Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Recent political movements such as the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements have brought renewed attention to the social roles of White women and their unique position of intersectional privilege and oppression. White women experience the benefits of whiteness while simultaneously experiencing the gendered oppression of womanhood. However, there is a lack of research exploring how White women conceptualize and respond to their own positionality as both White individuals and as women. This study utilizes constructivist grounded theory to examine how White women navigate their social location within the context of working in the nonprofit sector, a space wherein White women are overrepresented and often in close contact with various elements of systemic oppression. The analysis revealed that White women view nonprofit organizations as protected spaces that allow them to foster careers without encountering overt sexism. However, White women also believe that nonprofits are fragile and easily threatened by external pressures. They seek to protect these spaces by maintaining a homogenous culture that aligns with White womanhood. They view increasing diversity as simultaneously aligned with their personal and organizational values and threatening to the organization's culture and internal stability. As a result, White women engage in a variety of maneuvers that serve to symbolically pursue diversity without altering the fundamental culture of the organization. These maneuvers allow White women to see themselves as benevolent and values driven, while also maintaining their systemic power over People of Color. The findings offer insight into the role White women play in maintaining systems of racial oppression in response to their own fears of gender-based oppression, and guide recommendations for further intersectional deconstruction of oppressive systems. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://e (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

Organizations including institutions of higher education recognize the importance of increasing gender diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership ranks among women, especially if they want to be top competitors in their industries. Gender diversity increases collaboration, innovation, varied perspectives, increased staff retention and buy-in for new employees determining if they want to work for an organization in question, and a more comprehensive talent pool (People Management, 2021). Previous strategies used to increase gender diversity in leadership have included providing professional development or mentorship opportunities for all women; however, these strategies fail to take into account an intersectional lens and the various ways in which non-white women are affected by discrimination and inequity. “White women have it both ways, they may be may victimized by sexism, but racism enables them to act as exploiters to Black people” (bell hooks,1984 as cited in Kilpatrick, 2020, para. 2). Race and gender in particular create additional barriers to Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) and their advancement. “White female racism undermines the feminist struggle (bell hooks, 1984 as cited in Kilpatrick, 2020, para. 2)”, further alienating or distancing BIWOC in organizations. Given the additional barriers BIWOC confront, what can organizations and institutions of higher education do to further support opportunities for advancement, that may thereby increase their sense of trust, belonging, and organizational commitment? This Critical Hermeneutic Phenomenological Action Research study explored the lived experiences of current and former Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) higher education leaders, defined as director and above, and their perceptions of and access to opportunities that support positional advancement, including formal or informal mentorship and sponsorship. The frameworks used to inform the study include Critical/Critical Ra (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2014, Educational Leadership

It is visible in academic dialogue, specifically educational research, that there has not been any substantial research published that constructs or examines The Boondocks animated series in a capacity that extends the discourse past stereotypical issues and paradigms that are associated with the inferiority of African American males and the marginalized experiences they encounter. One primary purpose of this study is to offer a counter argument to the negative conversations that surround The Boondocks comic and animated series. Because most arguments about the text stem from the images and language, the conversations surrounding anything positive or hopeful as it pertains to being a Black male, are left out. Furthermore, this media text is currently not perceived as a reference that can be used as a pedagogical tool. In this qualitative critical media analysis, I sought to answer the question: How does the curriculum of The Boondocks represent issues of race, spirituality, and masculinity? Although The Boondocks is typically understood and critiqued as a Black Nationalist text, I intend to look at the animated series through the lens of race, spirituality and Black Masculinity. I specifically examine the text through the theoretical underpinnings of Critical Media Literacy and Critical Race Theory. Methodologically, Critical Media Literacy, Critical Race Theory and Qualitative Media Analysis help to contextualize The Boondocks animated series. I ultimately argue that the animated series can be understood and used as a curriculum text.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Art Education

This doctoral study concerns itself with how primarily White, suburban, middle-class Art Education pre-service students are prepared in academia to teach in urban/inner-city schools. As a researcher, student-teaching supervisor, Cooperating teacher, and public school Art Educator, the author examines the shifting demographics of public education in an attempt to investigate alternative practices to mitigate problematic issues in the current teacher education model. Drawing heavily on the works of the Critical Geographer Doreen Massey, the author suggests that if “space is seen as being and time as becoming” (2005, p. 29), then a focus on becoming art teacher advances a temporal epistemology. He questions how a shift to a spatial paradigm with an ontological emphasis could allow PSS to focus on being an art teacher instead of becoming one. This particular study investigates the site observations of four undergraduate students at the Ohio State University that requested and/or agreed to be placed in an urban/inner-city school during their Winter Quarter in 2012. During the 12-week study, the participants collected visual and narrative data of their travels to, entrance into, and occupancy of the school and the surrounding area. Employing the use of hand-held media and ethnographic methods, participants were encouraged to document their experiences and engage in reflexive practices throughout the process. The participants used Google Maps to map out their trajectory to the site as a means of critically examining their positionality in relation to the school. Participants created a visual representation of their learning to disseminate with their peers in a formal presentation at the conclusion of the study.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, American Culture Studies/Ethnic Studies

Baseball, in one form or another, has existed in the United States for well over one hundred years, and during that time it has become an important part of the nation's history and culture. Because of its long–standing presence, baseball has helped to create and maintain national sensibilities on a variety of topics, including race, class, gender, and sexuality through the use of symbolism and imagery. This study will utilize elements from Black Feminist Thought, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Latina/o Critical Theory (LatCrit) to explore white privilege as well as the ways in which power relationships are structured by the axes of race, ethnicity, class, gender, nationality, and sexuality within Major League Baseball (MLB). Relying on textual analysis as well as Susan Birrell and Mary McDonald's notion of reading sport critically, this dissertation analyzes the cultural meanings of four salient moments from the 1995 through the 2005 season to determine their cultural meanings which in turn will illustrate the persistence of racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc., in MLB and American culture overall. The four moments include the 1998 home–run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the focus on Mike Piazza's and Kazuhiro Tadano's sexual orientation, Alex Rodriguez's contract worth approximately $25 million annually for ten years, and Barry Bonds' record–breaking seasons from 2001 through 2005. This study asks the questions: how does each incident illuminate the different ways in which power operates in MLB; how do the ways in which power operates amidst these events help to create and maintain national sensibilities regarding race, class, gender construction, sexual orientation, nationality, and age; and how is the operation of power in MLB made visible or rendered invisible by the media in their handling of each incident?

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).

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2024, Education

This study addresses university leadership and the need to affirm diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to institute organizational change for social justice. My key research question is “What are effective ways for leaders to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion with the goal of achieving social justice?” There is much research in the areas of racial equity, Critical Race Theory, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies, but the connection to leadership development models is new terrain. This study will add a Connective Leadership Theory framework to the lens of Critical Race Theory to analyze the potential of university leaders to enhance organizational change for diversity, equity, and inclusion metrics. The study will be explanatory mixed methods research including both Likert Scale surveys and follow-up interviews. The implication of this research is to create a template for university administrators and employees on how to use diversity, equity, and inclusion measures to work toward organizational change and social justice. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, English

In “Reforming African American Literature in High Schools,” I explore how Black standpoint theory and reader response theory affect the instruction of African American novels and related books in the classroom. Namely, I examine how To Kill a Mockingbird is used in the classroom, whether or not the novel should be continued to be used in the classroom, and whether it can be used well as an introduction to the subjects of race, class, systematic oppression, and intersectionality. To do so, I analyze the contents of To Kill a Mockingbird, deconstruct my interviews with fifteen participants on how their teacher's instruction of To Kill a Mockingbird impacted their education, and examine how and when To Kill a Mockingbird succeeds in the classroom. I also determine whether or not To Kill a Mockingbird could be replaced by briefly diving into other prominent Black literature that is used in the classroom.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Sociology

Beginning around 2020, conservative politicians and media outlets have launched an aggressive campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives via the symbolic vilification of critical race theory. Several scholars have observed that this crusade has largely taken the form of a conservative media-driven disinformation campaign that seeks to obscure the true intent and scope of critical race theory's influence on American society for political gains. Drawing upon critical race literature, framing theory, and various scholarship pertaining to the relationship between media and cultural hegemony, this project sought to qualitatively interrogate the frames used to discuss critical race theory within live Fox News broadcastings. Upon analysis of 50 randomly selected live Fox News transcripts, I found that Fox News commentators regularly invoked 6 common frames in discourses surrounding critical race theory. Therein, critical race theory was often projected to be: 1.) Divisive, 2.) Governmental Overreach, 3.) Indoctrination, 4.) a Marxist/Communist Agenda, and 5.) as Racist, with 6.) people of color (POC) often being used as legitimizers of these narratives. To conclude, I contemplated the implications of these frames, particularly in regard to what they unveil about mass media's influence over knowledge production and dissemination processes, as well as what they project for future social and racial justice strategies in light of the impending direction of the conservative political agenda.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This dissertation and research study is dedicated to the exploration of critical posthuman educational technology. Research in this study determines, evaluates, and considers educational technology in U.S. art museums through a wide-reaching survey and case study evaluations of the implementation of digital content creation in museums during the COVID-19 era. Critical posthumanism provides a way to understand and restructure expectations of the educational goals of museums that are aligned with the experiences and expectations of digital learning as well as incorporate a multitude of ontological considerations through Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, and Critical Disability Studies. Beyond simply assessing what has happened in museums, this study seeks to find opportunities for greater change within the system of museum practice and education.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Leadership and Change

Of the roughly 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, approximately 80% are White. In contrast, about 51.7% of the nation's students are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. This mismatch is expected to grow as the number of BIPOC students in our nation's public schools continues to increase. Studies have shown that strong positive relationships are essential for learning, but often, the relationships between White teachers and BIPOC students are strained at best, leading to poorer learning outcomes. The purpose of this Constructivist Grounded Theory study was to explore an understudied question: How do White teachers who have been deemed exemplary by educators and parents of Color perceive their relationships and experiences with BIPOC students in an educational system and a society that often marginalizes them? Open-ended interviews were conducted with 19 middle and high school teachers in Massachusetts. Dimensional analysis revealed Being-and-Becoming Across Difference as the core dimension. Five primary dimensions were identified: Reflecting, Relating, Embodying Humility, Affirming Culture, and Holding Hope. Results of this study suggest that significant changes are needed in the recruitment and hiring of White teachers and that pre-service and in-service professional development must support White teachers in far more robust and sustaining ways than currently exist. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, EDU Teaching and Learning

This dissertation is a text-based analysis of queer young adult literature featuring queer youth of color. The project utilizes literary analysis and enters into conversation with queer theorist of color (Snorton; Sharpe) to help define and articulate my notion of livability. I define livability as a method of recognizing and envisioning how minoritized peoples—specifically queer youth of color—live and thrive currently within and despite systemic oppression as well as the future aspirations of living and thriving without systemic oppression. Focusing on several queer young adult novel (Silvera's More Happy Than Not; McLemore's When the Moon was Ours; Oshiro's Anger is a Gift), I demonstrate how the young adults within these novels enact livability and bring them into conversation with the theoretical ideas of queer of color theory. In doing so, I expand and refine the idea of livability by focusing on three aspects of the large theoretical idea—identity, embodiment, and resistance. Taking the literary analysis further, I offer possibilities for teaching queer young adult novels that feature queer youth of color in secondary classroom, showing the relevance and potential beneficial impact these books can have for all students. In this way, my dissertation brings together literary analysis and queer of color theory to show the relevance of queer youth adult literature to our current political and social moment.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Curriculum and Instruction (Education)

This qualitative narrative study examined high achieving college Black STEM students who enrolled in precalculus, calculus I and II, differential equations, linear algebra, and applied linear algebra courses at Rhowlin Bonsu University (RBU). RBU is located in the Midwestern region of the United States. This investigation used a semi-structured interview with participants (7 University students in STEM) who provided narratives about their experiences in mathematics education, starting from high school and ending with their postsecondary studies. I used a narrative inquiry approach to explore student experiences through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), with the goal of grounding the academic underpinnings of this study. To construct stories for their academic success, the interview addressed students' home and school experiences during the mathematics transition from grade K–12 and beyond. The findings suggest that Black STEM majors constructed their mathematics identities through vicarious experiences in the transition, which made them resilient mathematics achievers who engaged and participated in the classroom, wrestled with mathematical concepts, and understood the norms within academic practices and tasks. An analysis of student narratives regarding the processes involved in their high school to college transition revealed that students' racial identities strongly influence their mathematics identities. Implications for practice and policy, as well as future research, are suggested based on the research findings.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This historical research study situates the pedagogical work of Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs (1915-2010) within the histories of art education. By situating a Black women art educator into the histories of art education during the 1940s-1960s, the history of art education must be reconsidered. By tracing and crafting a bridge from the work of Carter G. Woodson and the concept of fugitive pedagogies to Dr. Burroughs, a clearer picture of the art classroom within de facto segregated high schools emerges. Utilizing alternative historical methods such as microhistory, critical fabulation, and place-based methodologies, Margaret's educational career comes into focus, challenging the dominant narratives within histories that continue to obfuscate the work of Black art teachers. The analysis first looks at Margaret's biographical information prior to becoming a teacher, including her experiences within the school systems of Louisiana and Chicago. From there, I trace the ways that art education became a major theme in her life, and the ways that her art teachers worked to provide her the opportunity to become an art educator. The second section focuses on two different layers of analysis: one utilizing the tenets of fugitive pedagogies to deepen our understanding of Margaret's work in her high school classroom; the second focusing on the importance of place and how being in Bronzeville and dedicating herself to her community impacted her and gave her a reason to leave the classroom and become the head of the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Educational Studies

Related to college students and student-athletes a wealth of knowledge exists surrounding the relationship of identity salience and context. However, this literature remains limited when discussing the enactment of identity. One avenue to examine the enactment of identity is through self-presentation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the self-presentation process within Black male student-athletes through an examination of identity and the relation to multiple contextual factors. To achieve this purpose, I utilized a constructivist grounded theory methodological approach, which was guided by a combination of constructivism and critical theory epistemological foundations. The study centered the perspectives of Black male student-athletes at historically white Division I institutions. Within this qualitative study, I collected data through individual interviews, a group interview, audio diaries, and tweets to capture data with 16 Division I Black male student-athletes. The study's design and analysis were informed by critical race theory and Black critical theory, which served as sensitizing concepts that are integral within constructivist grounded theory. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The outcome of this study was an emerging grounded theory on self-presentation and Black male student-athletes. The theory highlights the process of self-presentation as comprised of multiple components, which include a dynamic relationship between internal (intrapersonal) and external (inter/extrapersonal) factors and the ability of Black male student-athletes to make meaning of their identities in relation to self-presentation outcomes. Internal factors related to the ways Black male student-athletes understood themselves as it pertains to their identities. External factors represented how varying contexts influence how this population presents their identities, such as surrounding individuals or a business-like environment. Making me (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Educational Studies

This dissertation explored how Black graduate womxn (BGW) who are matriculating or who have matriculated through The Ohio State University's (Ohio State or OSU) College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) are located in both organizational sites with regards to professional socialization. The study is concerned with the relationship among BGW's locations, socialization, and abilities to access desired career pipelines upon degree completion. It is also concerned with BGW's locations in “epistemological third spaces” (Seremani & Clegg, 2016), as “outsiders within” (Collins, 2000) the academy who must create knowledge about academe in order to navigate it and attain career success. I conducted the study as a bricolage (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018), borrowing from constructivist case study (Merriam; 1998; Stake, 1995, 2000), and narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Kim, 2019). Although the study examined BGW's socialization at specific organizational sites, it has broad implications for BGW with regards to their organizations as possible pathways into their desired professional fields. Embodiment was the epistemic frame that underpinned data collection and analysis. Data collection took place through interviews and focus groups via Zoom, because of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. I conducted thematic narrative analysis with the assistance of broadening and restorying processes (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). Black Critical Race Theory (BlackCrit; Dumas & ross, 2016) and postcolonialism (e.g., Said, 1978; Bhabha, 1994) supported analysis as frameworks through which to understand exercises of anti-Black and colonial power during BGW's professional socialization while matriculating through EHE. I also presented findings as composite narratives (Orbach, 2000; Willis, 2019) to capture participants' responses to protocol questions in ways that supported answering the dissertation's study questions. Amid discussions about the lack of diversity in the profess (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, Arts Policy and Administration

This thesis seeks to challenge the prevalence of interpersonal racism in the workplace and the existence of substantial racist workplace policy in organizations that both harmfully affect non-white employees in organizations and makes developing anti-racist policy in the workplace difficult. This thesis utilizes poetic inquiry as a methodological practice to explore the relationship between racism, work culture, and work policy in nonprofit and arts organizations. The poems crafted in this inquiry are responses to literature exploring the impacts and historical contexts of white supremacy and racial discrimination in relation to the operational strategies of public and nonprofit arts organizations. This literature establishes a foundation for future inquiries about work culture, workplace policy, race, social hierarchy, cultural analysis, and art. The metaphor of “home” literature is used to describe this literature. Home literature is the group of theoretical frameworks and writings that a researcher grounds their expertise in and is formulated based on one's core research interests. The literature reviewed covers the topics of defining professionalism, understanding theory concerning race and power, and specifying critiques on racism in the workplace. The authors covered in this review of literature are Judyth Sachs, Gloria Ladson-Billings, William F. Tate, Kimberly Crenshaw, Cheryl Harris, David Theo Goldberg, Stefano Harney, Fred Moten, Achille Mbembe, Roderick A. Ferguson, Victor Ray, Ericka Brown, Lu-in Wang, Zachary Brewster, Courtney L. McCluney, Adia Harvey Wingfield, and Renee Skeete Alston. In the methodology portion of the text, the rationale for the use of poetic inquiry is explained. The is a separation made between poetic inquiry and poetry as research, two concepts this research embodies. It is also explained what separates arts-based research from other forms of qualitative methodological practices. The form of poetic inquiry used in this resear (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Theatre

This study focuses on race, sexuality, and gender in relation to the reading and performance of Shakespearean drama. Taking an intersectional approach, I bring to bear a wide range of theoretical and critical approaches, including scholarship across the fields of affect and queer theory and critical race, performance, and transgender studies in order to explore contemporary failures to account for difference in the reading, editing, and performing of Shakespeare's plays. In the first chapter I argue that the often-overlooked multiple dimensions of the affect generated by the performance of female actors, what I call affective complexity, in plays such as "Measure for Measure," "Titus Andronicus," and "Othello" is valuable and in fact frequently central to an audience's reception of a play. In the second chapter I argue for a more inclusive view of sexuality in "Romeo and Juliet" through an interrogation of the editorial emendations in several contemporary editions, each of which assume heteronormative readings of the play that ignore its queer performance history. In my third chapter I argue that the underlying antiblack dialectic embedded in "Othello" necessitates its careful reading through the lens provided by critical race theory in order to understand the way the play frames itself as a conversation about the ontological status of Black humanity. The fourth chapter explores readings of "Hamlet" and "Twelfth Night" through the lens of transgender rage, a perspective that makes clear that the rage expressed by characters such as Shylock, Hamlet, and Malvolio are the result of the failure of their “disguises”: the denial of their characters to express their chosen gender presentation. Finally, the conclusion discusses the benefits and challenges of my own attempts as a director to experiment with nontraditional casting within performances of Shakespeare's plays by exploring the potentiality within them for nonbinary and transgender presence.

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2020, College of Education

This study examined the achievement gap phenomena through a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory, specifically investigating the cultural concepts of Stereotype Threat and Cultural Ecological Theory. An instrumental, qualitative case study of Black students at a predominately white, affluent, suburban high school shaped the foundation of the research. The participants were 11th and 12th grade students, who identified as African, Ghanaian, Eritrean, or Haitian Americans. The basic findings of the study revealed that Black students experienced various stereotypes that influenced students' perceptions of belonging and academic expectations. In addition, the study provided findings related to concepts of voluntary and involuntary immigrant acceptance of the social expectations of a settler society as defined by the principles of Cultural Ecological Theory.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Educational Studies

The Guns Free School Act of 1994 led to the overuse of zero tolerance discipline policies and practices in public schools. Policy evaluations, empirical studies, and the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights found pervasive racial and gender disparities in school discipline in the decades following. When disaggregating discipline data for female students by race, Black girls consistently faced the highest rates of exclusionary punishments compared to any other racial group (regardless of other identifiers such as socioeconomic, disability, etc.). Despite this alarming trend, there is comparatively less scholarship and education policy focus on Black girls' educational experiences with school discipline. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study used school and district-level data to investigate school discipline for female students in elementary, middle, and high-school in a Midwestern state. This study incorporated Black girls' voices to consider solutions by gathering their perspectives concerning current high school experiences related to discipline and effective alternatives and supportive resources for their schools.