PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

Calls for research in multimodality and multiliteracies have provided the field of writing studies with theories and outcomes suggesting that more research is necessary in FYC students' multimodal composing processes and literacy practices. Much of the research in New Literacies Studies (NLS) focuses on students' final products. This dissertation investigates the literacy activities that take place in situ while FYC students compose a multimodal project. Through empirical research methods, my research on multimodal composing processes addresses the question of what FYC students actually do when composing and aims to discover the literate practices, tools, and sites that FYC students draw on when composing an argument multimodally. Drawing on the scholarship of NLS, specifically that of the New London Group's Framework for Design and other new literacies scholarship, my dissertation provides thick descriptions through the use of screencasts and talk aloud protocol of 18 FYC students' multimodal composing processes. Each study participant recorded themselves for 60 minutes providing rich, generative data for description, interpretation, and analysis. My research interrogates the relationship between digital literacies and the ways in which FYC students identify, interpret, create, and communicate meaning across a variety of modes - - visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural - - and their affordances. It provides concrete examples of the technological and rhetorical forms of communication students engage with during the multimodal composing process of an academic argument. Participants in my study describe their choices of genres created for persuasion and agency. Beyond a linguistic notion of literacy, this study's participants display an awareness of the social contexts and wider cultural factors that frame communication and, in the case of their multimodal project, further their communicative purposes. This dissertation calls for professional development eff (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2024, English: Composition and Rhetoric

This thesis explores the meaning and manifestation of mind-body-spirit connection in teaching and learning within the composition classroom. I advocate for a more inclusive and polyvocal pedagogy, arguing that the prevalent disconnect among mind, body, and spirit reinforces mind-centric, colonizing, and imbalanced teaching. Findings from interviews with composition instructors and autoethnographic data are used to understand how teachers define and implement holistic connection in their teaching practices, focusing especially on understandings of spirituality, power and freedom, and storytelling. Additionally, I detail a personal journaling heuristic including means for multimodal remediation that encourages students and teachers to exercise reflective agency regarding their holistic wellbeing within a compositional context. I conclude by suggesting that an instructor's understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection and holistic wellbeing can lead to healing, balanced relationships with students and self, making way for reflective and compassionate practices that enhance teaching and learning.

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

The purpose of this self-study was to examine my enactment of 3S Understanding, a holistic, democratic and inquiry-based curriculum theory, in a university-based, English-to-speakers-of-other-languages (ESOL) writing course grounded in Subject Learning, Self Learning, and Social Learning. Through disciplined reflective inquiry and collaboration with critical friends, this study set out to unpack the complexities of course planning and teaching. Data collection and analysis involved a structured, five-stage approach to identify themes, compare relationships, and interpret findings within the 3S framework. The Subject Learning findings stressed identifying the “wiggle room” for teaching artistry to address students' learning challenges and advocated for a multimodal approach to accommodate diverse learning needs. These findings also highlighted the significance of reflective inquiry in improving pedagogical practices. The findings on Self Learning emphasized fostering self-awareness and autonomy among students through reflective practices and empowering activities. They also highlighted the value of incorporating personal stories into teaching to strengthen teacher-student connections. The Social Learning findings foregrounded the importance of a collaborative, authentic, and critical thinking-focused educational environment to deepen learning and prepare students for societal participation. This study emphasizes a holistic ESOL pedagogical shift, urging teachers to integrate comprehensive, reflective, and collaborative approaches. It recommends inquiry-based, reflective practices for teacher educators, and supportive, diverse teaching environments by administrators. Learners are encouraged towards active, self-reflective engagement, connecting learning to real-world relevance. Such an approach aims to enhance language proficiency and democratic participation, fostering a deeper understanding and engagement in ESOL education across various educational roles.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, English

This dissertation, Examining Programmatic Practices of First-Year Writing at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), focuses on the various ways writing programs at HSIs and emerging HSIs (eHSIs) serve and support their minoritized student populations. Because federal law (Higher Education Opportunity Act, 2008) defines HSIs based on enrollment percentages alone, writing program administrators (WPAs) can experience challenges when seeking to enact policies and practices with an explicit aim to serve and support their students. The scholarship of writing studies at HSIs has typically examined what it means to serve students at the classroom level (Baca, Hinojosa, and Wolff Murphy, 2019; Kirklighter, Cardenas, and Wolff Murphy, 2007); however, my research focuses on what servingness means at the programmatic level through various practices that WPAs employ across their programs. Using a mixed-methods approach such as an Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Design (Creswell & Creswell, 2018), I conducted an analysis of archival materials, recent surveys from 98 WPAs from HSIs and eHSIs across the country, and 42 one-on-one semi-structured interviews. I present research-driven narratives of writing program administrators (WPAs) who discuss existing program-level practices related to placement procedures, program goals, culturally relevant and sustaining curricula and instruction (Paris & Alim, 2017), instructor training activities, and program assessment structures in the context of their HSI or eHSI designation. Overall findings reveal that possessing an HSI or eHSI designation does not mean that a first-year writing program supports students equitably and inclusively. It is up to the individual choices and leadership decisions that administrators make to make meaning of their designation and take action through program-level practices. With the ongoing shifts of student demographics in higher education and with more students entering such institutions, I expand upon (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

Dutton, Jeanne A., PhD, May 2024 ENGLISH COORDINATORS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON A SMALL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE 1:1 TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Derek Van Ittersum Independent Small Liberal Arts Colleges (SLACs) are an increasingly rare and potentially dying form of social organism in a country where the rhetorical influences of powerful stakeholders have incrementally subsumed Higher Education. The internal research that larger institutions use to understand their systems is less easily enacted in small schools often because of more limited financial resources, smaller departments within SLACs, and already double-tasking personnel. Small schools may put greater emphasis on teaching over research as a way of compensating for the lack of their own internal discovery mechanisms and base their planning on data gathered elsewhere, becoming consumers of Higher Educational constructs sponsored elsewhere. To stave off extinction, many SLACs have undertaken dramatic initiatives—often scripted by outside consultants—to bolster their financial solvency, increase their enrollment, excite donor interest, and revitalize their pedagogy. According to the Technical Communication Studies scholar Stuart A. Selber (2020), Informational Technology Systems represent one of the more popular and costly forms of Higher Educational investment designed to instigate greater efficiency in instruction. Technology often looks like what a SLAC believes they need to market themselves as cutting-edge. Writing Scholars like Overstreet (2022) and Devoss, Cushman and Grabill (2005) have called for more fine-grained analysis of the sites of Higher Education and the changes that occur in how they teach and engage in the activity of writing and composition. Though multiple studies have measured the efficacy of a newly introduced technological systems of practice to improve writing, much less research has gone into understanding the compo (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Music Composition

Photographs is a thirteen-minute, four-movement piece for reed quintet, featuring oboe, B-flat clarinet, E-flat alto saxophone doubling B-flat soprano saxophone, B-flat bass clarinet,and bassoon. Photographs takes its inspiration from landscape photography captured by the group's saxophonist, who selected two photos to serve as artistic influence for the piece's second and fourth movements. This work employs a similar structure to Modeste Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition by featuring two short call-and-response promenades that serve as Photographs' first and third movements. These movements develop a single auxiliary melodic idea, with the first promenade's musical material standing independently from the longer movements, and the second integrating content from them to further develop the auxiliary melodic idea. Photographs uses tone poetry to abstractly portray the emotional essence of the two aforementioned photos. The second movement, “Chromatic Forest,” is inspired by a photograph of an autumn forest scene. It employs a structural polyrhythm and an ever-morphing tone row to emulate agitated birdsong and rustling leaves. This chaotic structure suddenly gives way to an extremely slow section utilizing constant trills, bass clarinet multiphonics, and the unusual bassoon-soprano saxophone unison to symbolize the ethereal beauty found in vibrant-yet-dying October leaves. The other photo, depicting a beach sunrise, serves as inspiration for the composition's fourth movement, “Pink Sunrise.” This beach scene captures the colorful beauty of dawn over the water, painting the sky with shades of pink, purple, and blue. Musical material portrays this vibrant, yet lonely scene through a winding melodic line comprised of consonant harmonies and accelerating rhythms. As the sun rises above the horizon, the music grows brighter and more rhythmically intense, leading to a hymn-like climax representing the sun fully illuminating the beach. Photographs repres (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2023, English

gut punch poems

Bachelor of Science, Walsh University, 2024, Honors

Throughout an undergraduate's education, writing essays constitutes a significant source of stress for students. The majority of these essays are written in a specific format indicated by the educator for the class. This paper provides context behind the implication of writing formats, such as why they are used to begin with, as well as descriptions on the two most commonly used formats in the United States: the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). This paper analyzes the narrative of format use in high school and postsecondary education today, as well as student and professor responses to format usage in the classroom setting.

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2024, English

ABSTRACT MULTIMEDIA COMPOSITION: ENGLISH ELECTIVE FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADES 9-12. Name: Gaydosh-Bruce, Anne University of Dayton This research is primarily focused on curriculum design and implementation of a new English Language Arts elective course offering. Each Eaton High School student is required to fulfill a half credit for ELA electives in addition to four years in English Literature courses. In my research, I define what multimodal composition is as well as what sonic composition means. I connect the two modes of composition to compare how each influences the curriculum for this new course. The current elective course offerings are limited to a traditional, linear composition course that requires students to use written texts as the required objective. The course objectives for this multimodal course include: identify storytelling beyond the literary canon through sound or film, inspire non-readers and non-writers to appreciate new forms of storytelling, and analyze and produce using a variety of multimodalities. Students use modes relatable to their everyday habits of life. Finally, this course is created with appropriate content for grades 9-12. As well, this course is versatile and adaptable to many teaching styles so it can be implemented by any teacher in the department.

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

Maria lived a normal life with loving parents who would do anything for her. Well, that's what she thinks, anyways. After waking up in the body of a black cat with no memory of her past, the young girl is determined to find out how she ended up under a bridge in the Foxglove Forest. Maria quickly meets Henrik, an outsider living in the forest and haunted by his own past. Together, the pair will work to solve the mysteries that have shaped their lives, revealing the bloody truth of Foxglove Forest along the way.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: English

In Listening to Appalachian Voices in the Writing Classroom, I argue that the cultivation of meaningful student-teacher relationships between Appalachian students and composition teachers is pivotal to the development of meaningful learning and literacy practices, as well as the creation of a culturally valuable academic and literacy identity. My dissertation builds on the work of composition pedagogy scholarship, Appalachian studies, and relational-cultural theory (RCT) to generate awareness concerning the student-teacher relationship and the impact this relationship has on Appalachian students' learning and writing processes. By collecting data via one-on-one interviews with select Appalachian students from a rural university in western North Carolina, I showcase how my participants understand themselves as writers, students, and Appalachians. By using Carol Gilligan's listening guide methodology, I analyze each participant's word choices, expressions, and stories. Throughout my analysis, I call attention to the various cultural values participants use to guide their experiences in the writing classroom. In particular, by analyzing the voices of pride and individualism, I am able to showcase how some Appalachian students are working with their cultural values to navigate their college experience and create a bridge between their newfound academic identity and their Appalachian identity. Along with bringing attention to how my student-participants rely on their Appalachian knowledge and values in the writing classroom, I also explore the RCT concept of growth-fostering connection, arguing that a relationship between Appalachian students and their writing teacher—characterized by connection, compassion, and mutuality—can lead Appalachian students to an awareness and appreciation of their cultural expressions and practices. That is, I show how a growth-fostering relationship in the composition classroom can empower Appalachian students and encourage t (open full item for complete abstract)

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

The Powder Toy is an open-source simulation game of the “falling sand” genre, in which players freely experiment with various powdered “elements” which react with each other in a detailed physics system. To explore the effects of its emergent behaviors on music making, I created a sound engine for The Powder Toy and composed a piece with it. This extended work for three laptop performers, A History Told in Grains, tells the story of our known universe in four movements.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

This dissertation research, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Practices and Insights from the College Writing Classrooms, looks into the issue of trauma or traumatic stress in students through a pedagogical lens, investigating how college writing teachers perceive and apply trauma-informed pedagogy in their teaching as they teach during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses informed grounded theory to frame the research issue and qualitative method to collect data. The study then employs abductive analysis method to examine approximately 600 minutes of video-recording data collected from 10 semi-structured individual interviews with writing teachers who work across teaching contexts in the United States. Findings from this study help address a number of misconceptions related to the use of trauma-informed pedagogy in the writing classroom and explain various ways in which writing instructors can navigate the boundaries between compassion and professionalism. The study furthermore discusses issues of trauma disclosure, discussion facilitation, writing topics and content warning, and writing assessment and suggests concrete ideas for implementing various pedagogical practices that could help develop a safer and more inclusive space for learning. Lastly, the study introduces the design of a writing course that seeks to achieve a two-fold learning outcome: (a) develop academic writing competence and (b) through learning to write, discuss and support student well-being.

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Music Composition

Quandary is a nine-minute orchestral piece with the following instrumentation: 3 Flutes (3rd doubling Piccolo), 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb, Bass Clarinet in Bb, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 4 Horns in F, 2 Trumpets in C, 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, 3 Percussionists, Harp, Piano and Strings. Quandary documents the cathartic process of working through emotional conflict to discover internal reconciliation. The music has a variety of styles and is divided into two parts. The opening material is fast, repetitious, edgy, and cryptic. This is followed with feelings of remorse, uncertainty, passion, and raw emotion. The ending material is much more tonal than the opening ideas, but still has harmonic variety and shifting pitch centers. The piece begins with a whole-tone phrase which is the primary recurring motive within the section. This subject is be used throughout the orchestra and is supported by scales in a minor modality. The athletic character of this material contributes a serious mood to the piece. This piece is inspired by an assortment of composers. The first portion invokes musical ideas similar to Carl Ruggles, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and Gioachino Rossini and follows the orchestration styles of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, while also using a variety of harmonic material similar to Ruggles. Additional content includes Vaughan Williams, Maurice Ravel and Aaron Copland.

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Music Composition

The Sacrifice of Isaac is a micro-opera in one act scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, and piano. The story is based on the events of the Biblical story found in Genesis 22, in which Abraham (baritone), the ancestor of the people of Israel, is commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac (mezzo-soprano), as a burnt offering. Just as Abraham is about to cut Isaac's throat, an Angel (soprano) appears and stops the sacrifice. The libretto is largely adapted from the Biblical text and includes an original poem by Skyler Cash for Abraham's aria. The Sacrifice of Isaac aims to capture the unspoken emotions of this highly dramatic and controversial story while retaining theological accuracy, highlighting the faith-filled obedience of Abraham and the eternal faithfulness of God.

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Music Composition

To See the Hundred Universes that Each of Them Sees is a six minute single- movement work for orchestra, scored for triple woodwinds, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, harp, piano, timpani, three percussionists, and strings. This work explores orchestral timbres to create shifting, colorful sound worlds that take the audience on a kaleidoscopic sonic journey. Some examples of these environments include emptiness illustrated by air sounds in the brass, fullness illustrated by a tutti “organ sound”, and expressiveness illustrated by sweeping rhythmic textures in the winds and strings. The tutti “organ sound” will also act as a structural element, returning at significant points throughout the work. The piece contains six episodes that develop and explore these sound worlds. The first episode, emptiness, explores brass air sounds with high winds sustains. These sustained sounds carried through into the second episode, where strings will join with swelling gestures. The third episode contains loud brass and wind flutter-tongue sounds that build into a tutti “organ sound” climax. Following this climax is the fourth episode, a layered serene texture that features sustained violin harmonics, air brass sounds, lyrical woodwind passages, and percussion effects. The fifth and final episode builds to a seemingly chaotic texture leading to an ascending, breathtaking gesture in the strings and winds, followed by the final “organ chord” statement, with brass air sounds and violin harmonic glissandi that brings the journey to an end. The harmonic language of To See The Hundred Universes that Each of Them Sees employs the chromatic scale and four pitch class sets [0,3,4,5,9], [0,1,2,5,8], [0,1,3,4,7], and [0,1,5,6,8] that were distilled from some of my favorite sounds. Rhythmic materials include sustains that create texture and polyrhythms that create contrapuntal interplay and help propel the piece forward.

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

My dissertation focuses on presentations prepared and delivered in the distributed work structure of a trade association The presentations are educational seminars presented at three industry trade shows across two years. Using theories of distributed work and project management, I examine the writing, editing, and reuse processes of knowledge workers in the trade association. I also examine how the work done to compose, present, and experience these educational seminars illustrates and challenges existing theories of distributed work and project management. The trade association's flat organizational structure results in writing processes where individual authors have near total control over their texts, yet there is significant sharing, reuse, and collaboration at the invention stages as well as resistance to more conventional distributions of labor between design and writing experts. Drawing on Writing, Activity, and Genre Theory (WAGR), I study these presentations as the mediational means and texts through which audience members and association speakers interact. This dissertation describes the project management processes that arose from the rhetorical situation created between association workers and member-constituents. It also describes the reuse practices of knowledge workers constructing slide decks and the rhetorical strategies speakers drew from when presenting them. These findings point to contexts that need additional study. Namely, what is the audience's engagement with the slideshow as a live presentation and a takeaway document? Additionally, this study points to the need for additional research on the relationships between various related organizations on the work practices and writing processes of knowledge workers.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This dissertation examines the effectiveness of blogging to improve student writing fluency and writing self-efficacy in ninth-grade English courses at Mount St. Mary Academy. Utilizing a case study approach with convergent mixed methods, a paired samples t-test found no statistically significant changes in pre- and post-assessments of general and writing self-efficacy over an eight-week period. A bivariate correlation revealed a moderately positive linear and statistically significant relationship between SESAW (pre- and post-assessment) and WCVALUER scores—indicating a strong association between initial self-efficacy and writing fluency development. Furthermore, specific blogging activities, such as reflective pieces following a communal class retreat, showed significant correlations with the SESAW and WCVALUER. The qualitative analysis revealed both positive and negative perceptions of writing among students, highlighting areas of stress and anxiety alongside opportunities for engagement and growth. Implications for practice include program refinements and tailored interventions to meet student needs, supported by ongoing faculty development programs. Future research could explore unique correlations observed in this study, particularly relating to communal experiences like the class retreat. While this study adds to the understanding of blogging as a tool for enhancing student writing outcomes, continued research and refinement of instructional practices are essential for maximizing its effectiveness in educational contexts.

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2023, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

Turbulent Mind is a four-movement concerto for piano and orchestra. It was commissioned by the CCM Concert Orchestra and premiered by them at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory in April 2022, with Michael Delfin, piano soloist, and Brett Scott, conductor. I started to write this piece during the most threatening time of COVID-19 in 2020, when I had just moved from Boston to Cincinnati. However, a monotonous lifestyle under the pandemic could not stop my spiritual world, and that's how I decided to write this piece, in which I used music to express my turbulent mind. The four movements are written chronologically from the beginning of the pandemic till the Russian invasion of Ukraine, expressing what I witnessed and felt. The first movement, Predictable Pattern, introduces the pitch set [0157] and the pitch center "E," which runs through the entire concerto. The second movement, Turbulent Mind, is a fast-paced scherzo that serves to highlight the pianist's virtuosity. I enjoy the explosive timbre produced by striking the piano's lowest register. This movement was written mostly at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2021. Prior to leaving for Tanglewood, I had already lived in my tiny apartment without any social life for a year, and upon arriving at Tanglewood I couldn't stop working on this movement even though I was now freed from my four walls. The third movement, Back to Normal is quiet and lyrical. While composing this movement, I experienced a wealth of complex emotions. My sorrow and happiness are directly reflected in the piano's melodic material in this movement. I composed the last movement, titled Air Raid Siren, after hearing the tragic news of the war in Ukraine. It features glissandi in many different instruments to imitate the sirens I heard in the many devastating videos of the war in Ukraine. I hope to send my blessing to the people who are suffering from the war and emphasize the importance of world peace.

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This study expounds the ways in which a contemporary group of writers of the English language have been, and are being, inspired to write and to teach writing through familiarity with a specific form of Zen Buddhist thought and practice developed from the relatively recent familiarization in both eastern and western populations to the prolific writings of Dogen Kigen, a 13th century Japanese Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Broadly speaking, this study is an inquiry into how individuals whose primary language is English come to find value in writing primarily as a personal practice. More specifically this study centers its attention on the writing of individuals whose motivation for writing comes from meaningful contact with Dogen Zenji, a thirteenth century Japanese Zen Master and author, and through that contact found themselves intent on writing from a recognition of a fundamental spirituality perceived in language and writing itself.