University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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Selected Recognitions, Honors, and Awards Received
Full text linkSelected Recognitions, Honors, and Awards Received by Dr. J.L. Houston from 1960-202
Biography of Dr. Johnny Houston, PhD
Full text linkA one-page biography of the career of Dr. Johnny Houston, PhD
Analysis of Fluorescent Microscopy Images to Better Understand Keratin’s Effect on Protein Recycling Pathways in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells
Full text linkProtein recycling pathways and autophagy play an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis, but these processes are also essential for cell survival during times of stress. Protein recycling pathways, such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), are important as old, damaged, or non-functional proteins are degraded, and the resulting free amino acids can be used to synthesize new, functional proteins. The process of autophagy works to ensure cellular homeostasis by degrading old or damaged macromolecules into their monomer parts so that they can be recycled to make new materials. Fluorescent microscopy can be used to track these pathways in a lab to inform our understanding of conditions that promote cell recycling in times of stress. However, the Coan laboratory has had difficulty standardizing image analysis using fluorescent microscopy. Counting of fluorescent image data to obtain quantitative comparisons for our lab’s cell recycling and biomaterial studies has demonstrated that manual counting is subjective and prone to error. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the usability and reliability of images obtained via fluorescence microscopy techniques that are commonly used to investigate these pathways. In this study, I compiled data from past experiments for reanalysis with a goal of determining 1) whether these data can be replicated when reanalyzed (manually counted) and 2) whether we can glean new information from the dataset through manual counts of a parameter not previously analyzed. The results suggest that manual counting of fluorescent images can be standardized, but great care must be taken to ensure that high quality images are taken during experiments and that each manual count must follow a defined protocol. I also found that a new analysis of data may yield important results previously overlooked in our laboratory
Fred Wesley (b. 1943) : legendary funk trombone pioneer
Full text linkI. Solo Recital: Monday, April 12, 2022, 7:30 p.m., Organ Recital Hall. Romance for Bass Trombone and Piano (Carl Maria Von Weber, arr. Martin McCain); Concerto (Robert Spillman); On Your Own Now (Steven Verhelst); Let Us Break Bread Together (Traditional, arr. Chad Hughes): New Orleans (Eugene Bozza). II. Solo Recital: Friday, November 4, 2022, 7:30 p.m., Organ Recital Hall. Sonata for Bass Trombone and Piano (Alonzo Malik Pirio); Romance (William Grant Still, arr. Douglas Yeo); Mr. Trombonology (Nathaniel Davis); Concertino (David Wilborn); Every Time I Feel the Spirit (Traditional, arr. Chad Hughes). III. Solo Recital: Sunday, April 23, 2023, 12:00 p.m., Organ Recital Hall. Sonatine für Posaune und Klavier (Erhard Ragwitz); The Lone Caller (Alonzo Malik Pirio); Summertime (George Gershwin, arr. Tom Doset); Concert Allegro (Alexey K. Lebedev); Fancy Free (Clay Smith, arr. Blair Bollinger); Deux Danses (Jean-Michel Defaye) IV. D.M.A. Research Project. FRED WESLEY (b. 1943): FUNK TROMBONE PIONEER (2024). Fred Wesley at age 24 joined James Brown's popular funk and rhythm and blues (R&B) band in 1968. The experience defined him as a funk legend, but it did not limit the rest of his career. Later as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra, he followed saxophonist Maceo Parker through George Clinton's various iterations of Parliament-Funkadelic and was in Parker's bands as a featured trombonist through the mid-1990s. Wesley in 1996 formed his group, The New JBs, and continued even at age 80 to perform with them. Wesley also taught as an adjunct professor in the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as being a visiting artist at Columbia College in Chicago, the Berklee College of Music, and other institutions. On July 4, 2023, Wesley celebrated his 80th birthday. The purpose of this project was to document and amplify the significance of Fred Wesley’s career. Following a brief introduction and biographical sketch of Wesley, ideas about how Wesley was able to earn his livelihood as a musician after growing up as an African American during the Jim Crow South. He later became one of the most influential jazz and funk musicians in the Twentieth Century. A complete biography was beyond the scope of this project partially because Wesley wrote his autobiography. A component of the document is an interview with Wesley conducted in his home in Manning, South Carolina. The information presented in interview format is intended to supplement Wesley’s autobiography and other sources that reinforce his significance as one of the most influential Twentieth-Century musicians and renowned funk trombonist
The effectiveness of a clinician-created narrative intervention with at-risk 3rd grade students’ spoken and written narratives
Full text linkNarrative language skills are important for academic and social success. The ability to produce well-formed and coherent spoken narratives has been shown to be highly correlated with proficient reading and writing (Kirby, Spencer, & Chen, 2021; Spencer & Petersen, 2018; Petersen et al., 2020). The importance of narrative abilities for academic performance has led a number of researchers in our profession (e.g., Gillam et al., 2018; Gillam et al., 2023; Spencer &Petersen, 2018; Petersen et. al., 2022) to develop interventions to improve narrative abilities. These studies of narrative language intervention have varied duration, population, and items tested. Few studies have looked at using a clinician created intervention approach that is manageable for any school- based Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) to implement in the time they have available during the school day to impact at-risk students. Fewer studies have looked at the outcomes for at-risk students to increase oral and written language skills to help catch up to high-achieving peers. In this study, we question whether a clinician created narrative intervention using grade-level texts delivered in 2-week vs. 4-week frequency would have the same benefits in improving spoken and written narrative abilities of 3rd- grade at-risk students. Participants were 16 at-risk 3rd grade students at a local elementary school. Classroom teachers identified students as being at-risk if they received interventions in 2nd grade or if they scored below the proficient level on the Beginning of Grade Reading Test. Pre- and post- intervention assessment measures were obtained for both spoken and written narratives, but the instruction only targeted spoken narrative production. Two groups of four students were seen four times a week for two weeks; the other two groups were seen twice a week for four weeks. All students received a total of eight intervention sessions. Each intervention session used a novel grade level passage and story prompt and followed the same six steps in the Clinician Created Narrative Intervention (CCNI). The CCNI targeted activating prior knowledge, listening comprehension with the use of graphic organizers, story retell that incorporated scaffolds and feedback, and story generation. The 2- and 4-week interventions both led to significant gains in total Monitoring Indicators of Scholarly Language (MISL) scores for spoken and written narratives. These results are similar to the findings of previous studies showing that intensive narrative instruction can lead to noticeable gains in narrative performance (e.g., Gillam et al., 2018, Gillam et al., 2023, Hessling &Schuele, 2019; Petersen et al., 2014, Petersen et al., 2022). The improvements in total MISL scores for both the spoken and written narratives did not differ for the 2- and 4-week groups. Significant gains in narrative ability can be attained by high intensity (4-days a week) interventions as short as 2-weeks. In conclusion, more than 80% of 3rd grade at-risk students showed noticeable gains in their spoken and written narratives after eight 30-minute intervention sessions with the CCNI over two or four weeks. The CCNI targeted the macro- and microstructure elements of stories that are needed for age-appropriate story retell and spontaneous story generation. These findings indicate that clinicians do not need to use a published narrative intervention program to improve their students’ narrative abilities. Importantly, SLPs can use the CCNI in Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions with students who are performing below grade level in reading which allows SLPs to target narratives abilities with at-risk students as well as those on their caseloads. The CCNI could also be tailored to culturally and linguistically diverse students by creating stories that reflect students’ cultural-linguistic background and experiences. Using the CCNI thus will not only improve students’ spoken and written narratives, it can also lead to improvements across curriculum
Describing the practice of anticipating students’ mathematics of secondary mathematics teachers : a multi-case study
Full text linkTeachers’ ability to elicit and use evidence of student thinking during instruction is critical in high-quality mathematics instruction. The practice of anticipating students’ mathematics supports teachers in noticing and being prepared to respond to student thinking during in-the-moment instruction. To date, most research on anticipating has involved teachers in formal professional learning contexts such as university coursework or professional development programs and has focused on identifying and describing teachers’ anticipations. However, few studies have investigated anticipating in the context of professional practice or how it is enacted by teachers with a variety of experiences. This study examines three secondary mathematics teachers’ practice of anticipating students’ mathematics. Using a multi-case study design, it examines the ways in which these three teachers anticipate, the resources they draw upon, the purposes they have for engaging in the practice and highlights similarities and differences in their enactments. Findings indicate that when anticipating the ways students will engage with cognitively demanding mathematics tasks, teachers first consider their instructional contexts, including their curricular programs, academic standards, and the focal mathematical ideas for units of instruction. To varying degrees, they develop records of mathematical activity students might demonstrate and conjectures about ways students might think mathematically when engaging with these tasks. Beyond these similarities, teachers in this study drew upon different domains of knowledge and enacted the practice for different purposes. The results of this study have implications for mathematics teacher educators working to support mathematics teachers learning to anticipate as well as researchers investigating instructional practices in context
Reframing the story : counter-narrative storytelling and Black men in educational leadership in a southeastern, urban district
Full text linkThis dissertation examines the lived experiences of Black men credentialed to be assistant principals and principals within a southeastern, urban public school district based upon the philosophies of equity and social justice. Through a qualitative constructivist approach, this research explores their experiences in and with education and how it has impacted their professional ascension. Timeline mapping interviews and one-on-one interviews were used to gain a more nuanced understanding of how they have traversed the requirements for securing an assistant principal or principal position within the district. As a philosophy, equity and social justice can be utilized to impact representation for students, teachers, and leadership. Central to this research is the proposal for a principal preparation and pipeline program within the district and for subsequent hiring practices that intentionally incorporate social justice to create representation in leadership that more closely mirrors the demographics of the student population and does not primarily relegate Black men to high-needs, majority-minority schools. The creation of a framework that encourages district-level leadership to identify bias in principal preparation, assigned duties, equitable representation and diverse placement will serve as an attempt to place the issues of preparation and representation into conversation by intertwining these elements to examine gaps in some settings and over-representation in others. The value of this work is the ability to create a more nuanced understanding and implementation of a framework of principal preparation that is intentionally grounded in aspects of history, personal and imposed identity, and justice in order to recognize and encourage future action towards the diminishment of oppression and othering through education in all forms and at all levels
Mental health in the collegiate music studio : applied instrumental faculty perspectives
Full text linkCollegiate music students are at a unique intersection which may put them at an increased risk for mental health challenges and illnesses: the intersection of creatives and emerging adults. Research suggests that mental health in the United States is continuing to decline. However, there is little research and discussion about how collegiate music programs can support student mental health. Even more limited is research about the studio professor’s role in supporting the mental health of their private students. This document is intended to shed light on the particularities of the studio professor-student relationship as it pertains to student mental health. The research took the form of interviews with studio professors for whom musician wellness is a professional interest. Through these interviews, research questions about studio professors’ experiences and opinions about mental health were explored. I sought to explore how studio professors perceive student mental health and professional challenges with navigating mental health concerns, how they incorporate mental health topics and support into one-to-one and small group teaching, and how they establish and maintain personal and professional boundaries relating to mental health conversations. This document outlines preexisting information about mental health of musicians, emerging adults, and collegiate musicians. It explores the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of the studio professor-student relationship. The original research presented documents perspectives of the interviewees about the research questions. Finally, the document concludes with practical applications discovered through the research process and suggestions for how teachers might be better equipped to handle the sensitive issues that surface during their interactions with students
The psychology of virtual art gallery experiences
Full text linkIn answering the question “Where is art?”, this dissertation points towards toward virtual art gallery tools as an important context for study in the psychology of arts and aesthetics. Across three ordinal stages, (1) Developing the Open Gallery for Arts Research, (2) Expanding the OGAR Toolset and Research Program, and (3) Leveraging OGAR’s Capabilities to Enrich the Field, this work describes the development and research expansion of a framework for studying virtual art gallery experiences that aligns with open source and open science aims. After discussing this program of research, these findings are integrated to reveal new discourse on the state of the field. Throughout this section, I elaborate on outstanding questions about the use of virtual galleries in psychology of art research, insights into emerging opportunities for topic growth, and remaining conceptual challenges facing the adoption of virtual galleries in psychology of arts research. Thus far, it seems that this area of research must overcome some challenges in its perception in order to make its fullest contribution to the field. Altogether, however, virtual gallery tools reveal the shared and surprising psychology of digital interactions with art. This program of research and similar frameworks are poised to make significant progress in the psychology of arts and aesthetics, especially when considered as a companion tool for diverse methodologies
Medical education reform in the South, 1910-1941
Full text linkMedical education in colonial America and early nationhood was a derivative of the British system based on the University and affiliated teaching hospital. The American system’s graduates required the approval of state licensing agencies in order to practice. Beginning with the proliferation of proprietary medical schools in the 1820s, state regulations involving the quality of medical schools and their students were ignored, both of which rapidly became substandard. State agencies responsible for licensing restrictions were withdrawn in the Jacksonian era of deregulation for businesses and professions, and these for-profit medical schools prospered to the detriment of the quality of its institutions and graduate physicians. Attempts to reverse this trend by professional organizations, including state medical societies, the American Medical Association (AMA) formed in 1847, and the American Medical College Association (AMCA) formed in 1876, were unsuccessful. It was not until the 1880s that state boards of health were given the authority of its legislatures to deny graduates of the marginal medical schools access to the necessary licensing exams. Together with the AMA and the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC, previously the AMCA), they created the first “Reform Coalition.” In the first decade of the twentieth century the AMA developed its Council on Medical Education (CME) that conducted inspection surveys of the nation’s 166 medical schools, and allied with the Carnegie Foundation administered a similar survey in 1909, known as “The Flexner Report,” named after its chief investigator, the educator Abraham Flexner. Evaluating the quality of these institutions, Flexner concluded that only 31 met the necessary criteria to continue operation, which included only 6 southern institutions. Several of the failing institutions, not selected by the CME or Flexner to remain viable, developed unique strategies to improve and become acceptable and eventually accredited medical schools over the next two to three decades. These strategies included the institutions becoming organic departments of state universities shedding their proprietary model, merging with other endangered medical schools and pooling their resources, and developing relationships with local hospitals to control an adequate number of teaching beds for their students’ clinical exposure. These borderline institutions also appealed to their community’s pride and pragmatism and elicited financial support, gifts, and favorable publicity from local agencies, newspapers and politicians to build infrastructure and goodwill. Most importantly, these institutions made overtures to local wealthy benefactors and national medically-oriented philanthropies to build endowments and to develop relationships with regional “pathfinder” institutions to emulate their model, especially with assistance in academic and organizational issues). Employing these strategies during the education reform years sustained the South with fourteen complete medical schools (including three new institutions) and three preclinical institutions. Fortunately for the Allied cause, the last of the medical schools was in place on the cusp of World War II, when the South was able to provide quality healthcare for the region and the increased demand from those in the armed forces