Psy. D., Antioch University, 2025, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

This dissertation presents a comprehensive analysis of the current research on scrupulosity, a subtype of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) characterized by intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors related to religious and moral concerns. The dissertation identifies key similarities and differences from OCD, and directs focus to thematically related yet unsubstantiated theoretical work in psychology that helps elucidate the core features and etiological factors of scrupulosity as differentiated from other OCD subtypes. The study addresses the critical dearth of research on scrupulosity, aiming to fill significant gaps in the literature regarding its historical context, varied presentation and prevalence in different cultural contexts, and potentially effective treatment approaches to address better the needs of a significant number of people worldwide. Beginning with an exploration of historical conceptualizations from the 2nd through the early 21st centuries, the dissertation traces the recognition of scrupulosity and recommendations for treatment across various cultural traditions and major world religions including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, from both Protestant and Catholic sources, as well as non-religious belief systems. It highlights notable historical figures who exhibited scrupulous behaviors contextualizing them with a modern psychological lens. As the leading theologians of their faiths, they often ironically v advised its treatment from their own experience as the most influential theologians of each of their faiths. These historical writings still have wisdom to impart today. The history of scrupulosity is, in many ways, a history of religion across time and culture, as well as of the birth and first 150 years of psychology itself. Key schools of psychological thought are explored for relevance to developing contemporary evidence-based treatments. Due to few qualitative or quantitative studies on scrupulosity compared t (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

This dissertation examines the role of language stereotypes in German milieu-based market research. By juxtaposing market researchers' statements about the linguistic behavior of speakers in different milieus with my own empirical sociolinguistic analysis of pragmatic markers in the materials produced from market research, I demonstrate how, despite the theoretical promise of milieu-based research as a new avenue for sociolinguistics, extant descriptions of milieu-based speech behavior are rooted in stereotype rather than sociolinguistic reality. Following the introduction, in which I will outline my research approach and the thought processes that led to this study, the subsequent second chapter introduces the concept of milieu into the sociolinguistic discourse. Milieu, contrary to the traditional concept of social class, accounts for the complexity and intersectionality of variable social behavior such as language practices. As such, milieu research is practice-oriented, allowing for the analysis of complex linguistic behavior while averting one-dimensional social classifications. Nonetheless, milieu-based research has not yet gained traction in sociolinguistics, where class-based research has fallen out of favor. I argue for a return to considering socioeconomic and sociocultural demographic categories in sociolinguistics through the lens of milieu. The third chapter introduces the milieu-based case study material derived out of market research, namely, the material of the Sinus Institute, which is the source of 16 interviews from members of 7 German milieus which I will analyze. After introducing the relevant milieus, I will show that the milieu variable can produce powerful insights into language use. At the same time, however, I will demonstrate how the dearth of work on stratification and its influence on language in sociolinguistics allows Sinus to (re-)produce highly problematic stereotypes on language in the different milieus. I (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

This work is a GIS curriculum study and learning system implementation of the first train from the Warsaw ghetto to the extermination camp, Treblinka II, on July 22, 1942. This was part of Nazi Germany's “Final Solution”, the last stage of the Holocaust, the deliberate, planned, mass murder of European Jews. Educational research has shown that it is not effective for students to only hear or read about traumatic historical events. For such an emotionally intense and controversial subject as the extermination camps in the Holocaust, students need to engage their higher order learning skills. GIS enhanced learning has been shown to develop those higher order learning skills. This research study and GIS learning system on the first train from the Warsaw ghetto to the extermination camp, Treblinka II, in July 1942 includes a history of the Nazi design and capacity building of extermination camps, a historiographic review of controversial themes of the Holocaust, a study of pedagogical methods and learning systems relating to controversial topics, and the Holocaust specifically, and the design, creation and implementation of a computer based, GIS enabled, museum learning system that tells this story. This case is significant as it is the first train of many from the teeming Warsaw ghetto of 400,000 to the newly opened Treblinka II camp where 7,400 were taken to their death that day and was the beginning of over 700,000 killed at this camp alone. This learning system is suggested as a pedagogical method for deeper study of the Holocaust and other similar traumatic topics.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

My dissertation, Of Mushrooms, Stones, and Stars. Post-Enlightenment Onto-/Epistemologies in 21st Century Art, Literature and Theory, contributes to the field of Anthropocene Studies in the German-speaking context. The man-made climate crisis that unfolds in the age of the Anthropocene poses the urgency of a paradigm shift and a need for new ways of planetary (co-)existence. I propose that the Anthropocene is deeply connected to the Age of Enlightenment: the centrality and particularity of the human subject as well as the conception of Man as the master of nature, which evolve in the Age of Enlightenment, find their cumulation in the contemporary anthropocenic crisis. Since Enlightenment paradigms have so firmly shaped today's world, I subsequently argue that a critical evaluation of Enlightenment thought is necessary to explore ways of being and knowing that allow for a departure from anthropocentrism and the oppression of nature. I focus on three non-human, material-discursive agents – mushrooms, stones and stars – and show how and why they are of particular importance to Anthropocene discourse; how they inspire a critique of Enlightenment ideas (particularly by Immanuel Kant and Rene Descartes); and to what extent they offer onto-/epistemological impulses that mark a departure from these ideas. In exploring these agents, I engage with contemporary theorists such as Leo Bersani, Karen Barad and Elizabeth Povinelli, in dialog with German-language art, film, and literature by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Esther Kinsky, Marion Neumann and Ursula Biemann. My chapter on stones deals primarily with ontological questions. I trace the shift from the distinction between the organic and anorganic in the late 18th century to contemporary concepts that question this distinction – particularly Elizabeth Povinelli's Geontology – and engage with Goethe's geological essays from the 1780s as well as his late novel Wilhelm Meister's Wanderjahre (1829) and Esther Kins (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Germanic Languages and Literatures

This paper examines the theoretical difficulties related to the study of Gretel Karplus Adorno, wife of Theodor Adorno. In 1937, Karplus turned away from a successful career as an independent businesswoman to become Adorno's wife, unofficial secretary, and life-long promoter. This decision challenges contemporary assumptions that women in Karplus' situation were either stifled during their lives or intentionally overlooked posthumously. In contrast, this paper analyzes Karplus's 1930-40 correspondence with Walter Benjamin to suggest that she saw her marriage and submission to her husband's ambition as an opportunity to achieve her own life goals, not an obstacle to those goals. Karplus found financial success and social disappointment in her Berlin career. She developed close relationships with Adorno and Benjamin out of a desire for their intellectual companionship. For this reason, she was eager to support their work, even at the cost of her manufacturing career. This paper concludes that a biography of Karplus must not only accept her decision to leave her career, despite its apparent complicity with a patriarchal bias towards men and husbands. Such a biography must also challenge ideas of success defined by the bourgeois notion of an individual genius who produces products (e.g. books) in isolation.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, German

At its core, this thesis delves into the intricate layers of posthumous historiography surrounding Empress Elisabeth of Austria – examining not just her history, identity, and ideas of visuality, but also probing the underlying mechanisms shaping the construction of her biographical narrative. It seeks to unravel the complexities inherent in the selection process of what information is deemed pertinent for inclusion, especially considering the nuanced treatment of sensitive or disruptive pieces of information. By scrutinizing this selection criteria, the thesis aims to shed light on the underlying motivations and biases guiding such decisions as well as the implications of their inclusion – or lack, thereof. Furthermore, this study explores the experimental possibilities of adaptation within the realm of contemporary Austrian film. It posits that the burgeoning interest in Sisi within wider Habsburg scholarship has catalyzed innovative approaches to storytelling in cinema. Through a detailed analysis of select cinematic works, the thesis elucidates how the exploration of Sisi's legacy has sparked a renaissance in Austrian filmmaking, fostering a fertile ground for experimentation and reinterpretation. By intertwining insights from historiography, film studies, and cultural analysis, this thesis not only offers a comprehensive understanding of the complexities surrounding Sisi's portrayal but also serves as a catalyst for broader discussions on the intersection of history, identity, and visual representation in contemporary discourse.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2023, Film Studies (Fine Arts)

This critical study is an inquiry into the role of form as text and instrument and how form can be read. I approach form as independent in and of itself and as being embedded within the whole structure (social, historical, political) of its framing contexts. My theoretical framework is rooted in the Frankfurt School tradition and, in particular, Alexander Kluge and his co-theorist Oskar Negt, Theodor Adorno, Siegfried Kracauer, and Miriam Hansen's critical concepts. I combine Kracauer's theories of self-alienation and philosophy of history with Kluge's principle of montage/network, his thinking in Geschichte und Eigensinn, and the idea of “the poetic power of theory.” These theories ground my close analyses of the films in which decontextualized reading of the texts is a central thread. The main argument of this thesis is that form and structure can be instrumentalized to influence spectatorial experience, shape public memory, and reconstruct historical knowledge. I examine four films: Michael Haneke's Benny's Video (1992) and The White Ribbon (2009); Louis Malle's Au revoir les enfants (1987); and Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989). By attending to light, blood, corpse as intensified concretion and abstraction in the context of “after Auschwitz,” these films, I argue, aided by form and formalization, allow space for dialectical critiques and critical counter-histories.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Germanic Languages and Literatures

This dissertation examines how the largest and most-read German newspapers cover right-extremist attacks by analyzing breaking news stories. Many sociological studies have investigated the influence of media, and especially breaking news, on the reader and shaping public opinion. Breaking news often prioritizes fast publication over detailed research, which can lead to false reporting. False facts can be retracted when reporting further on the matter, but the same does not apply to the tone, images, and metaphors set during initial reporting. First, this dissertation identifies the terms and images reporters use to describe the attacks in the initial reporting. Then, using critical discourse analysis, I group them into different categories. I predict that various trends can be identified through my findings. Are specific terms more prevalent than others? In what context are they used? Are various groups labeled differently depending on religious background, appearance, etc.? Next, I investigate how the different outlets utilize different terms and analyze the accompanying implications. Are specific terms used to imply concepts of guilt or innocence, and how are they used across media outlets and cases? Are certain metaphors more prevalent than others, and how do they evolve across different cases? Lastly, this dissertation lays out my findings and ways to improve media coverage while discussing further research into covering right-extremist attacks. Understanding how rhetoric is used is an important first step to analyzing the implications for the reader. Analyzing these stories considering how the terminology is used will eventually benefit journalists and studies of media bias. I aim to contribute to a more conscious use of terminology i when covering sensitive topics, like right-extremist attacks, so journalism can live up to its reputation that deems it objective, reputable, and credible. I focus on the following primary source material: die Zeit, der Spiege (open full item for complete abstract)

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

In the immediate aftermath of the Fall of the Wall in 1989 and 1990, there was extensive commentary about the experiences of East Germans vs West Germans, how these experiences were perceived, and what they meant for a new German State. The fictional narrative, Die Birnen von Ribbeck, by Friedrich Delius was one such piece that added to the conversation and attempted to offer insight into the experience of East Germans. This paper examines the role of time at the Wende from a perspective of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall and how that is portrayed in the work by Delius. The paper argues that the experience of time at the Wende between East and West follows a non-linear trajectory that likewise exemplifies the very essence of time.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Germanic Languages and Literatures

In this paper, I argue that the two DEFA-Indianerfilme, Todlicher Irrtum (1969) and Blauvogel (1979), raise questions of Indian-settler coexistence. Through topographically driven analyses of the films that also pay special attention to their racially-mixed and culturally-mixed protagonists, I demonstrate how Todlicher Irrtum suggests that Indian survival hinges on the success of a coexistence founded on enlightenment ideals, and how Blauvogel simultaneously problematizes coexistences under settler colonial and Indian societies, championing instead a third way. My readings of these films are preceded with an introduction to the DEFA-Indianerfilme, briefly touching upon the genre's literary and cinematic roots, and capped by a conclusion suggesting the relevance of these films as didactic guides for contemporary questions of coexistence.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Germanic Languages and Literatures

This MA thesis aims to examine the peer-to-peer interactions resulting from the language learning tasks in the college-level German textbook Impuls Deutsch 1, which is written for students with little to no prior knowledge of German. The textbook claims to “focus on meaning and communication” and develop students' communicative competence (Tracksdorf et al. n.d. ) and includes numerous tasks throughout the book. Language learing tasks have been an important instrument in task-based language teaching (TBLT) for realizing the communicative approach that emphasizes “the learner's participatory experience in meaningful L2 interaction in (often simulated) communicative situations” (Dornyei, 2009, p. 34). Tasks have also been favored by proponents of the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1981, 1989) because interactions arising from tasks can potentially facilitate language acquisition by providing learners with opportunities to receive comprehensible input and negotiate meaning by constantly modifying their utterances. However, the effectivity of tasks and 'task' as a research construct are challenged by researchers because of the divergence between task-asworkplan and task-in-process (Seedhouse, 1999, 2004, 2005a). This problem, according to Seedhouse (2005a), can be solved if conversation analysis is employed to analyze interactions during the task process from a qualitative and emic perspective to complement the SLA and task-based learning research. Inspired by Seedhouse's criticisms (2004, 2005a), I use the conversation analysis methodology to analyse video-recordings of students' dyadic interactions resulting from two-way information-gap tasks assigned in the German language classroom. The findings confirm the mismatch between task-as-workplan and task-in-process and demonstrate that learners design simplified turns in L2 and rely on L1 to achieve efficient task accomplishment, but they can also orient to the workplan closely in their interactions. The study cont (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Germanic Languages and Literatures

This thesis uses the approach of conversation analysis (CA) to examine the use of three question types in a video-mediated conversation-for-learning activity between a native (L1) speaker of German and a beginning (L2) learner of German. In addressing questions to L2 speakers, L1 speakers must design their turn in a way that makes it understandable and maintains intersubjectivity, either through the type of question asked, or through additional linguistic scaffolding. The analysis focuses on the usage of yes/no, WH and reciprocal und du? (and you?) type questions in their respective interactional environments to demonstrate how the L1 speakers strategically deploy these linguistic resources to maintain progressivity and manage the talk in their interaction with L2 learners of German. In these conversations, the L1 speaker must constantly orient themselves to their L2 co-participant's limited range of linguistic resources and design their yes/no and reciprocal questions around previous turns at talk and what they perceive to be shared communicative resources. When the L1 speakers choose to introduce a new topic or ask a “telling” type WH question that warrants an extended response (Fox & Thompson, 2010), they must then do additional work to decompose (Svennevig, 2018) or provide candidate answers for the L2 speaker. These findings suggest that both the types and frequency of questions asked by L1 speakers in these conversation-for-learning type activities are directly influenced by the input provided by the L2 speaker.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Germanic Languages and Literatures

Eberhard Ludwig Gruber, a clergy man from Wurttemberg, composed a journal while he was traveling through Germany and Denmark to collect alms. I refer to this journal as the “Kollektentagebuch.” The Amana colonies in Iowa consider Gruber one of their founding fathers, as his son later emigrated to the United States, building the community of the “Wahre Inspirierte,” Truly Inspired. In this thesis, I aim to show what purpose the “Kollektentagebuch” was and how Gruber presents himself in it. I use Stephen Greenblatt's theory of self-fashioning to trace the shaping of Gruber's identity. I argue that he portrays himself as exceptionally pious and eager to collect as many alms as possible. The book was therefore likely used to serve as means of justification for why a certain amount of money, or no money at all, has been collected in the visited towns. As the journal was composed in the context of collecting donations and therefore differs from other travel diaries in the 17th and 18th century, it is also my goal to contribute to the sparse studies and research on literature related to such journeys.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, German

Trauma has been an important facet of literature and German studies since the romantic era, and just as people grow and change, so do the ways trauma is represented in different times. Trauma studies has already been applied to many different forms of literature including crime fiction and romantic era novellas. This analysis expands trauma study into the realm of film and television. By defining the Netflix original series Dark as a trauma narrative, the therapeutic function of its structure, repetitions, characterizations of emotional attachments, and resolutions become apparent. The narrative style of Dark mirrors the effects of trauma on the brain while the characters in the series propose dramatized aspects of symptoms of trauma that can help the audience reflect on aspects of their own lives. The characters in Dark create a representation of Tannhaus's trauma by showing different aspects of Tannhaus's grief. This aspect of the show distances the audience from Tannhaus while also creating an emotional attachment towards other characters. At the end of the series, the removal of the characters displaces the emotional grief, caused by loss, from Tannhaus to the audience. German forms of literature have been playing with these tropes of displacement, of fractured identity, haunting of the past, death, and new beginnings, for over two centuries. They appear in the romantic period, e.g. in E.T.A. Hoffmann's works and find further reflection in Freud. This analysis will show how film and a modern made-for-TV series like Dark can also help their audiences to attempt healing through reflection.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1941, German

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

My dissertation investigates "The Seven Deadly Sins" (full title in German: "Die sieben Todsunden der Kleinburger") written by the famous German playwright Bertolt Brecht, with music composed by Kurt Weill, from its Paris, France, premiere in exile during the Third Reich, to the twenty-first century. "The Seven Deadly Sins" embodies a gray area between opera and ballet, which has shaped its varied performance history. It features two women as the main protagonist, Anna, divided into Anna I (a singer) and Anna II (a dancer), who is sent on her own journey of exile across seven different cities in the United States by her patriarchal family unit over the course of seven years. The goal of her journey is to become a famous actress and to send money home to her family to build a house in her native Louisiana. "The Seven Deadly Sins" is an outlier among Brecht and Weill's collaborations together as a “sung-ballet.” They are famous for working together on Brecht's signature style of theater, the “epic theater,” which promotes critical thinking over emotion; they had never written a ballet together before in their native Germany. Thus, "The Seven Deadly Sins" was a result of the two writing in exile and as a result, outside influences crept into the epic theater. Therefore, "The Seven Deadly Sins" has not received the same amount of attention as Brecht and Weill's other works, which are more standard examples of epic theater. As such, instead of labeling this work as a “sung-ballet,” I argue that it should be recognized as a piece of “exilic theater.” Therefore, my work can be seen as a unique and innovative contribution to the field of German Studies, by bridging the gap between our literary field and the arts, and by strengthening growing ties between disciplines in the humanities who write on Theater and Performance Studies, Musicology, and Exile Studies.

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2021, German (Foreign Language)

This study examines the characteristics of the traditional German Kunstmarchen in Susanne Rockel's 2018 novel Der Vogelgott. Although the Kunstmarchen tradition is generally associated with the literary movement of Romanticism, I contend that Der Vogelgott unites contemporary topics with Romantic elements and is therefore a modern-day reimagination of the traditional German Kunstmarchen. Using Ludwig Tieck's Der Blonde Eckbert (1797) as an example, I examine the key motives characteristic for Romantic literature and analyze their representation in Rockel's novel to support my thesis. At the core of my research lies the examination of the Doppelganger motif, as it is the key element to understanding how reality and the world of the fantastic converge in Der Vogelgott. The theoretical framework of this study is informed by literary and philosophical theories of the late 18th and early 19th century in Germany. I draw on German philosopher Friedrich Schlegel's Athenaums Fragment, which outlines his poetic and aesthetic concepts for a Progressive Universalpoesie and investigate traces of Schlegel's concepts in Rockel's novel. The findings of my study shed new light on the German Kunstmarchen and prove that this tradition is not limited to the Romantic era but continues to the present day.

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

J. R. R. Tolkien has been revered as the father of twentieth century fantasy, however many initially criticized him for his handling of textual matter as male-centric magical lands that did not feature prominent female roles or significant female characters. In this discussion I present the argument that Tolkien created a vast community of powerful female figures within his fantasy writing, that stem from the distinct and dominant female forces he creates within his academic translations and poetry. Therefore, my aim in this discussion is to highlight the powerful and female forward translations Tolkien creates within his writing of original medieval, Norse, and Celtic figures, and unveil how these characters lend shape to the powerful and dynamic female characters that appear within his original poetry and transform into the central figures that shape Middle-earth. My research brings together these women as a culmination of female community, not just singular figures, who comprise the dynamic and prominent figures who shape Tolkien's creative art. Through careful research, study, and using the medieval model of triptych, I illustrate the transient power of the community of female strength; a fluid and diverse repertoire of influential characters that culminate into the Triptych art of women in Tolkien's writing compendium.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

In his 2015 production Faust I+II, Robert Wilson fuses elements of Postdramatic theater with German classicism. In the post-Brechtian world of theater, Wilson is able to bring together elements of absolute theater, the grand operas of the nineteenth century, and the tradition of epic theater in one production. As a leading figure in the world of Postdramatic theater, Robert Wilson's work throughout the twentieth century has made a significant impact. His Faust I+II highlights his signature design aesthetic and incorporates elements of contemporary Western culture to create a unique version of Goethe's Faust I and Faust II. This dissertation discusses two main topics: 1) Robert Wilson's chronological development in the world of Postdramatic theater and 2) the literary-historical development of the Faust legend. The project culminates in an in-depth discussion and close reading of Wilson's Faust I+II.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Germanic Languages and Literatures

Defining the word human may seem like a simple task. The cultural history of the word human is anything but simple, however. “Human” is not simply an alternate word for an individual of the species Homo sapiens. Rather, the word human, like the word animal, has been applied, culturally and historically, to different extents to individuals of the species Homo sapiens depending on factors like race, gender, ethnicity, disability, social class, and bodily conformity. In the West, human has been used to signify a masculine, able-bodied ideal that is set apart from all other animals (including many Homo sapiens) to the detriment of both human and nonhuman animals. Unpacking the cultural meanings of the word human is essential if we are to understand the ways it has been used to sort and oppress humans and animals alike. In this project, I examine what it means to be human in contemporary German literature and how the cultural meanings of “human” and “nonhuman” are tied up with gendered cultural notions of ability and disability. I analyze three novels: Die Mansarde by Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer published in 1969, Der Mensch erscheint im Holozan by Swiss author Max Frisch published in 1979, and Etuden im Schnee by Japanese-German author Yoko Tawada in 2014. In my analysis of Die Mansarde, I elucidate the ways that human status and belonging for a woman in the mid-twentieth Century in Austria are inevitably tied up with her ability to listen, empathize, and serve. My analysis of Der Mensch erscheint im Holozan highlights the harmful effects of a Western masculine able-bodied human norm for an elderly man with dementia and draws attention to the agency and abilities of other living and nonliving beings within the story. And finally, my analysis of Etuden im Schnee demonstrates the fluid and culturally determined nature of the category of human by focusing on EIS's supplantation of the traditional human subject with three, active, differently abled polar bears in n (open full item for complete abstract)