Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

The Transition Experiences Of International Graduate Students In Clark University School Of Professional Studies, Xuesong Huang, Mingyang Lian, Dang Trung, Jay Sheth, Yuwei Yang, Irina Klimenko

School of Professional Studies

In the last decade, the School of Professional Studies at Clark University has witnessed a sharp increase in international students. More and more international students in the millennial generation have entered the School of Professional Studies pursuing one of the two-year graduate programs: Master of Science in Professional Studies, Master of Science in Public Administration, and Master of Science in Information Technology. In the past, working adult student dominant the program. These students already had a career outside the classrooms before them came to study. The millennial international students have generated new adjustment problems. Some of the transition issues of …

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

Integrating Evaluative Thinking Into Organisational Practice: A Case Study Of Lutino Adunu In Uganda, Shilla Adyero

Capstone Collection

Northern Uganda is still recovering from over two decades of civil war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The conflict created over 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who sought refuge in camps for 23 years. Around 80% of the affected population are mainly women and children. The displacement in the region caused large-scale loss of social and economic infrastructure, together with the productive resources. This contributed to the erosion of the social and financial capital of the affected areas population, forcing the population to depend on non-sustainable aid and relief services provided by international …

Collaborating A Shared Vision Of Child And Family Well Being, Tom Standish

Learning Showcase 2016: A Celebration of Discovery, Transformation and Success

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are major factors contributing to both physical and mental illness. ACEs include: physical/sexual abuse, neglect, domestic/community violence, parental separation/divorce, household substance abuse, household mental illness. ACEs in a culture of poverty furthers: unemployment/underemployment, social isolation, poor housing, early death, mental illness, higher suicide, high risk behaviors, alcohol substance abuse, physical illness, a navigational quagmire. However, people do build resiliency. People do recover.

Franklin County Teen Pregnancy, Sharon D. Sachs

Learning Showcase 2016: A Celebration of Discovery, Transformation and Success

• Since 2007, advocating for and serving Franklin County pregnant and parenting teens (PPT).
• Managing an 11 organization/15 program service collaborative - Healthy Families Connection (HFC).
• Assessing impact on lives of PPT as progress toward 6 outcomes. • Conducting studies and surveys.
• Promoting community standards of service to PPT.

Franklin County Youth Needs Assessment, Becky Zwicki

Learning Showcase 2016: A Celebration of Discovery, Transformation and Success

No abstract provided.

“Always A Double-Edged Sword”: How Women And Health Care Providers Navigate Issues Of Contraception In Differing Senegalese Communities, Angelina Strohbach

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines how women and health care providers in two distinct Senegalese settings—Dakar and Mouit, a village located within the Gandiol region-- navigate contraception as both a social and medical good. Contraception is an invaluable tool in terms of advancing women’s right to reproductive health, but major discrepancies in its usage exist across a variety of social lines in Senegal, including level of education, marital status, occupation, age, and living in a rural versus urban setting. What socially constructed thought processes and lived experiences contribute to these discrepancies? In a cultural context heavily based upon tradition and Islamic faith, …

Tomando En Cuenta: Perspectivas Sobre Las Tomas Del Movimiento Estudiantil Chileno / Taking Into Consideration: Perspectives On The Tomas Of The Chilean Student Movement, María Navarro-Gutiérrez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hoy día, actores en el movimiento estudiantil de Chile utilizan varias formas de protesta para comunicar sus deseos e ideas. Entre ellos, la toma de la escuela chilena, durante la cual los estudiantes “ocupan” a su escuela por un periodo de tiempo, se ha convertido en una de las formas de protesta más comunes y emblemáticas del movimiento. Muchas tomas ofrecen un espacio seguro, fuera de las calles, donde los estudiantes pueden instigar un dialogo entre ellos y la administración sobre sus preocupaciones. Sin embargo, aunque las tomas seguidas producen resultados positivos para ambos lados, acusaciones de la pérdida de …

Bits Of Belonging:Information Technology, Water, And Neoliberal Governance In India, Simanti Dasgupta

Simanti Dasgupta

India’s global success in the Information Technology industry has also prompted the growth of neoliberalism and the re-emergence of the middle class in contemporary urban areas, such as Bangalore. BITS of Belonging shows that this economic shift produces new forms of social inequality while reinforcing older ones. The study investigates this economic disparity by looking at IT and water privatization to explain how these otherwise unrelated domains correspond to our thinking about citizenship, governance, and belonging. The ethnographic study in this book shows how work and human processes in the IT industry intertwine to meet the market stipulations of the …

The Dynamic Effect Of Disability On Marriage: Evidence From The Social Security Disability Insurance Program, Ling Li, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

This study examines the dynamic effect of disability on marriage. Data on disability and marriage come from the New Beneficiary Survey, designed to characterize new beneficiaries of the Social Security Disability Insurance Program. Using an event-study model, the study finds that disability onset decreased marriage among beneficiaries, but only at younger ages. The study further examines whether the effect of disability on marriage is due to formation, dissolution, or both, and whether the effect varies by educational attainment and subsequent mortality. The results highlight the importance of marriage selection in the oft-cited relationship between marriage and better health.

Foundling Fathers: (Non-)Marriage And Parental Rights In The Age Of Equality, Serena Mayeri

All Faculty Scholarship

The twentieth-century equality revolution established the principle of sex neutrality in the law of marriage and divorce and eased the most severe legal disabilities traditionally imposed upon nonmarital children. Formal equality under the law eluded nonmarital parents, however. Although unwed fathers won unprecedented legal rights and recognition in a series of Supreme Court cases decided in the 1970s and 1980s, they failed to achieve constitutional parity with mothers or with married and divorced fathers. This Article excavates nonmarital fathers’ quest for equal rights, until now a mere footnote in the history of constitutional equality law.

Unmarried fathers lacked a social …

Policy Brief: Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act, The 2015-2016 Cohort Of New Hampshire Leadership Education In Neurodevelopmental And Related Disabilities (Nh Lend) Program Trainees.

Policy Analysis

The Lifespan Respite Care Act (PL 109-442) provides critical support for families caring for loved ones at home. Family caregivers in the United States provide an estimated $470 billion worth of uncompensated care—a figure that exceeds the total Medicaid budget for 2013 (NAC Task Force, 2016). According to the National Respite Coalition, access to respite care helps protect caregiver health, strengthens families, keeps marriages intact, and prevents the need for expensive institutional long-term care. Reauthorization of the Lifespan Respite Care Act is essential to the well-being of individuals in need of long-term care and their families affected by long-term health …

Information Technology Proposal For The Town Of Spencer, Vijay Basava, Corey Kenyon, Mahdi Soltani

School of Professional Studies

The Town of Spencer came to us looking for a plan to build and maintain their own personal fiber network for connection between departments and to improve data security for important information. After assessing the existing landscape and determining the various paths forward, we created network diagrams and plans for the movement forward of this project.

After assessing a variety of plans, we found that a full single-mode fiber network would be the best system for the implementation in Spencer. While it was the highest cost, it also scored the highest in our assessment.

Charlton Fire Department Resident Expectations: Survey And Analysis, Natalie Omary, Jingxin Wen, Junchen Chen, Denis Kornev

School of Professional Studies

The Town of Charlton is located in the heart of the Massachusetts with a resident population of just under 14,000 people. The Charlton Fire Department serves the town for needs related to fire fighting, fire prevention, burning permits and inspection services along with emergency medical services. The Department has requested the assistance of the Clark University COPACE Capstone students in creating and conducting survey in order to get a sense of what the resident of the town know about the fire department and to better gauge their expectations about what the department can provide for them. The survey was formulated …

Cybersecurity Awareness Shrewsbury Public Schools, Brittany Crompton, David Thompson, Manuel Reyes, Xueyan Zhao, Xueke Zou

School of Professional Studies

In the 21st Century, technology reaches every aspect of our lives. As “digital citizens” we must be aware of the dangers both to our technological equipment and our personal information stored, transmitted, and processed on this equipment. The Cybersecurity Awareness curriculum developed for the Shrewsbury Public School district is designed to meet this need, as well as foster an interest in technology and ethical computer use.

Analysis Of The Point Of Sales System At Tower Hill Botanical Garden And Suggested Courses Of Action, Brian Dunn, Keerthi Bandi, Chantal Kopwa Epse Kassa, F.N.U Shelly

School of Professional Studies

As Tower Hill Botanic Garden continues to improve on its operations and enhance the experience of its visitors and members, they are on a quest for a new Point-Of-Sale (POS) system that not only works with its existing hardware and interface with Raiser’s Edge, a smartcloud fundraising and relationship management software central to the garden’s operations but also, have a restaurant module and the capability of operating both in a wireless and hard-wired environment.

Alternatives Unlimited Inc. Property Service Application, Jalpa Dave, Pennie Nataliya, Neelakshi Bali

School of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project is to propose Property service application to be enforced for documenting and managing the work orders raised throughout the residencies. The company is looking into an application that would facilitate to track and monitor the maintenance request received in a systematic order and ensuring priority work request is resolved within the set time frame. The project is to enhance the property service's work more efficiently as this will provide a high level of charge for the occupants by providing quicker response to their requests. The Objectives set to achieve for this project are realistic and …

Developing An Online Database Of Experts For The Worcester Regional Chamber Of Commerce, Zikan Chen, Douglas Grey, Pranjal Shah

School of Professional Studies

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce as part of their mission to attract business to the Worcester area, want to create an online searchable database of industry experts made up of faculty members of the Colleges and Universities in the Worcester area. This online database will be placed on the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Higher Education – Business Partnership page on their website. The limitations placed on this request are that the Regional Chamber as of this moment have no monetary or Information Technologies resources to provide for the realization of this request.

The proliferation of as A Service …

Problem Analysis In Community Violence Assessments: Reavealing Early Childhood Trauma As A Driver Of Youth And Gang Violence, Laurie Ross Phd, Samantha Arsenault, Sergeant Miguel Lopez

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Problem analysis conducted by a university-based research partner can provide communities with data-driven options to address the local drivers of serious youth and gang violence. Situated in Worcester, Massachusetts, this article describes how after early childhood trauma was identified as a potential driver of adolescent and young adult violence, problem analysis using local data confirmed that being the victim or witness of a traumatic incident before the age of 12 was significantly correlated with involvement in violence in adolescence or young adulthood. While there is a robust literature on the relationship between early childhood trauma and later delinquency, local decision-makers …

“Why So Serious?” Threat, Authoritarianism, And Depictions Of Crime, Law, And Order In Batman Films, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Drawing on research on authoritarianism, this study analyzes the relationship between levels of threat in society and representations of crime, law, and order in mass media, with a particular emphasis on the superhero genre. Although the superhero genre is viewed as an important site of mediated images of crime and law enforcement, cultural criminologists have been relatively quiet about this film genre. In addressing this omission, I analyze authoritarian themes (with an emphasis on crime, law, and order) in the Batman film franchise across different periods of threat. My qualitative content analysis finds that authoritarianism themes of fear and need …

Doc Wayne Youth Services, Inc. Capstone Project Youth Employment And Mentoring, Bongani T. Jeranyama, Zhengjun Liu, Sarah Parsons

School of Professional Studies

In Boston, Massachusetts, young adults age 16-19 who have dropped out of high school have a very high unemployment rate of 43.8%. Additionally, in the United States of America the difference between a young adult with a high school diploma as opposed to a young adult without a high school diploma in terms of weekly income is $180 USD; between a young adult with a high school diploma versus a young professional with a bachelor’s degree is $433 USD. These numbers demonstrate the need for services that improve academic achievement, job readiness and preparedness, and youth mentorship for struggling young …

A Nonprofit Model In A For-Profit World: A Closer Look At Sheltered Workshops And Sustainability As An Employee Run Business, Bing Jang, Mitchell Perry, Nikolin Vangjeli, Laura Ducharme

School of Professional Studies

Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite improvements such forms of discrimination continue to be a serious social problem. On October 11, 2011, the Department of Justice began an investigation into several state’s systems of providing vocational services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This action came about due to several states being out of compliance around Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability for all services, programs and activities provided to the public by state and …

Analyzing Shared Value And Social Business Principles: A Case Study Of Honeydrop Beverages And Seven Hills Foundation, Sarah Dys, Maya Grevatt, Brianna Mirabile

School of Professional Studies

Can the business world come together with the nonprofit world to create systems to lift low income women, children, and families out of poverty? The following report aims to show how the changing principles of business have the potential to serve international populations living on less than $2USD per day. For-profit organizations working with citizen sector organizations instead of giving charity provides a sustainable model to connect profit maximization with social good.

Honeydrop Beverages is a company based out of New York that produces lemonade sweetened with honey. Their products do not contain any refined products, only using fresh and …

Trash On Taboga: A Case Study On Solid Waste Management And Feasible Methods For Sustainable Improvements, Taboga Island, Panama, Madison Marra

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On Taboga Island, a touristic island located just 20km outside of Panama City, solid waste can be found both littered and accumulated in an open-air dump that contributes to air, land, and ocean pollution. While more sustainable waste management systems are possible, as seen in other developing countries, differences in perceptions of waste management by users may result in differences in acceptance of new ideas. In this study, semi-structured interviews were used to gauge the status of waste management on Taboga and the perceptions of waste by its residents and visitors in order to ensure the participation of users in …

Migrant Access To Healthcare: A Study Of Undocumented Migrant Access To Sexual Healthcare & Family Planning Services In Switzerland In 2016, Emily Egbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Swiss healthcare system has experienced a significant influx of vulnerable migrants over the past few years. This presents a challenge to providers and policy makers to account for and provide aid to these non-­‐ Swiss citizens, such as undocumented migrants (UDM), whose status and circumstances may impede their access to healthcare. Along with this, various cultural barriers may present further challenges to access to the health system. This paper explores UDM access to health through the lens of sexual healthcare and family planning. In examining sexual health, the issues of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV/AIDS, and sexual violence were …

Exploration Of The State Of Mental Healthcare Services For Youth In Nairobi, Rashiidah Richardson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is formative research concerning the state of mental health care for youth in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a mixed methods design, the objectives of this study were to identify the most prevalent mental health concerns among youth in Kenya, to explore the availability and acceptability of youth friendly mental health care services, and to explore the quality of and challenges to providing youth friendly mental health care services. Results indicate that substance abuse, conduct disorder, and family conflict may be among the most pressing mental health concerns for young people. Furthermore, while young people may be willing to seek …

A Critical Analysis Of The Public Sphere: How The Lgbtq Movement Utilizes And Occupies Space In Morocco, Katherine Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the nature of the LGBTQ movement in Morocco in relation to the theoretical concept of the public sphere. Specifically, it explores what spaces LGBTQ organizations, which do not have access to the public sphere in Morocco, occupy in order to pursue activism. Theory surrounding the public sphere and collective social movements is very much based on a Western perspective, despite claims of universalism. Western theory defines modern social movements by collective action, a unified movement, occupying and the public sphere as a site of resistance. However, this fails to recognize the fact that many people in semi-authoritarian …

A Qualitative Investigation On The Effects Of The Uttar Pradesh Population Policy On Women Who Undergo Sterilization In Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, Anna Wadhwani

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The effectiveness of population policies is widely disputed by the international development community and is under constant scrutiny. While these policies have the potential to positively affect reproductive and child health indicators, they often focus too heavily on macro-demographic family planning goals and fail to acknowledge socioeconomic determinants of fertility indicators, often making for ineffective policy. Furthermore, target-based approaches have the potential to negatively impact women’s family planning choices and the quality of care they receive. This study seeks to analyze how the Uttar Pradesh Population Policy affects the decision-making process and experiences of women who undergo sterilization procedures in …

Cedar Weaving & Co-Sleeping Safety: A Parenting Class For Expectant Coast Salish Parents, Rena Pugh

MSW Capstones

This proposed intervention is a parenting class that combines co-sleeping safety information and cedar baby basket weaving instruction for the Pacific Northwest’s Coast Salish population. Parents will weave cedar baskets to provide their baby with the safest sleeping space in the adult bed. Parents learn to weave cedar, and understand the safety advantages provided by the basket simultaneously. This project pairs community values with the latest scientific research and safety advice to provide an intervention that addresses the disparity in infant injury and death in Native America without sacrificing cultural practices.