Doctor of Education (EdD), Wright State University, 2020, Leadership Studies

Although school gardens have been increasingly popular in the United States, much existing literature evaluated success of the programs from a limited set of criteria, such as the extent to which gardens reformed student eating habits and nutritional knowledge. Yet, school gardens offered benefits and outcomes not immediately apparent within this reform paradigm. In addition, the attention on forming a particular kind of food consumer ignored the diverse cultural and racial histories related to agriculture and food in the United States. In this participatory action research (PAR) dissertation, participants, including school staff and community partners, explored one school garden program in a historically segregated and disenfranchised community. Through an emancipatory framework described by Freire (1970) and hooks (1994, 2003), participants reflected on and shared how and why they co-created a school garden program during the COVID-19 pandemic and nation-wide protests for racial justice. Through photovoice, mapping, and gardening activities, participants expressed meaning, values, and vision far beyond the typical reformatory goals often measured in school garden studies. Most notably, participants described experiences of love, empowerment, and justice they experienced through the school garden program. Through this research, other school garden programs can identify why a school garden matters to their specific context and how to align the meaning participants feel to future plans for the garden. Most notably, this research demonstrated the value of PAR as a method for cultivating school gardens, gardens as sites for social justice, and the critical role of an ethic of love (hooks, 2006) in building community around garden projects.

Committee: Yoko Miura Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Mary Brydon-Miller Ph.D. (Committee Member); Alan Wight Ph.D. (Committee Member); Daniel Warshawsky Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michelle Fleming Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Agricultural Education; Black Studies; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Social Research; Sustainability; Teacher Education

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

This study utilizes an intersectional ecological systems theory to explore social support network formation amongst Black women cancer patients and survivors though the use of critical ethnography. Critical ethnography is employed to discover the lived experiences of this demographic as it impacts the unique needs they require in a culturally responsive support program. Black emancipatory action research is utilized as a framework to propose an intervention aimed at improving the mental well-being and increasing the social support experienced by this demographic. Results indicate that shared community reflective of their cultural experience, an open conduit of information, and kinship with individuals who have shared a similar burden of critical illness, are key elements necessary in providing a culturally responsive intervention.

Committee: Davin Carr-Chellman (Committee Chair); Geleana Alston (Committee Co-Chair); Matthew Witenstein (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: African Americans; Black Studies; Health

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

The purpose of this study is to better understand how to influence capitalist attitudes and drive more capital towards social good. This is why we must explore the prospect of emancipating the capitalists from capitalism. This study identifies capitalism as a form of oppression that is contributing to a newly developed ethics of capital, a term introduced in this study. Emancipatory action research and general systems theory were employed as the primary approaches to engaging a group of venture capitalists and finance professionals in activities and dialogues. Value2 is the theory of action I use to influence the attitudes of the participants in the study. I developed the Emancipatory Action Map as a tool for capturing the epistemological process catalyzed by Value2. The findings identified common themes and contrasts, such as how participants rationalized their problem-solving, how they responded to the isomorphism between systems operating within capitalism, and how they experienced their own agency in relationship to the problem of driving more capital towards social good. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Aqeel Tirmizi PhD (Committee Member); Chris Benner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Behavioral Psychology; Behaviorial Sciences; Black History; Black Studies; Business Administration; Economic History; Economic Theory; Economics; Ethics; History; Philosophy; Public Policy; Social Psychology; Systems Design; Systems Science