Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2022, Educational Leadership

Teachers deserve a voice. Their experiences should be known in order to identify troublesome factors that often make school a constraining place. Their stories, no matter how messy, must be explored to better understand why our society loses many passionate educators. Through autoethnographic inquiry, I analyze my own story using creative works (narrative vignettes and art-based collage) to demonstrate the complicated experience of a modern-day K-12 educator. As a researcher engaging in critical autoethnography, I examine my experience through the principles of the radical imaginary, knowing thyself, understanding teachers as prisoners/oppressors, an ethic of care, critical/feminist lenses and critical hope. These influences are present and visible in the linguistic and visual data presented, which are intended to capture the complex paradoxes that young teachers face in their professional journey. By examining my lived experience, I hope to capture an authentic portrait of my time in public K-12 education to create meaning. This personal work elucidates themes felt by many young teachers to shed light on their difficulties and triumphs. The conclusion of the research provides suggestions for society based on interpretive data analysis.

Committee: Thomas Poetter (Committee Co-Chair); Sheri Leafgren (Committee Member); Lucian Szlizewski (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Secondary Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This study explores the phenomenon of gender-bending cosplay (GBC) through its material culture using costuming (the acts of making and wearing artifacts and the artifacts themselves) to examine the motivations/interests/expectations of women who participate. GBC embraces the shifting, or bending, of the identified gender and/or biological sex of a fictional character to match the gender identity and/or biological sex of the player. This study concentrates on self-identified women adapting male characters to female versions of the same characters. The principal approach of the research design is Practice as Research (PaR) from an Art-Based Research (ABR) paradigm. Research methods include costuming, performance, ethnography, narrative inquiry, interviewing, participant observation, and discourse analysis. The worlds of text and image are melded in the amphibious, mixed-methods design and presentations of this study. GBC involves creating and using material culture, the artifacts of a culture/community. It becomes a creative outlet for many who may not otherwise be making art. When material culture can be worn, an interactive embodied performance can be experienced between the maker and the player, the player and the artifacts, the player and the audience, the player and fellow players, the player and cultural texts. This performance simultaneously emphasizes and challenges gender binaries, gender roles, and expectations. It is a performance of culture. The communities of play collaborate to interpret and reinterpret the performance and the material culture. They tell and share stories that uncover insights into the phenomenon, society, and culture.

Committee: Shari Savage PhD (Committee Chair); Jennifer Schlueter PhD (Committee Member); Christine Morris PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education