Social Justice Commons^™

Policy Solutions In The Ev Battery Supply Chain Addressing Unethical Social And Environmental Practices, Mateo Mazariego-Halpern

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

California should adopt a phased supply chain accountability framework for electric vehicles sold in the state, combining the immediate implementation of a voluntary Fair Trade Decal program with the mandatory adoption of COFFEE (Corporate Operations Free From Environmental Evil) Standards based on CAFÉ standards, by 2035. This thesis identifies a critical gap in U.S. EV policy: current federal legislation regulates where batteries are sourced but not how cleanly or ethically they are produced. The consequences of this regulatory gap are severe, with emissions simply shifting further down the supply chain rather than being eliminated, child labor and indigenous displacement going …

Neoliberalism & The Care Economy: Exploring The Gendered Impacts Of Social Protection Systems, Rachel Carruthers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how neoliberal transformation of social protection policy influences gender dynamics within the care economy. Care is necessary for well-being, but traditionally excluded from economic thinking. This thesis completes a historical overview of how care has been incorporated or excluded by different economic paradigms and is anchored in feminist political economy that emphasizes care as a central consideration. A comparative analysis across California, Texas, and Sweden demonstrates how social protection, specifically access to paid parental leave, varies across regimes and results in inconsistent care outcomes. The findings suggest that social protections can reduce some inequalities, but inadequately address …

A Case Study Of Principal Preparation In A Social Justice-Informed Principal Preparation Program, Katie Golieb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how a social justice-informed principal preparation program fostered the development of socially just school leaders and how graduates perceived their capacity for resilience as educational leaders in the contemporary PK–12 context. The Mountain Range Principal Preparation Program (MRP3), a university–district partnership designed to prepare educational leaders to be transformative leaders equipped to improve student achievement and address challenges in low-performing schools, served as the site of inquiry. The study explored how principals made meaning of their preparation experiences and how those experiences shaped their enactment of equity-focused leadership and their ability to sustain such work. …

Greenspace Access In The Denver Metro Region: Historical Housing Policy Impact On Modern Greenspace Distribution, Brody Petig, Susan Dagget

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Access to safe, high quality, urban green spaces is widely recognized as a determinant for physical health, mental well-being, and social cohesion. Existing literature has demonstrated that race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status frequently dictate the allocation of resources and shape disparities in access to greenspace. These disparities are also often reflective of historical housing policy and zoning decisions. This paper examines greenspace access in the Denver Metro Region (DMR) and the City and County of Denver (CCD) through a social justice lens, with particular attention to the relationship between historical housing policy and contemporary trends in greenspace distribution and …

Urban Removal: The Long-Term Impacts Of The Displacement Of Denver’S Auraria Neighborhood, Sophia Krout, Reginald A. Byron

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

In the early 1970s, the Auraria Center for Higher Education was developed, displacing a well-established Denver Latino neighborhood, which encompassed a 38-block district at the time, including 155 families, 49 single individuals, and 237 businesses, and clearing the way for the establishment of the Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Colorado Denver, and Denver Community College. The implementation of remedial measures for the displacement has fallen short of meeting the needs of displaced residents. The residents were promised affordable education through a program named the Displaced Aurarian Scholarship, which has similarly stated intentions of improving the educational attainment …

Doughnut Economics And Strong Sustainability: Rethinking The Role Of Financial Investment, Isabelle Pierotti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates how private investment could align doughnut economic framework. Doughnut economics is a strong sustainability economic framework where the economy operates within planetary boundaries while ensuring social equity. Theories of sustainable development, weak sustainability, and strong sustainability are discussed to provide theoretical context for doughnut economics and mainstream economics. The analysis concludes that conventional, profit maximizing private investment does not support a doughnut economics system by supporting the depletion of natural resources and exacerbating social issues. Sustainable mainstream investment also fails to support a doughnut framework. Lastly, while impact investment is theoretically committed to social and financial returns, …

There Is No Finish Line: The Ramps Framework – An Evolving Model For Working With Racial Identities In Sport And Performance Psychology, Dylan Vas

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The field of sport psychology has persisted in its calls for action on increasing cultural competence, being more inclusive of underrepresented identities, and progressing towards social justice (AASP, 2024b; Bejar et al., 2022; Fisher et al., 2003; Martens et al., 2000; Quartiroli, et al., 2023; Ryba et al, 2013; Ryba et al., 2024). This work attempts to contribute to these calls by providing attention on racial identity – including the proposal of an actionable and novel model, The Racial Identity Model of Psychology in Sport (RAMPS) Framework. The proposed model incorporates publications from sport psychology, clinical psychology, and social justice …

Beyond The Benefit: A Multi-Modal Narrative Study Of Black Women's Experiences With Employer-Sponsored Tuition Assistance, Britany Patricia Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of Black women engaging with employer-sponsored tuition assistance programs, focusing on how social, structural, and identity-based factors shape their educational and professional trajectories. While these benefits are often framed as neutral tools for career advancement, this study examines them through the intersecting lenses of race, gender, and labor, revealing deeper dynamics of access, value, and belonging. Guided by a qualitative narrative inquiry approach, this study employed a multi-modal data collection design involving video diaries, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. Three participants, all Black women between the ages of 30 and 40, shared their …

Cultivating Resilience In The Anthropocene: Evaluating A Gssw Ecological Justice Curriculum, Windy Selig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Dissertation in Practice evaluated the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) Ecological Justice Pathway to examine how resilience is conceptualized and cultivated within the curriculum. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm and guided by an ecological justice framework, this evaluation explored the pedagogical and curricular strategies designed to prepare social work students for the emotional, ethical, and professional demands of practicing in the Anthropocene—a time marked by ecological degradation, climate crisis, and compounding social inequities.

Through qualitative methods, including faculty interviews and curriculum document analysis, the evaluation identified both explicit and implicit components that foster student resilience. …

A Creative Introduction To Narrative Therapy: Harnessing The Power Of Stories, Art, And The Person-Of-The-Therapist, Marissa Mueller

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

This paper describes a proposed graduate-level academic elective course for mental health practitioners in training. The course content is organized across a total of 10 class sessions. Topic areas include introductions to the theory and techniques of narrative therapy, including expressive art approaches, the importance of social justice work through collective narrative practice and liberation psychology, the construction and analysis of stories of self and personal myths, and a focus on developing the person-of-the-therapist. Each class session will review that week's lecture content, assigned readings, small and large group discussion prompts, and in-class activities. The course prioritizes centering student experiences …

The 21st Century Coach: A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Resource For Youth Lacrosse Coaches, Maria D'Ugo, Jillian Lowey, Sean Mapoles, Brian Gearity

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

This document provides educational information, resources, and support to coaches and administrators with the goal of empowering and encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion in daily sporting practices. This document may aid in efforts to increase inclusion and participation in youth sport, specifically lacrosse. Furthermore, it may help to increase coaches’ and administrators’ cultural awareness and competencies.

Environmental Justice And Social Work: A Study Across Practice Settings In Three U.S. States, Lisa Reyes Mason, Sierra Roach Coye, Smitha Rao, Amy Krings, Julia Santucci

Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship

Environmental justice is essential for improved quality of life and sustainable wellbeing. This study examines how environmental issues and related injustices are surfacing in U.S. social work practice and social work readiness to respond, and what resources social workers are most interested in. Data are from an online survey of U.S. social workers (N = 337) in Colorado, Ohio, and Tennessee. Participants answered questions about their social work background, current job, environmental issues in practice, resources, and demographics. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. For nine issues, at least 30% of participants reported these as surfacing sometimes or often, with …

The Lumbee Tribe And Mmiwg2s: How A Crisis Hides Behind Unreported Data, Daniel Oxendine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) crisis has existed since European settlers first came to the continent and has the potential to affect all Indigenous communities in the United States (Schilling 2018). Despite what federal data shows, I argue that the MMIWG2S crisis affects the Lumbee Tribe based on conversations on MMIWG2S that are coming from the Lumbee community. The primary objective of this thesis research project has been to conduct exploratory research through a case study to understand how the MMIWG2S crisis affects the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. I use the critical lenses of …

Something Wicked: Witches And Rhetorics Of Resistance, K. Scarlett Harrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project joins other academic conversations regarding the dynamics of power, modernity, witchcraft, and magic within the contexts of Western hegemony. Occasioned by kairotic cultural events and the reinforcement of ideologies like those found in the Dobbs decision, QAnon conspiracy, and rise of Christian Nationalism, this project contends that evaluating the potential political power residing in witchery is necessary in understanding some of the nuances of hegemonic control and resistance to oppressive authority. Predominantly following rhetorical evaluations of magic found in the works of Gunn and Covino, I maintain a non-universal methodological practice that works to understand the various instrumentality …

What’S Good: Sharing Food And Meaning-Making Among Commensals, Lucor Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To explore how systems of meaning are formed and reformed over an individual’s lifetime in the context of food, meals, and commensality, this research applies a critical phenomenological lens to food-centered life histories centered on the life experiences of childhood, adulthood and the diffusion of food knowledge within a food centric community between individuals within age cohorts and across generations. Through reflective interviewing community members within Denver metropolitan area anti-hunger organization, this research is able to provide insight into several secondary questions, including: Is childhood a formative space for the cementation of these systems of meaning and value and do …

Moving From Theory To Practice: Examining Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice In An Elementary School Classroom, Krystal Giles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching mathematics for social justice is a distinctive approach to mathematics education that seeks to have students use mathematics to navigate their identities, understand their lived experiences, examine inequities, and become agents of change. Current research provides a rich explanation of what teaching mathematics for social justice entails. Still, there is a need for research that studies how to move from theory to practice. The purpose of this research study is to examine the experience of teaching mathematics for social justice within my fifth-grade mathematics classroom for myself and my students, analyze the extent to which students’ ethnic and academic …

Sorry Not Sorry: Microaggression Perpetrator Learning Readiness Factors, Kathryn Elaine Kelly Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microaggressions are commonplace slights perpetuated against out-group members that reinforce negative stereotypes, often inadvertently and unconsciously. Workplace mitigation efforts have traditionally been focused on raising awareness with the belief that perpetrators are simply unaware of their actions. While these efforts have done much to raise awareness—especially for victims of microaggressions, who may be more sensitive than ever of their occurrence—some perpetrators consciously persist through awareness, often with even more negative implications to the victim such as minimization, dismissal, and further stereotype reinforcement. For perpetrators to change their behavior, in addition to classic behavioral change models that require capability, opportunity, and …

A New Season: Announcement Of Special Issue And Publication Changes, Chris Robinson-Nkongola, Carrie L. Forbes

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Planting Seeds Of Change: Teaching For Social Justice In Elementary Classrooms, Brianna Mestas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much research has been done on novice teachers’ dispositions and how their beliefs contribute to the enactment of equitable or inequitable teaching practices. Ways that deficit-based beliefs and inequitable pedagogical choices have negatively impacted students of color and low-income students have also been well documented. However, there is a dearth of literature that explores the connection between dispositions and experienced teachers’ social justice practices that lead to equitable social and academic outcomes for elementary students. The purpose of this multiple case study is to understand and examine the perceptions, enactment, and challenges of four experienced and effective elementary teachers who …

Dismantling The Education-Survival Complex: A Qualitative Case Study Of How High School Youth Resist Whitestream School Policies And Foster School Change Through A Youth-Development Organization, Tracie Trinidad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to critically examine how youth resist whitestream school policies and foster educational change through community sociopolitical youth-development organizations. The methodology for this study is a qualitative case study (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1990; Merriam, 1988), as I am focused on participant perceptions and experiences, and how they make sense of their resistance experience through participation in sociopolitical youth development organizations like Youth for Social and Political Activism (YSPA). In total, eight participants spoke about their racial identity through their lived experiences in public school and YSPA programming.

The data and analysis are presented in the …

Trainee Attitudes Toward Social Class As Predictors Of Clinical Decision Making: Exploring The Effects Of Classism In Psychotherapy, Jeremy J. Coleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the effects of classist beliefs on trainee attitudes toward their client based on perceived social-class status. This study sought to determine whether classist attitudes contribute to meaningful differences in clinical decision making. A sample of mental health trainees (n = 147) attending graduate-level programs in the U.S. were recruited and randomly assigned to one of two clinical vignette conditions. Both vignette conditions included identical data regarding a hypothetical client’s presenting concerns (e.g., sleep disturbance, worry, rumination, loneliness), but differed on indicators of client socioeconomic status (SES). Results showed statistically significant between-group differences on ratings of clinical …

Drivers And Barriers Of Diversity And Inclusion In Business: Interviews With Nine Field Experts, Alana Aragon, Sung Soo Kim

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

In an ever-diversifying world, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategies must exist in organizations to achieve the potential of positive business and employee outcomes. Businesses must understand how to get diversity and inclusivity in their organization, and how to mitigate the barriers they will face in doing so. Inclusion, “the degree to which individuals feel a part of the critical organizational processes”1 is crucial for employees and organizations to receive the benefits of diversity. In a climate where inclusion is valued, employees show better affective states (e.g. engagement and belonging) and higher organizational commitment2 leading to improved business outcomes. To address …

Exploring The Impact Of Leadership Values And Practices To Support Equity And Social Justice In An Urban School, Susan-Marie Farmen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explores the leadership values and practices of a principal in a sixth through twelfth-grade school in the Rocky Mountain West to determine how leadership values and practices support the implementation of equitable and socially just practices in the school. Five key themes emerged: (a) equity as a Black/non-Black construct; (b) a lack of knowledge and awareness of the historical contexts of marginalized populations; (c) moral courage for all members of the school; (d) equity as an initiative or program; (e) resistance to deep equity work. From these themes, I devise three recommendations to support substantial and …

The Influence Of Hip-Hop Music On The Social Justice Movement From 1990-2020: An Annotated Bibliography, Deborah J. Anderson

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Urban Informality, Environmental Xenophobia, And Infrastructures Of Citizenship: The Political Lives Of Nicaraguan Migrants In The Informal Settlement Of La Carpio, Costa Rica, Nikolai Alexander Alvarado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines urban politics, environmental justice, and infrastructure from the vantage point of South-South migration. It focuses on the work of Nicaraguan migrants living in the informal settlement of La Carpio in San José, Costa Rica, as they negotiate rights in the form of urban services. Nicaraguans in La Carpio have organized politically since 1993 to self-install, demand, and negotiate services such as potable water and electricity. In the process, they successfully compel local authorities to allocate these services and grant them an implicit recognition of their right to remain and live a decent life, regardless of their status. …

Urban Green Space: Mitigator Or Multiplier Of Inequality In The Denver Metropolitan Area?, Joshua Charles Baldwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown that communities of color and low-income populations are likely to live in neighborhoods that lack access to quality green spaces, unable to directly benefit from the environmental, recreational, and cultural services they provide. The goal of this research was to determine if the green space inequality patterns seen globally and nationally exist in the Denver Metropolitan Area. Using an existing green space dataset, ecosystem services fieldwork, GIS digitizing, and bivariate correlation analysis I uncovered numerous green space inequalities based on proximity, acreage, and quality. Key findings included 1) Lakewood’s Hispanic and less-educated populations have relatively little access …

Comparing Modern Day Acquisition Costs Of Trafficked Individuals: Implications For Anti-Trafficking Measures, Chelsea Reneé Dillane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The acquisition process of trafficked individuals varies case by case around the world, with human traffickers using various methods of acquisition and paying a range of costs to obtain these individuals. While research on the acquisition methods of traffickers is expansive, research on acquisition costs is relatively small and is mostly covered by Kevin Bales and Siddharth Kara. This study examined acquisition costs of trafficked individuals around the world in order to identify themes and patterns of acquisition, with the goal of informing preventative anti-trafficking efforts aimed at the acquisition process of human trafficking. The main finding of this research …

A Little Respect, Please, Christina Cerna

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Simon Tisdall suggests that last month, when Mohammed Bouazizi (twenty-six years old), “an unemployed graduate, set himself on fire outside a government building in protest at police harassment,” his act became the “rallying cause for Tunisia’s disaffected legions of unemployed students, impoverished workers, trade unionists, lawyers and human rights activists.” The reaction to his act of self-immolation and death on January 4th led to the flight of President Ben Ali ten days later to Saudi Arabia and to the end of Ali's twenty-three-year rule of Tunisia. Time reported the event as follows: “When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight on Dec. …

Latin America’S Indigenous Women, Courtney Hall

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Latin America’s indigenous women are as diverse as the land they inhabit. Their uniqueness is shaped by belonging to groups that have their own distinct history, traditions, and identity. Yet despite this diversity, indigenous women confront the same human rights challenges: racial, gender, and socio-economic discrimination. Without ignoring the diversity of indigenous women, a better understanding of their fundamental struggles can be gained by weaving these issues together in a comprehensive narrative.

Indigenous Political Participation: The Key To Rights Realization In The Andes, Stephanie Selekman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

"There is no way back, this is our time, the awakening of the indigenous people. We'll keep fighting till the end. Brother Evo Morales still has lots to do, one cannot think that four years are enough after 500 years of submission and oppression,” said Fidel Surco, a prominent indigenous leader, reflecting on Bolivia’s first indigenous president entering his second term (Carroll & Schipani 2009).

The Andean region is particularly appropriate for examining indigenous political rights because 34-40 million indigenous people reside mostly in this region. The actualization of human rights for Andean indigenous groups is an inherently complex issue, …