Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2022, Business Administration

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged student success and the ability of colleges to deliver the education students need for the workplace. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation case study was to investigate how the organizational resiliency of a Midwest community college impacted student success during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the contributions of static and dynamic resiliency characteristics and dimensions. Exploration and analysis of the resilient characteristics and dimensions of student success focus on the key factors of instructional modality, instructor-student engagement, and socioeconomic influences. Conclusions are based on thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with the college's senior leaders triangulated with information from public documents and a student survey. The researcher concludes that the college's static resiliency components of solid planning and infrastructural preparation for probable events, a longstanding collaborative commitment to achieving key elements of student success, and effective internal communication processes produced the robust capacity for flexibility and innovation that distinguishes dynamic resiliency. Innovations that accelerated decision processes, faculty and staff encouraged to experiment based on regular feedback, and energetic action on non-academic stresses had positive effects on student success during the COVID-19 pandemic. One result was that for the fiscal year 2021-2022, the college awarded the highest number of degrees in its history to all students and to African American males, with 99 percent of students rating the quality of their education as good to excellent.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2018, Environmental Studies (Voinovich)

This project examines the variation in tribal climate adaptation plans and vulnerability assessments and the reasons behind it in terms of the processes of their formation. Four types of plans are known to exist in terms of who convened them: (1) inhouse (by the tribe), (2) plans done by university boundary organizations, (3) those convened by nonprofits, and (4) those convened by LLCs. Thirty- our such documents were known to exist as of December of 2017. Each vary widely in terms of content and depth, as well as representation and use of traditional knowledges. The methods for this project were a combination of content analysis of these plans (to assess plan outcome) and interviews of relevant planning participants (to assess process). Key factors found to have affected the content of these plans included the convening party, the presence of external partners, number of contributing sectors, and the pre-existing capacities of the differing tribes as measured by per capita income, population, and tribal government size. Specificity of the problem descriptions and solution sets within the documents were ranked on a 1-3 scale and tested against these and other factors. Key themes that emerged from the interviews were community engagement, the importance of proper identification of expertise, the impact of resource constraints on plan content, and the importance of the usage of traditional knowledge. The findings of this project highlight not only the differences in process that have led to the most robust plans, but also what makes a tribe able and willing to make its own climate plan. This will hence aid the goal of tribal self-determination. Additionally, this highlights the ways in which differing knowledge systems (including traditional knowledge systems) can be used in the context of formal climate planning, which has broad applications to not only tribal but state, local, and federal climate planning efforts.

Master of Science, Miami University, 2016, Sport Studies

Leaving sport can be a difficult transition for an athlete. This process is one comprised of both positive and negative events, which can significantly affect individual development. Much of the previous research utilizing the Conceptual Model of Adaptation to Retirement Among Athletes (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994) has focused on normative and non-normative career-ending injury. No prior investigations have used the entire conceptual model to focus on spinal cord injury specifically. This study was a multiple case investigation into athletes' experiences of leaving able-bodied sport with a spinal cord injury. Semi-structured interviews and multiple inventories were conducted with three athletes who had left able-bodied sport due to a spinal cord injury. In general, findings indicated that athletes adjusted to transition in various positive and negative ways. The influence of the adaptive community, coping strategies, and social support were perceived to facilitate transition. Support for the conceptual model was found.

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Churches are an important presence in the neighborhood fabric of communities throughout the United States. They serve as local landmarks, establish identities for neighborhoods, and play a key role in the community and spiritual lives of neighborhood residents. However, significant socioeconomic forces at work in urban areas as over the last half century are increasingly threatening the vitality and survival of not only urban churches, but the neighborhoods in which they have stood for over a century. The phenomenon of church closings is currently no more painful than in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Following a trend of sporadic closings over the last twenty-five years, a major reconfiguration and consolidation of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland's parish and property inventory is now underway. Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon on March 14, 2009 announced a sweeping reconfiguration of the Diocese, will result in a net reduction of 52 parishes by June 30, 2010. This reduction will result in 23% of the city's parish either being eliminated or combined while 13% will be completely vacated in a time period of just over 15 months. While there is often a desire within a parish or congregation to save or preserve a former church, the buildings themselves have proven challenging to convert for other uses. Issues commonly faced when reusing churches include the atypical nature of church buildings with respect to their interior spaces and exterior features, restrictive regulatory factors, financing requirements, and the development process itself. These issues are compounded by the lack of familiarity on the part of church officials, congregation members, the public, and developers with respect to converting a former church building into a different use. Using two case studies of churches that have been adaptively reused in Cleveland, Ohio, this thesis investigates what factors must be present for the successful adaptive reuse of a religious structure. Factors (open full item for complete abstract)

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Revitalization is defined as the act of “giving new vitality or vigor,” a definition of excitement and optimism. When applied to urban development; however, this word takes on several new meanings, few of which are as encouraging. Urban revitalization, regardless of its title, is instantaneously associated with such policies as: urban renewal, eminent domain and gentrification; all of which carry negative connotations in conventional conversation. This thesis will reflect on the procedures and consequences of urban renewal, and combat the resultant displacement by taking a new perspective; one that focuses on the retention of existing people and activities in impoverished neighborhoods, rather than a strict devotion to replacement. As Jane Jacobs hypothesized in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities: “unslumming hinges, paradoxically, on the retention of a very considerable part of a slum population within a slum.” In order to solve a problem, you must work with it, not around it. Therefore, this thesis will promote redevelopment of inner city neighborhoods with the inclusion of residents in the process. This work will be looking specifically at the revitalization of Cincinnati's Pendleton District in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. It will analyze Over-the-Rhine's current condition and propose a redevelopment project that can serve as a facilitator of future change within the community. The project will be based on community inclusion and function as a cornerstone for the neighborhood – a place that is tied to the community's history and is also utilized as a center of interaction. It will be through this interaction that residents will be able to better understand the needs and desires of their neighbors; and thus, be able to discuss the future of their community together.

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

With the increase of attention on historic structures in the United States over the recent decades, a critical architectural approach is needed to address the manner in which historic buildings are reclaimed for a new use within their community. This approach must be preceded by a thorough investigation of the existing structure as well as precedents that address the joints between historic and contemporary materials. This thesis begins this exploration with precedents such as David Adjaye and Herzog de Mueron and a site selection of a circa 1910 abandoned school building at 940 Poplar Street in the West End area of Cincinnati. Following the thesis exploration, a series of designs that address the historic nature of materials and their need to relate to a new function placed within the building emerge. Through design, details explain the relationship between the building's existing material culture and contemporary interventions. This relationship, however, shifts dependent upon the space in which it is designed. This thesis seeks to offer one group of solutions that illustrate the range of interventions available to an adaptive re-use project, from strict preservation to an existing space that has an entirely new perception.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2012, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was to evaluate: (a) stakeholder beliefs and values about pig management, (b) stakeholder socio-political relationships, and (c) how stakeholder relationships impact management practices. I used an action research approach that included the collection of oral histories, individual interviews, sociograms, participant observation, and a survey to investigate the socio-political relevance of pigs to hunters, growers, managers, government representatives, and traditional land owners in the Cassowary Coast Council of Far North Queensland. Data was collected between 2007-2009. Despite differences in values and beliefs, I found that stakeholder groups all consider management outcomes resulting in pig control acceptable. There are multiple socio-political barriers that impede successful application of management strategies. These barriers include poor communication, competing stakeholder social structures, limited resources, and property access. Additionally, illusory barriers compound conflict and are tied to the influence of negative stereotypes on stakeholder behavior. The use by managers, of traditional management practices focusing on equilibrium resilience, conflicts with the more ecological resilience oriented practices of other stakeholders. The result is a division of the landscape that leads to poor management outcom (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2010, Leadership and Change

Although numerous local, state, and federal laws and policies address water pollution, many problems remain. To address these problems thousands of groups of citizens, who are concerned with their water resources - rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and groundwater - organized around the U.S. over the past several decades. To succeed, these community organizations need the resources and capacity to reach their goals. To gain capacity, some community organizations turn to people outside the organization for assistance. Citizen professionals are helpers who work jointly with an organization to help develop an organization's adaptive capacity to deal with challenges and achieve goals. Participatory action research exemplifies a process in which local stakeholders work collaboratively with a citizen professional. This study examines the role of the citizen professional as a combination of the principles of effective participatory action research and a helping relationship. The purpose of this study is to discover whether those characteristics, when utilized by someone who is helping a citizens group, such as a watershed organization, can continue or increase citizen participation and empowerment in community organizations as well as the successful pursuit of organizational goals. This study examines 14 cases of the helper's role in eight community-based watershed organizations; compares the helper's actions with the characteristics of citizen professionalism; examines the helper's actions for their impact on the success of the watershed organizations; and the continued or increased forms of participation and empowerment of the organization's citizen members. This study deals with the critical issues of watershed organizations and their role in the preservation and restoration of water quality. The significance of these issues extends to the role of citizens in policy issues; of citizen professionals in increasing the effectiveness of community organizations to participate i (open full item for complete abstract)