Lessons Learned: Exploratory study of a HIV/AIDS prevention intervention for African American women who have experienced intimate partner violence

Given the prevalence and co-occurring nature of HIV and intimate partner violence among African American women there is a need for a risk reduction intervention. This study explored the results from an exploratory study of an HIV/AIDS prevention intervention for African-American women who have experienced intimate partner violence. The emphasis of this study is to identify lessons learned to guide future research. Recruitment for the feasibility study was done in two waves over a period of three months. During the first wave, 22 participants were recruited for the intervention group, and in the second wave, 25 participants were in the control group. Pre-post tests were used to evaluate the mean differences between the groups on the three domain measures the intervention was designed to impact (Capacity Building, Sexual Safety Planning, Life Skills). Participants in the treatment group increased their HIV knowledge and decreased reports of alcohol and drug use, while increasing their sexual assertiveness skills, though overall statistical findings indicated that there was no significant difference between the treatment and control group in regards to overall capacity building, sexual safety planning, and life skills. There is a need to find additional motivators to keep participants engaged, as attrition for both groups was unusually high. Shortening sessions or duration of the intervention to accommodate the multiple demands on these women’s lives, and potentially delivering some of the curriculum through technology may be an option for future interventions. Further attention to how African American women can reduce their risks for IPV and their heightened risk for HIV by looking closely at structural inequalities, the social determinants of health, and other contributing factors is a necessary consideration for a successful intervention

Spectral classification with the International Ultraviolet Explorer: An atlas of B-type spectra

New criteria for the spectral classification of B stars in the ultraviolet show that photospheric absorption lines in the 1200-1900A wavelength region can be used to classify the spectra of B-type dwarfs, subgiants, and giants on a 2-D system consistent with the optical MK system. This atlas illustrates a large number of such spectra at the scale used for classification. These spectra provide a dense matrix of standard stars, and also show the effects of rapid stellar rotation and stellar winds on the spectra and their classification. The observational material consists of high-dispersion spectra from the International Ultraviolet Explorer archives, resampled to a resolution of 0.25 A, uniformly normalized, and plotted at 10 A/cm. The atlas should be useful for the classification of other IUE high-dispersion spectra, especially for stars that have not been observed in the optical

Pedestrian walkway LED lighting upgrade

Bryan Rountree, Director, Facility Operations and Services ($38,000.00) Retrofit existing pot top lighting to new LED lights along the pedestrian walkway. Proven to increase light levels and reduce energy cost by 33%

Catholic missionaries in Africa: the White Fathers in the Belgian Congo 1950-1955

Catholic missionaries played an important role in the colonial scramble in Africa and the subsequent years. They served as educators and medical support for the state in many cases. The state relied on missionaries to staff schools, educate the population, and aid in the civilization of the Africans. In the Belgian Congo, Catholic missionaries - specifically the Society of Missionaries of Africa or White Fathers - played an especially important role as agents of evangelization and European civilization. The Belgian state relied heavily (and provided subsidies) on missionaries to educate the native people. Through education and medical help, missionaries fostered conversions and attempted to establish a native Church in Africa. Using mission diaries, personal correspondence, annual reports, and personal interviews (conducted in fall 2008), as well as secondary sources, I will attempt to construct a picture of the White Fathers and their experiences during the colonial period and subsequent decades, but with special focus on the years 1950-1955. I will examine the White Fathers as an institution and look at the relationships within the Society and those among the Society, the Belgian regime, and private companies. Through personal interviews with missionaries stationed in the Belgian Congo and Burundi during the 1950s, I will look at these individuals’ experiences and lives to better understand the Society as a whole and its role in imperial Africa. Though there are few secondary sources about the White Fathers in Africa, the primary sources I accessed in Rome and Brussels were very rich. While there are some drawbacks to using oral interviews as primary sources, I believe the interviews provided invaluable data about the daily lives of Catholic missionaries in the field in Congo

The Segregation of Religion: How Othering Influences Society’s Narrative Understanding about the Symbiotic Relationship among Racism, Sexism, and the Church

The social dependence on the sociology of male spiritual leadership is substantial. This dependence accomplishes two ideas: neutralizes the feminine experience and obviates the anthropological implications of religion in the perpetuation of oppression and subjugation. When considering racism and sexism in religion, specifically as they relate to the Black Christian church, a dismissal of accusations and assertions occurs by yielding to the context of the social era. This paper seeks to further clarify the position of women, who pushed against the grain of the gendered and racialized spaces of their churches and communities, as they sought to establish human rights through their pursuit of dignity and peace in two social movements. Key to this research is its challenge of Morris’ description of the church as an agency-laden vehicle and assurance in the charismatic nature of male leadership of the Civil Rights movement. Moored upon the discipline of cultural anthropology, this comparison regards both Geertz’s religion as a cultural system and Weber’s sociology of charismatic authority as theories for its analysis. It employs first-person narratives and semi-structured interviews of Birmingham foot soldiers and Liberian Mass Action for Peace warriors, and archival research to bring the marginalized voices of women into the center. Coding exposes two fundamental aspects for a study of leadership: the separate but proximal relationships that race and gender have to it and the perception that the individual may have about leadership as a concept or a position. With present-day implications for the collective understanding of the labeling of “other” as related to gender and religion, this research questions whether society’s symbiotic relationship with religion is conservative or progressive. In other words, can a social and political relational transformation transpire with religion to eliminate the barriers of oppression and subjugation experienced by those mislabeled as other

Women in the Early Nazarene Mission Among Spanish Speakers: Maye McReynolds and Santos Elizondo

This paper examines the early Nazarene holiness mission among Spanish speakers, specifically focusing on two women foundational for this ministry. It argues that with the example and encouragement of Maye McReynolds before her, Santos Elizondo became a trailblazer and minority voice in implementing holistic mission within Spanish speaking communities in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico at the turn of the 20th century. Maye McReynolds initiated the Spanish mission of the Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles, California, where she was instrumental in converting and discipling Santos Elizondo. Elizondo moved out in her own ministry to El Paso, and this paper examines her life and border work there, including her successes and obstacles as a woman and minority in ministry. Finally, there is a discussion of underlying power systems and structures pointing to the importance of developing character within communities. This paper presents a marginalized perspective and examines what the modern Church can learn from the ministry of McReynolds and Elizondo for multicultural ministry