Social Justice Commons^™

Lgbtq+ College Students Hopeful Future Expectations, Savannah Hull

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background- The LGBTQ+ community has seen a recent rise in policies and bills that limit or take away rights, including those that limit access to gender-affirming healthcare and remove LGBTQ+ education from schools. These policies have been difficult for the LGBTQ+ community. Objective- The aim of this study was to compare the difference between cishet (cisgender heterosexual) college students levels of hope and LGBTQ+ college students levels of hope, specifically hope in relation to their futures. Methods- This study utilized a cross-sectional design. Qualtrics surveys were distributed and participants answered questions using the Hopeful Future Expectations scale in order to …

Impact Of Resource Scarcity On Undocumented Students In Higher Education, Sebastian Melendez Lopez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background: Much progress has been made in understanding the impacts of identifying as an undocumented student in higher education, but knowledge of the scarcity of resources impacting undocumented students remains limited. Objective: This descriptive study examined the relationship between accessibility to social support and the psychological well-being of undocumented students in higher education. Methods: Quantitative data was gathered cross-sectionally from participants recruited using nonprobability sampling methods. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Social Support Survey Scale were used to gather data on participants' psychological distress and social support. A descriptive analysis was performed to yield summary statistics of participants’ demographics, …

Food Policy Council, Alexandra G. Winn, Kirsten Hannah Jaquish, Shelby Lynn Davis, Alexandra N. Ehlers, Joshua Lohnes

Undergraduate Scholarship

Nourishing Networks is a workshop that promotes the development of Food Policy Councils, which are a group of community members that advocate for the Right to Food in their community. Through conversation surrounding food access barriers and strategies in their community, the workshop aims to educate participants on how they can improve food access in their community. This research project sought to conduct Nourishing Networks meetings in a variety of West Virginia counties with the intention of accompanying local community members and organizations to create a Food Policy Council for their region. Using a standardized organization process, curriculum, and reporting …

Seeding Sparks For The Right To Food, Alexandra Grace Winn, Shelby Lynn Davis, Kirsten Hannah Jaquish, Alexandra N. Ehlers, Joshua Lohnes

Undergraduate Scholarship

Seeding Sparks for The Right to Food partnered with Voices of Hunger to disperse a grant to community leaders. These community leaders have projects that are aimed to advance the Right to Food and promote food security. This project interviewed the applicants and pulled out common themes among their responses to further understand their motivations and passions related to food justice.

Learning To Teach About Climate Justice And Social Justice In Science Methods, Mindy J. Chappell

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

In November, the Editors of NWJTE sat down for a conversation with Dr. Mindy J. Chappell, a Science Teacher Educator in the College of Education at Portland State University. Dr. Chappell’s passions include developing teachers who are prepared to disrupt normative science ideologies and provide young people with science instruction that encourages and empowers them to be leaders in their communities. She engages in arts-based educational science research through the methodology of Ethnodance (a term she coined). She places young people and their lived experiences at the heart of her work.

Developing More Useful Equity Measurements For Flood-Risk Management, Adam Pollack, Casey Helgeson, Carolyn Kousky, Klaus Keller

Dartmouth Scholarship

Decision-makers increasingly invoke equity to motivate, design, implement and evaluate strategies for managing flood risks. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on how analysts can develop measurements that support these tasks. Here we analyse how equity can be defined and measured by surveying 167 peer-reviewed publications that explicitly state an interest in equity in the context of flood-risk management. Our main result is a taxonomy that systematizes how equity has been, and can be, defined and measured in flood-risk research. The taxonomy embodies how equity is a pluralistic and unavoidably ethical concept. Despite this, we find that most quantitative studies fail …

Creating A New Border Culture In The Midst Of The Climate Crisis: Activism And Pedagogy Strategies For Teacher Preparation, Puneet S. Gill

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This paper documents the efforts of an activist group that came to teach about activist efforts, climate change/climate justice/climate crisis issues, and to create leaders in one border community. The leaders of this three-day workshop are a part of an activist organization named SOMOS Sunrise, the Latine constituency of the Sunrise movement. In this paper, I will analyze the climate change workshop training days and components of the workshops. Secondly, this paper will document a climate cohort education group conducted with undergraduate students and pre-service teachers the following summer. This climate cohort helped articulate art activism and public speaking opportunities …

Acceptability Of A New Remote Monitoring Service For Patients With Covid-19 Infection Using Wearable Biostickers™: A Mixed Methods Study, Lynne Maher Dr, Lisa K. Blake Mrs, Karol J. Czuba Dr, Mary E. Seddon Dr

Patient Experience Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic saw rapid adoption of telehealth, including remote patient monitoring (RPM). There is limited evidence about how patients and staff experience such services in New Zealand. This study aimed to understand the acceptability of the RPM experience, particularly for Maori and Pacific peoples, and identify strengths, gaps, and limitations to inform future delivery of services. A mixed methods study was undertaken between 4 July and 11 September 2022 in Auckland. We conducted telephone surveys with patients and semi-structured interviews with patients and staff. Survey, and clinical and administrative data were analysed descriptively using SPSS. Interviews were analysed using …

Designed For Life: Unearthing Just And Sustainable Urban Design Through The Daylighting Of Phalen Creek, Corgan R. Archuleta

Geography Honors Projects

This thesis conceptualizes a relational approach to urban design. Often separated from justice, I argue urban design can shape spaces to enable respectful and reciprocal human and more-than- human relationships. Focusing on Phalen Creek in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I illuminate just and sustainable possibilities between ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive design. Phalen Creek was a natural waterway buried in a pipe during 20th century urbanization to be partially reconstructed through daylighting. The Indigenous and Immigrant stories driving restoration expand urban design’s liberatory potential. Combining just sustainabilities with infrastructure theory and Indigenous Knowledges, I contend urban design offers a relational approach …

Criminal Justice: Racial Equity In United States Of America, Glenn Bass

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a spiritual sense of awakening as it pertains to a revelation of the human spirit. A revival, or improvement in the condition of any individual or social infrastructure will re-establish citizenship and further restore virtue within the United States of America. Researchers have articulated that our criminal justice system is broken through police retention/recruitment, lack of resources, ineffective prosecution and public defenders, sentencing disparities, and lack of understanding of the socioeconomic status of the criminal or violent offender. These issues are subtopics underneath the umbrella of racial equity. The …

Did Fellows, Aliyat Adeboye '24, Rachel Medeiros '25, Bryn Morgan '24, Alexandra Delano '25, Amari Mims '25, Johandalys Montas '25, Sofia Lamas '24, Ella Mcintire '24

Global Studies Student Scholarship

DID Fellows (27)

Alexandra Delano ’25, Biology major
Amari Mims ’25, Biology major
Daniel Singh ’26, Psychology major
Connor Flynn ’25, Political Science major
Aliyat Adeboye ’24, Health Policy and Management major
Johandalys Montas ’25, Economics and Global Studies major
Sofia Lamas ’24, Health Policy and Management major
Ella McIntire ’24, History major
Rachel Medeiros ’25, Marketing and Sociology major
Bryn Morgan  ’24, Marketing major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicholas Longo, Global Studies

The Social Contract And Feminism, Grace A. Albertson

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This paper seeks to prove the value placed on women in society, and disprove the claim that the social contract is inherently patriarchal. Radical feminists claim that society as a whole is irreparably flawed and operates patriarchally. Therefore, they call for a systematic shift and condemn the current fabric of our society and nation. The social contract, an idea centered around the philosophical works of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes served as the primary way that the founders of the United States justified the formation of American democracy and had immense influence on American political thought. However, feminists seek to …

City On A Hill: A Reflection On Christian Ethic And Human Morality, Mayce Combs

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

In John Winthrop’s sermon A Model of Christian Charity (1630), he spoke to his congregation of the mission God had called them to. With the creation of a new blended nation, the only way to be exceptional was to reflect the gospel in policy, action, and foremost thought. Philosophers from ancient times to today acknowledge that an individual is made up of the soul and their body. From the soul, comes thought, reason, empathy, and a connection to a divine being who deciphers what is morally unjust. The body is a sinful, self-seeking vessel that does not have the ability …

Exploring Leisure And Recreation Programming Within A Transitional Living Community, Alexandra Joynes

OTD Capstone Projects

Dismas House is an approved Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), 501(c)(3) non-profit residential re-entry program serving men who are returning to the community from state and county jails and prisons. The purpose of this capstone experience is to collaborate with Dismas House staff and residents to create sustainable resources for community dinner and programming engagement through a recreation and leisure lens. At Dismas House, the goal is to support these men as they navigate a variety of challenges that come with transition from prison back into society, whether this is through providing basic needs, focusing on health & well-being, employing …

Intersectionality Of Social Identity, Trauma, And Education: A First-Generation College Student's Reflective Journey, Richard De La Garza

School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Student Scholarship

This reflective paper explores the intersectionality of social identity, trauma, and education through the lens of a first-generation college student (FGCS) who is a neurodivergent Army veteran. I share my personal journey and experiences, highlighting marginalized communities’ challenges in the education system. I delve into the impact of cultural invasion, the transmission of trauma across generations, and the importance of critical consciousness in addressing educational inequality. I also discuss the role of spatial thinking and language in shaping learning experiences. I emphasize the need for cultural awareness, inclusivity, and equity in educational spaces and highlight the transformative power of embracing …

Convening The Counter-Conversation: Critical Participatory Action Research Against Real-Time Repression, Connor Maguire, Leo Jalipa, Anne Grass

Dissertations

This dissertation presents the anti-fascist Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) process of three doctoral student participants/co-researchers, all practicing educators, with varied experiences in public and private education at the middle school, high school, and collegiate level. This research examines the convergence of the participants/co-researchers in response to their shared concerns about ascendent authoritarianism and rising repression and the subsequent formation of this study’s in-process CPAR research collective organized to critically counter, rather than reiterate, this repression.

Enacting the theoretical/methodological frameworks of Critical Theory and Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action, the participants/co-researchers dialogically determined contemporary fascism to be the focus of …

Autoethnographies Exploring The Cultural Spirit Murdering And Nurturing Of Three Minority Educators In K-12, Sara Z. Beg, Maritza Caldera, Denise Ross

Dissertations

This autoethnography sought to understand how our experiences during our K-12 journey as three minority students shaped our identities as students and our teaching style today. An autoethnography allowed us to analyze our experiences through the lens of Cultural Spirit Nurturing and Cultural Spirit Murdering. Cultural Spirit Nurturing, as we defined it, is the acceptance, respect, and inclusion of different cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, races, languages, and religions in society. We dissected our lived moments as Pakistani Muslim American, African American, and Mexican American students turned educators, defined them as Cultural Spirit Nurturing or Murdering, and bridged them with the concepts …

Assessing Sustainable Tourism: Insights From Four Regions In Quebec, Yasmine Benbelaid

GSTC Academic Symposium - In conjunction with the GSTC Global Conference

This communication proposes to share the outcomes of a comprehensive sustainable tourism diagnosis conducted in four distinct regions of Quebec, namely Monteregie, Mauricie, Lanaudiere, and the Magdalen Islands. The study encompasses a diverse range of 45 tourism enterprises operating across various sectors within the industry. This project represents the results of my postdoctoral internship.

Voices Beyond Bars: A Qualitative Study Examining Occupational Participation For Formerly Incarcerated Women, Brianna Correia, Mary Smith Otd, Otr/L, Cynthia Simons Rps, Mhps

Spring 2024 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project addressed the research question: “What are the systemic, societal, and personal barriers and facilitators to occupational participation and engagement that formerly incarcerated women experience in Texas?” The project aimed to advocate for formerly incarcerated women living in Texas by interviewing and collaborating with them to create an advocacy booklet highlighting their lived experiences. Following USAHS IRB approval, recruitment, and screening, 20 participants engaged in a semi-structured interview via Zoom. Insights on their experience post-incarceration in Texas regarding housing, employment, family, healthcare, and change were explored. The data obtained was analyzed and codes and themes were identified. When …

How Do Differences In Sex Education Alter Perception Of Consent?, Hannah G. Stone

ATU Scholars Symposium

The following research was conducted to answer the question: how do differences in sex education alter perception of consent? As of 2021, only 7 states and the District of Columbia mandate comprehensive sex education policies that include consent education, and in contrast, 17 states do not mandate comprehensive or non-comprehensive sex education (“Sex and HIV Education” 2021). Because sex education in schools is where a large proportion of young adults receive all of their instruction on sexual topics, it can be inferred that the lack of sex education would constitute a lack of consent education as well (Deluna 2019; “Section …

Family Medicine’S Role In Addressing The Intersections Of Redlining And Climate Change, Daryl O. Traylor, Eboni E. Anderson, Brianna Clark, Alex M. Smith, Cooper K. Allenbrand

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Redlining, the practice of discriminating against specific neighborhoods based on race and socioeconomic status, leads to persistent environmental hazards and socioeconomic inequalities that have lasting adverse health effects on their populations. Health disparities are further exacerbated through the concentration of environmental hazards, as well as the escalating impact of climate change, which poses an increased risk of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, heat-related illness, infectious diseases, food insecurity, and socioeconomic difficulties in redline neighborhoods.

This paper examines the interplay of redlining, climate change, and health disparities, with an emphasis on the enduring consequences for these marginalized communities. Through …

"'What The Suffering Was Like': Digital Affect In The Act Up Oral History Project, Margaret Sullivan

Remembrance: A Journal of Queer Culture, Information, and Preservation

This article considers The ACT UP Oral History Project as an affective site that renders visible the impact of loss and suffering. Focusing on the archive’s filmic and computer-mediated interviews, and placing both in conversation with memory and queer identity studies, I demonstrate that the Oral History Project, as a discursive space, invites its audience into a felt physical contact with grief, loss, anger, and rage.

"There Is Power In Being Out": A Three Article Approach Celebrating The Experiences Of Queer University Leaders, Andrew R. E. Lorenzana

Dissertations

Institutions of higher education were historically built to serve a wealthy, White, straight male student population and the leaders of these institutions still largely reflect these demographics. This project specifically aims to celebrate and amplify the life and career of university administrators who identify within the LGBTQ community. Mainly through the use of a portraiture methodology, this three-article study attempts to examine the ways in which LGBTQ identity and career influence one another.

Worldmaking and narrative will be used as a theoretical frame to help analyze the ways in which the telling of a queer individual’s story makes the world …

Co-Creando Rituales / Co-Creating Rituals To Hold Our Work As Anti-Oppressive Counselors And Researchers, Ana G. Reyes, Alexandria E. Capraro, Mónica Rodríguez Delgado

The Qualitative Report

Counselors and qualitative researchers have the honor of hearing peoples’ stories and thus have a great responsibility to explore and use clinical and research methodologies that are anti-oppressive, liberatory, and healing. Therefore, in 2019 we began a photovoice project alongside seven queer womxn of color (QWoC) that collaboratively explored their experiences of microaggressions in counseling. Through this journey, we recognized that to be fully present with the “co-researchers’” (participants’) narratives and experiences, we needed to remain attuned and grounded. We engaged in what we now call “rituals” before research team meetings to support our work as counselors and anti-oppressive researchers …

The Contributions Of Nuevomexicanas To New Mexico Lowrider Culture, Traditions, And Rituals: The Significance Of Young Chicana Cultural Pachuca And Chola Aesthetics And Identity Expression In The Albuquerque Lowrider Community, Valerie J. Chavez

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

The lowrider community in Albuquerque creates a space for families and individuals to gather and express themselves within Chicana/o/x culture. Nuevomexicanas have played a significant role in the teaching and preservation of the New Mexican traditions and rituals of lowriding. This research project is a visual and plática-based study. It explores how young Nuevomexicanas express their Chicana identity through la pachuca and chola cultural aesthetics and identity while actively participating in lowrider culture. This project utilizes the research methods of la resolana, querencia, and plática to understand, discover, and document the roles of young Nuevomexicanas in the Albuquerque …

Relational Justice And Relational Pedagogy In Social Care Education, Niall Hanlon

Conference papers

Given that social justice is now central to Social Care Work it is vital that educators develop critical perspectives, research and educational pedagogies that advance the principles, policies, and practices of social justice in the profession. This presentation outlines a critical perspective on social care that integrates four interrelating social justice principles: redistribution, recognition, representation, and relational justice. It argues that the principle of relational justice should be central to social care work and education. In developing this principle the paper outlines the features of a relational pedagogy for social care education that nurtures four interrelated elements: (i) caring practice; …

Empowering Youth Through Social Justice: A Mixed Methods Case Study Of The Deaf Community Travel Trunk Project, Emma Halliburton, Lisa Moore

Undergraduate Research Conference

As part of my honors requirement in my d/Deaf Education program, I crafted a Travel Trunk for humane education focusing on the area of social justice. Within that, due to my own personal connections, I elected for my Travel Trunk to center the Deaf Community. Using the book Listen, which details Evelyn Glennie's achievements, the project aimed to instill empathy. Students engaged with Glennie's story through a YouTube video and hands-on percussion activities, including wearing noise-canceling headphones. The research included pre- and post-surveys in an elementary classroom, assessing perceptions of deaf individuals as well as a field observation protocol. Utilizing …

Lgbtq+ Youth In The Juvenile Justice System, Matthias B. Pearce, April Terry

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Many experts agree that the juvenile justice system has flaws, resulting in the need for different modifications. One area of particular concern within the juvenile justice system is the involvement of LGBTQ+ youth. LGBTQ+ youth are grossly overrepresented in both the juvenile and adult systems, including those who are incarcerated. This rate is highest for queer women and trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals (Buist, 2020; Donohue et al., 2021; Hereth & Bouris, 2020). This known pathway clearly depicts a systemic issue—one that warrants attention and remediation. This poster provides background information on the disparities that exist for LGBTQ+ youth …

School-To-Prison Pipeline, Samuel S. Honas, April Terry

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Kindergarten through grade 12 schools are institutions where youth go to learn, grow, and sculpt their minds for their future. For some youth, schools do not present a warm and welcoming environment, and instead, respond in ways that create negative outcomes for certain youth. Factors like bullying, poor student-to-teacher interactions, and negative parental attachment can cause youth to have problems in school. Minority youth are also more likely to get in trouble in school for the same behaviors as their white counterparts. The school-to-prison pipeline is a pathway that begins in the school system that operates under the notion of …

How Much Does It Cost To Operate Tiny Home Villages For People Experiencing Homelessness, Celeste Benitez, Cooper Conway, Declan Maddern

School of Public Policy Capstones

Los Angeles is in a homelessness crisis. Millions of dollars are poured into preventing its causes and curtailing the increased medical costs and crime rates that stem from it. The solutions vary, but one new solution in the form of tiny home villages hopes to provide a cheap and effective way to get people experiencing homelessness off the streets.

In 2021, Los Angeles began opening tiny home villages, also referred to as cabin communities, for unhoused people during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently 11 tiny home villages in Los Angeles, operated in a joint effort between the government and …