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RU Ready? Academic Success Program for First-Year International Undergraduate Students from China at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
No full textThe United States has a rich history of welcoming students from all over the world to engage in academic and cultural learning at institutes of Higher Education. These institutions have seen dramatic shifts in international students’ countries of origin. This has added to the cultural richness of higher education in the US. It has also posed challenges for administrators to support success in all students, regardless of their educational background. In recent years, a large number of international students from China have enrolled in US colleges and universities, bringing with them their unique educational experiences. This has led to academic difficulties and a low retention rate of Chinese international students. This capstone links research on the educational theory and practice in China in China and difficulties faced by Chinese international students in the US with an assessment of needs from professionals in the field to create a short-term pre-enrollment program for first-year undergraduate students from China. The “RU Ready? Academic Success Program for First-Year International Undergraduate Students from China at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey” is designed to be a comprehensive and engaging opportunity for first-year undergraduate Chinese students to be exposed to academic expectations of the US classroom and offer support in students’ personal, social, and cultural development, leading to success at Rutgers University and beyond
Development of Health Rehabilitation in Mainland China: From Traditional Chinese Medicine to Modern Western Rehabilitation Methods
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to understand the changes occurring in China, leading to the development of health rehabilitation. This study will portray the shift of traditional Chinese medicine to modern influences of Western rehabilitation, and will also introduce the idea of an integrated model of TCM and Western Rehabilitation.
Observations were held at a TCM hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, as well as a TCM hospital that provided modern rehabilitation services. Two online questionnaire surveys were sent out to rehabilitation health professionals working in mainland China, one of which collected quantitative data while the other collected both qualitative and quantitative data. 10 responses were collected in the quantitative survey while 21 responses were collected through the qualitative and quantitative survey. Two formal interviews were conducted with a massage therapist and TCM rehabilitation physician. Guided assistance and conversations also helped gain a useful background for this study.
In conclusion, majority of respondents expressed that rehabilitation in mainland China is slowly developing, but is improving with the knowledge and influence from other countries and regions. In terms of cost and location, Western rehabilitation is inaccessible. However, traditional Chinese rehabilitation therapy is more affordable and available. The study presented that an integration of both TCM and modern rehabilitation is beneficial and effective
Maslow & Mezirow in Orientation: Redesigning Stanford\u27s Orientation for BOSP Students
No full textUsing Maslow and Mezirow’s theories on the Hierarchy of Needs and Transformative Learning, this Course Linked Capstone (CLC) explores a research-based needs assessment of Stanford’s Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP)’s on-campus programming, paying close attention to pre-departure orientation. Using data from this analysis, this CLC proposes a new program that would take the format of a 3-unit course, integrating program logistics, cohort building, cultural humility, and experiential learning theories. This mandatory course for all BOSP quarter-length program participants would span three quarters (one unit per quarter) and include modules in the pre-departure, in-country, and re-entry phases of the study abroad experience.
In this new orientation format, students would be offered opportunities to set informed expectations and goals for their upcoming experiences abroad, reflect on pre-existing assumptions about their positionality and how that interacts with their program’s location, and start to build an engaged intellectual and social community with their cohort, which extends beyond the in-country experience. Programming would include guest lectures and workshops in collaboration with Stanford Global Studies (SGS), the Diversity and First-Gen Office (DGen), the Office of Financial Aid, the Haas Center, and Stanford Career Education (BEAM). Future collaborations would be possible, extending this model to help centralize internationalization efforts across Stanford campu
Terrorist Radicalization and International Security: A Crisis of Masculinity and Gender
Get PDFThis interdisciplinary ISP expands the traditional field of IR and security studies through a feminist and gendered perspective and has three aims: 1) to explore and assess the role that gender plays in creating and reproducing power relations among men and women at the level of international institutions; 2) to demonstrate that women play a wide variety of roles in conflict zones and peace building; and 3) to emphasize that terrorist organizations utilize the power relations constructed through gender and hegemonic masculinity to radicalize young men and women and to explore the relationship between hypermasculine state and terrorist masculinity. The primary methods of research used during this project were interviews conducted with experts working with gender and literature review of existing work that connects international security studies and gender. I conducted four interviews for this research project which spanned from a feminist NGO to the UN to the Gender Studies department at the University of Lausanne
Mental Maps, Occupation... Liberation? The Impact of the Israel-Palestine Conflict on the Security and Legitimacy of the State of Israel and the Struggle of Palestine
Get PDFThe Israel-Palestine issue has been present for decades, making it one of the world’s most prominent unresolved conflicts. Conflict for Israel-Palestine over the years has meant war, border insecurity, questions of legitimacy and sovereignty, and today, the role of the international community in the issue. One of the most paradoxical aspects of the Israel-Palestine issue is that Israel’s unequal treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories could be against Israel’s own interests in the long run. Given this conflict, the purpose of this paper, while contextualizing the long and divided historical nature of this issue, was to focus on the role that mental maps play in Israeli, Palestinian, and other theoretical perceptions of borders and legitimacy. The paper also sought to understand the role that International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law play in the conflict. Ultimately, the paper is intended to conclude how each of these ways in which borders are established— through mental maps and through legitimate corridors— come together to impact Israeli and Palestinian state legitimacy. The research methods include both qualitative and quantitative sources, with a series of formally conducted face-to-face interviews as well as analysis of peer-reviewed books and articles. My results indicate that finding where mental maps and international law come together and intersect is the most logical approach to understanding state legitimacy. My conclusion explores how we might extrapolate potential solutions from an analysis of Israeli and Palestinian state legitimacy
Education: Developing Self Reliance for Female Syrian Refugees in Host Communities
Get PDFThe Syrian refugee crisis has displaced millions of Syrians, leaving them without homes, resources, or any means of re-establishing self reliance. Given the immediate need for survival, education has become a luxury for many families. Issues of accessibility, quality, and societal resentment from Jordanians avert Syrians from seeking an education. This inhibits female children from productively developing their intellectuality and culminates in being susceptible to detrimental practices, like child marriage.
This study looks at the reason for low enrollment rates of Syrian female refugee children into the Jordanian education system. The research specifically interviews daughters and their guardians about their experiences with the education system in Jordan. Reasons for not prioritizing school range from child marriage, to hostility between both Syrian and Jordanian students, to inaccessibility because of simple system failures. That being said, education has been deemed a universal right by the international community and will provide more options to those that choose to partake than those that do not. It has been proven that women who choose to seek an education will become more economically productive for their unstable household income, as well as more incentivized to engage positively in community affairs. This study is significant because the researcher determined the powerful influence of guardians on their children. With the encouragement of her mother, a girl will more likely pursue self reliance and this will ultimately place her in a more favorable position of independence and career based success. The research is relevant to bodies that aim at improving the education system in Jordan to incentivize girls and their guardians to persist with their educations
Cherchant Toujours la Paix: Le Systeme Endogene de la Resolution des Conflits à Batoufam
Get PDFThis dissertation will explore two subjects: an internship done with the chiefdom of Batoufam and a research project about the endogenous system of conflict resolution in Batoufam. The first part will illustrate the internship done at the museum of the chiefdom. Here will be described the institution, the work accomplished, and an analysis of the experience. In the second part will be asked the research question “what is the endogenous system of conflict resolution of Batoufam and how has it adapted in the context of the imposition of westernization?” After doing a literature review and explaining the methodology of the project, the dissertation will delve into the results. Overall, this research project will detail the endogenous process of conflict resolution of Batoufam, showing how it reflects the traditional values of the community. In addition, the dissertation will show the relationship between Batoufam and the West to be a synthesis in which the citizens of Batoufam can choose to incorporate the positive aspects brought by westernization while also engaging in efforts to preserve their local traditions and customs
Tunisia’s Inaugural Municipal Elections: A Comparative Analysis of Independent Lists in La Marsa
Get PDFIn this paper, I seek to answer two principal questions: what motivates candidates in La Marsa to run on independent lists, and what differentiates each of La Marsa’s four independent lists from each other? Through interviews with candidates and from campaign materials such as Facebook pages, brochures, and videos, I have found that the fundamental lack of confidence in extant Tunisian political parties and processes has led candidates to align with independent, or citizen, lists for the May 2018 municipal elections. Candidates’ focus on unique, local, and decentralized issues also plays a factor in their rejection of partisan politics in this election.
The main differences between La Marsa’s four independent lists are the level of detail that each list gave to their programs and the way by which each list formed. La Marsa Change and Alwen El Marsa appear to have had the most comprehensive programs, as well as the most active campaign cycle both online and in-person, and the preliminary election results reflect this planning and activity
Imagining Intimacy Beyond Boundaries: \u27Born-Frees\u27 Conceptions of Race and Relationships in South Africa
Get PDFThough South Africans are no longer legislatively governed by the color of their skin, race remains salient in the way individuals make meaning of themselves and the world around them. Previous scholarship suggests that citizens of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ still see race as a fixed category of difference, making socialization between races fraught and relatively rare (Finchilescu et al. 2007). This study seeks to explore how born-frees understand race in South Africa’s shifting socio-political terrain through the lens of intimate interracial relationships—a form of cross-racial contact complicated by histories of sexual stigma and constraint. Conversations with 17 ‘born-frees’ across the racial spectrum centered on how youth’s sexual and romantic desires extend past the boundaries of their own race and how youth envisage interracial intimacy. From focus groups and interviews, the author produces an interrogation of the discursive links between race and sexuality in contemporary South Africa. The study explores apartheid’s legacies, current discourses of race, attraction and desire, and hopes for the future, as well as the connections these topics present to gender, class, and space. Linking historical forces to youth’s intimate worlds, the author argues that apartheid still holds powerful influence over the way youth conceptualize, desire, and enact intimacy. Attention has to be paid, however, to the growing belief in interracial intimacy as a method of achieving a more open and accepting world, as this view suggests fissures in existing notions of race and sexuality
Barriers to the Elimination of Plastic in Single Use Beverage Containers in Byron Bay, NSW
Get PDFPlastic debris is a global threat to the natural environment. The accumulation of plastic debris has resulted in the destruction of marine habitat as well as a threat to marine wildlife. Single use plastics, including plastics associated with single use food and beverage containers are contributing to a considerable amount of debris and other litter in the world’s oceans. As awareness of this issue spreads, both large corporations and small businesses are beginning to transition to plastic alternatives for their single use beverage containers. In Byron Bay, Australia, an area of increasing environmental awareness, businesses are beginning to reduce single use plastics. The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to the elimination of plastic in single use beverage containers, to formulate a better understanding of the current issues around this transition and to further aid businesses in their elimination of single use plastics.
To identify these barriers, I first inventoried the materials for single use beverage containers currently in use among Byron Bay businesses. I then interviewed businesses and relevant organizations in Byron Bay to understand their business practices and discern any potential barriers to the elimination of plastic in their single use beverage containers. Additionally, I examined the environmental impact of bioplastics commonly used as plastic alternatives among Byron Bay businesses.
After speaking with businesses and relevant organizations, three main barriers to businesses were identified: increased price of plastic alternatives, customer demand, and working with a wholesale distributor/ business hesitancy. Additionally, after a review of the environmental impact of bioplastics I determined that while the production of bioplastics may contribute less to the effects of climate change than traditional petroleum based plastics, there are still significant impacts created upon the disposal of bioplastics due to a lack of proper infrastructure.
These results suggest that bioplastic implementation may not be the best plastic alternative given the current infrastructure for bioplastic disposal. Instead it may be more beneficial for businesses to continue trying to reduce single use beverage containers all together to reduce the amount of inputs to litter and debris in the natural environment