Female Middle School Principals\u27 Voices: Implications for School Leadership Preparation

This study was an attempt to add the voices of women to the discourse of sch.ool leadership. It focused on the nature of the middle school leadership experiences of three female middle school principals, their social interactions based on gen- der role expectations and their own leadership perspectives. Findings suggest that middle school leadership is characterized as challenging and sacrificial, that participants initially deny the effect of gender on their performance, but that so- cial stereotypes influence people\u27s perceptions about female principals, and that they tend to be more collaborative and nurturing than their male counterparts. Further, servant leadership and instructional leadership are the two leadership perspectives embraced by female middle school principals

Perspectives from community-based doulas and mothers: Neighborhood context and pregnancy

Objectives: Limited research explores the potential pathways by which neighborhoods influence pregnancy or how community members conceptualize and interpret how neighborhood contexts and living environments influence pregnancy and birth. Study Design: We applied participatory Concept Mapping and a series of focused discussions with community-based doulas and mothers. Methods: We collaborated with a community-based doula program to investigate how mothers and community doulas perceived the neighborhood to influence reproductive health. We conducted a series of focused discussions including ‘Brainstorming’ to uncover key themes related to how neighborhood context influenced pregnancy, ‘Sorting and Rating’ of key themes in association with pregnancy and birth outcomes, and further discussion to uncover potential relationships. Data from the ‘Sorting and Rating’ activities were entered into Concept Systems software to generate concept maps of the themes and ideas discussed. Results: The women identified 79 key themes/items related to the neighborhood context that they thought were important for pregnancy and birth. Participants ranked most of the neighborhood factors as moderate or high in importance in influencing pregnancy health and birth. These 79 items were further aggregated to develop 9 clusters related to various themes such as ‘Access/Potential Barriers to Adequate Care,’ ‘The Environment and Infrastructure,’ ‘Neighborhood History, Demographics and Dynamics,’ ‘Community, Relationships, and Autonomy.’ The group further discussed how neighborhood contexts have a particularly influence on individual behaviors such as physical activity; and how key infrastructure issues such as transportation may impede or facilitate access to resources important for health. Conclusion: This study provides additional insight into how neighborhoods may influence pregnancy and birth and how multiple neighborhood factors may act synergistically to influence health. Concept mapping and community perspectives reinforce the importance of participant and community input in developing future research and interventions

Framework and Initial Analyses of Fertilizer Profitability in Maize and Cotton in Zambia

Inorganic fertilizers will play a role in government programs, but whether or not a single policy is valuable for all farmers depends upon the net gain for the farmers. The research here seeks to demonstrate how to answer the question “Is fertilizer profitable in Zambia for maize and cotton in the smallholder sector?” This study identifies the key components determining profitability and then sets up a framework to evaluate the probability of farmers to obtain profitable results with fertilizer use on maize and cotton. Several cases are selected and the results are evaluated. Private profitability for the farmer at market prices is discussed, leaving social profitability to other researchers. A simple method for farmers and extensionists to use to assess a fertilizer investment is given, to assist in more site specific analysis, given prices and environment.food security, food policy, Zambia, maize, cotton, fertilizer, Agribusiness, Q18,

Standing in the Shadows: African American Informants and Allies of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission

This dissertation addressed the use of African American informants and allies by the Mississppi State Sovereignty Commission during the Civil Rights Movement. Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, Mississippi initiated various measures to maintain segregated schools and uphold its southern traditios. Among them was the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a state-funded created in 1956 whose primary purpose was to uphold state\u27s rights and maintain segregation. Dubbed the segregation watchdog, the agency had an investigative division that used political and civic leaders, law enforcement entities, private detective agencies, and informants which constitute an informal network of spies located in every county in Mississippi. Using the Sovereignty Commission records and varied primary and secondary sources, this research revealed that the typical African American informant was a middle-class male in a professional or highly regarded occupation such as educator, minister or newspaper publisher. Further, it was found that informants used the same educational, civic, fraternal and religious institutions to gain and disseminate information as those utilized by activists to advance the Movement. As informants, they spied on individuals, infiltrated civil right organizations, and promoted segregation. While their motives may never be fully understood, it is arguable that some entered into alliances with the Sovereignty Commission due to existing systems of patronage and paternalism. Though they held positions in which they could lead and inspire, they chose to stand in the shadows of the most pivotal periods in American history. The Commission ceased operations in 1973 and expended more than $1.5 million. While the agency symbolized Mississippi\u27s primary state-funded mechanism to maintain the closed society, it was not an isolated entity but an archetype for southern resistance. Other southern states including Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana used Mississippi as a model to establish similar commissions. As a whole, these commissions were a southern phenomenon that circumvented the principles of a democratic society to serve the needs of the elite while subjugating and co-opting the majority-black population

Give Us Free : Addressing Racial Disparities in Bail Determinations

This article considers racial disparities that occur nationally in the bail determination process, due in large part to the lack of uniformity, resources, and information provided to officials in bail proceedings. It argues that the almost unbridled decision making power afforded to bail officials is often influenced by improper considerations such as the defendant\u27s financial resources or the race of the defendant. As a result of these failures, the bail determination process has resulted not only in racial inequalities in bail and pretrial detention decisions, but also in the over-incarceration of pretrial defendants and the overcrowding of jails nationwide. The article looks to the example of the ongoing work of criminal justice officials in Saint Louis County, Minnesota to address racial disparities in bail determinations in their county. In Saint Louis County, representatives from law enforcement, the court, and the community have taken a holistic approach to addressing the problems of the bail process including training, education, and continuing data collection. The experience of Saint Louis County provides a model for policy reform to reduce racial disparities not only in bail determinations, but the criminal adjudication process more generally

“The Dreaming Long View and the Arresting Close-Up”: The Eggleston Cultural Center on South Main Street, Memphis

The work of two of the South’s preeminent artists — one an author, the other a photographer — converge to form the thesis of this project. The internationally recognized photographer William Eggleston (b. 1939) was born and resides in Memphis, Tennessee, which is at times the subject of his art. Eudora Welty (1909- 2001), of nearby Jackson, Mississippi, is one of the great 20thcentury authors that the South produced; she stands among the southern pantheon alongside Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor. Welty observed of Eggleston’s work: All the photographs have place as their subject. ...In landscapes, cityscapes, street scenes, roadside scenes, at every sort of public converging-point, in dreaming long view and arresting close-up, through hours of dark and light, he sets forth what makes up our ordinary world (Welty 9-10). Cutting to the heart of the matter, Welty’s take on Eggleston’s work offers insight and provocation for an architectural response. Borrowing Welty’s words, the programming of a museum and archive enables a “close-up” examination of the museum typology and its methods of display. Furthermore, by considering the city of Memphis, the museum can be situated within the “long view” of the city’s urban fabric and shifting narrative. By relating program and site, this thesis includes the design of a museum that reaches beyond its primary role of preserving photographs. As Welty explains, The human being — the perpetrator of or the victim or the abandoner of what we see before us — is the reason why these photographs of place have their power to move and disturb us; they always let us know that the human being is the reason they were made (Welty 11). Within this characterization of Eggleston’s subject matter is an architectural opportunity. In order to form a place that similarly “moves,” architectural methods that reveal and frame human interaction will be explored. The passage of time provides another common theme in the production of architecture, photography, and place. In summation, I intend to pursue this program and site to see how time, narrative, and place may enrich architectural production