Master of Arts, Miami University, 2009, English: Creative Writing

This is a collection of short stories that take place in, or are influenced by events that originated at, Athens, Georgia. Several members in a group of friends fall in and out of love and mature over a period of eight years. Through the length of the manuscript with the use of animal images and long descriptions of houses and landscape I aim to alter the way characters are formed in fiction.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study examines the big and small stories of faculty at a small, internationally-focused graduate school in New England during a time of change in higher education. A macro-micro perspective enables both an aerial view of faculty experience over time and a view of how faculty work with students at the ground level. The landscape of higher education has been shifting, a story which has drawn the interest of researchers looking at change at the institutional level. In the literature, and in the media, stories are told in broad strokes: the rise of the neoliberal university, the wave of campus internationalization, and an increasing reliance on a contingent faculty workforce. However, in spite of faculty's central position within these phenomena, stories of faculty experience during this era of change mostly remain untold. Narrative research has primarily focused on the professional development and situated learning of novice educators as they find their footing and balance a range of commitments. Considerably less attention has been given to veteran faculty whose stories are situated at the confluence of broader changes in higher education. This study addresses this gap and, in its synergy of big and small stories, contributes to the dynamic field of narrative research in educational contexts. Retrospective big stories told in life history interviews capture the life-span of faculty careers, from entering the field to experiencing challenges and change through working with diverse groups of students over several decades. Analysis of these stories produced two key metaphors which are the focus of Chapter 3. Through the use of bedrock stories, faculty preserve shared values and an institutional narrative in the face of change. In faultline stories, faculty make sense of unsettling or unresolved experiences. The findings suggest that these stories of critical events are important sources of institutional narratives and faculty learning. Compared to well-order (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

This biographical thesis examines the journalistic work of Australian war correspondent Kate Webb during the Vietnam War. In addition, this thesis explores her role as a visiting professional at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Through the lens of feminist standpoint theory, an in-depth qualitative historical ideological textual analysis of Webb's journalistic work underscores her role as a trailblazing female reporter covering an American war from an international perspective. Webb asserted herself and was accepted into the male-dominated field of war correspondence. As a female covering the war, she provided readers with the often-forgotten aspects of war: the human-interest angle. Through an assessment of a broad scale of primary documents, including the articles that she wrote from 1967 to 1975, and oral history interviews with former students and colleagues in academia and war correspondence, this thesis seeks to illustrate that Webb challenged the traditional role of war correspondents by reporting on human-interest stories and occupying spaces normally dominated by men. As a visiting professional, she brought her lived experiences as a reporter into the classroom.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, Educational Leadership

Teacher academies (TAs) are programs developed on the high school level to jump start pre-service teacher training. In Southwest Ohio, there are roughly 12 teacher academy programs. These programs are regulated by the Ohio Department of Education, and they fall under the umbrella of Career Technical Education. TAs are pathway programs meant to prepare secondary students for a possible career in education by aligning with Introduction to Education courses at Ohio institutions of higher learning. In the field of pre-service teacher training, the study of teacher academies and their possible implications is untapped. In this study, it is asked: What do teacher academy instructors' narratives about pedagogy and curricular foci reveal about the instructors and the programs? Situated in interpretivism, the theory of narratology and the methods of narrative inquiry and portraiture are used to examine the narratives of four Southwest Ohio TA instructors, including the author. Renderings, or “portraits,” were created using Clandinin and Connely's (2000) metaphorical “soup,” a narrative form made up of, always in different combinations and significance, narration + description + argument (pp. 154-155). Data collection involved semi-structured conversations/interviews, class observations, and a focus group conversation. The findings of the study echo and extend the literature and focus on the importance of TA “teacher stories” from a practical, social and scholarly lens. There is also a rich discussion of student-centered pedagogy and curriculum theory. The study further interrogates the prevalence, or lack thereof, of critical pedagogy in these secondary programs.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2015, Elementary Education

The phenomena of crisis in the formation and development of teacher identity is not unknown in the field of educational research, yet the study of these phenomena tends to focus on preservice and novice teachers. The purpose of this research is to discover through veteran teacher narratives, descriptions of crisis-like incidents, as well as any growth and transformation they may have experienced in the context of the profession. By studying teacher stories I hope to contribute to the understanding of how teachers navigate their teaching lives and shifting identities, especially in the face of difficulty, and gain insight into the value of collectively sharing and talking about the stories together. This Organic and Narrative based inquiry engaged three veteran teachers in conversations about the difficulties and challenges (crisis-like situations) of their teaching lives. The stories of crisis-like incidents (Veteran Stories) varied greatly, but themes emerged, such as: passion for the profession; varying needs for reflection; conflict of personal beliefs and institutional beliefs; conflict of belonging and not belonging; harmed and healed relationships; and the presence of a strongly held core belief. The process of sharing crisis stories in a safe and caring environment was quite transformative for participants. Their reflections indicated increased understanding of self and others, desire to be of service, a sense of wellbeing and personal implications, as well. They concluded that teachers often cause crisis-like incidents for other teachers, and that reflecting on incidents, while emotionally difficult, proved valuable to them. The researcher gained increased awareness of the vulnerabilities and risk in teaching, and now views herself as moving into teacher Elderhood. Early readers responded to the stories of crisis with stories of their own, demonstrating the truly widespread nature of crisis-like incidents in the lives of public school teachers (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Youngstown State University, 2008, Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing)

‘Dig a little deeper' is the teasing mantra for opponents in the card game, Crazy Eights. You know Crazy Eights, don't you? With the cards in your hand, you either match the number or suit of whatever card is face up on the pile, or you play an eight and call your own suit. When you don't have a matching number, matching suit, or an eight, you have to rifle through the draw pile until you find one, adding the cards to your ever-growing hand. Meanwhile, the other participants chant, ‘dig a little deeper, dig a little deeper.' And that brings me to the title of this story collection.I consider these stories an excavation of human behavior. Why do people act the way they do? I don't profess to know the answers. All I know is that everybody has a story; sometimes it takes digging to uncover it. Everybody has needs; sometimes you accumulate things you don't need on the way to getting what you do need. Luck, both good and bad, is fleeting, but it exists as long as there are four crazy eights floating around. The characters that live in these pages work, play, think, obsess, love. Some of their stories are being uncovered; some are already on display. They don't always find what they're looking for, and believe me – they're flawed. But by the end of the story, I think you'll find that you know who they are, even if they don't.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2010, English: Creative Writing

This thesis is a collection of personal essays that examine the tensions within my identity as a displaced Southerner – both as an Appalachian transplanted to Nashville, and as a Tennessean transplanted to the Midwest. The family of my Indiana-born significant other plays an integral part in these pieces; with them, there is a sense that I should feel at home “back in the country,” since I have traveled from a rural setting (Appalachia) to urban (Nashville) and then back to rural once again. However, I am compelled to illuminate the disparities between his “country” and my “country,” knowing my time in Nashville will color my view of the former. These essays show my struggle to understand myself not only in relation to the places I came from but also with an awareness of the places I have gone to, and of how they have altered that understanding.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2006, English

A collection of short stories centered thematically around the idea of “the hole, ” or that thing which is missing from each characters' life. “The hole” is the gap, or void, that each character must struggle to identify, to fill, or to sink into.

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2010, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

This thesis combines four short stories which revolve around themes of loss and disorientation. The first three stories, “Costa Rica,” “Greece,” and “On the Way Down to Florida” are derived from a larger work entitled GhostShells, and are connected by character development and a common mystery. The fourth piece, “Car Crash,” is an independent piece that centers around a minor auto accident and the community activity it creates. All four pieces are linked by a central assertion that our physical bodies are merely shells for the souls within, and may be empty or full depending on the state of the soul.

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1912, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1967, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1950, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1925, Graduate School

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2005, Graduate School

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2024, English (Arts and Sciences)

This collection of 8 short stories features the ways in which everyday life's mostly overlooked peculiarities can accumulate, trickling into one's subconscious to form a much greater waterfall of oddity, sincerity, and coming of age at all ages. The characters in these stories, while not all human in the traditional sense, are all touched by the trickling down of this human strangeness. Whether driven by yearning, grief, or something else entirely, the crux of The Rat King collection lies in its exploration of misplaced love and longing for the unusual.

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, English

A collection of short stories in which a cast of various women characters believe to see themselves reflected in objects, in artworks, in other people—both those closest to them and total strangers. Within these mirrors and doubles as perceived by the characters is an escape from the confines of traditional domestic life into a territory far murkier, a realm that is at once both quotidian and surreal, intimate and strange, blurring the divisions between memory, imagination, and reality. This collection is a call to question what it means to embody a place, a state of being—what it means to embody a body.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2024, English (Arts and Sciences)

An accident in their small Ohio hometown forces Christian Caldwell to return home after years abroad. It puts them face to face with ghosts and old memories, that they must wade through in order to find the self-acceptance they lacked as a child. Told in both the present moment and flashbacks to Christian's childhood, Dream State attempts to unravel the complexities of growing up queer in small-town America and what it takes to heal from the shame encouraged by the prejudice of that environment.

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2023, Education

My research inquiry is centered on the larger project of building a transformational, empowerment model of worker voice in workplaces. The purpose of my research is to explore/illuminate the question, “How can I use workers' stories to center and advance collaborative worker voice on the job through peer-driven training initiatives?” I frame this general research inquiry around two key questions: (a) How do I create authentic spaces for workers' stories to emerge from the heart? (b) How do I use workers' stories to create the environment needed for workers to become peer teachers/leaders of their own training initiatives? This study's intended audience is any practitioner who seeks to center workers' experiences/stories as the fulcrum for transformational workplace change. My research method is Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN). SPN is a sustained exploration of one's own narrative experiences of dealing with a particular question, problem, or dynamic that has broader social significance. It entails analyzing that experience through the lens of relevant research and theory. I have chosen a hybrid video/written format for my SPN, to create a first-person storytelling experience for the viewer/reader that replicates my methodology with workers at their worksites. The video segments of this dissertation can be found at http://debmoy.weebly.com/. My findings document the key elements needed to be an effective change agent supporting organic leadership in organizations through workers' stories. My dissertation can influence the effectiveness of California Transit Works (CTW), the statewide consortium bringing my approach to scale nationally. My dissertation can bring academic recognition to key roles that third-party neutrals, or “intermediaries,” can play in building worker voice empowerment within labor/management partnerships. Finally, I hope this dissertation inspires and guides workers and change agents to take an holistic view of what it means to have our own voic (open full item for complete abstract)