Sociology Commons^™

Leveraging Historical Data For Estimating Genetic Gain And Implementing Genomic Selection In A Student Led Barley Breeding Program, Sydney Graham

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In Nebraska, winter feed barley presents an emerging market for producers and an opportunity to diversify cropping systems. The University of Nebraska Barley Breeding Program aims to develop high-yielding, winter-hardy varieties. A unique aspect of this program is that doctoral students serve as barley breeders and are responsible for crossing, data collection, and advancement decisions. While this provides hands-on experience for the students, the impact of student leadership has not been examined.

This study used a historical data set to evaluate the realized genetic gain of the breeding program, and as a training population for genomic selection. The dataset consisted …

Exploring The Nexus Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Illicit Substance Misuse Among Midwestern Adults, Anika R. Eisenbraun

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The positive association between illicit substance misuse and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been widely examined in prior literature. Yet, there is limited understanding of the varying factors, such as social support, depressive symptoms, or sexual victimization, that may impact the relationship between substance misuse and ACEs. As such, the purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between ACEs (i.e., physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect) with illicit substance misuse and to investigate indirect pathways of social support, depressive symptoms, and sexual victimization. Private, secondary data from the second cohort of a larger, longitudinal rural health …

Household Wealth And Mental Health In Older Adults Across Racial Groups: Moderating Role Of Social Support, Sunkanmi Folorunsho

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the relationship between household wealth and mental health outcomes among older adults, with particular attention to racial and ethnic differences and the potential moderating role of social support. Although financial resources are widely recognized as important determinants of psychological well-being, less is known about how social support interacts with economic conditions to shape mental health in later life. The study also addresses how these patterns may vary among different racial and ethnic groups, given persistent inequalities in wealth and disparities in access to social resources.

Drawing on data from the 2020 wave of the Health and Retirement …

Melanated Reflections Through Testimonios: Centering The Experiences Of African American Women Teachers Turned Leaders And Their Implications On Recruitment, Selection, Hiring, And Retention Of Women Of Color In Leadership Positions, Tanya Rochelle Santos

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2022), during the 2017–2018 academic year, only 7% of all teachers identified as Black or African American, with approximately 76% of that group being women. This qualitative study investigates the lived experiences of African American women educators who have transitioned into leadership roles within P–12 educational settings across the Great Plains Region of the United States. The research explores how their experiences intersect with issues of racial and gender equity, particularly within the broader discourse of social justice in education and educational leadership.

Framed within the theoretical lens of Black Feminist Thought, …

The Ballad Of The Wheel, John Kosch

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The Ballad of the Wheel is a piece for voice, percussion, and electronics that examines the cyclical nature of humanity. It draws texts from existential literature that spans almost all of recorded history, from antiquity to present day. In this work, a single narrator poses the same concerns about the nature of existence in different texts, revealing that questions about the meaning of life transcend boundaries of time and space. The prevalence of the theme of reincarnation also suggests that each movement of the piece presents a different manifestation of a single being. The Ballad of the Wheel implies a …

Queered Tradition: Disidentificatory Practices Of Queer-Affirming Religious Space, Amanda R. Peterson

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Responding to high rates of religious trauma in the United States, particularly for LGBTQ people, this study investigates the rhetorical moves made in protestant Christian spaces to consider what makes these spaces safe and affirming for queer people. Specifically, I consider the rhetorical impact these churches make through not only their space but also their liturgy and online presence, which informs the embodied experience of the space.

Through autoethnographic research, I look at three local churches—Metropolitan Community Church of Omaha, Urban Abbey, and Elevate Church–the first two queer-affirming and the third conservative. Findings show the various church elements negotiated with …

Nebraska's Preparedness For A Growing Diverse Aging Population: A Survey Of Area Agencies On Aging, Vince Barger

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper aims to examine the current efforts of Nebraska’s Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) to serve a growing diverse population of older adults (United States Census Bureau, 2023). This project is comprised of a survey created to gauge the thoughts and opinions of Nebraska AAA employees supplemented by a comprehensive literature review. The findings of the literature review indicate the need for an understanding of the importance of diversity and how it affects individual life experiences. The survey revealed that the AAAs are already making changes to reflect the population shift that is currently happening, such as specific programs …

Men’S Fertility Beliefs, Intentions, And Contraceptive Use, Meagan Kunitzer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Despite advancements in reproductive technology, gender-inclusive approaches remain limited, and research on men’s reproductive health is scarce. Specifically, little is known about how men conceptualize reproductive health and how perspectives vary by race and social class. As such, the purpose of this study is to further the field’s understanding of men’s reproductive health, including fertility beliefs, intentions, and behaviors. Guided by the theory of conjunctural action, this study uses survey-driven narrative construction to explore how 35 men think about their reproductive health and how this varies by race and class. The main benefit of using this method is that it …

Educational Leadership In A Vuca World: The Crisis Management Experiences Of Rural School Superintendents, Lucas J. Grossnicklaus

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The job of both urban and rural superintendents is challenging, but it is the rural school superintendency that comes with unique challenges that aren’t always faced by their urban and suburban counterparts. The COVID-19 Pandemic brought about a number of crises for school superintendents such as school closures, mask mandates, and navigating positions taken by governors, teachers unions, and school boards. While concerns about school closures and mask mandates has dissipated, conflict within school districts has only seemed to grow since the pandemic.

This multi-case study explored the lived experience of rural superintendents in the Midwest who have experienced a …

Planting The Seed: Rumors And Ceo Dismissal, Diego Villalpando

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Researchers have investigated the short-term performance implications of CEO dismissals as assessed through investor reactions to CEO dismissal announcements. While the corporate governance mechanism of dismissal that boards orchestrate when CEOs underperform could be positively perceived by investors, empirical evidence suggests that a positive association between CEO dismissals and investor reactions is equivocal. Thus, in my dissertation, I examine investor reactions to S&P 500 dismissal announcements and further understanding about this intriguing relationship through the development of theory that incorporates the important theoretical mechanism of information uncertainty. Since it is increasingly hard for boards to reduce the information uncertainty surrounding …

Support, School Climate And Teacher Wellbeing In The Wake Of Covid-19: A National Study Using Ntsp Data, Annastashia M. Teepe

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Research indicates a significant number of teachers planned to leave the profession following the COVID-19 pandemic, with national surveys in 2021 revealing about 25% considering departure. Stress, low pay, remote teaching demands, and lack of support contributed to attrition, impacting school climate, which influences productivity, collaboration, and job satisfaction, and is inversely related to turnover. The shift to remote learning also demanded new skills and exposed technological disparities. This quantitative study examined the pandemic's impact on teachers' perceptions of school climate, support, resources, job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave using the 2020–2021 National Teacher and Principal Survey. Factor analyses …

Youth Sport Participation And Cognitive Development: The Need For Improved Measurement, Amelia Anne Miramonti

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Background: Youth sport participation is associated with numerous positive developmental outcomes, including potential cognitive benefits. However, research examining sport-cognition links often uses simplistic operationalizations of sport participation and cross-sectional designs, limiting causal inference and understanding of specific sport characteristics' roles. This study aimed to develop and compare a novel, nuanced sport participation scoring method against common operationalizations in predicting cognitive outcomes in a large youth sample, while controlling for general physical activity and health as a first step towards more robust longitudinal analyses.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study Year 2 follow-up …

Belly Dance In Nebraska: Identity, Social Acceptance, And Perseverance, Alex R. Mohr

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Belly dance is an art form as well as an often-contested practice due to tensions over dress, terminology and cultural practices within the belly dance community because the dance originated outside the United States. Additionally, there is often a need to prove the legitimacy of the dance to those outside its sphere because it is often stigmatized due to the early association with exotic dancing. Belly dance is inherently geographic, as seen through its places of origin, music and movement styles, global spread, practitioners, and spaces of practice. However, it has not been well-represented in geography, and there is also …

Kansas City, Kansas, Vida Davidović

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS is a thesis that operates in the tradition of expressionist dramaturgy and playwriting, taking up themes of abuse, imperialism, war, trauma, womanhood, Balkan identities, history of the Balkans, as well as the discourses of psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory. The use of different theoretical frameworks related to both international and personal politics, which are shown to be intertwined, suggests a strong relationship between political processes in the Second World Countries that had experienced many occupations throughout their history and the way women in those countries relate to the questions of body, authority, feminity, and interpersonal relationships. The play …

Internalized Homophobia In Midwestern Sexual Minorities, Charissa Farr

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Research into internalized homophobia in sexual minorities has identified several factors that tend to lead to higher levels of internalized homophobia. These factors are parental acceptance or rejection, religion, urban versus rural environment, and societal attitudes. There are, however, few studies that have been done on these factors specifically in Midwestern sexual minorities. Twenty participants that identified as non-heterosexual were interviewed for this study. Participants completed a short quantitative survey on internalized homophobia before being interviewed with questions that looked at the known factors of internalized homophobia as well as what they thought needed to happen for future generations to …

A Framework For Quantifying The Benefits Of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Development, Donya Negahbani

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Under the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, a significant portion of benefits derived from federal clean transportation investments is required to be directed to disadvantaged communities. Meeting this mandate necessitates a transparent and reproducible approach that quantifies various dimensions of value and allocates them equitably. This dissertation presents a flexible framework specifically tailored for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Nebraska, effectively translating equity goals into rigorous spatial and economic analyses. The framework first identifies multiple distinct categories of benefit that reflect the societal value of charging access: energy savings, economic opportunities, environmental quality enhancements, and public health improvements. …

Addressing Structural Violence In Eastern Nebraska Through The Assessment Of Mortality Profiles, Victoria M. Pate

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Humanitarian forensics has recently expanded to include the examination of forensic casework demographics within the medicolegal community. Additionally, it is proposed that research and data collection should look beyond the individual case report to address public health, crime vulnerabilities, and marginalization at local and national levels to advocate for policy changes protecting against institutionalized violence. With the utilization of quantitative and qualitative methods, 294 case reports provided by Nebraska police departments, between the years of 2014-2024, were analyzed to conceptualize mortality vulnerabilities and the ways in which forensic anthropologists can aid in community action. Pearson’s Chi-Square and one-way Analysis of …

Recognizing Injustice, Reclaiming Voices: Establishing A Missing Persons Database For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Children In Nebraska, Bayly W. Watson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Indigenous people have been the victims of harsh persecution since the time of colonization; this has negatively impacted Native communities and has contributed significantly to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children (MMIWC) across the United States and Canada. Under Legislative Bill 154, Richards et al. (2021) conducted an initial study to identify missing Native cases in Nebraska and in 2023, the Attorney General appointed a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Liaison to help combat the number of missing Indigenous in the state. This thesis contributes to previous research by analyzing 20,049 reports from three …

Empowering Rural Communities: Unlocking Potential Through The Online Rural Economic & Community Vitality Graduate Certificate, Daniela Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

In today’s evolving economic landscape, rural Nebraska stands at a crossroads. While communities face challenges like population decline, job loss, and infrastructure needs, they also have enormous potential for growth, innovation, and resilience. The key to unlocking this potential lies in skilled, passionate leaders ready to shape the future.

The Rural Economic & Community Vitality (RECV) Graduate Certificate offered 100% online by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Department of Agricultural Economics, provides a powerful platform to do just that. This 12-credit, no-prerequisite program is designed for individuals eager to create real, lasting impact in rural communities—whether you're already working in …

Transgender And Gender Diverse Young Adults’ Navigation Of Sexuality: What Mental Health Providers Need To Know, Sage A. Volk

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Though literature has documented that TGD individuals may face unique challenges when attempting to develop healthy romantic and sexual relationships (Hill-Meyer & Scarborough, 2014), research has also identified that intimate partners can serve as an immeasurable source of support and resilience for their TGD partners (Coppola et al., 2021; Galupo et al., 2019). While there is strong evidence to support the importance of TGD individuals developing healthy intimate relationships, there is little guidance in the literature for mental health providers wanting to discuss these domains with TGD clients in psychotherapy (Spencer and Vencill, 2017).

The present study addresses this gap …

Transgender And Gender Diverse Youth Navigating Relationships And Sexuality: Recommendations For Affirming Clinical Practice, Hannah Marie Coffey

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Healthy relationship development is critical for adolescents’ social-emotional wellbeing, and shifting social expectations and identity development in adolescence can be challenging (Kenny et al., 2013; Roach, 2018). This can be particularly complex for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth given the occurrence of identity development alongside navigating safety, access to affirming spaces, and limited availability of queer-inclusive education (Levitt and Ippolito, 2014; Xing et al., 2015). The positive psychosocial impacts of comprehensive sex education and the relevance of discussing relationships in therapy with adolescents situate mental health providers well to address some of the gaps in knowledge and access to …

Holding Ground In The Cerulean Tide: Minority Party Legislators' Strategies For Advancing Climate Policies In Landslide States, Sukjae Lee

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation addresses a key puzzle: Why do states sometimes adopt nationally polarized policies, such as climate change legislation, even when doing so does not align with strict partisan interests? The analysis focuses on “landslide states,” where a single party overwhelmingly dominates, and the minority party cannot realistically expect to gain a majority. In these environments, reduced partisan conflict allows minority party legislators to break from traditional partisan paths. As a result, I argue that electoral motivations drive them to signal moderation by advancing liberal policy agendas or incorporating provisions that minimize backlash from their core constituents in landslide states. …

How Do School-Level Dynamics Impact Mainstreaming Practices In American Schools?, Natalie M. Watson

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

How do school-level dynamics impact the everyday experiences of students with disabilities, compared to their abled peers? Extant research has mostly focused on the experiences of individual students with disabilities, and their teachers. We know far less about how school-level dynamics shape students’ experiences. Historically, American schools formally separated students with and without disabilities, though the specific mode varied over time -- ranging from explicit institutionalization to segregation in special education programs. At least since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, efforts to educate students with disabilities alongside their abled peers in mainstreamed settings have increased …

Giving Voice To Student Grief: Using Community-Based Participatory Research To Develop And Pilot A Translational Storytelling Intervention For Bereaved College Students, Cassidy Rae Taladay-Carter

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this dissertation was to employ community-based participatory research (CBPR, Wallerstein et al., 2018) methods to attend to a pressing issue in the community. In partnership with one local grief center, we identified the need for enhanced grief support for current emerging adult undergraduate students in our area. Nearly 50% of U.S. emerging adults enrolled in four-year residential universities experience the death of an important figure (Cox et al., 2015; Cupit et al., 2021), at a time when they are developing important facets of their narrative identity. Without the coherence and meaning structures provided by narrative identity, students …

Examining A Unl College Success Program Through The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments Model, Osvaldo Palma Vargas

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Higher education institutions have faced difficulties in providing environments designed to promote positive success outcomes among diverse student populations, especially first-generation students. While literature has focused on college success programs’ practices as a solution, there is a noticeable gap in what these programs do that integrate first-generation students’ cultures. This ethnographic-inspired study sought to identify what cultural practices within a college success program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Trenchard Foundation Institute of Excellence (TFIOE), contributed to creating culturally engaging campus environments for first-generation college students. Using Museus’s (2014) culturally engaging campus environments model (CECE) as a framework, I conducted …

Giving Voice To Student Grief: Using Community-Based Participatory Research To Develop And Pilot A Translational Storytelling Intervention For Bereaved College Students, Cassidy Rae Taladay-Carter

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The purpose of this dissertation was to employ community-based participatory research (CBPR, Wallerstein et al., 2018) methods to attend to a pressing issue in the community. In partnership with one local grief center, we identified the need for enhanced grief support for current emerging adult undergraduate students in our area. Nearly 50% of U.S. emerging adults enrolled in four-year residential universities experience the death of an important figure (Cox et al., 2015; Cupit et al., 2021), at a time when they are developing important facets of their narrative identity. Without the coherence and meaning structures provided by narrative identity, students …

Controlling The Narrative: How The United Daughters Of The Confederacy Shaped Collective Memory Through Romance Novels, Karie L. Cobb

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While existing scholarship on the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) reveals the immense influence the organization wielded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I assert that their legacy has had a broader and more insidious reach than previously believed. Through close analysis of two foundational romance novelists’ works published during the rapid escalation of the genre’s popularity, I contend that the rhetoric of the UDC shaped generations of Southerners as demonstrated through repetitions and parallels of the Lost Cause ideology found in UDC publications and sponsored materials within romance novels written by white Southern women who came of age …

Beyond Empire: Spain's Contemporary Relationship With Latin America, Gage Groeteke

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The relationship between Spain and Latin America demands critical attention, not only due to its colonial past but also in light of shifting global power structures and growing generational demands for accountability from historically oppressive states. This study takes its form in a literature review to synthesize the evolving postcolonial dynamic between Spain and the Latin American region—whose long-run development and capacity for economic independence have been fundamentally shaped by colonization. Drawing on postcolonial theory, historical context, international relations, foreign policy, and primary sources, this paper argues that Spain’s modern entanglement with Latin America reflects a neocolonial pattern. Spain’s economic …

Bridging The Gap: Stress And Support Systems For Underrepresented Students Pursuing Graduate Education, Carlos A. Tavira-Villegas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Embedded within the United States educational system lies a history that is marked by centuries of exclusion, where students of color were denied the right to an equal education. Despite this legacy of injustice, a story of resilience and bravery also exists, as countless individuals fought for the right to access and succeed in an equal education. This literature review examines the historical exclusion of Mexican American, Asian, and Black students in the United States. Important legal cases will be explored to trace the progression of educational equity in America. Several theories will be reviewed, including social identity theory, ecological …

Empowering The Future: The Role Of Women Landowner Networks In Succession Planning, Charlotte Brockman, Andrea Basche Dr., Brooke Mcwherter Dr.

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Women non-operating landowners play a critical yet often overlooked role in agricultural land management and decision-making. This study examines the intersection of emotional, economic, and social factors influencing their land tenure decisions, particularly in the context of succession planning and tenant relationships. Through qualitative analysis, findings reveal that women landowners navigate unique challenges, including limited access to tailored resources, legal and financial barriers, and gendered dynamics in agricultural advising. Participants expressed strong emotional attachments to their land, influencing their stewardship goals and interest in conservation practices. Additionally, the study highlights the need for increased support structures, such as legal guidance, …