Ph.D., Antioch University, 2011, Leadership and Change

This is a theoretical dissertation, creating a beginning understanding of dance leadership. The subject is absent from both the dance and the leadership literature; therefore the concepts have been developed from the experiences of practice and integrated with concepts from those of outside disciplines through the process of reflective synthesis. In order to create this beginning understanding, dance leadership is established herein in its own domain, separate from both dance and leadership. It is a form of informal leadership—that is, not conferred by title or position within an organization—specifically leading in place, practiced by individual or groups of dancers with the goal of furthering dance. It occurs in the space of dance leadership, different from the artist/s work in dance; and involves stepping forward into a space which recognizes an obligation to dance. As leadership in place, it carries no expectation of a permanent change in role; it is not tied to a title or an organization. Dance has been established herein as an intrinsic human activity; therefore dance leadership activities may be expected to ease/further the human condition, but the direction of the activity is toward furthering dance. Dancers function as leaders by virtue of the knowledge and skills they hold as dancers; their leadership is tied inextricably to their practice and is rooted in the fact of their being artists. Dance leadership is practiced at least in the forms of dancing, speaking, and writing; there may be other forms as well. The establishment of the domain of dance leadership proposes a number of emergent issues to be addressed by dance leaders, as well as issues of concern for dance, leadership, and other academic disciplines. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd. This pdf is accompanied by two mp4 files.

Committee: Carolyn Kenny PhD (Committee Chair); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Larry Lavender PhD (Committee Member); Celeste Snowber PhD (Other) Subjects: Dance; Performing Arts

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Policy and Administration

This research aims to elevate dancers' perspectives of the operational dynamics within a major U.S. ballet company to better understand their working relationship to the Dual Executive Leadership (DEL) team and their role as critical contributors to the development of an arts organization and broader arts policy. Examining the case of Miami City Ballet, this study gathers feedback from dancers on how they interact with the company's DEL team, comprised of the Artistic and Executive Directors, and how these interactions impact their work. The central questions ask how ballet dancers perceive dynamics of communication, trust, value, and respect in their working relationship with company leadership. Using narrative inquiry as methodology, dancers were asked to share their stories of interactions with the DEL team through a survey and interviews. Twelve (12) dancers completed the survey, and of those, five (5) agreed to participate in a follow-up semi-structured interview. Findings suggest opportunities for improving communication practices to foster more connection between dancers and leadership, for developing a work culture that invites feedback and is based on mutual trust, and for reconsidering how dancers are valued as key contributors to decision-making spaces. These findings add an important new perspective to research on leadership and organizational studies in ballet and the arts more broadly.

Committee: Tiffany Bourgeois (Committee Member); Rachel Skaggs (Advisor) Subjects: Arts Management; Dance; Labor Relations; Management; Organization Theory

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Higher Education (Education)

This study examines how Chief Student Affairs Officers (CSAO) make sense of their role engaging with fundraising at small, private, liberal arts institutions with endowments below the median endowment size of $140.2 million. Specifically examining how they make sense of engaging with fundraising and how they have gained knowledge or experience in fundraising. Over its history, the field of student affairs has evolved to serve the needs of institutions and students, and, with that evolution new focus areas of the role have emerged, including fundraising. Through the exploration of Organizational Sensemaking, this study highlights avenues for future student affairs preparation, training, and education. Through qualitative inquiry, seeking new knowledge, presidential influence, drawing from prior foundations, driven to serve students, strengthening the institution, and harnessing the value of relationships are outlined as ways CSAOs made sense of engaging with fundraising and gaining knowledge on fundraising.

Committee: Peter Mather (Committee Chair); Jason Pina (Committee Member); Sara Helfrich (Committee Member); David Nguyen (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Finance; Education History; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Religious Education

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

This study focuses on better understanding students and their internal worlds through conceptual metaphor theory and sensory language. Using a phenomenological and arts-based approach, I examined students' metaphorical constructions of their college experiences and the sensory language and information informing those constructions. By engaging participants in a multimodal process to re-see their experience through connoisseurship and criticism, I explored the following research questions: How do students metaphorically structure their college experience? What sensory language do college students use to describe the metaphorical dimensions of their college experience? How does sensory information shape the metaphorical structuring of their college experience? Through conversations centered on participant-generated images and chosen sensory language, I identified five complex metaphors that represented participants' constructions of their college experience: college is an unwieldy package; college is up, forward, and out; college is current and future nostalgia; college is a prism; and college is a movie and peers are the soundtrack. By considering these themes, it may be possible for educators to better partner with diverse learners to design personally meaningful experiences that support student development and success. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Donna Ladkin PhD (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Member); Steven Taylor PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Developmental Psychology; Education; Education Philosophy; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Weatherhead School of Management

This research explores the factors which influence and enhance ethical decision-making. Themes of managerial education, a liberal arts training, religiosity, personal value-guided behavior, and mindfulness are explored. This integrative paper reports two mixed method studies following an exploratory sequential design. The first qualitative study consisted of 30 qualitative semi-structure interviews of executives both at the C-level as well as at the middle manager level about their experiences in the corporate setting of ethical dilemmas which they faced. The second quantitative study involved a survey of 316 respondents composing of college students, entrepreneurs, and executives. Both studies provided insights about ethical decision-making at the workplace specifically the positive effects of personal value-guided behavior and religiosity. The relationship between mindfulness and ethical decision-making could not be demonstrated. As business ethics involves its own set of morals and values (e.g., profit-maximization vs ethics-maximization) that are becoming central in a workplaces and corporations, ethical business leaders stand to benefit from exploring multiple ways of neutralizing ethical misconduct including relying on personal values and religiosity.

Committee: James Gaskin Ph.D. (Advisor); Corinne Coen Ph.D. (Advisor); Peter Whitehouse M.D, Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration; Education; Ethics; Philosophy; Religion

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Studies, Xavier University, 2020, Leadership Studies and Human Resource Development

This case study explores the factors that contribute to and hinder institutionalizing community engaged arts programs (CEAP) based on a synthesis of various data sources from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders related to CEAP, publicly available documents such as CEAP programs' flyers, social media sites, and website, and the organization's internal income and expense allocation document. The findings reveal an organization that embraces collaborative decision-making—both internally and externally—to create CEAP and develop measures of success. The case organization also incorporated CEAP into its strategic plan, and mission and vision statements. To facilitate CEAP, community partnerships are important, but also is becoming a member of the community. This study provides implications for practices by revealing the necessity of every member of the staff, including artists, contributing to CEAP through presenting ideas and providing connections to the community.

Committee: Ahlam Lee Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Gail F. Latta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Chilkeleze Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management; Fine Arts

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

There is a gap in the literature on generativity and the leadership philosophy and praxis of African American Female Foreign Service Officers (AAFFSOs). I addressed this deficit, in part, by engaging an individual of exceptional merit and distinction—Aurelia Erskine Brazeal—as an exemplar of AAFFSOs. Using qualitative research methods of portraiture and oral history, supplemented by collage, mind mapping and word clouds, this study examined Brazeal's formative years in the segregated South and the extraordinary steps her parents took to protect her from the toxic effects of racism and legal segregation. In addition, I explored the development of Brazeal's interest in international affairs and her trailblazing diplomatic career. In an effort to understand her leadership philosophy and praxis, the study engaged eight additional research respondents, ranging from proteges and colleagues to Brazeal's fictive daughter, Joan Ingati. Drawing from the Iroquois Great Law of Peace, this study employed the concept of generativity—concern for the welfare and well-being of future generations—as a focal lens. The research concluded that in order to be effective in the 21st century, leaders would do well to emulate Brazeal's example as a generative leader. This dissertation is accompanied by 11 audio files. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Committee: Jon Wergin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre Ph.D. (Committee Member); Richard McGuigan Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Gender Studies; History; International Relations; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

Many authors point to expanding disparities related to wealth and social benefits brought by globalization and the creative city movement while culture and creativity emerge as growing forces in urban placemaking and economic development. The phenomenon of cultural district formation in cities around the globe presents challenges and opportunities for leaders, planners, and managers. Emerging theory related to cultural districts suggests culture can serve to build horizontal relationships that bridge people and networks from different sectors and professions as well as across ethnicities, class, and interests. Research for this dissertation examined the formation of three urban cultural districts social and their respective organizational networks in different contexts. I employed a multiple case study approach to ask: How do horizontal networks form in the process of planning, organizing and/or ongoing management of cultural districts, and what kinds of benefits do those networks generate within their communities? Field research focused on districts in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Miami. This dissertation is positioned within ongoing discourse around the tension between form and function in the production of space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) and within the dialectic of centralization and decentralization in urban planning and governance (Friedmann, 1971) characterized by the push for broad social equity and the pull of local control. Research found that strong horizontal networks characterized by dense and active grassroots leadership were present at the same time as relative community stability and higher levels of social and economic equity. Where horizontal networks were weak, social and economic tensions were higher. The research did not examine other potential factors and thus cannot ascertain whether strong networks resulted in greater stability and equity or whether stability and more equitable conditions brought on by other factors fostered the formation of stro (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jon Wergin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark J. Stern Ph.D. (Committee Member); Emily Talen Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Area Planning and Development; Arts Management; Cultural Resources Management; Urban Planning

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

On December 14, 1957, after winning the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus challenged artists attending a lecture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden to create dangerously. Even though Camus never defined what he meant by his charge, throughout history, artists involved in movements of protest, resistance, and liberation have answered Camus' call. Quite often, the consequences were costly, resulting in imprisonment, censorship, torture, and death. This dissertation examines the question of what it means to create dangerously by using Camus' challenge to artists as a starting point. The study then turns its attention to two artists, Augusto Boal and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who were detained, tortured, and imprisoned because they boldly defied the dominant power structure. Lastly, the research focuses on a group of front-line artists, the Mississippi Caravan of Music, involved in the contemporary struggle for civil rights in the United States. The individual artists and the artist group represented in the dissertation are from different parts of the globe and were involved in acts of rebellion, resistance, revolt, or revolution at varying points in history. Portraiture, a form of narrative inquiry, is the research method employed in the dissertation. The qualitative approach pioneered by Harvard scholar Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot “combines systematic, empirical description with aesthetic expression, blending art and science,humanistic sensibilities and scientific rigor” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 3). The dissertation extrapolates concepts from the traditional literature and expands the boundaries to make room for a more integrated understanding of social change, art, and transformational leadership from the bottom up. Artists and artist groups who create dangerously is an area often overlooked in the field. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Stewart Burns PhD (Other) Subjects: Adult Education; African Americans; African History; African Literature; American History; American Studies; Black History; History; Latin American History; Literacy; Music; Sociology; Theater

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2009, Leadership and Change

Community music therapy (CoMT) is a creative approach that liberates expressions, giving voice to groups of individuals of all age, status, and race who contribute, in their own way, to build a better society. In this dissertation, I intend to reveal some of the critical themes in the experiences and relationships that apprentice music therapists have with community music therapy, peace, social justice, leadership, and mentorship. Individual interviews were conducted with apprentice music therapists who participated in a co-researchers' group experience using arts-based research (ABR) and participatory action research (PAR). Principles and foundations for a future model of practice in CoMT for peace and social justice emerged through ABR and phenomenology.This document contains embedded graphic files (JPG) and is accompanied by audio files (MP3). The electronic version of the dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD center http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Carolyn Kenny PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Barbara Wheeler PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth Aigen DA (Other) Subjects: Music; Psychology; Sociology; Therapy

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2009, Leadership and Change

Palpable Pedagogy: Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change in Social Justice TeacherEducation is an arts-informed ethnographic study of the pedagogy and culture engendered when the expressive arts are employed in social justice teacher education. Palpable Pedagogy is a qualitative study that examines the power of the expressive arts to identify, explore, and address issues of inequity in the context of a social justice teacher education course that I taught over three consecutive years. The literature in the field outlines the essential components for effective social justice teacher education (identity, reflection, and dialogue) and neatly explores them. However, with the exception of Art teacher education, where national learning standards require that cultural diversity be explored through the arts, little has been written about the utilization and power of the arts as a pedagogical tool in general teacher education for social justice. My objective in Palpable Pedagogy is to reveal the layers of felt meaning, transformational learning, and release of the imagination (Greene, 1995) for leadership and change that my students experienced in my social justice teacher education course, “Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change.” The arts themselves provide a splendid methodological match for research of this kind. McNiff (1998) proposes that there is no better way to study the effects of the arts than through the arts themselves. Using an aesthetic approach in my ethnographic study, I employ participant observation, field notes, photography, videography, interviews, and student art process, and product as my data, creating a text/context of the phenomenologically understood life worlds of my students. A bricolage results, with the inclusion of my justice educator/artist self-study, situating me both emicly and eticly in the life world of my students and classroom. Readers will aesthetically experience data presented in the forms of student and researcher poetry, perfor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolyn Kenny PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Laura Shapiro PhD (Committee Member); Maxine Greene PhD (Other) Subjects: Art Education; Education; Higher Education; Multicultural Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2007, Leadership and Change

Storytelling is one of humanity's oldest art forms and an enduring educational method. Stories can spark social change. Although storytelling is tacitly recognized in diverse social science domains as a communication medium used to powerfully transmit leadership vision and ideas, little empirical research has been reported about how a teller constructs and tells a story. Through qualitative, arts-based methods, this heuristic study examines and describes the lived experience of a storyteller composing and performing a tale on issues of peace, justice, and social change. It reflects on the teller as leader and identifies a palette of arts-based skills for change leaders. As a professional storyteller, I phenomenologically explored the essence, or nature, of a storyteller's creative process by creating a storytelling work. The storytelling work I composed as a research vehicle is based on a travel diary written during a time of war in Israel in July, 2006. Utilizing art making as an inquiry method, I mindfully became an embodied research environment during this study. I gathered emic, or insider, information about the imaginal world of a storyteller. Through a literary, autoethnographic writing process, I observed, described, interpreted, and named the steps in my creative process as I designed, rehearsed, and performed an original storytelling work. The work interweaves personal memoir, history, folklore, and current events. Commonalities between the storyteller (composing and performing a complex tale) and a change leader (designing and communicating a change vision) emerged. Storytelling communication skills and creative thinking ability are core competencies in artfully leading change. Arts-based training in storytelling could provide change leaders with experiential knowledge about innovative thinking and an appreciation for the power of story and metaphor to convey ideas. Storytelling can be an illuminating art medium through which to inspire peace, justice, and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolyn Kenny (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2012, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

There always has been a struggle between advocates of the arts and those who make arts-based policies, as to how to define and explain the benefits of arts education and exposure to the arts to the general public. For many, the arts hold an intrinsic value independent of any “useful” function – art for art's sake. Others, particularly those asked to fund the arts ask for justification for public support. They ask for proof of the value of the arts to society. It is in an effort to provide some answers to these people that this thesis is written. This paper will briefly discuss the history of creativity and how societal views of creative thinking have evolved over time. It will explore the history of creativity and the relationship between the arts, creativity, and learning. It will examine how we as human beings learn, and how exposure to the arts and arts education is vital for growth and development, cognitively, creatively, academically, emotionally, socially, and from a societal perspective. Finally, this paper will examine what Newsweek identified as the “Creativity Crisis” in America today with particular interest in how arts education can be utilized as vital tools of growth in all areas of life. This project will serve as a broad scope research paper, the purpose being to explore a number of topics in the field of creativity, cognition, and the arts, to build a bibliography that will be of assistance to those interested in this area of study, and to serve as an advocacy piece for creative learning and exposure to the arts and arts-based education.

Committee: Durand Pope L (Advisor); Kathleen Kelley (Committee Member); Kathleen Davis (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Arts Policy and Administration

Since the creation of the NEA in 1965, arts advocates have had an established venue, at the federal level, to advocate for favorable policy incomes, usually in the form of continued or increased public arts funding. Engaging in advocacy as part of a larger policymaking process requires actors inside and outside of government to employ various methods of persuasion. My dissertation explores some of these methods, particularly rhetorical techniques as a way to investigate policy change management. I employ theories from political science, public policy, and rhetoric to analyze advocacy arguments employed by NEA chairs. To conduct the study, I constructed a theoretical lens that provides a foundation, rooted in the policymaking process, that incorporates the importance of ideas and their rhetorical expression. This project explores the ideas used to construct arts-advocacy arguments, their rhetorical evolution, the various ways rhetorical leaders use them, and finally, how those arguments are used to create or manage policy change. Although some previous research discusses advocacy arguments, the role rhetoric plays in the strategic navigation of the policymaking process deserves additional scholarly attention. This is especially true in the specific context of public art funding. To date, research about arts advocacy has not provided a holistic view of the policymaking process, or of the range of advocacy arguments. By addressing both these gaps, though, I do not seek to imply a causal relationship between particular advocacy arguments and financial rewards. Instead, I identify and present themes in past arts-advocacy arguments to assist with the construction and deployment of future arts advocacy.

Committee: Margaret Wyszomirski PhD (Committee Chair); Wayne Lawson PhD (Committee Member); Gerald Kosicki PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management; Communication; Cultural Resources Management; Entrepreneurship; History; Public Policy