5917 research outputs found
Sort by
Things Are Closer Than They Appear
Full text linkMy thesis investigates the themes of identity, nationality, and place. My
work draws on the theories of spiritism and animism, and on the history of
Laotian traditions and culture through the incorporation of found objects and
family photographs of my heritage. To visualize my own rediscovery of my
family’s diverse past and present, I use a broad selection of media including
paintings, photographs, cyanotypes, and sculptural installations. Through my
synthesis of diverse materials, I create new worlds where I belong. Reuniting and
harmonizing the content in my work is a form of remembrance. I have come to
realize my own ancestral history is closer and more connected to me than I
expected
Of Flesh and the Feminine
No full textParticipants in the research included myself, Assistant Professor of Art Misty Gamble, and my students assistants, Chance Neese and Andrea Hernandez. My art-making research process involves intellectual study through researching and sourcing for ideas and information to formulate content and meaning; designing the form and surface; studying and experimenting with new techniques, materials, and tools to build skillset; manifesting the creation and construction of a new work; being selected to exhibit the work; installing the new work and finally, others seeing the work which completes the process.This research study led to the creation and production of a new body of work that exhibited at the National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference (Cincinnati, Ohio), Louis Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (Lubbock, Texas), and then will travel on to other national exhibition spaces and museums. The discovery of new knowledge leading to exhibition is the foundation of my creative arts research. I am currently looking at the overlap of feminist and vegan critical theory, the intersection of feminism and environmentalism and the relationships between human animals and non-human animals. I consider myself an animal rights activist that uses art activism to foster dialogue about the animals, earth, and interspecies relationships. With the help of the Kilgore grant, I completed a series of eight life size figurative ceramic sculptures each comprised of fifty individual ceramic slip cast parts. These ceramic sculpted torsos of women hold up gigantic heads of hair. Atop the head of hair sits metal soldered and woven "cages" or upside down French revolutionary era hoop skirt holding cornucopias of tassels, horns, synthetic hair, faux flora, faux fruit, and ceramic chicken feet, legs, and wings
Concern for the Leader: A Within-Person Examination into the Perceived Effects of Servant Leadership
Full text linkThis composition of research focuses on servant leadership by school leaders. The scholarly deliverables include a case study and an empirical article. The case study titled, “The Consequences of Servant Leadership Implemented by Rural School Principals” chronicles the dilemma faced by a rural school principal implementing servant leadership. The second scholarly deliverable is an empirical article titled, “Concern for the Leader: A Within-Person Examination into the Perceived Effects of Servant Leadership.” This study examined servant leadership through a unique perspective, a within-person focus. This approach provides an opportunity to begin to understand adverse effects that may face school leaders as they implement servant leadership
Texas Panhandle Schools as Sites of Opportunity and Exclusion for LGBTQ+ Youth
Full text linkThe data collection methodology was semi-structured interviews.Recent work has drawn attention to the relative gap in the study of LGBTQ life in the South and Midwest as well as "ordinary cities" and rural areas (Stone 2018, Robinson 2006). This study seeks to contribute to closing that gap while exploring the critical role of schools and the experience of secondary education for rural LGBTQ youth. As a social institution, schools play a critical role in the socialization of young people into future citizens, whether inside or outside the classroom. Increasingly, schools have become responsible for more and more of the work previously done by families, religious and social organizations, and the state. Relying on in-depth interviews with 20 individuals who graduated from small, rural high schools between 1987-2022, this study explores the educational experiences of LGBTQ+ students in the Texas panhandle, a notably religious and politically conservative part of the state despite the oft-ignored diversity of the region. Preliminary results expose a few significant themes for positive experiences including the importance of specific ally educators and using other high-status identities like academic achievement or athletics to mask sexuality. Respondents largely employ avoidance strategies and detailed awareness of safe/dangerous groups within their respective schools, and few report openly identifying as gay while in high school. Male respondents in particular noted the ways in which male gender expression was officially and unofficially policed. We conclude the article with suggestions for how rural schools might continue to acknowledge and incorporate diversities of all kinds into their educational repertoires
Promoting Wellness: An Influenza Vaccination Initiative for University Health
Full text linkA global trend exists that includes marketing influenza vaccines for only those populations at highest risk, including the elderly, small children, and those with predisposing health conditions (Principi et al., 2018). However, the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses require continuous global monitoring and frequent reformulation of the vaccine for all populations. Among the marketing strategies utilized to encourage all populations to get vaccinated include text messaging, email (Zhou et al., 2020) and social media, flyers, announcements, fact sheets, and word of mouth (Bonner et al., 2023). Inconvenience is reported to be the major reason individuals choose not to be vaccinated and must be considered when promoting vaccinations. In addition to inconvenience, other reasons for refusal have been identified. These include lack of time, fear of needles, cost, and perceived allergies (Roberto et al., 2019; Maltz & Sarid, 2020; Poltilove, 2018). Another reason conveyed was related to lack of confidence in the vaccine’s ability to prevent flu infection (Poltilove, 2018).
A brief eight item survey was developed to be administered to each participant immediately after receiving their immunization.
Our project was an evaluation of the flu shot initiative.The annual influenza season in the United States poses a considerable public health burden, leading to numerous deaths, hospitalizations, and substantial economic costs. Despite the preventable nature of influenza, vaccination rates remain below the target, with only 46.9% of adults immunized during the 2022-23 season. This study examines the effectiveness of a comprehensive influenza vaccination initiative implemented at the West Texas A&M University to address the specific challenges of a densely populated campus environment. A campus wide influenza immunization initiative that began in 2018, has demonstrated positive outcomes, with increasing vaccination numbers each year. The study utilized a survey to evaluate the experiences and motivations of faculty and staff who participated in the fall of 2023. Convenience emerged as a key factor influencing vaccination decisions, with over 88% of participants cited it as a major consideration. The survey also revealed the initiative's success in attracting individuals who might not have actively sought vaccination elsewhere, emphasizing the importance of on-campus accessibility. Nursing faculty wish to continue to promote on campus wellness and so to further enhance vaccination rates, the study recommends robust marketing strategies, follow-up conversations with vaccine decliners, additional vaccination dates, easily accessible drive-through clinics, and faculty-led wellness events
Flee the State Fantasy
No full textThe data collection methodology is ethnography.When individuals are confronted with encroaching state power in their lives they have historically had three general choices. They can: assimilate, fight, or flee the state. However, in the modern state system opportunities to flee the state have largely disappeared alongside frontiers' states administer over most spaces and technology makes individuals increasingly legible to state apparatus. Yet, there are some individuals who still look for this third strategy. In this paper I use the Sovereign Citizens Movement (SCM), an extremist movement grounded in conspiracy theories that individuals can become sovereign entities themselves, to illustrate the ways that some citizens have reinvented a flee the state strategy in an international system with no stateless spaces
The Savior of the Aesthetic Life: Decadence, Taboo, and Oscar Wilde's Jesus
No full textIn preparation for B. Reeves to apply for PhD programs, her interest in a short paragraph I wrote on Oscar Wilde led from discussion to an article-length, co-authored essay that we are shopping to Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies, which will give B. Reeves a publication credit prior to entering graduate school. Our shared interest in the decadence of the 1890s, and the theories employed in the process of discussion, created a perfect storm of education for B. Reeves and authorship and authority for both Reeves and Meljac. We hoped to uncovered through difficult theoretical readings, as well as rigorous re-readings, to uncover exactly how Wilde's Christ is embodied in a queer aesthetic. We believe we have found a plausible answer. Our materials include the following:
Adorno, Theodor. Aesthetic Theory. Edited and translated by Robert Hullot-Kentor, University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
Augustine. On Christian Doctrine. Translated by D. W. Robertson, Prentice-Hall, 1958.
Barthes, Roland. Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes. 1977. Translated by Richard Howard, University of California Press, 1994.
Bataille, Georges. The Accursed Share: Volumes II and III. Translated by Robert Hurley, Zone Books, 1993,
--Eroticism: Death and Sensuality. Translated by Mary Dalwood, City Lights Books, 1986.
--"Happiness, Eroticism, Literature." The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, translated by Michael Richardson, Verso, 1994, pp. 186-208.
--Theory of Religion. Translated by Robert Hurley, Zone Books, 1992.
--"What is Sex?" George Bataille: Critical Essays Volume One: 1944-1948, edited by Benjamin Noys and Alberto Toscano, translated by Chris Turner, Seagull Books, 2023, pp. 134-45.
Baudelaire, Charles. "Satan's Litanies." Flowers of Evil. Translated by Robert Howard, Godine, 2022, pp. 143-45.
The Bible. The New Standard Revised Version with Apocrypha, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrace Vaticana, 2003, www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM. Accessed 1 October 2023.
Derrida, Jacques. The Ear of the Other: Otobiography, Transference, Translation. Edited by Christie McDonald and translated by Peggy Kamuf, University of Nebraska Press, 1988.
Josipovici, Gabriel. The Book of God: A Response to the Bible. Yale University Press, 1988.
--On Trust: Art and the Temptations of Suspicion. Yale University Press, 1999.
Kristeva, Julia. Tales of Love. Translated by Leon S. Roudiez, Columbia University Press, 1987.
Nancy, Jean-Luc. Sexistence. Translated by Steven Miller, Fordham University Press, 2021.
Sade, Marquis de. "Philosophy in the Bedroom." Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings. Compiled and translated by Richard Seaver and Austryn Wainhouse, Grove Press, 1965, pp. 177-367.
Simmel, Georg. "Individualism in Art." Georg Simmel: Essays on Art and Aesthetics, edited and translated by Austin Harrington, University of Chicago Press, 2020, pp. 191-96.
Steinberg, Leo. The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion. 2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Sturgis, Matthew. Wilde: A Life. Knopf, 2021.
Wilde, Oscar. "The Critic as Artist." The Complete Work of Oscar Wilde: Stories, Plays, Poems, and Essays. HarperPerennial, 2008, pp. 1009-1059.
--"To Lord Alfred Douglas." The Letters of Oscar Wilde, edited by Rupert Hart-Davis, Harcourt, 1962, pp. 423-511.
--"The Soul of Man under Socialism." The Complete Work of Oscar Wilde: Stories, Plays, Poems, and Essays. HarperPerennial, 2008, pp. 1079-1104.
Wroe, Ann. Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself. Pantheon Books, 2007.
Yeats, W. B. "Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop." The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach, Macmillan, 1968, p. 513.
Data collection methodology: Scanned De Profundis and Wilde's materials, noting theoretical notions presented in various other texts by Kristeva, Bataille, and others. Books in our libraries were gathered, and extras were purchased. This is a text-based project requiring only textual materials as found in literature and philosophy.In De Profundis, Oscar Wilde runs the gamut from bankruptcy numbers to gentle tenderness. Addressed to Bosie, the letter is as much about their relationship as it is about Wilde's relationship with himself. One portion of the letter that nearly reads matter-of-factly defines and characterizes Wilde's notion of the bodily and not ethereal body of Christ. Arguing that Christ would welcome the low and disposed, and in welcoming them forgive them, Wilde puts forward a Jesus that he claims is the greatest Individualist and Artist. However, transgressive and decadent theory lends new meaning to this portion of the letter, giving reason to believe that Wilde insinuates a Christ that is at least and erotic being, if not even a queer being. Tracing a line of religio-social power through the erotic as articulated by Georges Bataille, a landslide of writers and theorists from the Marquis de Sade to Julia Kristeva help to inform this reading of Wilde's Christ. Furthermore, when matching Wilde's version of Christ deconstructed by theories of the erotic to The Catechism of the Catholic Church , one finds that Wilde's Christ is indeed the more accurate version of Christ when considering the doxa of the Church
Graduate Nursing Student Success Modules
No full textWriting has been found to be an issue for graduate nursing students however, strong academic writing is essential and faculty have expectations for graduate writing skills. Effective instruction from faculty impacts student success. Faculty found the topics students struggle with most include paraphrasing, quotes, APA citations, and plagiarism.
Data collection methodology is descriptive statistics regarding module completion.Graduate Nursing Student Success Modules Abstract Writing is hard for every student. Strong academic writing is essential for graduate students. Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) graduate student writing is expected to stretch and grow critical thinking skills and therefore contribute productively to their area of interest within nursing. Faculty have expectations for students in writing as they enter into graduate programs. Effective instruction from faculty directly impacts student success; thus it is essential for faculty to lead students to develop their writing ability. At West Texas A&M University (WTAMU), in the Graduate nursing programs, faculty noticed that students do indeed struggle with writing. Analysis of the topics students most struggle with include paraphrasing, quotes, APA citations, and plagiarism. Students also lacked the skills necessary to utilize scholarly resources. In 2021, Graduate nursing faculty began working with library staff to formulate specific writing resources for students. An information guide began to be offered to students in the fall semester of 2021. Students can access writing modules directly through a library link. Beginning fall semester of 2022, MSN students recently admitted were required to complete modules before beginning graduate courses. The goal of this poster is to report ongoing use of writing modules within Graduate nursing at WTAMU
What and How Can District Strategies Be Used to Retain Teachers?
No full textThis composite submission addresses teacher retention, which has been an area of
concern for school districts for decades. The first scholarly deliverable is a case study
titled “Can Using Strengths Find and Keep a Teacher Workforce?” This article
challenges how the reader thinks about solving issues like teacher turnover and could be
utilized in a graduate program for educational leadership to discuss and explore different
solutions that would help decrease teacher turnover rates. The second scholarly deliverable is titled “What and How Can District Strategies Be Used to Retain
Teachers?” This article explains how one Texas school district addressed its teacher turnover rates over 5 years
RURAL SCHOOL CHALLENGES WITH TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
No full textThe purpose of this study is to examine the unique challenges rural school districts face when it comes to recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers. A qualitative, exploratory case study research design was implemented through open-ended focus group interviews with seven teachers from rural districts. The findings in this study indicated that rural teachers identified three factors common to rural teacher recruitment and retention challenges: (a) pay, (b) rural location, (c) resources. Findings suggest that lower pay, rural location, and limited resources are the core challenges in the recruitment and retention of teachers in rural areas. Furthermore, this study provides possible solutions for rural teacher recruitment and retention challenges