions against …

The Role Of Ict In Enhancing National Logistics Performance And Economic Productivity, Jin Ho Kim

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study sheds light on the transformative impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on national productivity via logistics performance. By distinguishing between mobile and wired Internet speeds, the research demonstrates how these technologies influence logistics performance and, in turn, national productivity across different economic contexts. The findings reveal a nuanced relationship between ICT and logistics performance, with mobile ICT playing a more significant role in developing countries due to its accessibility and cost-effectiveness. In contrast, developed countries benefit from a balanced integration of both mobile and wired ICT. Moreover, the study highlights the mediating role of logistics performance in …

Blockchain As A Digital Coordination Infrastructure For Project Management: A Systematic Review And Integrative Framework, Cherie Bakker Noteboom, Sai Neelima Seru, Aravindh Sekar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Blockchain technology has gained increasing attention as a digital infrastructure capable of improving transparency, trust, and coordination in complex, multi-organizational project environments. However, existing research on blockchain-enabled project management remains fragmented and industry-focused, providing limited guidance for organizational adoption and integration. This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review of 29 peer-reviewed studies, following PRISMA guidelines, to examine how blockchain capabilities are incorporated into project management practices across industries and maturity stages.

Grounded in Resource-Based View and Coordination Theory, the analysis employs a feature-to-process mapping approach to link six core blockchain capabilities—decentralization, transparency, immutability, smart contracts, traceability, and …

Colorectal Cancer Screening In Carceral Settings: Barriers And Opportunities To Improve Early Detection Among Incarcerated Individuals, Daven K. Sarikonda Ba, Elijah Marquez Bs, Alexander Seidel Ba, Christine Larrea Bs, Jack S. Gurwin Bs, Maria Karla Bermúdez Piñero Ba, Suraj Suresh M.D., Laura Benjamins Md, Mph, Faap, Aahivs

Population, Patient, Physician and Professionalism Projects

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with screening shown to significantly reduce mortality. However, incarcerated individuals experience substantially lower CRC screening rates and often present with more advanced disease than non-incarcerated individuals. Our project’s objective was to review the state of CRC screening in U.S. carceral settings, along with exploring possible alternatives to address the substantial disparity in CRC screening rates experienced by the incarcerated population.

Edible Cannabis Product Information Captured Within Patient Poison Center Records, G. Fulkerson, B. J. Holstege, R. Farah, A. Zmuda, C. P. Holstege

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Introduction

United States poison centers are encountering increasing numbers of calls pertaining to edible cannabis exposed patients following state decriminalization. The emergence of these edible products has led to numerous emergency department visits in both adults and children following exposure. The capturing of specific data associated with the product type is imperative as state government regulators attempt to control cannabis products emerging on the market as a growing public health issue.

Objectives

This study was performed to determine if the exact products involved with edible cannabis exposure were being captured in the electronic medicial records and to delineate those specific …

Examining The Flow State In College Football, Nicholas R. Reynolds Jr., Selen Razon

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

The flow state, first defined by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) as a state of total absorption in an activity characterized by effortless control, heightened focus, and peak functioning, has been well-documented in sport but has received limited attention in the context of college football. This study examined the flow state experiences of varsity football players at West Chester University, including their awareness of the concept, the frequency and subjective nature of their experiences, the strategies they use to reach this state, and their perceptions of its relationship to team success. A researcher-developed survey was administered to team members during the offseason, yielding …

Arts Enriched Head Start Preschool And School Readiness: Are Benefits Accentuated For Children Facing Greater Economic Hardship?, Isabella Capera

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Children growing up in impoverished and low-income households face opportunity gaps that limit their school readiness (Blair & Raver, 2015). Head Start preschool, which serves families facing economic hardship, has been demonstrated to reduce these gaps and enhance school readiness. Further, multiple studies have suggested that arts enriched Head Start may offer particular benefits (e.g., Brown et al., 2010, 2018; Lobo & Winsler, 2008). Yet research to date is limited and has not examined whether the benefits of arts enriched preschool may be uniquely helpful for children facing the greatest economic risk. The present study examines growth in school readiness …

Beyond Compliance: Creating A Disability Self-Advocacy Summit For Higher Education Using Critical Disability Pedagogy, Katie Manwiller

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been in place for over 35 years, yet the systems it created to ensure equity are riddled with inherent barriers and often fail to provide equal access because of the ableism baked into American society. Institutions of higher education exemplify this failure as they largely treat disability as a compliance-issue, not as a marginalized identity that deserved dedicated inclusion efforts. Most institutions provide disability inclusion solely through the ADA-mandated accommodation process for students and employees, which falls far short of creating fully accessibility cultures. Crucially, these case-by-case processes isolate disabled people and do …

Daily Routines And Activities In Association With Emotion Regulation For Children Facing Economic Hardship And The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shanelle L. Stovall, Eleanor D. Brown

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

This study examined family routines and child emotion regulation across pre-pandemic and pandemic/post-pandemic periods among families facing economic hardship. Participants were 187 children enrolled in Head Start preschools near the East Coast of the United States, their caregivers, and teachers. Of these families, 131 participated during the 2015–2016 through 2018–2019 pre-pandemic school years, and 56 participated during the 2019–2020 through 2022 2023 pandemic/post-pandemic school years. Caregivers completed a demographic interview and 10 daily interviews across two weeks assessing family routines. Teachers completed a validated measure of child emotion regulation. MANCOVAs examined cohort differences in routines and emotion regulation. Hierarchical regressions …

Fit Ideal Internalization And Muscularity-Oriented Disordered Eating Among College Women: Examining Social Comparisons And Body Dissatisfaction As Serial Mediators, Nicole Graumann

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Muscularity-oriented disordered eating (MODE) comprises rigid eating behaviors driven by a desire to be toned and muscular (Cunningham et al., 2021; Murray et al., 2019). While MODE has been widely studied among men, it is increasingly prevalent among women, and it is vital to explore its associated risk factors. In particular, the fit ideal (thin but also toned) is an emerging issue among women’s body image and could be a factor for women engaging in MODE; however, there is limited research exploring this relationship. The present study examined the relationship between the fit ideal internalization and MODE among college women …

Letter From The Faculty Editor, Beth Kegley

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.