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)

Committee: Meredith Wronowski Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lisa Borello Ph.D. (Committee Member); Leslie Picca Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Black History; Education; Educational Leadership; Gender; Management; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Religion; Religious History; Systematic; Womens Studies

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.

Committee: Ana Puga (Advisor); Shannon Winnubst (Committee Member); Jennifer Higginbotham (Committee Member); William Worthen (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Black Studies; British and Irish Literature; Comparative Literature; Film Studies; Fine Arts; Gender Studies; History; Literature; Pedagogy; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies; Womens Studies

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

The present study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in order to examine the lived experiences of young adult, cisgender women and the development of internalized sexism. Eight participants completed semi–structured interviews focused on their relationships with other women and subsequent views of womanhood. Themes found were (a) womanhood is taught by women throughout the lifespan, (b) women are sexually responsible for men, (c) women are emotional caregivers, (d) there are biological bases of womanhood, (e) women are expected to “do it all,” (f) expectations of women are fueled by media portrayal, (g) traditional femininity is seen as oppositional to the feminist movement, and (h) womanhood is a community. The results of the study found that young adult women hold similar beliefs and attitudes surrounding what it means to be a woman. Additionally, young adult women's perceptions of womanhood are similarly influenced by common external factors that stem from society's sexism and misogyny and lead to behaviors of internalized sexism. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Melissa Kennedy, PhD (Committee Chair); William Heusler, PsyD (Committee Member); Kristi Lemm, PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behaviorial Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Cognitive Therapy; Counseling Education; Counseling Psychology; Cultural Resources Management; Developmental Psychology; Educational Psychology; Evolution and Development; Experimental Psychology; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Health Education; Health Sciences; History; Individual and Family Studies; Mental Health; Personal Relationships; Personality; Personality Psychology; Physiological Psychology; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Public Health; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Social Work; Sociology; Therapy; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Leadership

Women represent the majority of teachers in U. S. public schools; yet, only 26.7% of superintendents leading districts are women (Tienken, 2021, p.19). Although women have made gains in leading schools in larger districts, the same trend is not evident in smaller, rural school systems, which describe the majority of school districts in the United States (AASA: The School Superintendents Association, 2017). Scholars commonly attribute this disparity to gender bias prevalent in rural cultures (Agostine-Wilson, 2017; Quinlan, 2013; Keller, 2014). To help address gender inequalities in educational leadership, schools, districts, and educational leaders must develop an awareness of specific structural and sociocultural challenges to the superintendency faced by women in rural contexts and take proactive steps to understand and mitigate those challenges. This study focused on the narratives and lived experiences of 12 women superintendents in rural school districts. The purpose of this research was to explore, through the critical lens of intersectional feminist theory, the potential challenges to the public school district superintendency that women face in the rural Midwest. Critical narrative inquiry helped explore the challenges that women face when aspiring to the superintendency in the rural Midwest. Using intersectional feminist theory as outlined by Crenshaw (1989) and Hankivsky (2014) assisted with analyzing the stories of rural women superintendents' discussing obstacles that they encountered when reaching for positions of power in rural communities. This study also explored the effects that COVID-19 had on these women's experiences as rural superintendents, an important aspect of their experience since the pandemic has disproportionally affected women in the United States (AAUW, 2020; Donovan and Labonte, 2020; Hilferty et al., 2021; Karageorge, 2020). By exploring and exposing challenges to the superintendency of rural Midwestern school districts faced by (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary Ziskin (Committee Chair); Jeanne A. Holcomb (Committee Member); Pamela Cross Young (Committee Member); David A. Dolph (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Gender; Gender Studies; School Administration; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Psychology/Clinical

Research on the experiences of students with marginalized identities has primarily focused on one marginalized identity at a time. Intersectional frameworks provide a context for centering the experiences of students with multiple marginalized identities. Few studies exist that examine the experiences of low-income, first-generation, sexual minority students. The present qualitative study examined first-person accounts of 16 undergraduate and graduate low-income, first-generation, sexual minority students. Participants completed individual semi-structured interviews in which they described the development of their sexual orientation identity, their first-generation college status, their adjustment and integration into the university community, and nature of their relationships with family, friends, and members of the university community. Using a grounded theory framework, student accounts described a variety of ways that they felt different from peers and family as they navigated the university with limited economic, social, and cultural capital. Students described institutional barriers related to their struggle to find a sense of belonging that stemmed from both their first-generation status and their LGBTQ identities. Students identified pride in their personal growth and accomplishments as students and identified people who have supported them throughout their academic journeys. Implications of study findings for research, clinical practice, and academic institutional change are discussed.

Committee: Catherine Stein Ph.D. (Advisor); Kit Chan Ph.D. (Other); Dryw Dworsky Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dara Musher-Eizenman Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Glbt Studies; Higher Education; Psychology; Social Psychology; Sociology