Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Public Policy and Management

Medical diagnoses constitute the basic problem definitions around which many health-related policies are built. Among other things, they inform disease prevention efforts, help direct funding of biomedical research, and can determine who is and is not eligible for disability benefits. In recent years, a number of medical scientists have cast a critical light on “fibromyalgia,” “chronic fatigue syndrome,” and certain other diagnoses, arguing that they medicalize what are really psychosocial problems and have led to counterproductive policy interventions. Unfortunately, our capacity to evaluate this argument is limited. Policymakers tend to defer to medical scientists in interpreting illness. However, because medical scientists generally operate in the biomedical paradigm, they do not necessarily have the resources needed to fully evaluate or act on the critics' arguments. In the first part of this dissertation, I argue that we can approach this problem from a different angle. Instead of asking what kind of problem “fibromyalgia” itself really is, we can ask whether our adoption of that problem definition was appropriate in the first place. As I demonstrate, there are standards endogenous to medico-political discourse that are supposed to govern how individual diagnostic labels are used. By formalizing these standards, and examining health policy practices in light of them, we can modulate our commitment to “fibromyalgia” and other illness definitions. This basic approach, I argue, is one that policy analysts might use in other situations involving highly unstructured problems. In the second part of this dissertation, I use this framework to evaluate the medical and policy uses of “chronic fatigue syndrome” (CFS), an illness construct originally defined by the CDC in 1988. Drawing on a multi-layered content analysis of about 300 medical and policy documents, and using AIDS as a comparison case, I examine whether the ways in which CFS has been used in policy disc (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

By thoroughly analyzing 910 U.S. House immigration bills from the 113th, 114th, 115th, and 116th Congressional sessions, my Ph.D. research delves into the impact of health crises on introduced U.S. House immigration bills in the United States. My research fills a crucial gap in the literature by examining the influence of legislative policy entrepreneurs (LPEs) on agenda-setting and socio-political discourse in health crises. By using Kingdon's policy entrepreneur theory and the inductive qualitative method of relational content analysis, I explore the general theme, underlying tone, rhetoric, and proposed measures of House immigration bills during health crisis versus non-health crisis periods. The findings reveal that elected House representatives are more likely to introduce restrictive immigration bills during health crises and that geographical location and political affiliation play a significant role in shaping these bills' rhetoric and proposed measures. Using the cumulative ANES dataset from 1948 to 2020, I demonstrate that the general population tends to be less welcoming towards immigrants and favors more restrictive immigration policies during health crises. Political ideology, education, income scale, and gender significantly determine public attitudes toward immigration policies and immigrants. My research sheds light on economic conditions, political environment, and legal frameworks that influence the legislative activity of elected House representatives and the public's attitudes toward immigration policy. The findings provide valuable insights and directions for future research, policy, and practice efforts toward a more equitable and just society.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2022, Educational Administration (Education)

When President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law in 2015 it was intended to advance education equity by upholding key protections for America's most marginalized and high-need students. Local school districts, in the wake ESSA responded with local initiatives and policies aimed at addressing inequities in achievement, academic rigor, and allocation of resources. Because suburban school districts continue to employ predominantly White leaders and teachers while Black student populations grow equal to or beyond the White student population, a critical study of how school districts address race and equity is necessary. The purpose of this study was to understand the policy making process including the creation, adoption and implementation of education equity policies adopted by Cleveland Heights-University Heights, and Shaker Heights City School Districts, two suburban school districts in the inner-ring of Cleveland, Ohio where district leaders and the Board of Education have committed to systematically removing barriers to education, achievement, and opportunities for historically marginalized students. Because critical race theory is a useful framework from which to discuss and research the prominence of race and racism in public policy, the researcher analyzed each policy with a critical race theory lens to understand how school districts attempt to address systemic inequities through policy. The policies were compared to one another based on the quadrangulational comparison including sameness (similarity), sameniqueness (similarity, with particularity), uniquesameness (distinction with similarity), and uniqueness (distinction) between each of them. This research is both timely and beneficial to education leaders, teachers and policymakers who value a critical lens to understand the development of equity policy development at the local level of educational governance.

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, Cleveland State University, 2013, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

Since the late 1990s, state governments in the U.S. have diversified policy instruments for encouraging the electric power industry to deploy renewable sources for electricity generation. While observing the increasing number of new renewable energy policies at the state level governments, this study raised two research questions: (1) how do state governments intervene in the renewable energy market? and (2) how do various policy approaches taken by state governments affect renewable energy development? To answer for these questions, this study attempts to identify the trends and variations in renewable energy policy designs among states in terms of the combination of aggregate level policy instruments used by state authorities. Additionally, this study aims to examine and compare the effectiveness of policy instruments in the deployment of renewable energy sources for electricity production. This study examined 18 state legislative, renewable energy related regulations, programs, or financial incentives existing between 2001 and 2010 in 48 states. Those 18 individual renewable energy policies were classified into three types of policy instruments: command-and-control, market-based, and information instruments. For the analysis, this study measured the amount and share of the electricity generation from non-hydro renewable sources as renewable energy policy effects. In order to isolate policy effects, this study also considered state specific characteristics such as natural endowment, economic and political environments, and the market conditions of electric power industries in different states. This study employed fixed-effects models to analyze cross-sectional time series data. The results showed that states’ adoption of diverse command-and-control types of policy instruments have significantly influenced the increase of both the amount and share of renewable electricity, while informative policy tools helped increase the share of renewable sources used (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

Cities create a wide array of impacts on the broader ecosystem, dramatically changing both biotic and abiotic attributes of landscapes from prior patterns. These impacts may be mitigated through the building and management of vegetated landscape components, which provide a vast array of ecosystem services to urban systems, including biodiversity conservation, absorption of air pollutants, and oxygen generation. Many cities seek to regulate these ecosystem services, as well as provide aesthetic guidance for greening built areas with vegetation to improve stormwater management and improve the physical and mental health of people, as well as other socio-economic improvements and benefits. In this study, we use an advanced data mining approach to examine municipal ordinances to identify patterns in efforts to regulate biodiversity on private properties across US cities. We use text mining to analyze a set of landscape ordinances for their inclusion of biodiversity related terms and topics. Our methodology allowed us to systematically uncover the thematic and linguistic structures within the ordinances and highlighted the diverse ways in which different jurisdictions articulate and prioritize landscape management practices. Our analysis revealed distinct variations in text patterns across cities, with high disaster risk cities and those at lower elevations exhibiting more complex linguistic structures in their landscape ordinances. This suggests that geographic context influences how ordinances are written, with cities in environmentally sensitive areas employing more detailed and varied regulatory language to address biodiversity-related issues.

Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.), Franklin University, 2025, Health Programs

This dissertation investigates the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the utilization of preventive colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among Americans under 65, focusing on healthcare providers' perspectives. The ACA, a significant healthcare reform, aimed to expand access to preventive services, including CRC screenings, vital for early detection and improved outcomes. This study employed quantitative analysis with a component of qualitative analysis utilizing a modified version of the Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS) to gather quantitative and qualitative data from healthcare providers in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The quantitative analysis assessed changes in CRC screening rates, patient compliance, and the effects of ACA-related policy changes, while the qualitative analysis explored providers' insights on barriers to screening, the role of patient education, and the overall effectiveness of the ACA in improving preventive care. Findings indicate a substantial increase in CRC screening utilization and frequency since the ACA's passage, with healthcare providers perceiving significant improvements in patient access and compliance. However, the study also highlights ongoing challenges, including financial barriers and enhanced patient education. These insights are critical for informing future healthcare policies and practices to reduce disparities in CRC screening and improve overall preventive care outcomes. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on healthcare reform and preventive care, offering valuable perspectives from those directly involved in delivering care. The findings underscore the importance of continued efforts to address disparities and optimize the benefits of healthcare policies like the ACA.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2023, Spatially Integrated Social Science

The increase in rate of international migration to the United States since the late 1960s, coupled with a generally high rate among minority populations, altered the racial and ethnic composition of America's urban neighborhoods. The changing demography and increase in shares of minority subpopulations underscore the salience of conducting multigroup studies of residential and socioeconomic segregation beyond the traditional white versus black dichotomy. Segregation based on subgroup characteristics (de facto or de jure) is problematic, particularly for racial minorities and low-income residents who are limited in moving to areas they can afford. These minority neighborhoods are associated with physical and socioeconomic disadvantage due to public and private de-investment. The undercurrents of segregation were explored in the racial tipping point and white flight literature where non-Hispanic white majority residents exit old inner and central city neighborhoods when the share of minority populations increase beyond a critical threshold. Due to strong correlations between race and income, white flight also tends to concentrate poverty in the abandoned neighborhoods. Beyond this relationship between personal choice and segregation however, local and federal public policies have also been historically linked with segregating urban America. Federal highway programs, mortgage loan underwriting processes, suburban housing developments, and restrictive local zoning laws have created race and income-based segregated spaces. Also, reinvestment programs aimed revitalizing physical and socially distressed neighborhoods tend to yield minimal outcomes. This is often due to either limited funding compared to the magnitude of the problem or lack of sustained political commitment, overemphasis on market-based ideas which alienate minorities and low-income residents, and emphasis on new urbanism housing designs associated net losses in the public housing stock. In this dissertatio (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2022, Political Science

Through the use of testimonies and statements, scholars can have a better understanding of how perpetrators justify participation in political violence. Policymakers can then use their understanding of these motivations to create strategies for effective conflict prevention. My method of analysis in this thesis is discourse and frame analysis, using individual accounts and statements of people committing violence, including paramilitary actors, genocide participants, professional soldiers, and violent criminals. These are pulled from interviews with and writings by the perpetrators in question. In this research project, I have identified 6 frames used by paramilitary actors, 5 frames used by genocide and massacre participants, 7 frames used by professional soldiers, and 6 frames used by violent criminals. Many frames were common across my categories, but some were unique to the category. These frames direct us to policy implications and recommendations that have the potential to decrease the probability of violence.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Higher Education (Education)

This qualitative dissertation critically analyzes proposed and enacted state-level, tuition-free college legislative documents. Taking a three-article approach to the research, this study adds to the recent literature of tuition-free programs focusing on program design characteristics and the inequitable outcomes for students. The first article draws on theoretical perspectives of neoliberalism to better understand the ideological spaces from which policymakers craft tuition-free legislation. Paying close attention to the community college sector, the article finds a dual discourse surrounding the utility of free college that binds a tentative coalition of conservative and progressive factions. The second article examines the data and research cited as evidence in tuition-free community college legislation. Drawing on the work of several policy theorists who conceptualize the political use of evidence in policymaking, findings suggest that conservative and progressive policymakers deploy evidence that fits within their broader ideological preferences. Finally, the third article draws on critical policy analysis to examine salient program characteristics and consider how these design decisions might benefit specific student populations or stakeholders at the expense of others.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Educational Studies

American institutions of higher education are increasingly utilizing internationalization as a technology of competition. One of the most prominent techniques of internationalization is the promotion of study abroad program participation amongst undergraduate students. On the other hand, students are increasingly demanding opportunities for international education as they seek to make themselves more competitive in the job market. This study uses Foucauldian discourse theory and the concept of governmentality to analyze how the growing importance of study abroad is illustrative of the larger trends of neoliberalism and neocolonial mentalities within U.S. higher education and dominant society. The findings of this study indicate that while the more nefarious aspects of governmentality are in play in study abroad, there are also opportunities for transformative international and cross-cultural learning if particular care is put into program design and content.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2015, American Culture Studies

This project analyzes how contemporary US cultural and legislative texts shape US society's impression of undocumented (im)migrants and whether they fit socially constructed definitions of what it means to “be American” or part of the US national imaginary. I argue that (im)migrant-themed cultural texts, alongside legal policies, participate in racial formation projects that use racial logic to implicitly mark (im)migrants as outsiders while actively employing ideologies rooted in gender, economics, and nationality to rationalize (im)migrants' exclusion or inclusion from the US nation-state. I examine the tactics anti- and pro-(im)migrant camps utilize in suppressing the role of race—particularly the rhetorical strategies that focus on class, nation, and gender as rationale for (im)migrants' inclusion or exclusion—in order to expose the similar strategies governing contemporary US (im)migration thought and practice. This framework challenges dichotomous thinking and instead focuses on gray areas. Through close readings of political and cultural texts focused on undocumented (im)migration (including documentaries, narrative fiction, and photography), this project homes in on the gray areas between seemingly pro- and anti-(im)migrant discourses. I contend (im)migration-themed political and popular rhetoric frequently selects a specific identity marker (e.g. gender or socio-economic status—never race) and depicts it as the single factor influencing US border monitoring and defense. In order to demonstrate this argument, I place legal texts in conversation with cultural texts. Taken together, political and cultural texts show the emergent strategies for discussing undocumented (im)migration without directly discussing race or racial inequalities, as the texts deny or have purportedly resolved racial inequalities.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2015, Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy

The dissertation is about foster care alumni (adults who had been in foster care at a point during their developmental years) and the long-term implication it has on their adult attachment style. It also explores how these foster care alumni interpreted their foster care experience. For this qualitative study, six foster care alumni were interviewed. Nine themes emerged: trauma, stolen childhood, relationship style, trust issues, anxieties, current parenting concerns, broken system, coping strategies and implications for counseling. The results of this study indicate that there are some attachment implications for foster care alumni and that the experience of being in foster care was generally experienced as negative.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2007, Political Science (Arts and Sciences)

I describe a change in Indian public images of the United States. Using Indian newspaper editorials as my medium, I perform a qualitative analysis of Indian popular discourse on the United States.I hypothesize that changes in Indian foreign policy towards the United States occurred due more to changes in hegemonic ideas in Indian society than any changes in the international distribution of capabilities or regional balance of power concerns.I problematize the existing arguments within their own logic and then describe a constructivist account of this Realist international system.

MS, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Earth Sciences

Remote sensing and watershed modeling are a rapid and non-invasive approach to monitoring agricultural systems in the current climate crisis with a shortage of food production in many areas. The soil matrix is very complex with varying land cover and soil materials, making it difficult to identify unique spectral curves and model specific soil constituents. This study seeks to estimate soil carbon in farms with multiple soil types based on model simulations and the decomposition of visible and near-infrared spectral response signals. First, the current study applied Kent State University's Varimax-Rotated Principal Component Analysis (KSU VPCA) through the Semi-Automated Averaging Code to unmix groundcover spectral signals and detect carbon, and nitrogen. The KSU VPCA of a reflectance obtained from the FieldSpec4 SR and the Harmonized Sentinel-2A/B imagery through stepwise multiple regression explained variance of 45-68% in soil percentage of total carbon (R = 0.68-0.83, and an R2 =0.45-0.68), 45-67% in soil percentage of total nitrogen (R = 0.67-0.82, and an R2 =0.45-0.67), and 16-40% in permanganate oxidizable carbon (R = 0.29-0.63, and an R2 = 0.16-0.40). The six-eigen vector KSU VPCA correlated strongly with spectral signals of a mixture of minerals and plant-laden pigments. The KSU VPCA of plant materials explained an 81% variance in crop vegetation biomass. To predict groundcover, Random Forest Classifiers (RFC) were developed based on the first derivatives of reflectance (RFC2), and KSU VPCA scores of reflectance (RFC3). RFC2 predicted dried crop residues with the highest precision of 100% while RFC3 predicted soil with the highest recall score of 95%. Secondly, the study applied the Agricultural Policy eXtender model to assess the impacts of cover crops and tillage on soil carbon stocks in a maize -wheat-soybean crop rotation. The reduced tillage with cover crops improved soil organic carbon (50-110%) compared to conventional tillage (5-48%). A tri-state fer (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This paper examines the complexities and challenges of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) policies within higher education institutions, focusing specifically on the experiences and perspectives of international students. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, the study highlights the limitations of existing DE&I policies, revealing themes of insensitivity towards students' intersectionality and structural marginalization. Intersectionality emerges as a significant challenge, as international students navigate a myriad of intersecting identities, including language, nationality, and socio-economic status, which shape their interactions and engagement with DE&I initiatives. To address these challenges, the paper proposes solutions aimed at prioritizing international students' voices, increasing discourses of intersectional identities, and implementing regular assessments of DE&I programs. Also, concrete suggestions are offered to mitigate marginalization and foster environments that embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion for all students. By addressing these issues, higher education institutions can strive towards creating more inclusive and equitable learning environments that honor the diverse experiences and perspectives of international students.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation project used an interpretivist qualitative research design to study how the right-to-read claim made by seven teenagers attending Detroit public schools in 2016 reflects, addresses, or describes contemporary discussions about educational access. Using situational analysis (SA) as a theory/method, the entirety of the claim comprises the situation of the social phenomenon being studied, not the people. This research combines critical race theory (CRT) with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and uses situation analysis to map historical discourses to conduct a study that examines the history of a present situation of inquiry as presented by this question: How does the 2016 right-to-read claim made by high school students in Detroit, Michigan reflect, address, or describe contemporary discussions about educational access? The study collected data to allow me to construct a prosopography that articulates an answer to the question that claims access to literacy is a public school policy right. Because situational analysis (SA) is designed to open research data to aspects of a circumstance that may have been overlooked, marginalized, or silenced, I was not certain the research results would answer this exact question. Additionally, critical theory and SA were used to conduct this qualitative research, examining historical data that addresses the right-to-read claim as a Foucaultian programmatic social problem. As such, it seeks to understand the complexities of recurring and historically situated education practices that limit actualizing U.S. education policies that embrace access to basic literacy skills as a human right. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

The global food system faces a daunting challenge to feed a growing human population while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impacts of food production. The boundary-spanning, social-ecological nature of this system makes it a particularly valuable arena in which to study complex governance. As a focal point for this inquiry, I suggest that novel food production technologies may be seen as wicked problems in the study of food systems governance. For instance, an emerging food production technique called cellular agriculture has gained attention as a promising alternative to animal-derived meat production that may require significantly fewer resources. While cellular agriculture holds great promise in reducing the environmental burdens involved in producing protein for human diets, it also adds a layer of complexity to food system governance. There are several substantial challenges and controversies that must be overcome to realize the potential of cellular agriculture and doing so will require designing policies that consider a wide range of diverse actors with varied, sometimes opposing, interests. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) provides a strong theoretical basis to understand the actors involved in policy subsystems and how they self-organize into competing coalitions based on key policy beliefs. Yet, important gaps exist in ACF literature regarding how coalitions operate in nascent policy subsystems due to the difficulty in observing “nontrivial coordination” in these early stages. Consequently, there is scant knowledge about early coalition development and agenda-setting as well as broader emergent subsystem dynamics. One valuable way to address this shortcoming is by employing the study of discourse coalitions, or groups of actors in a subsystem who are linked through shared public positions on policy debates, which can lend useful insights into which sets of actors might become advocacy coalitions and how informal groups of actors can influ (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Cross-Cultural, International Education

This research study focuses on exploring the parental struggles that parents of children with disabilities go through when trying to access special education for their children in the educational system of Kenya. The study documents the perspectives of parents through analysis of data anchored within their struggles and experiences as they navigate the system of education to access quality education for their children with disabilities. Based on a phenomenological approach, the study focuses on a sample of eight parents of children with disabilities. Hogan's (2019) Social Model of Disability and Medical Model of Disability help frame the study within the discussion of the experiences of parents of children with disabilities. The findings of this study are presented through specific themes, describing the personal challenges and experiences of these parents followed by an analysis of the same themes. These findings underscore systemic challenges in special education, cultural and societal attitudes and educational outcome and well-being issues faced by parents and their children with disabilities.

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This qualitative study explores teacher enactment of education policy, specifically Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), in a large suburban Midwestern high school. Participating educators constructed policy meaning while they sought to understand it, over a multi-year rollout process. Data were gathered using five teacher and one administrator semi-structured interviews. These data were analyzed in part using sense making and critical policy analysis to identify five prevailing themes in teacher experiences around education policy—common sense, norms and expectations, accountability, compliance, and barriers. This study shares both individual and collective narratives to explore how teachers approach top-down policies and affect them through teacher decisions at the ground level. Teacher voice adds to the conversation about the experiences of educators as policy actors, how teachers make sense of new political mandates, and how teachers exercise agency in the classroom. Recommendations that resulted from this study centered on the need for legislators and educational leaders to reenter the voices of teachers as they design policy that governs classroom practices. Participants in this study shared their work as political actors translating federal, state, and local educational policy in order to make it meaningful and applicable for both teachers and students in the classroom. Educational policy will continue to shape the personal and professional world of teachers and the inclusion of teachers at the policy creation stage meets challenges presented by neoliberal accountability policies. The overarching lesson was that teachers must embrace their roles as policy actors and act on the agency they possess as the final step before educational policy reaches students.