Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, EDU Teaching and Learning

This dissertation explores the narratives of groups of women and demonstrates how those narratives convey the participants' desires and contributions to the world and the people in it. Critical literacy, narrative inquiry and complementary theories provide a backdrop for this inquiry and discussion through themes of women and community, sentience, agency and transformation as illustrated and informed by the narratives from the participants' individual and focus group interviews. This work is grounded in the understanding that humanity is not finished nor is it humane at this point in its history but offers viable possibilities through the narratives in this study that may prompt individuals to action, to affect change, to touch the lives of others, to join together and to seek to improve the human condition.

Committee: Mollie Blackburn PhD (Advisor); Mindi Rhoades PhD (Committee Member); Caroline Clark PhD (Committee Member); Levent Guvenc PhD (Other) Subjects: Education Philosophy; Educational Theory; Pedagogy; Teaching; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation connects the recent DEIB movement within organizations to larger social justice movements, specifically those that impact workers and the workplace. Critical human resource development (CHRD) professionals, who serve as “insider activists”, are highlighted due to their work to continue movement objectives within organizations. Through testimonios and critical platicas, this study explores how Black and Latino/x LGBTQ+ CHRD professionals, in particular, are experiencing the workplace, especially as it relates to their engagement with how DEIB is practiced within organizations. Through this study, these professionals provide insights into the ways that workplaces can be redesigned and reimagined to be more critically conscious and equitable spaces, especially for those from marginalized backgrounds. Their reflections can work to enhance the ways that DEIB is practiced within organizations. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Lemuel Watson EdD (Committee Member); Kia Darling-Hammond PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; Management; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Organizational Behavior

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

Calls for reform in music education have been mounting in the United States as student demographics become more diverse, but ethnic, racial, and economic identities of teachers remain constant (Gay, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Lind & McKoy, 2016). Rising tensions and appeals for more social equity in public institutions demand a reexamination of context and content in music classes. Culturally responsive music education (CRME) is the practice of recognizing, understanding, and incorporating cultural characteristics of students into the pedagogy and curriculum of music classes. Goals and methods of this practice focus on creating comprehensive musical experiences, celebrating diversity, and empowering students to incorporate cultural knowledge in their musical learning. While CRME is applicable to all music teachers, music classes are often compulsory at the elementary level (Bradley, 2007; OAAE, 2018) increasing the need for elementary music teachers to understand how culture interconnects with learning (Abril, 2009; Kelly, 2003; Doyle, 2012b). The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the beliefs and practices of elementary music teachers who consistently and successfully utilize CRME in general music settings. This investigation was guided by three research questions: (1) What contextual knowledge do successful elementary general music teachers hold about their students and communities in which they teach? (2) How do elementary general music teachers gain the skills and knowledge necessary to understand culturally responsive practices? and (3) What processes are involved in conceptualizing and actualizing culturally responsive practices in general music classrooms? This qualitative multiple case study design involved six elementary general music teachers from across a mid-western state. Participants were selected through criterion sampling with an emphasis on maximum variation. Data was collected over the course of nine months from multiple source (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Craig Resta (Committee Chair) Subjects: Music Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, Psychology

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) has been used as a method for empowering youth from diverse backgrounds to challenge a variety of social issues affecting their lives and communities. Published research has established a large body of evidence suggesting that youth who engage in YPAR experience a range of benefits, including increases in critical consciousness and personal sense of agency. Much of this research, however, has focused on the benefits realized by adolescents and not by younger children, or youth from low-income backgrounds. This thesis outlines an evaluation of a YPAR program, comprised of youth under the age of 13 from lowincome families, using an interdisciplinary strategy involving critical race theory and more traditional social science frameworks. The evaluation incorporated the activities and opinions of nine youth in fifth and sixth grade as they progressed through a nine-month, youth-led research project investigating community homelessness and violence. Results indicate a moderate impact of YPAR on the youth in raising their critical consciousness and agency. Implications for the field and future YPAR research are discussed.

Committee: Paul Flaspohler Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jennifer Green Ph.D. (Committee Member); Vaishali Raval Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

Within English 12: African American Voice, a high school English course created and taught by me—a Black woman educator whose identity and epistemology were not reflected in my own traditional education—students in a suburban school district in the U.S. Midwest are exposed to the multiple ways Blackness has contributed to, has been influenced by, and has transformed America and the greater world. Simultaneously, students learn to grapple with historical moments, cultural differences, and lived realities within academic contexts in rigorous, culturally relevant ways. The creation of an academic space where no `space' naturally exists provides a community of practice (Lave Wenger, 1991; Kinloch, Nemeth, Patterson, 2014) in which Black contributions are valued and the voices of students of all races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations are celebrated. The utilization of culturally relevant (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1995) and culturally sustaining (Paris, 2012) frameworks allows my students and me to engage in discussions that value home and community practices, histories, and literacy events, and that support the attainment of academic discourses. Students are supported in thinking critically about themselves and the diverse society in which they live in meaningful ways. My research addresses problems of mis-education in K-12 schooling and both problematizes and provides insight into how American youth suffer from limited cultural and historical knowledge. More specifically, this qualitative dissertation study examines how curricular practices, rooted in the Black experience and informed by culturally relevant pedagogies, can challenge understandings of achievement, identity, and critical consciousness for racially diverse students in a suburban high school classroom. The guiding research question is: What lessons are learned from co-creating with high school students a learning space of introspection that centers Black cultural practices? I also consider the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Valerie Kinloch (Advisor) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Educational Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how interactions between undergraduate students and their learning environments influenced their development toward critical consciousness. Critical consciousness represents a complex way of making meaning of one's self in relation to one's social world that is necessary for meeting the demands of today's diverse democracy and that underlies the ability to demonstrate social responsibility (Freire 1970, 1973; Landreman, Rasmussen, King, & Jiang, 2007). Environments investigated in this case study included curricular and co-curricular experiences associated with a critical service-learning course, the institutional culture of a large public research university, and U.S. society at large. Two sets of research questions guided this study: (1a) What types of interactions between students and their learning environments promote development toward critical consciousness? (1b) How do these types of interactions help students develop critical consciousness? (2a) What types of interactions between students and their learning environments inhibit development toward critical consciousness? (2b) How do these types of interactions stall or interfere with students' development toward critical consciousness? Case study, grounded upon the respective tenets of interpretivism and critical theory, served as the primary methodology. An undergraduate, semester-long course at a large public research university that focused on complex social issues associated with poverty served as the case. Data collection methods included participant-observation of class sessions; document analysis of course materials and students' written assignments; and three semi-structured interviews with key participants including the lead educator, the graduate teaching assistant, and nine racially and ethnically diverse students. Data were analyzed using narrative inquiry strategies to identify both individual and sociocultural narratives reg (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Susan R. Jones Ph.D. (Advisor); Marc Johnston-Guerrero Ph.D. (Committee Member); Cynthia Tyson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

Extant literature suggests that Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) in training benefit from multicultural education. In the past 25 years, the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) has developed accreditation standards that emphasize the inclusion of coursework, and educational experiences to ensure that MFTs become “multiculturally informed” through their education. However, very little research has explored specific elements of education (e.g., how a program models engagement with multicultural differences, education and knowledge provided to trainees about diverse cultures, the ways in which trainees are encouraged to apply knowledge clinically, or multicultural self-awareness activities) and how these may be associated with the development of therapist characteristics (e.g., cultural humility or critical consciousness). Furthermore, there is very little research which has connected these characteristics to clinical outcomes (e.g., therapeutic alliance, or progress on presenting issues). This project aimed to explore these research questions while leveraging one data collection from therapists at multiple universities, with one pre-existing data collection from clients at a singular university. The first collected data from therapists in training at nine COAMFTE accredited masters or doctoral programs across the United States and utilized the MTEQ (Multicultural Teaching and Education Questionnaire) to assess student (N = 68) education experiences (i.e., their experiences of 1) program modeling 2) education and knowledge provided 3) encouragement of clinical application and 4) inclusion of self-awareness activities), and explore how each of these were associated with therapist critical consciousness (critical reflection, critical motivation, critical knowledge). Structural Equation Modeling revealed that students who reported experiencing more clinical application practices in their education had significantly higher (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Bartle-Haring (Advisor); Arya Ansari (Committee Member); Ashley Hicks (Committee Member); Ashley Landers (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Families and Family Life; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Social Work

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

Social justice is one of the core values within the counseling profession, as listed in the ACA Code of Ethics (2014). Counselors in training are charged with developing social justice skills that center advocacy and dismantling oppressive systems for clients, students, and communities. Although there is emerging interest in research, models, and frameworks for social justice within the counseling field, people and communities who are racially marginalized still face systemic barriers to accessing mental health services. Additionally, there are systemic barriers within counselor education for counselors in training that are created and maintained by the culture of Whiteness. This constructivist grounded theory study examined the impact of the culture of Whiteness on the critical consciousness (CC) development of counselors in training. CC development is a measure of social justice development through a critical lens of reflection, motivation, and action (Freire, 1970/2020, Castro et al., 2022). In semi-structured interviews with 18 counselor educators, 4 themes, 8 Level 1 subthemes, and 15 Level 2 subthemes emerged from the data analysis of initial, focused, and thematic coding. The results show that the culture of Whiteness and CC development are conflicting constructs, and that the culture of Whiteness impedes CC development through the systems in which it is embedded. Counseling systems are embedded with the culture of Whiteness at every level, including the individual student, instructor, counselor education programs, CACREP, and academia. Additionally, the culture of Whiteness creates and maintains systemic barriers in counselor education, which negatively influences CC development for counselors in training. These barriers include the admissions process, assessment and student performance, the curriculum and counselor education texts, and courses such as Theories, Diagnosis, and Assessment. Counselor educators can begin to counteract these barriers by co (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Colette Dollarhide (Committee Chair); Winston C. Thompson (Committee Member); Brett Zyromski (Committee Member) Subjects: Counseling Education; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Psychology; School Counseling

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Higher Education (Education)

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how HESA graduate students' conceptions of critical consciousness transform and evolve during a diversity course and the pedagogical practices that foster consciousness-raising. Each of the twelve participants completed two semi-structured interviews and three journal prompts. Using a case study approach, I conducted interviews at the beginning and end of the semester to compare participants' initial understandings (1st Interview) against participants' evolving understandings (journal prompts, 2nd Interview). To create the interview protocol, I followed Castillo-Montoya's (2016) four recommendations by: (a) aligning interview questions to the conceptual frameworks, (b) using follow up questions, (c) requesting feedback, and (d) piloting the protocol. To analyze interview data, I used open, in vivo, and axial coding. I analyzed the journal prompts by compiling the responses into main and sub-categories. In the first, article I use Flavell's (1979) model of metacognition and Watts et al.'s (2011) conceptualization of critical consciousness to explore HESA graduate students' critical consciousness development through metacognitive journaling. Findings illustrated that metacognitive journaling prompted participants to assess their learning by pinpointing the mastery and limitations of their social justice knowledge and preceding presumptions. In the second article, I employ Mezirow's (1978) transformative learning and Watts et al.'s (1999) stages of sociopolitical development to investigate three participants' changing understandings of critical consciousness. Findings indicated that participants made moderate to substantial gains in critical consciousness development, with only one of the three participants displaying action-taking behavior. In the third paper, I apply Mezirow's (1978) transformative learning to explore how three pedagogical approaches foster critical consciousness. Findings highlighted (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Nguyen (Committee Chair); Theda Gibbs Grey (Committee Member); Kimberly Rios (Committee Member); Laura Harrison (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education Administration

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Psychology/Clinical

Health resources are not equitably distributed among people in the United States. Harnessing the power of youth and increasing their social action may be a productive means of both cultivating a range of positive developmental outcomes and promoting social change regarding community health disparities. Of the many supported benefits of youth social action, food access disparities remain an outcome yet to be explored. Child overweight and obesity rates remain high, and behavioral health interventions often do not improve health outcomes and fail to acknowledge social determinants of health status beyond individual behavior. Thus, stealth interventions, or those that aim to improve health as a side-effect of intrinsically motivating activities (e.g., social action), are an empirically supported new method for improving health behaviors. One type of stealth intervention could be an empowerment education intervention, increasing youths' intrinsic motivation to engage in health behaviors while simultaneously providing them with skills to address systemic barriers that impede their ability to do so. The current study implemented an empowerment education intervention on the topic of food access disparities to increase youths' health and social action awareness, competence, and intentions. Four elective science classes in an inner city public high school were assigned to receive either the empowerment education or a standard gardening curriculum. Participants completed questionnaires at pre- and post-test to assess constructs related to health and social action awareness, competence, and intentions. Both curricula included six sessions, with hands-on activities, worksheets, and discussion. There were no significant differences between the intervention and control group following the intervention. Process data indicate that students in the intervention tended to be EMPOWERMENT EDUCATION iii more confused throughout sessions compared to those in the control group, and the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dara Musher-Eizenman (Advisor); Catherine Stein (Committee Member); Abby Braden (Committee Member); Daniel Fasko (Other) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Psychology; Public Health

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

This dissertation illuminates how the experience of growing up during the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990) affected the individual's sense of self as citizen and the impact on their sense of democratic agency, civic-mindedness, and political engagement in their country's current democracy. To understand that impact, the researcher chose to study her own generation, the “Pinochet-era” generation (Cummings, 2015) and interviewed those who were part of the Chilean middle class, who despite not being explicit victims of perpetrators, were raised in dictatorship and surrounded by abuse of state power including repression, disappearance, and imprisonment. The theoretical frame of the Socio-Political Development Theory (Watt, Williams, & Jagers, 2003) helped to understand the process that participants went through and how they moved from an A-Critical Stage, with a complete absence of awareness and understanding about what was happening in their world at the time of the coup d'Etat, to a stage of critical consciousness surrounded by empathy for those who were suffering human rights violations which were the main drivers to latter participate in a liberation process. This development of a critical consciousness was influenced—among others—by specific family and social context which promoted transgenerational (Uwineza & Brackelaire, 2014) and intergenerational dialogue (Reyes, Cornejo, Cruz, Carrillo, & Caviedes, 2015) processes, where values, heritage, and ways of acting were transmitted. The narrative approach helped to elicit stories about participants' life events from the coup d'Etat to present. Through the exploration of 15 narrative interviews it was also possible to collect participants' memories and observe how they currently manifest their civic commitment and social responsibility. Their collective memory, influenced by a collective grief (Metraux, 2005b), still lingers over 40 years later and helps us to understand their life-long commitment and passion to fight (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Jean-Luc Brackelaire PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; International Relations; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Agricultural and Extension Education

Society is becoming more diverse, creating a need for cultural proficiency and critical consciousness. Therefore, attention has been given to studying current areas of growth in education and employability in preparation for 21st century, global, living, learning, and working environments. The need for cultural proficiency and critical consciousness is imperative for progressive societies. Both, cultural proficiency and critical consciousness have the ability to strengthen 21st century, global skills in the next generation of citizens. In preparing a 21st century, global, citizenry, understanding one's own culture and the cultures around him/her is critical. Living, learning, and working environments continue to become more diverse. Consequently, cultural proficiency, in all citizens, is important to create positive and affirming relationships between individuals with differing cultures. In this series of studies, the researcher used qualitative methodologies to begin describing how understanding one's own culture, continuous immersion and reflection experiences, and culturally responsive teaching techniques lead to a culturally responsive citizenry. To begin, the researcher sought to describe undergraduate students' movement along Cross's Cultural Proficiency Continuum (CPC), using evidence provided through service-learning experiences, weekly journal entries, and in-class written reflection essays associated with a 14-week general education course. By conducting this study, the researcher was able to identify evidence of participants' positive movement along Cross's CPC in a short amount of time. Thus, it was concluded that through purposeful, intensive, engagement activities, students are able to develop cultural proficiency skills that will lead them to culturally responsive citizenship. In the second study, the researcher sought to describe student perceptions of the immersion model for pre-service teacher preparation currently being utilized as part of the p (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: M. Susie Whittington (Advisor); Jamie Cano (Committee Member); Graham Cochran (Committee Member); Chris Zirkle (Committee Member) Subjects: Agricultural Education; Multicultural Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Education and Human Services

This dissertation focused on exploring the stories of White, female teachers to understand ways that critical moments of consciousness around race and class in early childhood, pre-service and current teaching assignments may have influenced their abilities to form strong relationships with minority students and their incorporation of pedagogies and practices that would be considered culturally responsive. The central research question examined: What are the childhood and pre-service experiences of White, female teachers that cultivated critical consciousness of race and class and how have these formative experiences been further developed in the profession, leading to an ability to form strong relationships with poor and minority children and implement practices and pedagogies of empowerment in urban classrooms? In relation to methodology, qualitative methods were employed to collect and analyze the stories of five White, female teachers in an urban school district. Open coding was employed to explore emerging themes of the study around opportunities to explore race and class during early childhood and moments of critical consciousness in university teacher preparation programs and current teaching assignments that influenced the implementation of culturally responsive pedagogies and practices. The study provides current and future colleges of education and schools with recommendations that might help awaken the critical consciousness of teachers by creating spaces for critical reflection and collective action in curriculums and professional development.

Committee: Brian Harper Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Frederick Hampton Ph.D. (Committee Member); Brian Yusko Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark Storz Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Teacher Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2014, English

Box, me—a mix of autobiographical narratives, persona poems, and appropriative strategies, among other approaches, uses the conventions of lyric intimacy to explore the social implications of familiar phrases. Confronting issues often left “behind closed doors”, such as stereotypes associated with gender, class and race, Box, me makes the implicit explicit. Appropriative techniques, in particular, explore methods of converting oppressive language into poetic agency—bringing into focus the blurred lines between pervasive catchphrases and their sociocultural implications. Building on activist poetry traditions, Box, me uses the space of the poem to bear witness to and contest dominant social and formal conventions.

Committee: Catherine Wagner (Committee Chair); cris cheek (Committee Member); Mary Jean Corbett (Committee Member) Subjects: Language Arts; Literature

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies

This study investigated the use of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a literacy tool for helping developmental or transitional reading students better understand and critique disciplinary texts. In an urban community college setting, five SFL lessons were used to offer explicit instruction on academic language, or language for building disciplinary knowledge and for communicating about disciplinary content (Nagy & Townsend, 2012). This research considered whether these students experienced a shift in word consciousness (Nagy & Scott, 2009) or a heightened interest in word learning and several different forms of metalinguistic knowledge, including critical language awareness. It also examined whether students were afforded opportunities for agentic action (Lewis, Moje & Enciso, 2007) including opportunities to enact and negotiate identities and to impact change. Data were collected over the course of an eleven-week quarter from the perspective of the teacher-researcher and 18 developmental students from diverse backgrounds, including 5 English Language Learners. Several data sources were used including: interviews, a teacher-researcher journal, artifacts, reader response journals, surveys, field notes and video and audio taped transcript data. The data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2011; Rogers, 2011) and typological analysis (Hatch, 2012). Several key findings emerged from this analysis. Students exhibited growth in word consciousness including academic language awareness and critical language awareness. Students used this awareness to appropriate academic language when it supported social aims. Students also engaged in opportunities for agentic action including enacting disciplinary identities, renegotiating their identities as readers and interrogating systems of power. Future research is needed to elucidate the aspects of SFL and critical literacy that are most beneficial for promoting word consciousness and agency.

Committee: Susan Watts Taffe PhD (Committee Chair); Holly Johnson PhD (Committee Member); Connie Kendall PhD (Committee Member); Lisa Vaughn PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Reading Instruction

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2013, Counseling Psychology

Critical consciousness is important in that it helps oppressed people to broaden their analysis of personal problems, recognize the historical and political contexts in which those problems have developed, and thus occupy a better position from which to engage in actions which will address the root causes of oppression at a structural level. This study explored the process of critical consciousness development among a sample of U.S. Black women involved in social justice work. The study elicited the women's perceptions of the conditions, influences, and processes that contributed to their conscientization. Such findings afford new insights into Black women's resistance to multiple oppressions and contribute to a psychology of Black women that is rooted in their authentic experiences and worldviews. This study employed an interpretative phenomenological methodology and was based on observations and interviews with a purposefully selected sample of Black women within the United States.

Committee: Suzette Speight Dr. (Advisor); John Queener Dr. (Committee Member); Kuldhir Bhati Dr. (Committee Member); Sandra Spickard Prettyman Dr. (Committee Member); Nicole Rousseau Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Counseling Psychology; Psychology