Ed.D., Antioch University, 2025, Education

My dissertation focuses on my thesis question: How might an NGO's grassroots efforts in urban Visakhapatnam, India, propagate living justly with animals we encounter and severely Othered humans, beyond attitudes of guardianship, mitigating universalized harms to nature and society? In a transdisciplinary approach examining grassroots programs, my phenomenological study breaks down an animal advocate's assertive practices of—inclusivity and decolonialized lived norms, which persistently transcend cultural antagonisms of caste, ability, gender, sex, class, and form/species—toward creating just pluriversal multispecies communities in Visakhapatnam. Universalized urbanization across the planet has driven irreversible socio-ecological transformation marked by record ecosystem decline. Sustaining the urban via historically patriarchal and colonialized human dominion over other animals and Earth's natural resources reveals our existential disconnect with nature, including our human nature. My analysis claims phenomenologically realized premises observing real actors materializing grassroots formations of interspecies coexistence—working through nexuses of the political, economic, cultural, and religious systems of harm—in efforts toward creating self-determined, just, multispecies communities in Visakhapatnam. This attempts to bridge this gap in scholarship from within the intensities of Visakhapatnam city in urban India. Undoing normative, essentially androcentric, harm that oppresses many and despoils nature is possible. How to wrest political power and demand change-making to address biodiversity loss, food and water insecurity, and unacceptable inequities for Othered humans and animals in urban geographies has been observed and analyzed. More communities and societies applying these phenomenological realizations can help build momentum, lending to many just worlds in one pluriversal world becoming the norm. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https:/ (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Social support has been found to attenuate stress and lead to better health outcomes (Berkman and Krishna 2014; Cobb 1976; House 1987; Syme 1984). This study examined how computer-programmed avatars can decrease stress and provide social support. This study also explored whether the avatar's race mattered when social support was given and tested for differences in state stress responses based on gender. Participants (n=126) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1) support from an avatar with darker skin, 2) support from an avatar with paler skin, 3) imagined support from a special person, or 4) no support. All participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test in virtual reality; survey data and biophysical measures were collected. Using ANOVAs to compare differences between groups, results showed significant differences (p=0.036) between the stress scores of the control condition and the avatar with darker skin condition, demonstrating stress reduction in this avatar condition. Race matching participants to avatars was not necessary to provide stress reduction. Women had a greater reduction in their stress response to the avatar with darker skin and imagined conditions than men. Social support from virtual avatars has the potential to support well-being in humans. This study seeks to inform future research development on the use of therapeutic AI avatars in the field of mental health.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2025, Sociology

Introduction: Parents of all parenting styles are no strangers to anxiety and often seek out resources that ease their fears about the well-being of their children. Location tracking apps are a contemporary parenting resource that many parents of adolescents and emerging adults use to track their children's location as they navigate the uncertainty and developmental changes associated with emerging adulthood. While there is some pre-existing research about emerging adults' perceptions of location tracking apps' impacts on their lived experiences, there is little to no existing qualitative data detailing parents' motivations for using location tracking apps with their families. This study aims to provide meaningful insight about parents' use of location tracking apps with their families and delve into the factors contributing to parents' use of (or abstinence from using) apps like Life360 and Find My iPhone. Using focus group interviews with parents of emerging adults, our team gained a greater understanding of the external and internal factors that impact parents' perceptions of their loved ones' safety and well-being. Methods: In a focus group study of 22 parents in Athens, Ohio, a rural college town, parent-participants engaged in discussion about the salience of location tracking apps on their family dynamics. Transcript data was analyzed using the systematic thematic delivery (STD) method, which was guided by existing sociological theory, psychological theory, research, and contemporary understandings of parenting practices. Participants also completed a brief exit survey that quantified their thoughts on authoritarian political systems. Results: Findings suggest that location tracking apps are not only a resource for parents to use with their children, but a resource that some parents also use with elderly family members. Additionally, it seems as though authoritarian and authoritative parents may use location tracking to ease their anxieties and promote (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2025, Journalism

A qualitative thematic analysis analyzing six hip-hop artists and their musical works over the last 25 years.

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Many argue that the United States needs more computer science (CS) undergraduate majors, but the field suffers from high rates of student attrition, as well as gender and racial disparities in participation. This dissertation furthers our understanding of how to produce more CS graduates by examining how different psychosocial factors predict CS persistence, and how these associations vary by students' gender and/or racial identities. Across three chapters, I examine how CS persistence intentions are predicted by (1) CS grades and self-assessments of CS ability, (2) sense of belonging in the CS department and university, and relationships with CS professors, peers, and TAs, and (3) self-assessments of CS ability and professional role confidence (PRC). Further, I examine if/how these associations vary by student gender and race. Broadly, the results indicated that some psychosocial factors (i.e. PRC, belonging in the CS department, relationships with professors) predicted persistence intentions for all students, and other factors (i.e., relationships with peers and TAs) did not predict persistence for any students. However, the strength of the associations varied by gender and/or racial identification.

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Fatal overdose rates are dropping in the U.S. (Tanz et al. 2024), but in some communities, rates are holding steady or even increasing, as a majority of recent overdose deaths are connected to polysubstance use (Spencer, Minino and Garnet 2023), and disproportionately impacting folks marginalized by their race/ethnicity, SES, gender, and drug of choice (Friedman et al. 2022; Henderson 2024). Research is needed to determine how/if these large gaps in response to the overdose crisis are being addressed. This dissertation asks: What is being done to address the racial/ethnic disparities in overdose deaths? What is being missed while the focus is on opioids? I focus on a small Midwest city, where I used relational ethnography (Desmond 2014) supported by 36 in-depth interviews with treatment and harm reduction providers, people in recovery, and people who are currently using drugs. I find that treatment and harm reduction are available, yet differentially accessible depending on one's racial/ethnic identity, SES, and drug of choice. In one neighborhood, I find that the prevalent use and sales of illicit substances are a symptom of organized abandonment. Despite clear awareness of risks related to drug use, safety is often deprioritized to meet basic daily needs.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

Since 1965, the “Rossi scale” has been regularly used in the social sciences and sociology to gauge the extent to which individuals feel that women should have access to a legal abortion by assessing their agreement with abortion in a series of circumstances. In the contemporary era, however, the conversation has shifted from a discussion of abortion rights to a discussion of abortion access. Moreover, feminist theory has moved beyond the use of an underlying "choice" logic to assess individuals' attitudes toward abortion. In this article, I interrogate the prevailing use of the Rossi scale for the measurement of abortion attitudes by investigating its reliability, assessing its enduring hierarchical nature, and verifying its unidimensionality. Despite concerns with the continued face validity of the Rossi scale, findings show that the scale continues to be statistically adequate. I discuss my most pertinent findings in these regards and propose potential analytic alternatives for future scholarship surrounding reproductive justice, abortion, and attitudes toward legal abortion in particular.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

This dissertation examines how sports fandom might help bridge partisan divides in an era of increasing political polarization. As affective polarization—the tendency to view opposing partisans with animosity and distrust—continues to rise in the United States, understanding institutions that could foster political tolerance becomes increasingly crucial for maintaining democratic functioning. With over 70% of Americans identifying as sports fans and professional sports representing one of the few remaining cultural institutions that regularly brings together people across political lines, examining sports fandom's potential role in fostering political tolerance is both timely and significant. Chapter 1 establishes the theoretical foundations by synthesizing literature from sociology, political science, and communications. It introduces a conceptualization of political tolerance as permissiveness or acceptance toward ideological difference, rather than requiring either prerequisite prejudice or enthusiastic embrace of difference. This framework proves especially suited for examining how sports might foster political tolerance without necessarily transforming underlying political beliefs. Chapter 2 develops an original theoretical framework establishing sports fandom as consisting of three key dimensions: individual investments (both inner and outer), relational practices, and boundary-making processes. This framework advances sociological understanding of fandom by moving beyond simplistic behavioral or psychological approaches to capture its inherent complexity. Chapter 3 provides the first large-scale empirical test of sports fandom's relationship to political tolerance through analysis of survey data from over 13,000 respondents. The findings reveal that higher levels of sports fandom are associated with more favorable ratings of opposing political parties, particularly among Democrats and those who consider their political beliefs highly important to the (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

This dissertation explores the movement to “Stop the Sweeps,” an emerging response to increasing criminalization of unhoused encampments in cities across the country. Using a comparative case study of Seattle and Los Angeles, I answer the following questions: 1) How do identity and place shape movements to stop the sweeps? 2) What role do unhoused individuals play in movements to stop the sweeps? 3) How do members of the economic and political elite legitimize continued sweeps? What role do service providers play in this legitimization? First, in Chapter 2, I draw on interviews with 24 housed activists to demonstrate how identity and place-based factors shape Social Movement Organizations (SMOs) in both cities. Both race and ethnicity and ideology create tensions that splinter groups and decrease overall capacity. Class, however, allows for solidarity-building across difference, as middle and upper-middle class activists make class-oriented sacrifices to participate in this movement. In terms of place-based factors, sweep policies, hostile culture, and weather create challenges for Seattle SMOs, as activists are often forced into an emergency-response mode, trying to keep the unhoused alive, rather than focusing on systemic changes. Chapter 3 uses interviews with 21 unhoused and recently housed activists to demonstrate the importance of the encampment—a place-based fixture in both cities—to mobilization. I find that encampments provide an important physical space for solidarity-building, both within the unhoused community and between housed and unhoused community members. I demonstrate how lived experience fosters an understanding of the systemic injustice of houselessness, which is bolstered by political education within the encampment. While prior research documents the importance of the encampment to positive identity-work and bounded citizenship, I find evidence that encampments, when fixed-in-place, can encourage collective action beyond the physical bou (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2025, East Asian Studies

This thesis explores how national identity frameworks in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States (US) shape the legal, social, and symbolic inclusion of North Korean refugees, and how refugees navigate these structures to construct belonging in their everyday lives. Despite legal citizenship and presumed ethnic sameness, North Korean defectors in the ROK face persistent marginalization due to public stigma, institutional neglect, and symbolic exclusion, supporting the hypothesis that ethnic nationalism does not guarantee belonging. In contrast, US civic nationalism does not presume inclusion, but the ambiguity of North Korean identity within a racialized civic order enables limited but strategic pathways to community. Refugees construct belonging through legal interpretation, chosen family networks, and civic participation, confirming that civic nationalism can obscure and enable inclusion. Using a comparative, multi-method approach that combines theoretical analysis, policy and legal review, and ethnographic fieldwork, this study finds that identity is not inherited or legally bestowed but actively negotiated. The findings contribute to scholarship on nationalism, race, and migration by showing how belonging is shaped by racialized state structures and relational identity work. Ultimately, this research challenges dominant models of refugee integration and calls for more context-sensitive support systems that reflect the lived realities of marginalized migrants.

Master of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 2025, Social Work

Believers of Christian nationalist ideology think that Christianity should be given a place of prominence in the United States and its government, even at the expense of people of other faiths (Gorski et al., 2022). As social workers we are called by our code of ethics to help all people, we especially need to pay attention to groups that are traditinally marginalized. (National Association of Social Workers., 2021) Marginalized groups includes the LGBT+ community, immigrents, and women. The study aim is to examine the association between Christian nationalist ideology and perceptions of marginalized groups. There are two research questions, the first is: what are the characteristics of people who ascribe to Christian nationalist ideology. The second is: what policies do those who ascribe to Christian nationalist ideology support in relation to marginalized groups? The second research question has three associated hypotheses. Hypothesis 2.1 People who ascribe to Christian nationalist ideology are more likely to favor policies that reduce the number of foreign-born individuals in the country. Hypothesis 2.2 People who ascribe to Christian nationalist ideology are more likely to support policies that discriminate against the LGBT+ community. Hypothesis 2.3 People who ascribe to Christian nationalist ideology are more likely to support policies that restrict abortion care. This thesis used data from the PRRI 2022 White Christian Nationalism Survey. This survey was completed between November 21-December 14, 2022 (PRRI, 2022). The PRRI survey has 6,212 responses from a random sample of adults in the United States (PRRI, 2022). Independent variables include measures of Christian nationalist ideology, dependent variables include measures of respondents' opinions on immigration, LGBT+ individuals, and reproductive health, control variables include demographic and socioeconomic information. Those that responded in line with a Christian nationalist ideological min (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

This study examines how specific police interrogation techniques shape a broad spectrum of suspect behaviors in real-world homicide investigations, challenging the long-standing institutional fixation on obtaining confessions as the sole marker of success. Drawing on Institutional Theory and using a mixed-methods design, the research analyzes 98 video-recorded interrogations conducted by the Columbus Police Homicide Bureau. Through regression modeling of 39 coded techniques and 9 suspect outcomes, the study reveals that certain rapport-based strategies – such as offering food, giving compliments, and narrative elicitation – significantly increase cooperation and confession rates. In contrast, accusatorial tactics like maximization, rapid-fire questioning, and emotional disregard provoke silence, denials, or requests for legal representation. Additionally, findings suggest that technique choice influences not only immediate suspect responses but also broader case-processing timelines. By moving beyond the confession-centric paradigm, this research offers a more ethical, effective, and empirically grounded framework for evaluating interrogation success – one with practical implications for law enforcement training, institutional reform, and criminal justice policy.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2025, Sociology

This study explores the legal consciousness of Asian Indian immigrants in the United States and how it shapes citizenship construction. Legal consciousness is how people understand, experience, and act in relation to law. Asian Indians are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in the U.S., yet their rates of naturalization are the lowest. This research examines how experiences of inclusion/ exclusion, immigration law, opportunities and public policy in the host country, shape immigrants' perspectives of citizenship. Modern citizenship can be understood in terms of the principle of equality of status. T. H. Marshall underscored the importance of social rights, where previously political and civil rights had been dominant. Contemporary theorists have posited multiple forms of citizenship with reference to emerging power hierarchies. Increasing migration in a globalized world calls for an understanding of not only how the construct of citizenship is viewed by immigrants, but how their lived experiences shape it. A qualitative analysis of 55 semi structured interviews was undertaken of skilled foreign born Asian Indian professionals and students, legally residing in the United States. These individuals typically enter the country via temporary visas and face terrains of restrictive policy and sometimes exclusionary social norms, in search of the “American dream.” The study illustrates the specific nature of barriers faced and how these are navigated. The data indicates that citizenship construction for Asian Indian immigrants, is strongly influenced by their legal status. I theorize around how skilled immigrants deploy citizenship practice though three forms of citizenship, namely, resourceful, resilient and ambivalent. These are presented through a citizenship typology which serves to highlight the nature of inequalities that exist legally and socially for skilled immigrants, who live with less than full membership of society. In an environment where mark (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

Gender and workplace stratification literatures consistently highlight wage inequalities for women compared to men. While partly due to occupational segregation and the devaluation of women's work, these inequalities may also be sequential, tied to post-secondary educational backgrounds and divergences in labor market attachment over time. Drawing on NLSY97 data, I uniquely analyze gender wage disparities, field of study in college, and the impact of labor market attachment and detachment. Findings reveal significant differences across college majors: applied non-STEM and applied STEM degrees appear to be tied to stronger labor market attachment, yet women benefit less from applied non-STEM degrees compared to men—an inequality likely related to the concentration of women in care-centered majors. Although applied STEM degrees offer comparable advantages to men and women, women's significant underrepresentation in such fields means that these advantages are disproportionately realized by men. Further analysis of wage gaps reveals that: (1) wage disparities across college majors can be partially explained by divergent degree of labor market attachment after earning a bachelor's degree, and (2) earnings gains associated with greater labor market attachment are nearly double for men what they are for women. I conclude by discussing these patterns and what they mean for gendered labor market disparities, but also for conceptions of education-labor market connections.

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2025, Psychology

The current study explored phubbing within romantic relationships and the effect that attributional information and setting have on need threat and communication quality in response to the behavior. College students (n = 122) read a vignette where they were provided with and important or unimportant reason for being phubbed by their romantic partner in a formal or informal setting. Participants completed the need-threat scale and an abbreviated version of the Iowa Communication Record. Contrary to the hypotheses, the study failed to find a main effect of attributional information or setting on levels of need threat. Further, the study failed to identify an interaction between attributional information and setting on levels of need threat. A main effect was found for attributional information on communication quality. Communication quality was higher when participants' partners informed them that they had to answer an important text message compared to an unimportant text message. The study failed to find differences in communication quality between a formal and informal setting. Lastly, the study failed to find an interaction between attributional information and setting on levels of communication quality. The findings warrant further research on other potential sources for reducing the negative effects of phubbing within a romantic relationship.

MA, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Prison misconducts are rule violations that can be understood as maladaptive coping mechanisms by incarcerated persons and include a broad range of behaviors that vary across states and facilities. Although prison misconduct has been frequently studied in the past, few studies have examined predictors of misconduct among incarcerated women. This thesis aims to address this knowledge gap by studying predictors of women's prison misconduct using two theoretical frameworks—importation and deprivation models. This thesis examines three categories of misconduct—violent, non-violent, and total misconducts. This study utilizes unrestricted publicly available data from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (ICPSR 37692); limiting analyses to a nationally representative sub-sample of incarcerated women (n=5,245). Logistic regression analyses indicated that importation variables (i.e., prior incarceration, mental health diagnoses, prior drug use) increased the odds of violent, non-violent, and total misconduct. Deprivation variables (i.e., time served, depression symptoms, visitation from children, programming, work assignment) also increased the odds of misconduct. Importantly, few importation or deprivation factors decreased the odds of misconduct among women. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2025, Sociology

While social scientists have extensively documented some of the collateral consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic—such as increased alcohol use, intimate partner violence, and health impacts—there is a notable gap in the literature concerning how parents navigated these challenges. Additionally, limited research explores the coping strategies and personal resources parents use to mitigate these consequences. This dissertation uses Wave 1, Wave 5, Wave 6 (before the pandemic), and Wave 7 (during the pandemic) of the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) to examine how parents navigated the pandemic in terms of parenting strains and economic strains and how these strains influenced negative health behaviors and self-reported health. In the first analytical chapter, I use the stress process model to answer the following question using logistic regression analysis: Did personal resources and coping strategies affect the relationship between COVID-19 strains and increased alcohol use net of pre-pandemic alcohol use and sociodemographic characteristics? In the second analytical chapter, I use general strain theory and Michael Johnson's Typologies of IPV to answer the following question using multivariable regression analysis: How did parents' COVID-19 strains affect intimate partner violence frequency during the pandemic net of mental health, increased alcohol use, pre-pandemic IPV, adverse childhood experiences, and sociodemographic characteristics? In the third analytical chapter, I use the stress process model to answer the following question using logistic regression analysis: How did healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms affect the relationship between COVID-19 strains and self-reported health among parents? The results indicate that while parenting strains contributed to increased alcohol use during the pandemic and economic strains contributed to increased intimate partner violence frequency during the pandemic, only some economic strains contributed to wor (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

Is collective action doomed to fail because of the incentive to free-ride off the contributions of others (Olson 1965; Heckathorn 1996)? Can groups overcome the conflict between maximizing individual interests versus maximizing collective outcomes (Komorita and Parks 1996)? This dissertation examines factors that address these questions related to public goods dilemmas. Understanding the factors that promote cooperative behaviors and reduce the likelihood to free-ride can help us to better address problems in our social world: combating climate change, funding public programs, garnering support for legislation, or simply keeping a public park clean. Much of the literature on promoting collective action identifies group structure as a positive mechanism to increase cooperative behaviors among group members (Rand and Nowak 2013; Simpson and Willer 2015). Status hierarchies (Willer 2009; Kumru and Vesterlund 2010; Simpson et al. 2012; Mark 2018), power relations (Ostrom 2000; Fehr and Fischbacher 2004; Sell et al. 2004; Harrell and Simpson 2016), and social identity processes (Tajfel and Turner 1986; De Cremer and Van Vugt 2002; Simpson 2006; Melamed et al. 2020) are three ways groups are structured and influence the likelihood of cooperation. This dissertation examines the effects of these group structures on individual cooperative behavior. I designed two public goods experiments to test the arguments of status characteristics theory (Berger et al. 1977; Ridgeway and Correll 2006) and power dependence theory (Emerson 1962; Cook and Emerson 1978) in relation to contributions to a public good. I then examined the influence of status on the likelihood that United States senators will cooperate with fellow congressional members by voting in support of proposed legislation. In Chapter 2, I designed a public goods experiment to test the arguments of status characteristics theory (Berger et al. 1977; Ridgeway and Correll 2006) as they pertain to cooperative behaviors (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

As schools increasingly adopt restorative practices, a parallel shift in leadership is occurring, challenging traditional leadership models like servant and transformational leadership. While research has largely focused on student outcomes, there is a critical gap in understanding how restorative practices influence school principals' leadership. Given their central role in sustaining and expanding restorative initiatives, this study aimed to address that gap by developing a definitional framework for restorative leadership, grounded in the experiences of women school leaders in grades 5 to 12. Using sensemaking theory, the research examined how leaders conceptualize and apply restorative values in practice. Key questions included how restorative leadership is understood, how it shapes leadership identity, and how it is enacted in practice. A mixed-methods design was employed, integrating survey data (N = 52) and semi-structured interviews (N = 12). Findings revealed that while 51.92% of participants recognized the term “restorative leadership,” many were already practicing it without labeling it as such. Restorative leadership emerged as a dynamic process of knowing, being, and doing, rooted in self-awareness, relational repair, participatory decision-making, and collective well-being. It challenges hierarchical paradigms and fosters inclusive school cultures, with the potential to disrupt inequitable systems, improve school climates, and promote leader well-being. Based on these findings, several key recommendations for action are proposed: establishing Restorative Leadership Intensives (RLIs) to deepen principals' engagement with restorative practices, integrating restorative leadership into leadership development programs and professional certifications, advocating for gender-equitable leadership models that emphasize relational strengths, and embedding restorative practices into school policies to create inclusive cultures. These actions a (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2025, Sociology

Building on classic urban sociology (DuBois 1899; Park and Burgess 1925), this dissertation examines gentrification in a context of rising inequality, urban revival, and housing insecurity. While acknowledging the value of both qualitative and quantitative approaches (Brown-Saracino 2017), this mixed methods study bridges the gap by examining gentrification in Columbus, Ohio's Franklinton neighborhood. Chapter 1 introduces the topic of gentrification, highlights Franklinton as the study site, and sets the stage for the rest of the dissertation. Chapter 2 uses quantitative data (demographics, housing, etc.) to showcase the neighborhood's changes since 1970 and examines multiple gentrification indices, arguing that single gentrification indices miss crucial nuances while also showcasing evidence that the neighborhood is plausibly gentrifying. Chapter 3 explores the interplay of public, private, and civic forces in shaping the neighborhood's gentrification. Chapter 4 delves into residents' lived experiences, revealing both positive and negative aspects of gentrification. This dissertation offers a comprehensive picture of Franklinton's gentrification, from the perspectives of decisionmakers and residents and through data analysis. It highlights the role of top-down forces, the complexities of residents' experiences, and the value of using multifaceted quantitative data. This work contributes to our understanding of gentrification and its complexities in a time of rapid urban change.