Ph.D., Antioch University, 2016, Leadership and Change

Negative attitudes toward racial minorities and consequent maltreatment of non-Whites continue to be a crisis in America. The crisis of racism is still realized in phenomena such as residential segregation (Bonilla-Silva, 2014), health disparities (Chae, Nuru-Jeter, & Adler, 2012; Chae, Nuru-Jeter, Francis, & Lincoln, 2011), and in the not-so-uncommon unjust arrests and imprisonment of persons of color (Alexander, 2012). Improvement in race relations through the development of meaningful cross racial relationships in racially integrated settings is one avenue that may lead to reduction of racism (E. Anderson, 2010; Fischer, 2011; Massey & Denton, 1993). Christian congregations are common settings in America, and Christian teachings are primary sources of Western ethics and moral values. Historically, Christian practices have affected American attitudes such as with regard to elder care, have influenced legislation such as child labor laws, and have even swayed the contents of the United States constitution. Yet, racial segregation has been the norm in Christian congregations from the end of American slavery until today. Since there may be a relationship between the persistence of segregation in Christian congregations and the persistence of racism in America, racial integration in Christian congregations may impact racial attitudes and relationships. Using Participatory Action Research, this study explored ways to improve racial integration and race relations in Christian congregations. This study utilized volunteers in a 30-day exploration of racial integration in a congregation, a small church in one of the two Cumberland Presbyterian denominations. Data from observations, interviews, racially integrated events, reflection sessions, and participant journaling were collected and analyzed. Intentionality in racial integration in one congregation resulted in cumulative positive change, at times difficult and incremental. Findings revealed that adaptive, proactive lea (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laura Morgan Roberts Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Daniel J. Earheart-Brown Ph.D. (Committee Member); Craig Keener Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; American Studies; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Bible; Biblical Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Clergy; Divinity; Ethics; Ethnic Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious Education; Religious History; Social Research; Sociology; Spirituality; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Counseling Psychology

Much is yet unknown about Whites who take action for racial equity. This study investigated affective, ideological, and cognitive correlates of antiracist behavior using the recently developed antiracist behavior inventory. The study used cluster analysis to form groups of Whites according to psychosocial costs of racism, color-blind racial ideology, system justification beliefs, and social dominance orientation, and then determine differences in antiracist behavior between clusters. Cluster analysis revealed three types of Whites labeled The Status Quo, The Moderate, and The Beginning Antiracist. Cluster #1, The Status Quo, demonstrated the highest levels of CBRI, SJT, and SDO and the lowest levels of PCRW while Cluster #3, The Beginning Antiracist type endorsed the lowest levels of CBRI, SJT, and SDO, and the highest levels of PCRW. Cluster #2, The Moderate, were about average for the cluster on all variables. Significant differences were found between clusters on antiracist behaviors in a direction consistent with the literature. The Status Quo endorsed the lowest levels of ARBI while The Beginning Antiracist type endorsed the highest levels of antiracism in this sample. Findings indicated significant gender difference between groups where women were over-represented in all three groups due to sampling bias. However, Cluster 3, The Beginning Antiracist type, was comprised of about equal number of males and females. No age differences were noted. While many studies in the Whiteness literature have explored college samples, this study intentionally recruited community members.

Committee: Suzette Speight (Advisor); Carla Goar (Committee Member); Hewitt Amber (Committee Member); Li Huey-Li (Committee Member); Weigold Ingrid (Committee Member) Subjects: Counseling Psychology; Psychology; Social Research

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Leadership and Change

The research explored the interactions and experiences of participants and facilitators in civic deliberative dialogue and how they worked through tension and conflict. The dissertation question asked: What is the lived experience of participants and facilitators of civic deliberative dialogue and how do group members collectively move beyond tensions and disagreements that surface during dialogue processes? The study analyzed the joint influences of tension and disagreement within the context of seven deliberative dialogues convened on the topics of race, race relations and racism. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze qualitative research data collected from participant volunteers and facilitators. A constructivist approach, grounded theory allowed for evaluation of the interactions of participants derived from informal observations of the deliberative dialogue process and from research data gathered through semi-structured interviews, open and axial coding, and constant comparison. Using dimensional analysis, theoretical propositions emerged which convey new understanding about the ways deliberative dialogue participants confronted the difficult topics of race and racism, their shifts in perspective, and new understanding and insights generated during the process. Civic deliberative dialogue puts everyday people at the center of local problem solving. As a form of local engagement, it arms civic groups with an approach and practice for tackling difficult issues through authentic conversations that build relationships and offers a means for peeling back divergent thoughts, opinions, and interests. The civic dialogue literature includes little about confrontation and opposition during deliberative dialogue. The research produced three theoretical propositions ("creating space to move from tension to healing"; "heart stories, hurt stories—hearing and understanding differently"; and "sustaining the conversation, bridging the divide"), adds to the body (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Patricia Stewart PhD (Committee Member); Bob Pease PhD (Other) Subjects: African Americans; Political Science; Public Administration; Social Research; Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Economics

Recent U.S. policies that promote marriage have prompted researchers to reexamine the reasons behind black marriage rates being lower than white marriage rates. In the first essay, “The Role of Education in the Marital Decisions of Blacks and Whites” I ask how much of the black-white marriage gap would be eliminated if racial differences in schooling attainment were reduced. I use data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to simultaneously estimate schooling and marriage models. I find that increasing the schooling of black men by one year increases the predicted probability of marriage (by age 35) by more than 5%. The estimated effect is much smaller for white men and black women, and it is negative for white women. Using these estimated coefficients, I predict that eliminating black-white differences in schooling (which I simulate by assigning all blacks the mean schooling of their white counterparts) would decrease the gap in marriage probabilities by 17% for men and 4.5% for women. I conclude that public policy designed to increase education can have small but nontrivial effects on the black-white marriage gap. In the second essay, “Women's Economic Gains from Employment, Marriage and Cohabitation” I ask which of the mechanisms—employment, marriage or cohabitation— leads to greater economic gains, especially for women predisposed towards poverty. Using data from the NLSY79, I estimate a fixed-effects model of household income (adjusted for household composition) to assess the within-person gains associated with changes in employment and marital status; I allow the effects of employment on household income to differ for single, cohabiting, and married women. First I predict that the log household income of single, nonemployed, “poor” (those who ever received welfare) women increases by 0.80, if they enter a cohabiting union, 1.04 if they marry, 0.76 if they work part-time (1000 hours/year), and 1.16 if they work full-time (2000 hours/year) (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Audrey Light (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Economics

Previous studies found a health advantage of Mexican Americans over non-Hispanic whites after controlling for socioeconomic factors and other elements. This health advantage has been considered as a paradox because Mexican Americans live in more disadvantaged environments and present lower levels of income and human capital than non-Hispanic whites. In order to analyze this paradox I estimate a health production function using physical and mental morbidity as health outcomes to study how human capital, socioeconomic status, health risk behaviors, relative deprivation and social relations affect the health of Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. My results indicate that after controlling for individual health related behaviors, socioeconomic status, relative deprivation (regardless of the relevant reference group) and social relations; there is no difference in physical morbidity between Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. However, I find an advantage on mental health outcomes for Mexican Americans over non-Hispanic whites after controlling for all these factors. After controlling for endogeneity of health endowments, none of the three health related behaviors (smoking, obesity and performing physical activities) affected mental morbidity. However obesity had a huge negative impact on physical morbidity. I found no evidence of a direct impact of education on physical and mental morbidity. However, I found strong evidence of education affecting health related behaviors. I also found evidence suggesting a protective effect of marriage on mental morbidity. The effects of log per capita income on health disappear when introducing relative deprivation. I also found that relative deprivation has a negative direct impact on mental morbidity for Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. My results also show that relative deprivation affects directly the physical morbidity of Mexican Americans but it does not affect the health related behaviors of this populatio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patricia Reagan (Advisor) Subjects: Economics, Labor

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, History

My dissertation is about the ambiguous process of historical change. I examine a group of conflicted individuals in a dynamic situation – early post-World War II Mississippi – as representative of a broader notion of how change occurs, or does not occur, in a democracy. Specifically, I consider the contribution of a small network of elite white “moderates” that took shape in the state of Mississippi in the years 1945-1956. The network I describe numbers 127 individuals, and among them were a handful of leaders who were particularly significant. Proceeding roughly on a chronological continuum, I explore several cases in which these white Mississippi elites were active. These situations include: the formation of a post-war agenda for the state (1945); the emergence of John C. Stennis as a political leader, replacing Theodore G. Bilbo in the U.S. Senate (1946-1947); the actions of a conservative “progressive” state legislature in Jackson in the face of the national States' Rights “Dixiecrat” phenomenon (1948-1950); the fostering of industrialization in the state and the gradual reforms at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman (1951-1953); and the issue of academic freedom, especially at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), and an incident of community vigilantism in the Delta town of Tchula (1954-1956). Relying heavily on the papers of several “moderate” figures, such as journalist Hodding Carter and Ole Miss history Prof. James W. Silver, I make the argument that while clinging to essential aspects of continuity and race privilege, these non-reactionary whites were also effective in pushing for a degree of social, economic and political change in Mississippi.

Committee: David Hammack Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Alexander Lamis Ph.D. (Committee Member); Renee Sentilles Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rhonda Williams Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

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

The context of leadership has evolved to incorporate greater social identity differences. Therefore, learning ways to navigate differences in social identity becomes important work leaders must now do. Because these differences surface in relationship with others, examining a relational framework helps us understand the nature of what happens between people (Ely & Roberts, 2008). This study explored the processes by which Black African American and White European American women enact leadership by creating and sustaining cross-race relationships as they work to change unjust systems around them. Using grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss & Corbin, 1990), a model was developed using the metaphors of "insular bubble," "protective shell," and "ecosystem" that illuminates the processes and strategies Black African American and White European American women use to create and sustain effective cross-race working relationships. The findings also generated a typology of tools, described as "nurturing the ecosystem" that each person in the relationship can use to create space in which to demonstrate positive ways of expressing social identity. These tools can be used in intrapsychic, interpersonal, and extra-relationship arenas. Focusing on race and gender as primary social identity differences, this question also took into account the systems that create patterns of domination and marginalization around those identities. Therefore, this study contributed to the leadership and change literature by illustrating the processes by which leaders can effectively incorporate a focus on social justice into their work, specifically in cross-race working relationships. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Stella M. Nkomo PhD (Committee Member); Laura Morgan Roberts PhD (Other) Subjects: African Americans; Gender; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Social Psychology; Social Research; Womens Studies