Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

In higher education, the focus on student success often takes center stage in research and the professor-as-teacher practice. While numerous empirical studies concentrate on the growth and development of undergraduate students, this dissertation delves into professors' relational and felt experiences in positive teaching-learning relationships. Four terminal-degreed professors from four different schools and three different disciplines–education, humanities, and leadership–engaged in photography and were then interviewed. Participants reflected on their photographs and their experiences in a teaching-learning relationship with their students. The present study aimed to illuminate the unspoken language of connection by utilizing interpretive phenomenology and photovoice to uncover professors' relational and felt experiences and how these moments energize and rejuvenate them. Research revealed two overarching themes: generativity and seeing students' humanity; and five group experiential themes: foundational influences, relational proximity, intentional presence, assessment as a learning conversation, and feeling aligned. The theoretical foundation of this dissertation weaved together a diverse array of theories and concepts, including relational cultural theory (RCT), somatics, and embodiment. The insight from the literature combined with the findings from this study offer understanding in how professor-student relationships in higher education can be places of mutual empowerment, empathy, and mattering. By grounding the research framework in human interaction's relational and fluid, alive, and pulsating bodies, this dissertation contributes to a more humanized and inclusive understanding of the intricate relationships that shape higher education. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

In today's mainline Protestant churches, young women clergy navigate a precarious leadership space. While women's ordination is well-established in American Protestantism (Burnett, 2017), Gen-X/Millennial clergy women find themselves at the crosshairs of conflicting gender narratives and unsustainable expectations of what it means to be both a woman and an ordained pastoral leader. Through the use of feminist constructivist grounded theory methodology, this study explored the lived experiences of Gen-X/Millennial clergy women who have left active ministry or a specific pastoral position due to concerns over their own interpersonal boundaries and psychological safety. Through dimensional analysis of in-depth interviews with 20 clergy women representing eight mainline Protestant denominations, this study identified the co-core dimensions of experiencing feminized servanthood as dehumanizing and experiencing feminized servanthood as abusive. The social processes within these co-core dimensions severely compromised the clergy women's physical and psychological safety and informed their decisions to leave their respective ministry contexts. Extending from these co-core dimensions were five primary dimensions: 1) developing a sense of call; 2) differentiating self from system; 3) exposing vs. protecting toxic leaders and harmful systems; 4) nail in the coffin; and 5) reconstituting self. As a result of these findings, this study presents five theoretical propositions that address 1) the shadow side of servant leadership in the context of feminized servanthood; 2) reclaiming Gen-X/Millennial women's leadership strengths; 3) perceptions of self-differentiated women leaders as a “dissident daughter” and an “emasculating disruptor”; 4) gendered scapegoating and the disappearance of Gen-X/Millennial clergy women; and 5) reconstituting self beyond “reckoning” and “resilience.” This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD cent (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

The experiences of Black women staff were at the forefront of this study as a way to create space for Black women by a Black woman. The experiences of staff and more specifically staff a color are often an afterthought (Cho & Brassfield, 2022) which has created some cultures of toxicity (Steele, 2018) and expected niceness (Liera, 2020). Black women in entry to mid-level positions are often in more service-focused roles which comes with institutional expectations for emotional labor that is not compensated (Scott, 2017). The purpose of this qualitative study was to center the experiences of Black women staff in entry to mid-level unclassified (salaried) positions located in Ohio. As a population that has and continues to be oppressed and marginalized, this study centered thematic narratives with a transformative worldview (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Analysis was conducted through a Quilted Analysis (Anandarajan & Hill, 2019) by the different layers of the quilt correlating with the problem and interwoven experiences (backing), the individual quilt squares (batting), and the visualization and story of the findings (top). A total of 16 semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted to understand the experiences of Black women staff, specifically what their experiences have been while working at a predominantly white institution in Ohio, what healing and coping has looked like for them, and how they conceptualize strength. The backing of the quilt had six identified themes, (death & loss, boundaries, loneliness, coping, healing, and strength). Through thematic narratives, themes for each of the participants were identified and shared. Guided by Strong Black Womanhood (Donovan & West, 2016; Scott, 2017) (SBW), the centering of the experiences of participants along with their conceptualizations of strength allowed for space (Gunn, 2022) for naming. Through this theoretical application of Womanism (Walker, 1983), the literature, methodology, analysis, and f (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

Since the inception of Christianity, Christians have struggled to know how to interact with surrounding cultures, what aspects of life to pass on to the next generation, and how to disciple the next generation in faith in Christ. This project is an ontological investigation into Christ-centered education, making the case to move beyond the pre-critical, and critical to embrace an affirmative post-critical pedagogy. Having been grounded in the faith and grace of the evangel (Chapter I) and approaching epistemology with Christian humility (Chapter II), the Christ-centered educator embodies both critical pedagogy and affirmative pedagogy (Chapter III), based on six biblical principles that undergird Christ-centered education: 1. worship, 2. wisdom, 3. love, 4. faithfulness to the Bible, 5. in community fellowship, as 6. responsible stewards (Chapter IV). Christ-centered educators should be affirmed in these principles by their community (of other Christ-centered educators, administration, and by local Christ-centered churches and families) as they are called to live out the evangel in their classrooms and churches, flourishing as disciples of Jesus and as teachers (Chapter V). This is the ontological embodiment of Christ-centered pedagogy expressed in an affirmative, post-critical pedagogy.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, English/Literature

This thesis puts into conversation the work of four influential late medieval writers whose lives or writings skirted the fringes of Christian orthodoxy - Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, John of Morigny, and Marguerite Porete - in order to explore the way "autobiographical" theological and/or mystical writers asserted spiritual authority and subjectivity under the constraints of both the threat of condemnation for heresy and the inherent inexpressibility of mystical or visionary experiences. Beginning with Marguerite Porete and reverberating out, the performance-based rhetorical strategies in storytelling, in self-narrativization, in discernment, and in revision employed by writers in response to the dynamic, complex, and in many ways increasingly hostile social and religious environments of the long fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries in France and England provide an important window into the relationship between these writers' ideas and the environment which shaped them. Each of these writers struggles with the limitations of the written word to express the truth of their spiritual experiences, and each engages in an experiential and bodily performative, rhetorical, and/or apophatic discourse in order to understand, assert, or make real their encounters with and understanding of themselves, the divine, and the relationship between the two.

MA, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

My thesis discusses the history of gender and sexuality politics in postcolonial Zimbabwe. It utilizes the convening of Christianity and politics to explore how these areas of public life combined to influence different perceptions towards gender and sexuality identities. The background appraises the impact of African Traditional Religion (ATR) during the colonial period and the changes ushered in by Western Christianity. During this time of colonial conquest, ATR was the cornerstone of all the sectors of life including politics. This included the worshiping of God through nature and ancestral spirits. Reincarnation was a very prominent practice of the colonial Zimbabwe ATR, also known as the Mwari cult. The concept of reincarnation was considered an effective way of communicating with the dead through the Masvikiro (spirit mediums) who transmitted information, requests for rains, or prayers for healing and harvest to Mwari or Unkulunkulu (God). Masvikiro gained popularity as the quest for nationalism continuously shaped every aspect of colonial Zimbabwe especially in the anti-colonial protest of 1896-97 Chimurenga (war of independence). Although there was transition in religion since the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial period where ATR's prominence began to diminish due to the absorption of western doctrines, all the three historic phases elaborate how religion was shaped by the prevailing situations until it became a chief cornerstone of every aspect of the postcolonial economy. As a result of colonialism, a significant number of people converted to Christianity. My thesis, therefore, serves to confirm the existence of a continued influence of religion in politics. It reexamines the various ways in which a combination of religion and politics affected the perceptions of gender and sexuality identities. This pinpoints dimensions in which gender identities were understood and perceived in independent Zimbabwe and most significantly how these changed through (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Social Work

Spirituality has been popularized as a support for those in addiction recovery. Millions of individuals have transitioned from active addiction to addiction recovery through interventions informed by spiritual and religious principles. However, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that relapse rates within the United States remain high. This data may indicate a potential discrepancy between the present utility of spirituality and its practical implementation. Many researchers have attempted to find solutions and pathways that utilize spiritual components that would benefit those in addiction recovery. Theories and definitions abound for spirituality in addiction recovery, yet the operational and developmental nature of spirituality remains clouded. These limitations frustrate plans to reduce relapse rates by effectively implementing spiritually or religiously aligned program elements. Therefore, this project proposes three papers aimed at addressing this substantial gap: Chapter 2 is an inductive scoping review of empirically-focused peer-reviewed articles exploring how spirituality is defined and measured within addiction recovery literature. This chapter aims to assess how spirituality is presently defined within the context of addiction recovery literature and will consider definitions, components, indicators of health, and measurement as elements of how spirituality is structured. Chapter 3 is a deductive qualitative content analysis that explores how a synthesis of Canda's operational model of spirituality and Worden's Tasks of Grief align with the operational principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA has helped millions transition from active addiction to addiction recovery through a practical spiritual process. The content analysis study will explore the operational literature of AA, explicitly examining the content for components of spirituality and spiritual change. Doing so rigorously will bring additional insight to future work and (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Psychology

While research examining common struggles of religious deidentification is growing, there is little research examining process variables of psychological adjustment. Individuals who deidentify from high-cost religions often experience anger or other negative emotions toward God, themselves, other individuals in the religion of origin, or the entire religion of origin. What role might forgiveness play in relation to these deidentification experiences? Event-specific forgiveness toward the self, God, specific others, and the entire community of origin was explored among 293 individuals who pulled away from ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Several factors accounted for unique variance in different types of forgiveness, which in turn had implications for mental health. In a few cases, levels of spiritual harm and abuse moderated the relationship between specific forgiveness and wellbeing outcomes. Overall, situation-specific forgiveness toward multiple transgressors may be an important factor when considering the psychological adjustment of those who pull away from high-cost religions.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, American Culture Studies

In 2021-2022, once routine school board meetings erupted into intense showdowns because of the presence of what many believed to be Critical Race Theory within the school curriculum, Comprehensive Sex Education, disagreement over gender identity, and the nature of parents' rights. There were shouting matches and accusations that schools, board members, and parents were racists, hated America and members of the LGBTQ community, were trafficking in communism, and were harming children. Commenters made fiery pledges to remove board members, and board members received hate mail including death threats. This research project interrogates parents', guardians', and concerned community members' publicly expressed beliefs and anxieties about Critical Race Theory (CRT), gender identity, and Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), at 10 geographically diverse K-12 public school board meetings in the U.S. available online in 2021-2022. It considers what their comments at the board meetings reveal about their understanding of the world, of America, American identity, and of their own values, hopes, and fears. The methodology used in the project is anthropological. There is close textual analysis to better ascertain the content, context, and meanings of the discourse formations and cultural codes. These are the primary sources analyzed: comments at the school board meetings, written and televised speeches, personal letters, newspapers, op-eds, slogans, protest signs, campaign commercials, websites, and social media. In addition, historical and archival research trace the genealogy of these discourse formations within American culture among the secular and white evangelical Religious Right. The anti-CRT commenters and those who hold to traditional gender ideologies want to maintain a particular culture, an ordering of the world, including ideology and theology that is rooted in hierarchy, exclusion, and particular gender norms heavily influenced by the Southern way of life. (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2023, College of Education and Human Services

Urban ethnic churches across the nation continue to be beacons of light in communities throughout the United States. The people within have endured the same centralized struggles found in every impoverished urban neighborhood, be it crime or gentrification. Many, like the millions of Latinos across America, find respite in belonging to ethnic spaces where they can preserve parts of their cultural identities as they navigate the duality of their culture, what it means to be Latino, while navigating acculturation, what it means to be American. Whether they are immigrants, English Language Learners, or second-and-third-generation Latinos, the meaning-making found in faith-based affinity groups, like ethnic churches, where faith and ethnicity intersect, can serve as a source for understanding leadership and social mobility among minority groups. The leaders of these communities, or pastors, have a unique ability to function as transformational leaders, gatekeepers of social capital, and agents of social and economic advancement in addition to their role as spiritual leaders. This hermeneutic phenomenological study conducted in the Midwest region of the United State States, questions whether urban pastors perceive themselves as social and economic transformational agents, and how keen they are on discovering the meaning-making that happens within the walls of their often small but mighty congregations. When urban Latina/o pastors and their churches discover the intersection of their ethnic and religious identity and their ability to use their social capital through trust (Coleman, 1988), networks (Bourdieu, 1986), and resources (Putman, 2000), they may not only empower their congregations spiritually but also socially and economically.

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

African American religious organizations have been the pillar of the urban community since their inception in the late 1700s. Throughout the years, as the religious organization grew, so did the need for church and attendance. In 1990, the number of Christians reported attending church service was 70%. By 2018, it was reported a 50% decline. In that, 50% decline are millennials who serve as important members of that church as it relates to the future of the church's existence. Church attendance continues to decline in the present day. The purpose of this study was to determine those contributing factors and identify opportunities for religious organizations to stop declining participation. I found that focusing on authentic engagement may improve church attendance.

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2023, English

Zora Neale Hurston is an African-American writer, anthropologist, and ethnographer of the Harlem Renaissance. She is distinguished for documenting and celebrating the religions of African Americans in the South. In this study, the author argues that Hurston represents the practiced religions in Southern African-American communities in Jonah's Gourd Vine and Moses, Man of the Mountain while noticeably omitting Islam, despite the fact that Islam predominated in more Northern African-American Communities as a reclaimed religious history and practice. Hurston's exclusion prompts inquiries into the history of Islamic erasures in Southern African-American communities and introduces ambiguity in interpreting the metaphors found in Jonah's Gourd Vine because of the differences between the Biblical and Quranic narratives surrounding the figure of Jonah. The author concludes that Hurston omits Islam because it was not noticeably practiced in the South among the African-American community. Finally, the author argues that Muslim readers must understand the Biblical Jonah to understand the metaphorical meanings of the vine relative to the protagonist John Buddy Pearson in Hurston's Jonah's Gourd Vine.

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact Christian couples from New Life Church in Colorado Springs through an eight-week workshop to practice prayer and risk taking to deepen their intra and interpersonal connection with each other and God. The post-test measures included qualitative measures of participants' awareness connecting their capacity to be aware of and participate with the work of the Holy Spirit. The quantitative post-test instrument showed that the participants' awareness regarding what interferes with their identity security with God was increased due to the study. The qualitative post-test instrument showed an increase in the participants' awareness regarding how their relationship with God impacted their intra and interpersonal relationships.

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact the participants' spiritual formation at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio through the practice of spiritual disciplines. This impact project was comprised of six weekly sessions. The impact of the project was measured by pre- and post-test assessment, and a post-test qualitative questionnaire, along with teaching, introducing, and practicing spiritual disciplines in-session. Also, participants were given assignments to journal and practice spiritual disciplines between sessions. The assessment results showed that the highest growth experienced was the impact on the participants' practice of spiritual disciplines to promote spiritual transformation in their lives.

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact the Christian formation in a select group of women in a virtual community through an eight-week study using "Forming: Change by Grace Curriculum, 10th Anniversary Edition" written by David Takle. The design of the project included the administration of pre-test and post-test questionnaires. The project results showed positive growth in all five categories of measured goals. The participants showed the highest improvement in their practice of two-way journaling on the subject of processing their disappointments.

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact the participant's understanding of biblical evangelism with a select group of members at the Church Without Walls Ministries in Flint, MI. The design of the project included sessions of weekly biblical teachings, and the administration of pre- and post-survey questionnaires, with qualitative questions. The study was to encourage discipleship through the practice of spiritual disciplines and cultural history. The participants were challenged to work on changing their daily habits to include spiritual disciplines. The result of the study demonstrated substantial growth in the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact the participants' practice of discipleship with a select group of African American women in the Detroit, Michigan metro area through a biblical training course on discipleship. The design of the project included weekly biblical teachings measured through the administration of pre- and post-survey questionnaires, with qualitative questions. The study was to encourage discipleship through the practice of spiritual disciplines and cultural history. The participants were challenged to change their daily habits to include spiritual disciplines. The results of the study demonstrated growth in the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

The goal is to shine light theologically on the role of transformational leadership in the missional church. What concepts about pneumatological discipleship, influence, power, authority, and transformational leadership suit a radically missional church? Radical missional challenges demand new notions about servant and transformational leadership. Pneumatological discipleship, as well as transformational leadership, must reflect the identity, calling, life, and order of the church. This autoethnographic action research project, therefore, addresses life in the Trinity and participation in the Missio Dei and outlines the radically missional church as the point of entry to develop transformational leadership insights and pneumatological discipleship practices. It contributes towards creating an appropriate model of pneumatological discipleship and transformational leadership for radically missional churches. Recent developments in the theology of mission seem to address the area of missional ecclesiology comprehensively. However, there is a gap in the development of pneumatological discipleship and transformational leadership models based on the concept of authority in the radically missional church.

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2023, Education

Action towards planetary well-being requires more than environmental awareness, acquisition of knowledge, or technological fixes; it necessitates a sacred connection, recognizing interdependence, and an ethic that maintains dignity for all non-human beings. It requires a shift in our ecological consciousness from the dominator and exploitative (I-it) view to the connected and participatory (I-thou) view which is best facilitated by an emerging paradigm called ecospirituality. For the next generation to adopt this paradigm, teachers must first adopt it. The research goal was to to transform teachers' relationship with the natural world by enlisting ecospirituality as central in supporting teacher wellness, as an intervening variable for pro-environmental behaviors, and in developing robust ecological identities among teachers and correspondingly their students. The literature review focused on several intersecting but distinct theoretical approaches including; holistic learning theory, spiritual identity development, nature-based education, the indigenous worldview, and ecospirituality. For this dissertation, an immersive, spiritually enhanced, eco-curriculum called More than mindfulness: A teacher fellowship in ecospirituality was developed. It was then implemented in order to cultivate ecospiritual mindsets among the participants. The research sample drew from a 28 member, preschool-8th grade teaching faculty employed by a private, holistic school. The study was a convergent parallel mixed methods design and utilized a focus group technique where participant reflection was the source of qualitative data and pre and post surveys yield both quantitative and qualitative data. The research suggests that ecospirituality serves as a uniquely transformative paradigm for educators. The teacher fellowship changed the way the educators situate themselves in relation to the natural world as the data showed a significant increase in participant connectedness to na (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

Previous research has demonstrated that practicing forest bathing has significant positive effects on well-being. However, few studies have investigated whether forest bathing increases adolescent well-being despite the growing adolescent mental health crisis in the United States. Similarly, few studies have explored forest bathing's impacts on connectedness to nature. Considering the ongoing environmental crisis, determining if forest bathing increases connectedness to nature is a critical expansion of forest bathing research, as connectedness to nature is linked to environmental care and concern. This study investigated the possibility that forest bathing, a nature-based mindfulness practice, could increase adolescent mental well-being and connectedness to nature and sought to determine participants' experiences of practicing forest bathing. This study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design that was partially co-created with 24 participants aged 16-18 as part of a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project where participants practiced forest bathing three times over three weeks. After practicing forest bathing, participants' mental well-being increased significantly, as measured by the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale. Connectedness to nature also increased significantly as measured by the Connectedness to Nature Scale. Participants described reduced stress and increased feelings of relaxation, peace, and happiness as well as increased connection to nature, gratitude for nature, concern for nature, and desire to care for nature. Although this is one of the first studies to examine forest bathing impacts on participants' connectedness to nature, these findings correlate with other studies showing that spending time outside in nature increases connectedness to nature and care and concern for the environment. People working with adolescents could consider forest bathing as a practice that increases connectedness to nature while also incr (open full item for complete abstract)