NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL CHILD SOCIAL WORKERS\u27 EXPERIENCES ON CO-OCCURRENCES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILD MALTREATMENT

Native American women and children suffer from domestic violence at an alarming rate on and off Indian reservations in the United States. Often these families that are impacted by domestic violence are involved in the state/county child welfare system. This study was to gain knowledge about Native American tribal child social workers experiences and challenges with co-occurrences of domestic violence and child maltreatment cases. This study used an exploratory, qualitative design with a phenomenological approach by collecting data through face-to-face and over the phone interviews with four Native American tribal child social workers from four different tribes across the nation. This design allowed participants the opportunity to provide a more in-depth explanation from their own personal experiences regarding their experiences and challenges working with domestic violence and child maltreatment cases. The study found that there is a need for state/county social workers to have a better understanding of the historic and current experiences of Native people from a cultural, spiritual, and socioeconomic perspective through effective and consistent training on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The study also found, that there is a need for state/county administration and social workers to build relationships with tribal child social workers in order to provide culturally competent and effective policies and services to serve Native American communities

Fawning, Masking, and Working as an Intimacy Professional on the Autism Spectrum

Though a common stereotype about people on the autism spectrum is that we lack empathy, the often-ignored reality is that we have a greater capacity for compassion than our neurotypical peers; the nature of the job as an intimacy choreographer is that they hold tremendous empathy for the most vulnerable people in the room. Therefore, we may have an innate advantage for qualification to work in that position. How do we adjust our ingrained societal expectations of what a person on the autism spectrum is capable of so that young neurodiverse artists growing up may see that they are equally capable of working in this field

Locating Local Education Funds: A Conceptual Framework for Describing LEFs' Contribution to Public Education

With support and leadership from the Public Education Network (PEN), local education funds (LEFs) have worked for two decades to 1) educate and mobilize their communities so that citizen voices are influential in education policy discussions; and 2) support effective partnerships between school district insiders and outsiders to improve the quality of children's education. However, as Useem's study of local education funds points out, it has been difficult to identify the many roles that LEFs play in their communities, the work that they undertake, the obstacles that they encounter, and the contributions that they make. Useem also suggests why the work of LEFs defies simple description. As brokers, LEFs work behind the scenes and in partnership with others, which contributes to their invisibility as catalysts and supporters of educational improvement. LEFs also are highly adaptive organizations that typically customize their change strategies to particular communities. Such attention to local context results in tremendous variation in the organization, work, and accomplishments of LEFs. At the same time, the highly individual nature of each LEF often obscures the overarching values, purposes, and goals that these organizations share, thus obscuring a collective identity.As they mark 20 years of work in public education, LEF and PEN leaders are prescient in their insistence on further research into the role and accomplishments of local education funds in shaping the landscape of public schooling. In August 2003, at the request of PEN, Research for Action (RFA) began work on developing a conceptual framework for: 1) understanding the role and work of LEFs and the many factors that influence what they do and how they do it; and 2) assessing their contributions to public education.This framework will be used to guide future empirical research on LEFs and to develop tools that LEFs themselves can use in a process of self-assessment. Continued research and assessment will provide public education stakeholders with credible evidence and a deeper understanding about how LEFs carry out their missions and demonstrate successes. At the same time, it will provide firm ground for LEF and PEN leaders to chart the next generation of work. This report was prepared for Public Education Network by Research for Action

Adults With Disabilities: What Factors Create a Successful Transition from Higher Education to the Workforce?

Individuals with disabilities face difficulties in both higher education and the workforce. While it would seem that they would be equipped to deal with these difficulties, high levels of college dropouts as well as pay gaps and high levels of underemployment suggest otherwise. Although there are many studies on disabilities and its relationship to singular factors, there is a lack of empirical study on the holistic relationship between disabilities and multiple factors. The purpose of this study is to explore how environmental factors, individual-external factors, and individual-internal factors are related to a successful transition from higher education to the workforce among study population. This cross-sectional study used survey responses of a convenience sample of 25 adults with disabilities who had previously been enrolled at a faith-based university in Texas. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the impact that each factor has on the outcome variable. Although individual-internal factors and individual-external factors influenced the outcome, they did not have a significant effect. Among the group of environmental factors, campus climate and utilization of accommodations both had a significant relationship with a successful transition to the workplace. The findings show that campus climate was the strongest predictor, meaning that campus climate had a higher impact than utilization of accommodations. These findings suggest that institutions of higher education need to focus their policy and practice related to students with disabilities on the topics of improving campus climate and ensuring that accommodations are available to be utilized by students. Further investigation is needed to validate these findings using an experimental study with a representative sample

Beguiling beginnings and dialectical salvaging : the presidential inaugural speech and African-American leaders\u27 speeches.

This dissertation explores how presidential inaugural speeches reflect the overarching mindset of the government, and how, in the postmodern era, this mindset manifests the same sort of African American erasure that has existed since Middle Passage. In addition, I explore the rhetorical engagement black leaders use to respond to, prevent, or to circumvent this erasure. This dissertation examines presidential inaugural speeches, during the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, from the Kennedy administration to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, to prove that, most times, this type of speech is little more than epideictic formality in regards to black interests, and, perhaps, the initial step in an administration\u27s disregard for the concerns of African Americans--or the first indication that an administration is ensnared in a dilemma of catering solely to white American interests. Correspondingly, I explore the theory that African American leaders\u27 speeches attempt to respond to Presidential inaugural addresses. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter covers Kennedy\u27s inaugural speech and corresponding African American speeches that seem to respond to Kennedy\u27s racially evasive issues and ideologies in his inaugural address. Chapter two covers Johnson\u27s first inaugural address and corresponding African American responses to inherent race issues. Chapters three, four and five cover Johnson\u27s second inaugural speech and corresponding African American speeches. In the conclusion, this dissertation explores the nature and function of the presidential inaugural address, based upon theorists\u27 past assumptions about the address\u27s function and nature, arguing that not only is the inaugural address normally more deliberative than epideictic, but, is most deliberative. In addition, the conclusion argues that current African American response to the presence or absence of race issues in presidential inaugural addresses has a broader platform than during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements

Influence of weaning age, restraint stress, and cortisol addition in vitro on immune function in swine

This research attempted to examine the influence of restraint stress in confinement housing in gilts and age of weaning on cellular immune function in the pig. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) blastogenic response to mitogen, neutrophil elastase degranulation, and neutrophil phagocytic ability were examined as indicators of cell mediated immunity. Traditional measures of stress including total and percent free cortisol, total leukocyte number, and leukocyte differential counts were used as another measure of stress. In vitro examinations were made to establish a culture system using cortisol concentrations that were suppressive and those that were not for PBMC blastogenic response to mitogens. Using this system the effects of vitamin C were tested to determine if coincubation of PBMC with cortisol, at suppressive levels, and vitamin C would decrease the suppressive effects seen in blastogenic response to mitogens. The results indicated that restraint stress causes suppression of PBMC blastogenic response for at least 14 d indicating that the animal is still experiencing stress. The other measures of stress, i. e. total and percent free cortisol only indicated a stress response for 4 d. Weaning before 5 wk of age causes a suppression of PBMC blastogenic response to mitogens. However, weaning age did not appear to affect neutrophil function. Based on these results it would appear that several measures of physiological response to stressors need to be used if the effects of stress are to be reported. Cortisol addition in vitro can cause suppression of PBMC blastogenic response at various concentrations. Vitamin C did not appear to have any stimulatory effects on PBMC response to mitogens regardless of the presence or concentration of cortisol. Cortisol can be added at various concentrations to PBMC cultures and not suppress blastogenic response to mitogens

Senior Recital: Elaine Browns, mezzo-soprano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Ms. Brown studies voice with Prof. Jana Young.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2363/thumbnail.jp

Junior Recital: Elaine Brown, Mezzo-soprano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Music Performance. Ms. Brown studies voice with Jana Young.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2259/thumbnail.jp