Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1963, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Music Composition

And We Are Insubstantial is a sixteen-minute Mass for eight voices, percussion, piano, and solo viola, an ensemble inspired by and based on Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel (1971). The piece contains the five traditional sections of a sacred Mass: the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, all of which are connected by continuous music. The inspiration behind And We Are Insubstantial comes from the composer's own experiences with Christian liturgy. These experiences were the basis for a work that followed the performative act of receiving the Eucharist as understood in its theological and historical context. The composition focuses on the timbres of the words within the service as musical material; text selections from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer are meant to convey the feeling of actual participation in or observation of the Mass, and the traditional Latin texts are fragmented and deconstructed during most of the work, becoming complete only at the Agnus Dei. The Agnus Dei, as the climax of the liturgy is the point at which the participant asks God for mercy as he or she approaches the Eucharistic table to partake in the blood and body of Christ, symbolized through bread and wine. The action of participation is ultimately life-giving and life-affirming, a joyous act. Thus the work ends with both peace and joy as the individual, having consumed the elements, leaves with completion and profound satisfaction. The sound world of Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, Sofia Gubaidulina's Sonnengesang (1997), Luciano Berio's O King (1968) and Kaija Saariaho's Nuits Adieux (1996) played important roles in influencing the initial direction of And We Are Insubstantial. These composers' works provided compositional reference points for the desired effects in the piece.

Committee: Shrude Marilyn (Advisor); Mikel Kuehn (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Abstract: Memory impacts who we are as individuals and how we organize and structure the world around us. Many theorists have questioned whether memory is an individual or collective experience, and the answer to that question remains to be determined. Nonetheless, religion, its practices, and its rituals has historically impacted the memories and, subsequently, the death practices of people throughout history. This begs the question of whether sacred death practices and deathscapes can be cultivated, outside of the context of religion, to express and affect the collective memory of today's society. An in-depth analysis of the theory surrounding collective memory – as defined by Maurice Halbwachs in La Memoire Collective and extrapolated upon by Aldo Rossi in The Architecture of the City – and the theory regarding the components of the sacred – written upon by Ioan Augustin in Sacred Space and practically applied to contemporary spaces by Thomas Barrie in Spiritual Path, Sacred Place – was conducted. This provided criteria for the components of the sacred, against which several deathscape precedents were compared. Results indicated that, while some precedents had been successful in the creation of deathscapes which had met the criteria of sacred space, even outside of overtly religious connotations, very few of these projects had been completed in the United States. Given that the United States has had a long and complex history regarding death practices and the creation of deathscapes, the applicability of the aforementioned precedent analyses is limited. It is critical then that a new deathscape is designed that can reflect and be reflected in the contemporary collective memory of American society.

Committee: Vincent Sansalone M.Arch. (Committee Member); Edward Mitchell M.Arch (Committee Chair) Subjects: Architectural

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

My father planted a small orchard on our three-and-a-half-acre property next to a small creek, which has steadily cut through the earth these last three decades. The creek now feeds a man-made pond housing many small creatures and providing rich soil into which the thirty or so giants sink their roots. The Ohio seasons have brought significant storms, freezing, and heat, but many of these trees still produce in season, especially in time for apple butter and pies in autumn. The magic is simple. As each tree's roots latch firmly and stretch deeper, invisible in the earth, its trunk can stand strong and proud and majestic. Its arms can stretch wider and higher and produce sweeter fruit--and more plentiful. These giants are life givers, relying on the sustenance and foundation of the earth to survive. They inspire me. The storms and heat that humanity weather are often fierce. The streams that nourish inevitably become rivers that cut the earth-- exposing our roots over time, and beating limbs until they break. By The River was written with these themes in mind. The musical themes are meant to tell the story of a tree, standing firm against the freeze and the heat and the storms and the river. The melodies mimic the tree stretching its roots deep and its limbs wide and providing shelter, fruit, and beauty to the world around it. I hope the music draws attention to these beautiful creations and inspires conductors, performers, listeners, and myself to mimic their steadfast growth in sustaining soil, both as we prepare for and as we face the heaviest of storms. "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Psalm 1:3 "For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Douglas Knehans D.M.A. (Committee Chair); Mara (Margaret) Helmuth D.M.A. (Committee Member); Michael Fiday Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Comparative Studies

The #BlackLivesMatter Movement is one of the most influential Black political movements of the post-civil rights era. In popular and scholarly accounts, it has been characterized as “more secular” than and antithetical to the Civil Rights movement and “Black church” tradition, which, by contrast, are seen as emblematic of a larger tradition of Black religious protest. Contrary to these secularizing reductions and interpretations, this dissertation locates a politics of the sacred at the heart of #BlackLivesMatter, which is irreducible to a secular idiom. I consider the use of both spiritual and religious language and practices in the movement as a part of “sacred politics.” In what ways, I ask, do language and ideas of the sacred circulate through and inform the #BlackLivesMatter movement? How does the movement's insistence on the sacredness of Black life serve to collapse and undercut any sharp distinction between religious and secular politics? How might we understand this movement as a part of a larger history of Black religious protest for racial justice rather than defined against it? My research explores these questions by centering the voices of participants in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I analyze the use of rhetorics of the sacred in memoirs and other autobiographical writings, alongside images and other digital artifacts (videos, tweets, etc.) as they circulate on social media (e.g., BlackTwitter, Vine, Instagram, YouTube). My analysis of this sacred discourse is informed by and in conversation with theories drawn from religious studies, political theology, Afro-American religious thought, and Black studies. My project seeks to bring the intersection of religion and this contemporary political movement into plain site to demonstrate how sacred politics is central and not peripheral to their work for racial justice. By looking for religion not in its institutional formations but as it is embodied in the rhetoric and repertoire of activist practices—on t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Isaac Weiner (Advisor); Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́ (Committee Member); Theresa Delgadillo (Committee Member); Melissa Anne-Marie Curley (Committee Member); Vincent Lloyd (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Black Studies; Philosophy; Religion; Theology

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

Sacred moments are characterized by the qualities of transcendence, boundlessness, ultimacy, deep interconnectedness, and spiritual emotions, experienced within a single period of time (Pargament et al, 2014). Originating from sanctification theory, such moments represent a specific spiritual resource with the potential to enhance psychospiritual wellbeing. Thus, a sacred moments wellbeing program was developed and evaluated. The six-week blended program offered a novel, accessible, and inclusive way of cultivating sacred moments in college students and helping them explore sacred qualities through didactic, experiential, and reflective exercises. A pretest-posttest design with random assignment to the treatment and waitlist control groups was used to examine the feasibility and initial efficacy of the sacred moments program. Participants reported high levels of treatment credibility at post-workshop and program satisfaction at post-treatment. The completion rate was high at 73%. Furthermore, the program demonstrated preliminary efficacy with respect to spiritual and growth outcomes. That is, participants reported significant gains in sacred perceptions, daily spiritual experiences, spiritual growth, and personal growth from baseline to post-treatment. Non-significant outcomes included life satisfaction, perceived stress, depression and anxiety symptoms, and meaning in life. Additionally, a series of two-way mixed ANOVAs yielded statistically significant interactions between group (treatment and waitlist) by time (baseline and post-treatment) on the aforementioned significant variables as hypothesized. Open-ended participant feedback supported the practical significance of these findings. However, most treatment gains were not maintained at one-month follow-up, possibly due to the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic during the course of the study. Implications regarding spiritually integrated wellbeing programs and the unique role of sacred moments are discussed, al (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kenneth Pargament Ph.D. (Advisor); Ludy Mary-Jon Ph.D. (Other); Yiwei Chen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Annette Mahoney Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

MFA, Kent State University, 2020, College of the Arts / School of Art

The Sacred Transfigured are the cumulative results of researching textile processes as sacred ritual resulting in artifacts that can be engaged in a participatory manner by the viewer. Questions I aim to resolve through the artworks presented are: Why are textiles special? How can material like wool and linen be transfigured into precious artifacts? What about this construction process is sacred? What is the role of the artist in that process? These questions are explored through weaving, felting and stitching specifically to examine the unique and magic qualities of textiles that can serve as tools of communication between artist and viewer. The artifacts presented are both precious objects and theatrical garments serving to heighten the senses of the viewer and help construct a certain aura around the wearer.

Committee: Janice Lessman-Moss (Advisor); Isabel Farnsworth (Committee Member); Andrew Kuebeck (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Performing Arts; Textile Research

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2019, Theology

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a French Jesuit priest and paleontologist who wrote nearly two hundred essays on a vast array of topics: scientific discoveries, mystical experiences, Christology, philosophy, war, humanity, and death, to name but a few. Hoping to shield Teilhard himself and the Society of Jesus from Roman sanctions in the years following the Modernist crisis, his Jesuit superiors silenced him during his lifetime. Despite its increasingly-favorable reception by popes from John XXIII to Francis and its fruitful use by the Pontifical Council for Culture, Teilhard's work is still viewed with suspicion by some. This dissertation argues that the time for such suspicion is past. It sets Teilhard's essays in the context of French Catholic devotional and intellectual life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and in the context of Teilhard's own life and ministry. It outlines what Teilhard understood his project to be and the methodology by which he sought to carry it out, paying particular attention to influences rarely considered in treatments of Teilhard's work: the coursework Teilhard took with a private tutor in 1897 and 1898 to prepare for the bacclaureat: lettres-mathematiques, and his professional collaboration with mathematician and philosopher Edouard Le Roy. Through his analogical use of cones and conic sections, projections, spherical geometry, and dimensionality, Teilhard demonstrates that it is possible to see a relationship between traditional Church teaching, articulated in terms of a static cosmos whose creation is complete, and his own neologism-filled account, articulated in terms of a cosmos that is still coming into being. This relationship is considered through the lens of less-mathematically-shrouded accounts of doctrinal development-in-continuity, some which had been articulated by Teilhard's lifetime, and one which was constructed by theologian John Thiel in the wake of the teachings of the Second Vatican Cou (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Portier PhD (Advisor); Kathleen Duffy PhD (Committee Member); Neomi DeAnda PhD (Committee Member); WIlliam Johnston PhD (Committee Member); Vincent Miller PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theology

BA, Oberlin College, 2018, Religion

The transposition of the cultural, religious, and sacred onto physical geographies is practiced by humans everywhere as landscapes are canvases for meaning making and integral placeholders of histories. In the Indian context, this practice is distinct for several reasons. Scholars of Hindu traditions recognize that the place-oriented disposition and centrality of land to Hindu traditions and cultures is unprecedented and integral to identity formation in modern India. As India faces increasing environmental degradation, the preservation of “sacred geographies” is especially crucial to the identity of Hindu traditions. The rise of Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) political parties (e.g., the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP) has heavily influenced the mapping of landscape as distinctly Hindu. By analyzing contemporary environmental movements in India and delineating Hindu nationalist histories and contemporary politics, this project claims that environmental work politicizes the landscape through a Hindutva framework in ways that shape environmentalism to prioritize geographical features tied to imagined Hindu pasts and futures that further a Hindu nationalist agenda.

Committee: Emilia Bachrach (Advisor); Margaret D. Kamitsuka (Committee Co-Chair); Corey Ladd Barnes (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Health; Environmental Studies; Geography; Modern History; Regional Studies; Religion; South Asian Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, African-American and African Studies

Sexuality through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago engages the Yoruba cosmological system of Ifa to offer an expansive and emancipatory pedagogical praxis as it relates to human sexuality and gender, primarily, amongst African descendants from slavery to present day Trinidad and Tobago. As a former British colony, notions of sexuality and gender, in Trinidad and Tobago, have been significantly shaped by Western thought linked to a history of enslavement and colonialism predicated on sexual violence and white supremacy. European colonizers used phenotypical markers to classify persons into groups such as a race, sex/gender and class to establish power and maintain the status quo. Sexuality and gender have been central in the enslavement and colonization of African and indigenous peoples, alike, premised on phenotypical schemas that privileged white men and marginalized others. The philosophical underpinnings of sexuality and gender in Western societies have been undergirded by the rigid pairing of biology and phenotype catalogued into two asymmetrical categories male/man and female/woman premised on white heteropatriarchy. The Western construct is inherently hierarchal, exclusionary and discriminatory and, therefore, fails to provide a universal framework for conceptualizing sexuality and gender. Within recent times, we have seen an alarming increase of sexual violence as a legacy of coloniality and racist sexism, misogyny/misogynoir and homophobia as gender non-conforming individuals continue to challenge the status quo and push against the margins of Western notions of normative sexuality. Through a critical navigation of the Yoruba Ifa/Orisa worldview, against the historical trajectory of pre- and post-colonial Trinidad and Tobago, my study posits that sexuality is a transformative sacred ontology, which challenges the sociallyii constructed categories imposed by Western hegemonic (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Monika Brodnicka PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Adeleke Adeeko PhD (Committee Chair); Lupenga Mphande PhD (Committee Member); Niyi Coker PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; African Studies; Philosophy; Religion

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

This paper focuses on the earliest attestations of Shia pilgrimage (ziyara) in the early Islamic era, its origins, and development. The practice of Shia ziyara, whether in the modern or pre-modern era has not been the subject of many studies. Most studies on Shiai ritual tend to focus on Ashura rituals that developed in the modern period, including the Shia passion play (taziyya), and self-flagellation or other self-mortification practices (tatbir, zangir zani), and therefore do not shed light on early Shiism. Ziyara to Husayns tomb is one of the earliest rituals of the early Shia community. For that reason, understanding its origins and development is important for understanding the demarcation of confessional boundaries in the early Islamic era. The goal of this paper is to identify the time in which Shia ziyara began, the social and political circumstances surrounding the practice, and identifying institutions interested in promoting the practice for their own purposes. Through analysis of early Arab chronicles, the earliest extant Shia pilgrimage manual Kamil al-Ziyarat by Ibn Qulawayh, and both Sunni and Shia bibliographical dictionaries, I argue for the late 8th/early 9th century as the beginning of the circulation of ziyara traditions and the practice of ziyara. I assert that the development of ziyara coincided with the institution of the Imami network of agents and envoys, who were tasked with collection the khums tithe and served as mediators between the Imam and the Shia community. Finally, I argue that ziyara traditions must be understood in the context of the fadail genre, which represented an early Islamic contestation of sacred space, and that the Shia scholars in the late 8th-9th century adopted this genre and its motifs to promote ziyara to Karbala and to construct an authoritative discourse that affirmed the spiritual authority of the Imams and those who claimed to represent them.

Committee: Sean Anthony (Advisor); Kevin van Bladel (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Studies; Near Eastern Studies; Religion; Religious History

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

This thesis compares the main plaza of two Andean cities by examining the physical composition, the activities, and the meanings that users give to this important public space. The two cities in this study, Calca and Urubamba, are both located in the Sacred Valley of the Cusco region in the Sierra of Peru. These riverside cities, with approximate population of 20,000 inhabitants, are equally distant from the region's capital city of Cusco and have similar landscapes surrounded by mountains. However, Urubamba has been more intensely exposed to exogenous influences such as large numbers of foreign visitors, external investment, a boom in spiritual tourism lodging, and as a result is experiencing surging land values. Calca, on the other hand, has remained more traditional in character, and is more representative of a typical Andean city. The purpose of this study is to analyze how these exogenous influences have changed these cities and how this is reflected in the life of the city's main plaza by looking at the physical features of the space, user groups and activities, as well as meanings given by groups and individuals using the space. The thesis employed a multiple methods strategy by using on site observations of activities, interviews, participant observation, and analysis of local documentation.

Committee: Vikas Mehta Ph.D. (Committee Chair); David Edelman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Conrad Kickert Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Music

Master of Music, Youngstown State University, 2015, Dana School of Music

The Harmonia Artificioso-Ariosa is the final published instrumental work of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. This collection was printed in 1696 in private copy and dedicated to Biber's employer, Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun. It does not appear,according to the historical circumstances surrounding this copy, that the collection was intended for publication, yet a second posthumous copy was produced in 1712, for reasons unknown. The prevalence of organ genres and styles observed in the collection, the influence of prominent organists working in Biber's circle, and the placement of the work in the last decade of Biber's career, in which he composed mostly sacred music, suggests that the Harmonia Artificioso-Ariosa was structured for use in both sacred and secular performance settings. However, this music has, until now, only been considered as part of his secular instrumental oeuvre, even though there is much evidence to contradict this belief. This thesis examines the historical, theoretical, and stylistic issues that support the Harmonia's use in a sacred performance setting.

Committee: Randall Goldberg Ph.D. (Advisor); Ewelina Boczkowska Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jena Root Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jessica Chisholm Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2014, Art

There are blurred boundaries between many ideas that are often considered dichotomous. The relationship between concepts such as myth and rationality, the sacred and profane, and art and science reveals itself to be an interdependence. They share a condition of relativity in which definitions overlap at times and oppose at times, twisting into a strained union. The artworks described in this thesis are staged as the experiments of the fictitious Dr. Armbruster, using his pseudo-scientific study of varieties of “drips” to explore themes of the art-science relationship. These works of print, paint, and sculptural installation pit the empirical against the mythical and artistic. I intend to illuminate the screens, the permeable but divisive boundaries between such dualities. I will examine figures such as Ernst Haeckel, a prominent 19th Century zoologist whose scientific credibility has been compromised by his aesthetic impositions and philosophical, spiritual, and social beliefs. I will balance this discussion with a look at artists, such as Mel Bochner, whose indulgence in scientific media, themes, or methodologies bring commentary to the modalities of art and science. The devices that I use in my practice to develop my work will be described, as will the emergent concepts and goals. A visual dissection of my own work will provide insight into my intent, and offer implications to the discussion of the dichotomies listed above. These implications will be related to contemporary discussions in art/science.

Committee: Richard Harned (Advisor); Amy Youngs (Committee Member); Aspen Mays (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Psychology/Clinical

The content of holy texts, the writings of religious figures, and documented accounts of ordinary people’s varied experiences suggest that encounters with the sacred are characterized by distinctive emotional responses. Research on the internal aspects of religion and spirituality is limited in part by the difficulty in defining, measuring and validating constructs that represent such a highly subjective and individualized experience. There exists, accordingly, little empirically derived evidence that might contribute to an understanding of the nature of emotional responses to sacred moments. The need for greater attention regarding the nature of people’s psychological experience associated with sacred moments becomes particularly apparent when we consider that many individuals believe their inner relationship with the sacred lies at the heart of their spiritual and religious lives. This study describes the development and the initial testing of a sacred emotions scale (SES) which is intended to measure the emotional impact of an individual’s experience of the sacred. The study’s findings provide encouraging evidence for the use of the SES along with its two sub-scales as a measure of the emotions associated with religious and spiritual experiences. The preliminary evidence suggests the presence of a common set of emotional responses to the experience of the sacred separate and distinct from people’s cognitive understanding of their religious beliefs. These results provide support for a more phenomenological definition of people's religious and spiritual lives which deemphasizes distinctions due to religious beliefs and affiliations.

Committee: Kenneth Pargament (Advisor); Howard Casey Cromwell (Committee Member); Harold Rosenberg (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Religion; Spirituality

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2000, College-Conservatory of Music : Conducting, Choral Emphasis

The opinion frequently has been expressed that Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's (1809-47) greatest accomplishment lies in the realm of church music. Eduard Devrient, a singer and a friend of Mendelssohn, teased him: “twenty-two years old, and nothing done for eternity.” Certainly, Devrient meant that one could not become famous by composing psalms and chorales, and he advised him to write operas. Mendelssohn's choral works are frequently overshadowed by his own orchestral works, and most of his choral works have been neglected. He wrote numerous choral works in a variety of genres. Moreover, in his sacred choral works Mendelssohn employed four languages – Latin, German, English, and French. Three languages, Latin, German, and English are used in his psalm settings. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a complete survey of Mendelssohn's psalm settings. Over a twenty-five year period from 1822 to 1847 Mendelssohn composed twenty psalms which also show a great variety of styles. Psalm 2 (1843), Psalm 43 (1844), and Psalm 22 (1844) are for a cappella double chorus. Psalm 100 (1843) is originally scored for choir and small orchestra; however, the original manuscript is lost, and only the simplified a cappella version exists. Psalm 100 (1847) is set in SATB chorus in a Renaissance style. Psalm 66 (1822) is for double female chorus with basso continuo. Psalm 115 (1830), Psalm 42 (1838), Psalm 95 (1841), Psalm 114 (1841) and Psalm 98 (1843) are for chorus and orchestra. The introduction of this thesis describes Mendelssohn's concept and expectation toward church music. The following chapters provide the analysis of each psalm setting with focus on the text-music relationship, the achievement of dramatic and contrasting elements and the unifying devices. The background materials relevant to each psalm setting are also included. The final chapter contains a summary and concluding remarks with a discussion of the unique features employed in the fugues.

Committee: John Leman (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Music

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Buildings are a compilation of apertures through various shapes, sizes and materials that both separate and link spaces, people and environments. Apertures allow people, sound, light, and even meaning to pass thorough, becoming operational thresholds that can also contain, block, or filter the actions and desires of the occupants. As a case study of apertures, this project will examine the increasing gap between the Christian Church and current art and culture, and explore how these programs can be hybridized toward innovative dialogue thorough the architecture they occupy. In a converted warehouse in Corryville (Cincinnati), an existing space is transformed to contain both a Church and an Art Gallery program. Treating the building as an aperture, recycled and re-purposed elements from around Cincinnati are introduced to mediate the sacred and profane moments in the hybrid building program through a series of specific, mobile, experimental apertures. Full scale investigations are used to explore the spatial qualities and outcomes of these apertures in real space. This inquiry of viewing the building as a series of flexible apertures made up of recycled elements leads to an understanding of how these sacred and profane activities can occupy the same space, and be mediated in multiple ways.

Committee: John Eliot Hancock PhD (Committee Chair); Jeffrey Tilman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

This thesis examines the phenomenon of abandoned sacred buildings and analyzes the major issues underlying their adaptive reuse. Churches are rooted in the collective memories of the members of a society and become a source of identity. However, significant forces at work in urban areas as well as within religious institutions are increasingly threatening the vitality of these churches. This research provides insight as to what perceptual and socio-economic variables are present in successful adaptive church reuse projects. The study investigates the changing roles of urban churches and the phenomenon in which they become vacant, the relationship between adaptive reuse and economic development, as well as the community's perception and relationship to the built environment via new reuse typologies. To pursue the research questions, three primary objectives will be explored, which include an examination of sacred buildings that were converted into new uses, a demonstration of the importance of public involvement in adaptive reuse, as well as an investigation of the role of the degree of intervention and building type in adaptive reuse projects. The project is primarily concerned with restoration: to revitalize a way of life through building restoration. Restoring a way of life transcends physical building restoration to also include an idea and culture once central to Cincinnatians. In addition to fostering a communal bond once created by the act of worship, the new programmatic use will aid in the already established economic progress of the area, and even form a sense of pride for the community. Finally, this project seeks to pay tribute to the historical culture of Cincinnati's once thriving brewery district while connecting to the current spirited music scene. Therefore, a brewpub restaurant and performance venue is proposed for the chosen site, St. John's German Protestant Church in Over-the-Rhine.

Committee: Jeffrey Tilman PhD (Committee Chair); John Eliot Hancock MARCH (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2012, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

Missa 'Musica Sacra' for Mixed Chorus and Orchestra is a work of sacred classical music for liturgical or concert performance. It was composed for the Musica Sacra Warsaw-Praga Cathedral Choir with Pawel Lukaszewski as conductor. The work was begun and completed while I lived in Warsaw, Poland as a Fulbright Scholar during the 2011-12 academic year.

Committee: Mike Fiday PhD (Committee Chair); Douglas Knehans DMA (Committee Member); Mara Helmuth DMA (Committee Member) Subjects: Music