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Freedom Dreaming- Fostering Community for First-Gen Students
Full text linkDrawing from Dr. Bettina Love\u27s influential book, We Want to Do More than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom , this presentation will explore the transformative concept of freedom dreaming and its impact on first-generation students. In my Introduction to Counseling course, we examined the power of this concept and its emphasis on imagining a liberating, purpose-driven future. Dr. Love\u27s freedom dreaming invites students to envision a world of possibilities beyond survival, encouraging them to dream boldly and reshape their educational and personal paths. This presentation will delve into how freedom dreaming empowers first-gen students to envision their futures in ways that embrace both personal ambition and community impact. By setting meaningful goals, exploring diverse career paths, and identifying programs that align with their passions, first-gen students can cultivate a vision that not only enriches their lives but also positively impacts the communities they come from and hope to serve. This approach encourages first-gen students to create purpose-driven plans that honor their unique identities, inspire confidence, and foster a lasting sense of belonging and community. Through this presentation, I hope to unpack practical strategies for fostering freedom dreaming in first-gen students, helping them build a future that aligns with their dreams and broadens their potential
Maybe it\u27s us? An organizational and systems level approach to reducing barriers to student success.
Full text linkThe author will be presenting a deep dive on the project and subsequent publication Systemic Solutions Driving Retention and Graduation Efforts at a Large, Selective Private Institution: A Scalable Project for Student Success by Ricky Urgo and Sonja Ardoin. Through the lens of an organizational analysis, the author will provide tangible takeaways for practitioners and faculty to bring back to their campuses and replicate. This is an important and necessary venture, as institutions increase their attention and resources on the recruitment and retention of first generation and working class students. Institutions were not constructed with these populations in mind, but we can make organizational, structural, and systemic changes to better serve these students, especially as our shortcomings as universities disproportionately impact this community (Flaherty, 2023; Urgo & Ardoin, 2024). Simultaneously, the author hopes to encourage exploration of the following:1) identifying new institutional barriers to student success, 2) improving understanding of how stakeholders navigate institutional infrastructure, 3) creating a culture where auditing internal practices and knowledge bases are commonplace, 4) uplifting student voice and experience, and 5) creating greater outcomes for all students
Empowering Voices: Building Your Civic Identity as a First-Generation College Student
Full text linkThis session is designed to help first-generation college students discover and develop their civic identity. Participants will explore their unique strengths, passions, and purpose, learning how these personal attributes can drive meaningful civic engagement. The session will provide practical strategies for connecting with civic networks within their communities and identifying civic champions on campus who can offer guidance and support. In addition, this session will explore the concept and practice of creating future civic generational wealth. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how to leverage their experiences and networks to make a lasting impact, both during their college years and beyond, as you become a catalyst for positive change in your community
Optimizing the PASS Program: Using Improvement Science to Enhance Holistic Support for First-Year Medical Students
Full text linkMedical students often face unique academic and personal challenges that can hinder their success and well-being, particularly in the first year. This dissertation examines the impact of the Proactive Academic Support System (PASS) Program, a program designed to provide timely, holistic support to first-year medical students. Guided by improvement science and the Universal Design Principles for Student Development Programs and Services framework, the study implemented two change ideas aimed at reducing the time between grade release and PASS meeting completion, thereby enhancing communication and engagement with students. The study focuses on one Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle that assessed program effectiveness through mixed methods using quantitative measures, including meeting attendance rates and communication response times, as well as qualitative feedback from students and staff. Findings revealed a statistically significant increase in attendance following programmatic interventions, alongside insights into persistent challenges such as stigma, misconceptions, and organizational barriers
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF FIBER-REINFORCED ASPHALT MIXTURES: A COMPREHENSIVE LABORATORY AND FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION
No full textAsphalt concrete is a composite material widely used in the construction of roads; however, fatigue cracking (load associated), thermal cracking (non-load associated), and permanent deformation (or rutting) are the most challenging issues in flexible (or asphalt) pavement structures. These distresses affect ride quality and are considered the most well-known pavement deterioration types. Several modifiers have been used as potential solutions to cracking and rutting of asphalt mixtures (i.e., polymers, geogrids etc.). Among these modifiers, fibers were introduced to improve the resistance of asphalt mixtures to rutting and cracking. Addition of fibers into the asphalt mixture is always challenging because of their impact on volumetric properties and clumping while mixing. Therefore, a comprehensive study was conducted to address these challenges and subsequently evaluate the performance potential of fiber-reinforced asphalt mixture (FRAM). For this purpose, different types of fibers (carbon, glass, basalt, and polyolefin/aramid (PFA), and Sasobit coated aramid (SCA)) were used and mixtures were prepared by using a variety of laboratory equipment as well as at an asphalt plant. Results showed that a fiber dosage of 0.16% negatively impacted the volumetric properties, however, fiber dosage ≤0.05% (aramid fibers) satisfy the volumetric properties and improve the rutting potential. Laboratory Bucket mixer produce the FRAM equivalent to plant produced FRAM in terms of fiber distribution and laboratory performance Based on a comprehensive evaluation of laboratory performance, including assessments of rutting and cracking, along with a cost-benefit analysis, aramid fibers demonstrated an optimal balance between performance and cost-effectiveness. Finally, based on the findings of this study, aramid fibers offer practical benefits in terms of enhancing the longevity and performance of asphalt pavements, reducing maintenance, optimizing material usage, and ensuring roads are better suited to the climate and traffic conditions in different regions of the United State
CREATING AND EXPANDING SPACE: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF MENTORING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN WOMEN ADMINISTRATORS IN K-12 EDUCATION
No full textThis study explores the co-constructed mentoring stories of women administrators in K-12 public schools in New Jersey, using a feminist lens to examine how women experience, navigate, and understand leadership within gendered systems. Narrative inquiry (Kim, 2016) was used to co-create stories of four mentoring dyads. All eight participants held curriculum and instruction roles, and most women developed informal mentoring relationships that provided safe spaces for shedding gendered expectations and embracing authenticity. Through mentoring partnerships, women connected both personally and professionally. This study emphasizes the unique mentoring needs of women in mid-level, less visible roles as curriculum supervisors. Findings suggest that mentors helped protégés to navigate invisibility, embody leadership, and strengthen their leadership presence. Mentoring can serve as both an individual pathway for women and a collective strategy for advancing women in educational leadership. As women often enter leadership through curriculum and instruction (Sharp et al., 2004; Sperandio, 2015), providing formal mentorship for those transitioning into supervisory roles is essential. Finally, expanding supportive spaces to include male allies is also critical to addressing systemic barriers
Robust Sex Determination in the Caenorhabditis nigoni Germ Line
Full text linkSexual characteristics and reproductive systems are dynamic traits in many taxa, but the developmental modifications that allow change and innovation are largely unknown. A leading model for this process is the evolution of self-fertile hermaphrodites from male/female ancestors. However, these studies require direct analysis of sex-determination in male/female species, as well as in the hermaphroditic species that are related to them. In Caenorhabditis nematodes this has only become possible recently, with the discovery of new species. Here, we use gene editing to characterize major sex-determination genes in C. nigoni, a sister to the widely studied hermaphroditic species C. briggsae. These two species are close enough to mate and form partially fertile hybrids. First, we find that tra-1 functions as the master regulator of sex in C. nigoni, in both the soma and the germ line. Surprisingly, these mutants make only sperm, in contrast to tra-1 mutants in related hermaphroditic species. Moreover, the XX mutants display a unique defect in somatic gonad development that is not seen elsewhere in the genus. Second, the fem-3 gene acts upstream of tra-1 in C. nigoni, and the mutants are females, unlike in the sister species C. briggsae, where they develop as hermaphrodites. This result points to a divergence in the role of fem-3 in the germ line of these species. Third, tra-2 encodes a transmembrane receptor that acts upstream of fem-3 in C. nigoni. Outside of the germ line, tra-2 mutations in all species cause a similar pattern of partial masculinization. However, heterozygosity for tra-2 does not alter germ cell fates in C. nigoni, as it can in sensitized backgrounds of two hermaphroditic species of Caenorhabditis. Finally, the epistatic relationships point to a simple, linear germline pathway in which tra-2 regulates fem-3 which regulates tra-1, unlike the more complex relationships seen in hermaphrodite germ cell development. Taking these results together, the regulation of sex determination is more robust and streamlined in the male/female species C. nigoni than in related species that make self-fertile hermaphrodites, a conclusion supported by studies of interspecies hybrids using sex-determination mutations. Thus, we infer that the origin of self-fertility not only required mutations that activated the spermatogenesis program in XX germ lines, but prior to these there must have been mutations that decanalized the sex-determination process, allowing for subsequent changes to germ cell fates
INTERROGATING WHITENESS IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT POLICY DOCUMENTS
No full textSchool improvement (SI) policies provide an opportunity for educational equity. This critical policy analysis (CPA) (Diem & Young, 2015; Diem et al., 2014; Young & Diem, 2017; Young & Diem, 2018) investigated whiteness in school improvement policy documents within and across state and local levels. The study interrogated whiteness within school improvement policy using documents from the New York State Department of Education and New York City Public Schools. The overarching aim of this research was to name and disrupt whiteness, and thereby white supremacy, in school improvement policy by interrogating its presence within documents. This scholarship adds new insights to the critique of school accountability legislation by examining whiteness and racialized discourse practices within SI policy, a previously unexplored area. Analysis revealed how, through hierarchical structures, inequitable resource allocation, and cultural disregard, whiteness was reinforced and validated throughout SI policy documents. Additionally, coded language and deficit discourse pathologized and degraded racialized communities. SI policies failed to address the racial root causes of educational inequity or stratification. The narrative of SI policy reinforced a white supremacist regime that perpetuates traditional power dynamics
Mental Rotation: Psychometric Analysis of the Online Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations and Relationships Between Mental Rotation Skill and Engineering Undergraduate Success
Full text link“Literature shows that spatial skills, and in particular, mental rotation skills, are predictors of success in STEM. Students who have strong spatial visualization skills are more likely to demonstrate better academic performance and higher graduation rates in STEM. Several instruments are used to measure mental rotation skills, most of which are paper-based… To measure the range of skills typically seen in undergraduate engineering students, the PSVT:R has been historically preferred for its use of a variety of 3-dimensional shapes, which are appropriately challenging to visualize, and for its established reliability and validity [using classical test theory]. An [online] version of the test, [here deemed the O-PSVT:R,] offers several advantages over the paper-based test; however, its reliability and validity must be established*” [2]. I then studied the relationships between student success metrics (graduation rate & course grades) and their O-PSVT:R score, while accounting for variance attributed to past experiences known to correlate with spatial skills, as well as students’ demographic groups. This resulted in a conceptual framework for undergraduate engineering student success relative to O-PSVT:R score. * - © 2023 American Society for Engineering Educatio
A Case of Choledocholithiasis in a Patient with a Recent History of HELLP Syndrome and Pre-Eclampsia
Full text linkJaundice in a patient presenting to the emergency department (ED) can be indicative of a range of conditions, and it\u27s important to determine the underlying cause for proper management. Here we describe a case of an unusual presentation of choledocholithiasis in a 25-year-old female with a recent history of HELLP and preeclampsia