Navigating Power and Politics: Women of Color Senior Leaders in Academe

The purpose of this study was to understand how women of color who are at the senior level of academe continue to advance while navigating and maneuvering through power and politics encountered in the organizational system. Although we know that there are few women of color at the senior level of administration, this qualitative study provided information about the challenges and obstacles women of color senior level leaders face at micro- and macro-levels in a doctoral granting or baccalaureate granting university. The major research question guiding this study was: How do women of color navigate power and politics to arrive at the senior level in academe? The research design was nine individual case studies of women of color at nine institutions: three African Americans, two Asian American Pacific Islanders, two Latinas, and two American Indian women at doctoral granting and baccalaureate granting universities. Five women were senior leaders at minority serving institutions; seven were presidents, one was a provost, and one was a vice-provost. Three participants came from historically Black colleges and universities, one woman held a position at a Tribal college, and one worked at a Hispanic serving institution. Drawing upon five theoretical frameworks, four themes emerged that were grounded in the data: 1) Advancing Women Through Opportunity and Experience; 2) Challenges of Race and Gender: Inviting Partnership with Community; 3) Inclusive and Persuasive Leaders: Creating Positive Change; 4) Using Power and Politics to Achieve Goals. Participants saw power as the ability to bring people together and to use a strategy to achieve one's objectives. They defined power as the privilege one has because of social identity or as something that was borrowed or loaned. Women of color leaders described using politics for the community, to reap benefits, not for oneself but to achieve a broader goal. Participants maneuvered through the system by finding allies, and enlisting people to intervene on their behalf. Women of color senior leaders saw politics as a means to get things done and to emerge with a win-win situation

Master\u27s Recital

Program listing performers and works performe

Senior Recital

List of performers and performances

Stereotypes and Structure in the Interaction between Facial Emotional Expression and Sex Characteristics

Objective: A significant body of work has now amassed investigating the interaction between facial cues of sex and emotional expression. For instance, studies have found that male/more masculine faces are perceived more easily as angry, while female/more feminine faces are perceived more easily as happy. Two key mechanisms have been proposed to explain this interaction: a visual-structural account, where the interaction emerges due to physical overlap between facial cues of sex and emotion, and a stereotype based account, where the interaction is driven by associations between men and women, and particular emotions. Previous work often remains silent in regards to the mechanism/s underlying this interaction. This article aims to provide an up-to-date review of the literature as this may provide insight into whether facial structure, stereotypes, or a combination of both mechanisms explains the interaction between sex and emotion in face perception. Method: The review brings together research on the interaction between emotional expression and sex cues using a range of different methods. Results: The existing literature suggests that unique influences of both structural overlap and stereotypes can be observed in circumstances where the influence of one mechanism is reduced or controlled. Studies sensitive to detecting both mechanisms have provided evidence that both can concurrently act to contribute to the interaction between sex and emotion. Conclusion: These results are consistent with a role of selection in the physical appearance of facial signals of sex and particular emotional expressions and/or the cognitive structures involved in recognizing sex and emotion

A Teacher’s Use of Video to Train Paraprofessionals in Pivotal Response Techniques

Research has shown that students with moderate-severe disabilities need direct and frequent social instruction in order to communicate and play with their peers. At the same time, there is little commensurate support for the paraprofessionals tasked with providing this support. It is imperative, then, that paraprofessionals have effective strategies in their repertoire of practices to facilitate social interaction. This investigation examined one classroom teacher\u27s use of video to train two paraprofessionals in Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), an evidence based practice for students with autism. Findings suggest that the teacher-provided video training was effective in improving paraprofessionals’ PRT implementation, and subsequently, the social interactions of their students with disabilities other than autism, namely cerebral palsy and Down\u27s syndrome. Findings along with future directions for video-based training in the school setting are discussed

Cyanide degradation by pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes strain W2 Isolated from mining effluent

Cyanide is highly toxic to the living organisms as it inhibits respiration system in the cell mitochondria. Cyanide is commonly used in gold extraction process and its discharge into the environment not only causes pollution but it also brings harm to the surrounding population. Chemical treatment is expensive and the use of hazardous compound can exacerbate the problem. Biodegradation offers cheap and safe alternative as it overcomes the problems faced by chemical treatment. In this study, indigenous bacteria from mining wastewater were isolated. Cyanide degradation was done via shake flask method. A bacterium, designated W2 was found able to grow in the mining wastewater. 16S rRNA analysis identified the strain as Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes which could tolerate up to 39 mg/L cyanide concentration and growth was depleted at 52 mg/L. 60% cyanide degradation was achieved in wastewater containing medium. End-product analysis from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) detected formamide implicating the role of cyanide hydratase in cyanide degradation. It can be concluded that P. pseudoalcaligenes is capable of biodegrading cyanide and its potential in wastewater treatment containing cyanide is feasible