Exploring the Integration of Disability Awareness into Tertiary Teaching and Learning Activities

A desire to have every student attending our University be aware of, and reflect on, disability in their studies and future careers, initiated our project to explore how to enhance disability awareness within all our University’s papers. In this project we systematically reviewed pertinent literature and ran an action research workshop for staff. Strategies to enhance disability awareness identified in the literature and workshop were presented and verified at an interactive conference presentation. Embedding disability awareness into curricula is challenging; staff considered themselves powerless to bring about change in their departments, but thought that one way to do so would be by modelling inclusive behaviour and by introducing subtle inclusive practices into papers taught. The identified strategies may be of use to others contemplating similar curricular modifications

Men and Masculinities

Book Review of: Daniel Tillapaugh and Brian L. McGowan (Eds.). Men and Masculinities: Theoretical Foundations and Promising Practices for Supporting College Men’s Development. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2019. 235 pp. Softcover, $30.00. ISBN 978-1-62036-931-9. Reviewed by: Jessica Hale, Ed. D., Faculty, English and College Readiness, Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, M

Paths to Learning: Teaching for Engagement in College

Edited by: Barbara F. Tobolowsky (Ed.) Published by:, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Research Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, 2014. 179 pages Reviewed by: Jessica Hale, Ed.D

Foraging Ecology and Population Dynamics of Northern Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) in Washington State

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2022Many marine mammal populations are currently recovering from population depletion after overharvest. As marine mammals are often important predators in shaping marine ecosystems, there is a need to understand the impacts of recovering populations on other species and the marine ecosystem as a whole. The depletion and subsequent recovery of these species presents biologists with natural experiments to study their ecology, including drivers of their population dynamics and the function of the species in the ecosystem. This dissertation focuses on the recovery of a translocated population of sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) in Washington State. The presence or absence of sea otters, a keystone species, can dramatically influence marine community structure. The overall aim of this dissertation was to utilize the natural experiment of sea otter translocation to Washington State to understand drivers of sea otter population dynamics as well as the ecological role that sea otters play in Washington State. In Chapter 2, my coauthors and I found that the sea otter population in Washington has grown from an estimated 21 adult sea otters in 1977 to 2,336 adult sea otters in 2019, and the population is predicted to continue to grow and expand primarily to the south of the current range over the next 25 years. We also estimated that Washington State can support twice as many sea otters than previously estimated (equilibrium abundance of 6,080 vs. 2,734 sea otters), and that estimates of mean equilibrium density in currently occupied areas had the largest impact on predictions of population growth and range expansion. In Chapter 3, we quantified how sea otter population status (i.e., sea otter cumulative density) and habitat type (i.e., sea otter foraging in open water, kelp canopy, emergent rock, or intertidal) influence sea otter diet, and found that habitat was 1.77 times more important than sea otter population status in determining sea otter diet composition. We also found that sea otter long-term average rate of energy intake and diet diversity were negatively and positively correlated with sea otter cumulative density, respectively. In Chapter 4, we demonstrated the ecological role of sea otters in the nearshore marine ecosystem in Washington as a keystone species. We found that temporal transitions in the amount of kelp canopy were related to the duration of sea otter occupation, and that this relationship was more complex than a simple linear function. We also found that sea urchins were present at higher densities at sites more recently occupied by sea otters compared to long-occupied sites. In Chapter 5, we demonstrated the impact of sea otters as a recovering predator on the Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula). We found that the magnitude of sea otter predation effects varied over time and space, with sea otter-caused razor clam mortality surpassing natural mortality in 2018 at Kalaloch Beach, occupied by sea otters since 2005. We also found that sea otters selectively consume the larger “recruit” size razor clams, the size that is also targeted in the recreational fishery, despite the smaller pre-recruit size clams being more abundant. Collectively, these results provide a deeper understanding of sea otter recolonization in Washington State as well as the ecological consequences of this recolonization

The Parent First-Year Experience on a Community College Campus

This study explores the effects of a Parent First-Year Experience (PFYE) program at Washtenaw Community College. Specifically, the study addresses attitudes and perceptions of parents who participated in the PFYE program over the course of two years and the relationship between parent participation and students’ academic success and retention. A total of 71 (year 1 n=37; year 2 n=34) parents responded to the online survey. Researchers learned that parents who participated in the PFYE understood the milestones of their students’ first year and felt prepared to support their student through transition. Results indicated that the combination of parent orientation, e-newsletters, workshops, webinars, and online communication comprise an acceptable PFYE format. Beyond practical implications, this study serves as a launching point for future research and theories related to parental connectivity to the community college and further studies assessing the effects of PFYE programs