Project-Based Internationalization: Providing Accessible and Equitable High-Impact Education

Inequitable access to global education has long excluded populations of students that are unable to participate in models that require travel away from their home institution. This is especially felt at institutions with a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) designation. Factors that contribute towards this end are varying familial and economic systems, financial models, lack of accessible educational accommodations when not at the home institution, mobility restrictions at the host institution, student ability to travel or obtain proper documentation to travel at the state, federal, or international government levels. Considering inequitable access to global education for university students, embedding Project-Based Internationalization provides a modality for high-impact education that is available for all. If implemented, the students, faculty and the institution at large would demonstrate quantifiable outcomes related to contextualized academic achievement, student-driven equitable education, international pedagogy, and increased cross-cultural competencies. Project-Based Internationalization (PBI) is the deliberate integration of intercultural and global components into faculty-guided projects in which students engage in solution-based strategies to real world problems. Designed to be inter- and cross-disciplinary in nature, students and faculty across all academic disciplines can engage in leveraging their curriculum to meet several academic and institutional goals through one program. These discipline specific programs provide equitable access for all students to engage in real-time global relationships, expand their cross-cultural skillsets, and develop solution-based strategies to current global issues. This high-impact practice is no longer only reserved for those participating in traditional methods of international education but rather leverages the globalized world and advanced technology to combine any academic discipline with experiential education. This comprehensive co-curricular guide is designed for those in Christian higher education to design and implement Project-Based Internationalization programs across academic disciplines that can be scalable and customizable, tailoring programs to their specific populations, contexts, disciplines, and needs

Understanding Heroin Addiction from the Life Course Perspective

Heroin and other opiate dependence is a disease that affects the user, interpersonal relationships, and the surrounding community. Due to societal stigmatization of heroin addiction, it can be difficult to help the wider community see the need for more effective intervention and prevention efforts. The purpose of this study was to better understand risk factors of dependency by examining the life courses of individuals who have been through addiction, treatment, and are currently in recovery. Early childhood experiences, specifically parental abuse and social rejection, combined with substance abuse as a model for coping, were found to be influential in the development of addiction. Social support and self -awareness during and post -treatment were effective components of sustaining recovery

Posthumanism in the Early Modern Period: Jonson, Marlowe, and Shakespeare

This thesis examines the existence of posthumanism in the dramas of Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare – the three most prominent playwrights of the early modern period. Posthumanist theory, which gives scholars the opportunity to look at past works in a new and unique way, attempts to re-locate the human in the diverse creatures and objects in the world we inhabit. By applying posthumanist theory to older works, we can better understand the early modern period and its writers as well as their relevance to the present. Their plays’ messages serve as warnings that work to guide humanity in the right direction if we are willing to listen. Current events show us the dangers of continuing down the path of our present course. In short, by looking to the past I hope to chart the course of posthumanist interpretation on literature and our own species in the future

WHERE IS HOME? A MULTIMEDIA VIEW OF THE LIVES OF EL SALVADOR’S ORPHANED CHILDREN, AND FLAWS WITHIN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD’S MURDER CAPITAL

In El Salvador, a country the size of Massachusetts, live 6.4 million people attempting to recover from a civil war that ended more than 20 years ago. Its people are still fighting to recover from the war—both economically and socially. More than one third of the population fall beneath the poverty line, leaving many children to join their families in the work force. In a country where only 3 percent of the public expenditures are put toward education, at least one-third of children drop out of school by fifth grade. As of January 2016, El Salvador has a homicide rate of 104 people per 100,000, the highest of any country in nearly 20 years. Many of the murders are attributed to gang violence, as the truce between the country’s two major gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha ( las maras ) and the Barrio 18 ( el diez y ochos ) has crumbled over the past years. It is often the children who must pay the price. Many flee north, fall victim to gang activity, or end up in orphanages. As of 2010 more than half, 66 percent, of El Salvador’s children face abandonment. Many families suffer from extreme poverty, malnourishment, lack of education and domestic violence. Their children end up in government-operated orphanages or privately owned children’s homes. The country’s sole child protection law, LEPINA, passed in 2010, although a good start, leaves much to be desired in regards to interpretation, implementation, and acceptance into society

Atovaquone Targets STAT3 in Ovarian Cancer Spheroids

Ovarian cancer remains a deadly disease for countless women. Recent evidence demonstrates that ovarian cancer cell clusters, spheroids, are important in promoting ovarian recurrence and metastasis. Often these spheroids are resistant to therapy. Therefore, we were interested in identifying drugs that could target ovarian cancer spheroids. Analysis of gene expression identified the STAT3 signaling pathway as a pathway enriched in 3D growing ovarian cancer cells. STAT3 is a transcription factor that is activated by tyrosine phosphorylation in about 70% of high grade serous ovarian cancers. Using shRNA targeting STAT3 and the upstream signaling molecule, GP130, we found that reduction of both STAT3 and its upstream signaling molecule GP130 reduced the growth of spheroids. This suggested that targeting STAT3 or an upstream signaling molecule might be a viable treatment option. Atovaquone, used normally for the treatment of malaria or the prevention of pneumocystic pneumonia, inhibits STAT3 activation by inhibiting the expression of GP130 on the cell surface. Therefore, showing that atovaquone has potential in decreasing viability in ovarian cancer cells

The Impact of Meditation and Mindfulness in the Elementary Classroom: A Review of Research Literature Across Five Disciplines

Mindfulness meditation programs, benefits, and outcomes were examined through research previously conducted and published by professionals within five differing disciplines: health and wellness, psychology, elementary education, exceptional education, and medicine. The goal was to find common themes within the differing disciplines in order to gather information about the effectiveness of a mindfulness meditation program to be used in an elementary classroom. In this thesis, the chapter of Health and Wellness is a review of literature that tells the benefits found within meditators, which are not found within non-meditators. The chapter of Psychology explains the social-emotional needs of students, the causes of stress and anxieties amongst students, and the benefits that meditation provides in order to counter the negative effects of stress, anxiety, poverty, etc. The chapter of Elementary Education reviews research literature on the existing mindfulness meditation programs within the United States. This chapter also describes the implementation of such a program in an elementary school, as well as the documented data of the outcomes of the programs. The chapter of Exceptional Education is a review of the research literature on the benefits mindfulness meditation has on students with exceptionalities, such as specific learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. The chapter of Medicine is a retelling of previously published scholarly articles that list the neurological benefits of meditation, and also references the negative side effects to the currently prescribed medications that are being used in the treatment of ADHD

Wrongful Convictions by Police-Induced False Confessions

Wrongful convictions have two main negative effects on society: (1) innocent people are imprisoned, and (2) the real perpetrators are allowed to wander the streets. In order to analyze this issue, this presentation discusses police interrogation tactics (specifically when using the Reid Technique), the association between police interrogation tactics and false confessions, the association between false confessions and wrongful convictions, ways in which wrongful convictions affect communities and their members, and possible ways to mitigate this problem. Although current police interrogation tactics can be useful at eliciting confessions, interrogation methods must be reformed in light of evidence that police-induced false confessions occur and result in wrongful convictions