Under the Care of the City of Fremont: Employees Embrace a Healthier Lifestyle through Worksite Wellness

The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) if the City of Fremont has effectively implemented wellness activities that promote health and wellness for employees; and (2) what strategies can the City of Fremont use to encourage and increase employee participation in workplace sponsored health and wellness program activities

Covert Segregation: Dialect Discrimination in the Housing Market

Covert Segregation Dialect Discrimination in the Housing Market Since the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, zero cases have been tried on dialect discrimination. Purnell et al. (1999), using a matched-guise approach, revealed solid evidence for dialect discrimination based on the correlation between racial demographics by neighborhood and the rate of returned appointment request calls by dialect. This auditory discrimination disproportionately effects racial minorities, who already suffer the color and class disparities of a historically and contemporarily segregated housing market. This revamped re-visitation of Purnell et al. (1999) brings together new methodology and new information about the discriminating listener to reveal the underlying language ideologies that covertly maintain the limitations on social mobility for victims of dialect discrimination. Dialect is more than accent: it is a constellation of features—word choice, prosody, meaning— linked to recognizable social identities and personality types—Black woman, employed woman, lazy woman. Taking a step away from traditional matched-guise approaches to guisecraft— which typically allow variations only in the Phonological domain—this experiment used three true-to-dialect guises—varying in all Linguistic domains—of this author’s three native dialects— Standard American, African American, and Southern American. These guises were tested for accuracy of identification (N=34), and for ideological impressions (representative sample below) of the person behind the voice. This presentation will present the results of these identifications and ideological evaluations by guise, and will discuss their implications.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146546/1/CLS Poster.4realign.pdfDescription of CLS Poster.4realign.pdf : CLS 54 Poster_KE

The Reflection and Reification of Racialized Language in Popular Media

This work highlights specific lexical items that have become racialized in specific contextual applications and tests how these words are cognitively processed. This work presents the results of a visual world (Huettig et al 2011) eye-tracking study designed to determine the perception and application of racialized (Coates 2011) adjectives. To objectively select the racialized adjectives used, I developed a corpus comprised of popular media sources, designed specifically to suit my research question. I collected publications from digital media sources such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Fortune by scraping articles featuring specific search terms from their websites. This experiment seeks to aid in the demarcation of socially salient groups whose application of racialized adjectives to racialized images is near instantaneous, or at least less questioned. As we view growing social movements which revolve around the significant marks unconscious assumptions leave on American society, revealing how and where these lexical assignments arise and thrive allows us to interrogate the forces which build and reify such biases. Future research should attempt to address the harmful semiotics these lexical choices sustain

A Correlational and Causal Comparative Study of the First-Year Retention of Special Admissions Students

College retention has been widely studied since it is an important indicator of institutional effectiveness; however, though higher education institutions have focused on factors that increase retention and graduation rates, many students who enter college do not persist to graduation. To increase the retention of all students, both regular admissions and special admissions, many institutions have implemented programs, like first-year seminars, to help students successfully academically and socially transition to college, which are important factors in first-year retention. The purpose of this correlational and causal comparative study was to determine the most significant predictor of first-year retention for special admissions students: high school grade point average, college entrance exam scores, or institutional commitment. The study also sought to determine the effectiveness of a first-year seminar on the first-year retention of special admissions students. Using logistic regression testing, the researcher tested the predictive value of the predictor variables to the outcome variable, college retention. The results indicated no statistical significance for high school grade point average, entrance exam scores, or institutional commitment to predict first-year retention. Using a Chi-Square test, the researcher tested for the differences in first-year retention between regular admission and special admission students. The results of this study present many implications for those who seek to increase first-year retention for academically at-risk students. It appears as if Tinto’s (1975) theory of departure was correct in presenting that persistence decisions are individual in nature based on independent student factors

A 47-Year-Old Female with Shortness of Breath

This patient is a 47-year-old female with a history of end-stage liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) complicated by hepatic encephalopathy, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, and severe peripheral neuropathy who presents to the hospital with complaints of shortness of breath and cough. The patient was recently discharged from an outside hospital 2 days prior to this admission where she was treated for pneumonia and an asthma exacerbation but her symptoms have not improved. She complains of shortness of breath at rest and severely decreased exercise tolerance with dyspnea while walking across the room. Her cough is persistent and non-productive. Review of systems is also positive for fevers at the outside hospital and worsening peripheral neuropathy which has not responded to treatment with gabapentin. Social history is positive for 20 pack-year smoking history (quit 10 years ago), and heavy alcohol use in the past

How teaching mathematics for social justice can support inclusive practices in the elementary mathematics classroom

The paper describes a project that took place in two elementary schools in London, U.K. By focusing on developing approaches to Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice (TMSJ), we identified opportunities and challenges for teaching and learning activities that promote inclusive practices and critical awareness amongst both teachers and students. By moving away from more traditional classroom practices and creating activities that were genuinely meaningful and engaging, teachers were able to engage their more ‘reluctant’ mathematics learners and students themselves became more focused and positive about themselves as mathematicians. TMSJ enabled teachers to realise the power of mathematics and to see themselves and their students as agents of change. This critical awareness provided opportunities for greater inclusion and participation

Creating space for socio-mathematical agency in the primary classroom

In this paper, we consider the benefits of creating space for socio-mathematical agency (SMA) for students in the primary classroom. Both curriculum constraints and a lack of time in the school day can often mean that there is little to no space for children to develop their SMA. We reported on a project that involved working with 6 teacher researchers and created space for them to collaborate, plan, deliver and reflect upon maths lessons that had social justice elements relating to the students’ lives. We found that teachers’ attitudes towards the curriculum were challenged and that they saw the benefit of SMA. During these sessions, teachers noticed a positive impact on their students who showed increased engagement as well as the ability to make links between maths and social justice issues in their lives