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The Student-Teacher Romance Film Genre: Hollywood's Historical Representation Of Abuse Of Power, Darby Gilliland University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

The Student-Teacher Romance Film Genre: Hollywood's Historical Representation Of Abuse Of Power, Darby Gilliland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite vast literature analyzing films that depict romantic and sexual relationships between young students and their teachers, scholarship has yet to explicitly call this category of films and television a genre. The purpose of the present thesis is to define the student-teacher romance film genre and identify patterns that make it up as a means of illuminating the genre’s exploration of abuse of power in the classroom. I use a historical-generic methodology and gaze theory as a framework to conduct this analysis. I identify three distinct eras of the genre and analyze films from each time period. The first era …

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Modes Of Cartoon Corporeal Performance, Gregory Langner Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College

Modes Of Cartoon Corporeal Performance, Gregory Langner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation project works to introduce and interrogate a phenomenon I am calling cartoon corporeality. The phenomenon refers to the varied ways in which cartoons “escape” their usual two-dimensionality through performance, appearing to manifest in physical environments in ways that should be understood as culturally impactful. Cartoon corporeality encompasses different modes of performance wherein the explicit visual presence of a cartoon subject informs an immediately observable physical impact through the body of the performer. I interrogate the phenomenon by focusing on four select modes of cartoon corporeal performance: videogame play, cosplay, theatrical adaptation, and the active weaving of cartoons …

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Climate Change Frames And Emotional Responses On Reddit, Isabel Iruani Villanueva University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Climate Change Frames And Emotional Responses On Reddit, Isabel Iruani Villanueva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change remains a highly polarized topic in the United States. Research suggests that the divide in climate change beliefs is partly a result of news media’s representation of select aspects of the problem, or framing. Frames influence individuals’ attitudes, emotions, and behaviors towards climate change. Overwhelming representation of certain climate change frames has led to a lack of emotional connection to the issue, resulting in inaction or dismissal. Climate change researchers have investigated the presence and effects of frames on both news media and select social media sites, particularly Twitter. However, little research has investigated the climate change conversation …

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Perspective And Perception: How Reddit Trip Reports Convey And Offer Different Knowledges About Psychedelic Drugs, Kevin Lawson Nutt Clemson University

Perspective And Perception: How Reddit Trip Reports Convey And Offer Different Knowledges About Psychedelic Drugs, Kevin Lawson Nutt

All Theses

Psychedelics drugs are slowly gaining recognition for their potential medicinal value in therapeutic settings in Western science. However, there remains a great deal of hostility and hesitancy toward psychedelics, largely due to the psychedelics’ collective classification as Schedule I drugs in America, which resulted from a history of the drug class’ demonization. Nonetheless, several US states and cities having decriminalized psychedelic drugs in certain contexts, but the general population is relatively naïve to the potentialities psychedelics can offer. This thesis studies trip reports, which are firsthand accounts of individual psychedelic experiences, on Reddit to shed light on the different knowledges …

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Righteous Defenders And Evil Challengers: The Morally Polarized Battle For Books On Reddit, Erika Casburn Antioch University

Righteous Defenders And Evil Challengers: The Morally Polarized Battle For Books On Reddit, Erika Casburn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The issue of book bans has moved to the forefront of public and political debate over the past few years. Anti-censorship advocates who defend against these challenges have yet to be studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and worldviews as expressed by those defenders in a public forum—Reddit. Data in the form of Reddit threads was collected from subreddits belonging to states that have seen the greatest number of book challenges. This data was subjected to discourse analysis, first manually, then by qualitative analysis software (MAXQDA). Analysis revealed that defenders spent a majority of discursive …

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The Effects Of Commercialization On The Perception Of Hip Hop Culture And Black Culture In Mainstream Culture In The United States, Chris A. Robinson University of Denver

The Effects Of Commercialization On The Perception Of Hip Hop Culture And Black Culture In Mainstream Culture In The United States, Chris A. Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is examines how the perception of a sub-culture can be altered by a dominant culture. Specifically this project addresses the effects resulting from the assimilation of Hip Hop Culture by mainstream culture in the United States, and its subsequent use as a marketing tool. Because Hip Hop Culture originated in Black Culture, the perception of Black Culture as reflected by hip hop music is also discussed. All of these themes are addressed creatively through a narrative script project.

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A Simple Introduction To The Practice Of Ethnography And Guide To Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Brian Hoey SelectedWorks

A Simple Introduction To The Practice Of Ethnography And Guide To Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Brian Hoey

Brian A Hoey

In this article, I will provide a simple introduction to the practice of ethnographic fieldwork. Ethnographic approaches, while born of the work conducted by anthropologists over one hundred years ago, are increasingly employed by researchers and others from a variety of backgrounds and for a multitude of purposes from the academic to the applied and even the commercial. In this article, I will provide an introduction intended for those new to this approach but who have already had some basic experience or training. I also provide a discussion of the centrality of fieldnotes to the conduct of this very personally …

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How To Sell A Gendered Fantasy, Matthew Salzano, Jess X. Alexander, Belinda B. Castiblanco, Brianna Chavez, Maura Conley, Chris Connor, Antoine Jones, Ryan Kani, Christopher Munde, Kyleigh Retzlaff, Steffi Santos, Gabriella Simpson, Amberlin Smith, Jenna Zaza Stony Brook University

How To Sell A Gendered Fantasy, Matthew Salzano, Jess X. Alexander, Belinda B. Castiblanco, Brianna Chavez, Maura Conley, Chris Connor, Antoine Jones, Ryan Kani, Christopher Munde, Kyleigh Retzlaff, Steffi Santos, Gabriella Simpson, Amberlin Smith, Jenna Zaza

School of Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications

The media analysis essays in this collection are the result of an online graduate course at Stony Brook University’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric entitled “Intersectionality and Media.” Drawing upon methods and scholarship based primarily in rhetorical studies, the course aimed to prepare graduate students in a variety of disciplines to write, research, and communicate about issues related to media, identity, and the intersectionality of oppression—especially race, class, gender, and sexuality. How to Sell a Gendered Fantasy analyzes various media artifacts (spanning digital, film and tv, music, and games) and the fantasies about gender that they contain. Gendered fantasies work …

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“Barbie Is As Much About Fashion As She Is About Culture And Empowerment”: Feminism In Barbie The Movie And Its Postfeminist Marketing, Brooke Ashley Shepherd California State University, San Bernardino

“Barbie Is As Much About Fashion As She Is About Culture And Empowerment”: Feminism In Barbie The Movie And Its Postfeminist Marketing, Brooke Ashley Shepherd

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The Barbie movie has been celebrated by fans for its feminist narrative. Although the film garnered appreciation from fans across the world, my thesis illustrates that it ultimately serves as a vehicle to promote a product, leading to question its feminist narrative. This mixed method study, which combines feminist textual analysis and feminist political economy analysis, investigates feminism and postfeminism within the Barbie movie and the marketing for the movie. The feminist textual analysis identified both feminist and postfeminist ideologies that are present within the film. The feminist political economy analysis identified the marketing for the Barbie movie as postfeminist. …

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“Mystery Meat” And “Bulldyke:” Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson Eastern Illinois University

"Mystery Meat" And "Bulldyke": Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson

Masters Theses

Most of the sports industry is a male dominated space where women are very rarely accepted. We see men in the field, whether they work or play, defend the space and tell women reporters to “stay in their lane.” This study focuses on an online news-sharing site, reddit, and examines how sports fans take it upon themselves to defend sports as a male space. Reporters, such as Sarah Spain, Jemele Hill, and Doris Burke, are subjected to hundreds of comments that silence them and discipline them based on their gender. This study emphasizes the need for gender equality in what …

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Book Review: The History And Politics Of Star Wars: Death Stars And Democracy, Petra Hendrickson 2026 Northern Michigan University

Book Review: The History And Politics Of Star Wars: Death Stars And Democracy, Petra Hendrickson

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Book Review: The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy

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Speaking In Color: Code-Meshing Against Standard Language Ideology In The Public Speaking Classroom, Darrion A. Walker 2026 National Coalition of Independent Scholars

Speaking In Color: Code-Meshing Against Standard Language Ideology In The Public Speaking Classroom, Darrion A. Walker

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Public speaking courses do more than teach presentation skills; they also teach students which voices count as credible. In Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), instructional norms tied to standard language ideology position standardized English as the unmarked benchmark of professional communication. For students who speak African American Language (AAL) or other culturally informed language varieties, this creates a double bind: conform linguistically or risk being penalized for rhetorical authenticity. This reflective essay identifies the double bind as an underexamined problem in communication pedagogy and suggests that code-meshing—the intentional blending of multiple language varieties within a single communicative act—offers a more equitable, …

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Determinants Of Antenatal Care Utilization: A Community-Based, Cross-Sectional Study In Morang And Sunsari Districts, Eastern Nepal, Sunil Shah, Chandra Jha 2026 Nepalgunj Medical College

Determinants Of Antenatal Care Utilization: A Community-Based, Cross-Sectional Study In Morang And Sunsari Districts, Eastern Nepal, Sunil Shah, Chandra Jha

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

This study examined the factors influencing antenatal care (ANC) utilization in the eastern region of Nepal, focusing on the Morang and Sunsari districts, with the aim of identifying key determinants affecting ANC uptake and assessing the extent of ANC service utilization among mothers. Using lot quality assurance sampling, a community-based, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed, surveying 164 mothers who had given birth within the previous 12 months; data were collected from June through November 2023. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS, with descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression. Findings revealed that 80.5% of respondents …

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How Philip K. Dick Used The Unreliable Narrator To Transport Unwitting Acolytes, Michael Barros, Jordi Smith 2026 National University

How Philip K. Dick Used The Unreliable Narrator To Transport Unwitting Acolytes, Michael Barros, Jordi Smith

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines the use of the unreliable narrator to transport the reader into narrative worlds, specifically in Philip K. Dick's fiction. By exploring the phenomenon of narrative transportation and the role of emotions in engagement with fiction, we argue that Dick's use of the unreliable narrator significantly engages and transports readers into his narrative worlds. Subsequently, we contend that his belief in the fundamental reality of those worlds is effectively positioning himself as a gatekeeper and mediator between the narrative world and the real world, which sets him, in his mind, as a prophet, using fiction as a tool …

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X Versus Reality: X Posts Were 1200% More Negative About “The Odyssey” Than Real Audience Reactions, Bond Benton, Yi Lou, Jin-A Choi 2026 Montclair State University

X Versus Reality: X Posts Were 1200% More Negative About “The Odyssey” Than Real Audience Reactions, Bond Benton, Yi Lou, Jin-A Choi

College of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

This follow-up study from Montclair State University researchers in the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication in the College of Communication and Media shows that sentiment on X about the film “The Odyssey” was 1200% more negative than the views of verified audience members. This reflects an even greater gap than the Center’s previous studies of recent political elections where high levels of negativity about specific candidates were inconsistent with voter behavior.  Similarly, contributing factors to the gap seen in sentiment about “The Odyssey” may include the volume of specific ideological accounts, bot-based activity, …

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Review Of Supernatural: A History Of Television’S Unearthly Road Trip By Erin Giannini, Duane Ebesu 2026 Columbia University

Review Of Supernatural: A History Of Television’S Unearthly Road Trip By Erin Giannini, Duane Ebesu

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

No abstract (book review)

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Cooperation, Collaboration, And Community In Horror And Suspense Games, Rachel Kerr, Monica Evans, Cameron Irby, Cheri Tang 2026 University of Texas at Dallas

Cooperation, Collaboration, And Community In Horror And Suspense Games, Rachel Kerr, Monica Evans, Cameron Irby, Cheri Tang

ELO (un)supervised 2026

Cooperation has been a staple in video and analog games since their inception. From couch co-op to social deduction games, there are few games that cannot be enjoyed cooperatively in some way. Even games that are not inherently cooperative can be played collaboratively, from single-player games enjoyed by multiple people in the same room to PvP games where players opt for teamwork despite explicitly competitive mechanics. In horror and suspense games, cooperation tends to form strong communicative bonds between players. The four papers in this panel examine how communities form in and around horror and suspense games, and how those …

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Exploring Primary Care Providers’ Compassionate Care And Their Evidence-Based Practice With Death, Grief, And Loss: Patient Experience And Perspective, Kathryn Krzykala 2026 National Louis University

Exploring Primary Care Providers’ Compassionate Care And Their Evidence-Based Practice With Death, Grief, And Loss: Patient Experience And Perspective, Kathryn Krzykala

Dissertations

Research on primary care providers’ (PCPs) education regarding Death, Grief, and Loss (DGL) remains limited. Specifically, data is lacking regarding patients' perceptions and opinions on what they need and expect from their PCPs regarding grief and loss. This exploratory mixed-method study comprised 146 participants who had experienced death and non-death loss. It examined participants' perceptions of 1) PCP compassion, 2) PCP utilization of evidence-based grief and loss practices, 3) their own level of comfort discussing DGL with their PCPs during medical visits, and 4) their personal grief and loss experiences. The findings revealed that PCPs' grief-informed evidence-based treatment, as reflected …

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Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark 2026 University of Central Florida

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

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Locate Alternative Media In The Digital News Ecosystem: A Cross-Country Comparative Study Of Alternative-Mainstream Audience Overlap Networks, Qinfeng Zhu, Fan Liang, Gabriel Miao Li 2026 University of Groningen

Locate Alternative Media In The Digital News Ecosystem: A Cross-Country Comparative Study Of Alternative-Mainstream Audience Overlap Networks, Qinfeng Zhu, Fan Liang, Gabriel Miao Li

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines alternative media within the digital news ecosystem in six European countries: Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, and Spain. Using a network approach and a cross-country comparative design, we analyze audience overlap between alternative and mainstream media, the positions alternative media occupy within these networks, and how media systems and political contexts may shape these dynamics. Our findings show that while overall audience overlap is low, it is higher in countries where far-right populist parties have greater institutionalized access to political discourse. We also identify alternative media enclaves within the Northern-type media system characterized by strong professional journalism—particularly …

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Exploring Border Rhetoric, Resistance, And The American Dream: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' First House Address, Candice L. Ruh PhD, Cassandra Hightower 2026 Eastern Illinois University

Exploring Border Rhetoric, Resistance, And The American Dream: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' First House Address, Candice L. Ruh Phd, Cassandra Hightower

Feminist Pedagogy

Border rhetoric can be a “muddy” topic for undergraduates, as borders are often taught as fixed, factual lines that divide places and people. However, from a communication perspective, borders are fluid, symbolic, and socially constructed. This difference between viewing borders as physical dividers versus rhetorical constructs creates a valuable opportunity for students to think critically about how meaning is shaped by borders of land, language, and identity.             This original teaching activity uses Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ (D-NY) first House speech—the most-watched C-SPAN video within 12 hours of release (Gajanan, 2019)—as a central case. It invites students to analyze a key moment …

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The Power And Pitfalls Of Constructive Journalism: The Effects Of Hopeful Narratives In The News On Attitudes, Engagement And Knowledge, Oren Livio, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Liran Peretz, Yael Ella-Hay, Yariv Tsfati, Nurit Tal-Or 2026 University of Haifa

The Power And Pitfalls Of Constructive Journalism: The Effects Of Hopeful Narratives In The News On Attitudes, Engagement And Knowledge, Oren Livio, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Liran Peretz, Yael Ella-Hay, Yariv Tsfati, Nurit Tal-Or

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent research has argued that constructive journalism, which presents negative news by focusing on positive values and solutions, may reduce audiences’ tendency to avoid news without sacrificing perceived news credibility. This study uses a between-subjects experimental design (N = 1011) to examine in greater nuance the psychological outcomes of constructive narratives highlighting the protagonist’s hope in face of adversity. Our respondents reported more positive emotions in the hopeful protagonist condition (compared with the despairing protagonist), but they also perceived the government as less responsible for the situation and reported lower levels of support for necessary policy changes. They also …

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Breaking The Silence: A Content And Expert Analysis Of The 2025 Ramadan Series Lam Shamseya's Framing And Subversion Of Child Sexual Abuse Discourse In Egypt, Maya Abouelnasr 2026 American University in Cairo

Breaking The Silence: A Content And Expert Analysis Of The 2025 Ramadan Series Lam Shamseya's Framing And Subversion Of Child Sexual Abuse Discourse In Egypt, Maya Abouelnasr

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how the 2025 Egyptian TV series Lam Shamseya served as a sociocultural intervention and awareness platform for reframing and subverting the typical child sexual abuse (CSA) discourse in Egypt. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study triangulates framing theory and two complementary tools of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the circuit of culture model through a scene-level content analysis of 304 scenes across all 15 episodes of the series and ten semi-structured interviews with media experts, media practitioners, and psychologists. Key findings include reported corroboration of subversion of traditional tropes and archetypes, as well as reframing of …

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Entering The Villa: Love Island Usa Season 7 As A Site For Neoliberal Prosumption, Laura Cunningham 2026 Dartmouth College

Entering The Villa: Love Island Usa Season 7 As A Site For Neoliberal Prosumption, Laura Cunningham

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Love Is In The Walls, Jonathan Champagne 2026 Dartmouth College

Love Is In The Walls, Jonathan Champagne

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Vanishing Point, Michael Hoyt 2026 Dartmouth College

Vanishing Point, Michael Hoyt

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Fuck The Border Wall, Isdaly Reyes 2026 Dartmouth College

Fuck The Border Wall, Isdaly Reyes

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Three Nights, Andrew Moore 2026 Dartmouth College

Three Nights, Andrew Moore

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Deer Velvet, Cosima Pellis 2026 Dartmouth College

Deer Velvet, Cosima Pellis

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

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Social Innovation In The Peacebuilding Sector, Michelle Helman, PhD, Katherine Ronderos, Mariafernanda Burgos-Ariza 2026 University for Peace

Social Innovation In The Peacebuilding Sector, Michelle Helman, Phd, Katherine Ronderos, Mariafernanda Burgos-Ariza

Peace and Conflict Studies

Social innovation is an expanding practice in the peacebuilding sector. In this article, three peace scholar-practitioners reflect on our experiences as peacebuilders and consider the utility, tensions, and possibilities for peace and social innovation in theory and in practice. We draw insights gleaned through a focus group workshop with peacebuilding colleagues and highlight three case study examples from Colombia, the Philippines, and Kenya, each demonstrating the challenges and opportunities of social innovation in the peace sector. In doing so, we offer a reimagining of- and recommended action steps to engage innovation through a collaborative, feminist design approach. This article contributes …

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Popular Institutions

Based on downloads in August 2026

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

City University of New York (CUNY)

University of Southern Maine

Lingnan University

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Dartmouth College

California Institute of Integral Studies

University of Rhode Island

Chapman University

Featured Publications

Popular Authors

Based on downloads in August 2026

Darby Gilliland University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Gregory Langner Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College

Marc Ouellette Old Dominion University

Casey Kelly Butler University

Isabel Villanueva University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Kevin Nutt Clemson University

Erika Casburn Antioch University

Anna CohenMiller Nord University

Chris Robinson University of Denver

Dawn Braithwaite University of Nebraska–Lincoln

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