In the ongoing discussion of how to support diversity in higher education, language usage and its variation has been one of the most disputed features of writing pedagogy and instruction. The purpose of this research study was to examine how language . . .

The last two decades have brought along much scholarship in regard to monstrosity within literature. This has been thoroughly shown through the ways in which Christians in England have made monsters of other religions. Christians have repeatedly, espe . . .

This thesis argues for the necessity of improved teaching practices in higher education literature courses; suggests a theoretical framework for literary study that engages readers on a personal level as well as within communities of other readers; an . . .

This empirical study analyzes the digital activist ecologies created by women in highly conservative Christian circles using social media to speak against traditionally taboo topics of domestic and sexual violence. This research covers a time of uphea . . .

Black Dogs is a collection of short stories representing my exaggerated interpretations of three themes associated with self-destructive behavior: addiction, codependency, and self-entitlement. Theses individual themes are prominent subject matter in . . .

Kali’s Waters is a collection of short fiction stories that works with themes of religion, loneliness, death, grief, coming-of-age, and human connection. The stories are based in the genre of literary realism, but also work to challenge the norms of t . . .

Dating While Fat: Notes From a Harmed Life is a memoir, collected in four linked stories, exploring the intersection of absurdity and horror at various times throughout the author’s life. “Dating While Fat” is a reflective look back at my life as a fo . . .

The Judas Tree is a collection of poetry that focuses on the act of witnessing tragedy. This collection explores specific events I have observed in both nature and in firefighting. Many of the experiences in the collection were witnessed first-hand. T . . .

An American Dream is made up the first five chapters of a work of fiction that will ultimately become a novel. An American Dream is a novel about John and Matt, two young men who have been friends most their lives, and how this friendship comes to an . . .

This memoir is a coming-of-age story utilizing three main segments: one focusing on a failed relationship with my father, another confronting mortality through the diagnosis of a chronic illness, and a third strand focusing on death through a work exp . . .

Inheritance is a collection of poetry that sets out to redefine the word “inheritance” through three sections. The first section of the collection follows the musical inheritance of the speaker and the impressions of family that have come before him. . . .

This thesis is built on the assumption that in order to be a serious Thoreau scholar, one must move away from Walden (1854) and read his other works. Walden is, to be sure, Thoreau’s most studied book and remains an iconic example of 19th-century Amer . . .

Queens of Sheba is a collection of six personal essays that seek to present both personal story and universal themes. In my essays, I share stories of my family, my father’s dementia, the loss of my first husband, my relationship with food and body im . . .

Terraforming Hell is a collection of poems that explore the dark terrain of reality, the fantastic, and the rift that lies between. It traverses the æther and the dreamstate. Some poems find their footing in the natural world while others walk beyond . . .

We are in need of a more subversive reading of past and present literature and film that allows not only for a feminist literary history, but also for a feminist future in which men are more comfortable responding to and accepting women as equal to th . . .

This thesis argues that, in key nineteenth century texts, humor is a means of fostering group identity and a mode of social critique. The chapter “Boundary Maintenance in Early American Humor” looks at humor as a form of boundary maintenance in both A . . .

October Rain is a collection of poetry that seeks to explore the dynamics of change in human lives, especially loss and grief. Some of these poems follow a young woman as she loses her boyfriend to cancer, and reveal the pain and waves of her grieving . . .

Turquoise Sky is a character-driven piece, with emphasis on the psychological and psychosexual, written in the received Realist tradition of literary mode. It is a plot of decline—and hope—set in the milieu of San Francisco during the early 1970s, and . . .

Good Morning, Colossus is a circus train wreck through the freight cars of my mind. It represents my daily journey as a writer to do battle with myself, to chisel away at my anxiety until I arrive at something I can call a poem. Many of the poems in t . . .

A Fence in the Dark is a collection of poems that explores the relationship between memory and imagination. The poet blends the literary conventions of poetry, novel, and memoir and explores what it means to love with hate, love with fear, love with d . . .

Phytophthora ramorum is an oomycete plant pathogen found in both North America and Europe that is commonly referred to as Sudden Oak Death (SOD). Since its initial detection in California in 1995, SOD has killed over a million trees, primarily tanoaks . . .

I examined the vegetation community and structure of a wet meadow from 2013-2017 across ecological, temporal and spatial scales, immediately following hydrologic restoration. I set out to determine if the natural seedbank can act as a primary source f . . .

California contains some of the most geographically complex patterns of biodiversity on Earth, but much of that diversity has been lost since European settlement. California grasslands, for example, were once dominated by diverse native perennial gras . . .

Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, outside Nevada City, CA is an example of the effects of hydraulic mining. Soil erosion is a direct result of the exposure created by the process and continues to raise envir . . .

West Coast Swing’s history began around the mid-twentieth century, with roots in Lindy Hop. Despite its fascinating history and its formal status as California’s state dance, however, no academic history of this dance and its community yet exists. Thi . . .

Art education and Socially Engaged Art as a bridge toward community building is an effective method to unite various populations of people in a multicultural and globally connected region. I compare the roles art education and Socially Engaged Art can . . .

In order to determine whether an animation can influence people’s perception of aggression and eeriness, the present investigation tested the interaction between facial width-to-height ratios and the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in an animation that displayed a d . . .

This investigation was designed to explore the effects of verbal narratives (chronological vs. conceptual), graphics (conceptual vs. chronological vs. none) and their interaction on information processing – comprehension, perspective, and judgment—of . . .

Much research and theorizing using an evolutionary framework has been done to study and understand how and why males and females vary in terms of sexual behavior, specifically when it comes to differences in sexual strategy. The body of work on evolve . . .

Wilderness based learning can serve as a powerful medium to environmental education and sustainability education. However, many Outdoor Education programs do not have the tools and resources for effectively facilitating connection to the environment o . . .

Despite the considerable amount of research describing the biomechanics of pitching, little has been done to utilize these observations to develop an understanding of how to improve pitch velocity quantitatively and qualitatively. The purpose of this . . .

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses are on the rise yet there is a lack of research on alternative methods of treatments. Exercise and physical activity have proven to assist in the treatment of depression and anxiety (Dunn et al., 2005) an . . .

Endothelial dysfunction, arterial stiffness and hypertension increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Stiff arteries are a consequence of chronic systolic hypertension and atherosclerosis. The resulting increase in peripheral resistance due to a n . . .

To determine the effects of intensity of an acute bout of resistance exercise on glycemic response, nine healthy college-aged (23.9 ± 2.3 years) males participated in two separate bouts (65%, 85% of 1 repetition maximum) of resistance exercise in rand . . .

Nursing students are expected to learn an enormous amount of information, implement interventions and evaluate patient outcomes in their few years of nursing school. Nursing students have limited experiences in the clinical setting to refine their cli . . .

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A diagnosis of VAP automatically translates to increased morbidity and mortality rates, length of stay, and treatment costs. A . . .

The Larry P. v. Riles court case of 1979 prohibited the use of intelligence tests in the state of California for the purposes of determining special education eligibility with African American students enrolled in public education. This legislation re . . .

College students often report poor body image and increased levels of social physique anxiety. Exercise has been shown to be a factor that can influence body image and social physique anxiety. This study examined the effects of strength, aerobic, and . . .

This study examines the use of a mindfulness-based SEL intervention for reducing the at-risk social and emotional behaviors in second grade students while also accounting for student gender and ethnicity as factors that may influence at-risk behaviors . . .

A growing national concern for mental health services and an increasing number of students attending university have set the stage for overwhelmed university counseling centers. More and more students across universities are seeking campus counseling . . .

The public goods game (PGG) has been a useful tool for providing insight into cooperation in social dilemmas. Heterogeneity in cooperation suggests that individual difference variables may have predictive value. I hypothesized that social axioms, defi . . .

Interest in collaborative services is on the rise, yet little is known about consumers’ perceptions of these services. The current research study aimed to gain further information on consumers’ and their family members’ perceptions on collaborative co . . .

A lack of research exists examining Mexican American emerging adulthood experiences. This present study attempts to address the influences of acculturation and familism on emerging adulthood. Five hypotheses are presented comparing the Mexican America . . .

The most widely accepted approach in trying to understand the etiology eating disorders is the biopsychosocial model which incorporates a wide range of risk factors. The present study attempts to narrow the scope of risk factors by incorporating three . . .

The current investigation was designed to examine whether metaphors, when presented as a graphic or as a text, help to increase learners’ understanding of unfamiliar concepts in physics—specifically the functionality of electrical circuits. One-hundre . . .

Unemployment among autistic adults is estimated at between 70 and 90 percent and employments outcomes are unfavorable compared to both their non-autistic and other disabled peers. Autistics face many challenges, especially during the transition into a . . .

A comparative sociological, historical, and anthropological analysis of 19th century boarding schools for both Native Americans and the Māori as institutionalized genocide and the resulting impact of multigenerational trauma. Using social boundary the . . .

The number of low income, first generation, minority students who enter into higher education is significantly low (Pew Research Center, 2012; Auerbach, 2004). These students encounter many barriers that prevent them from accessing higher education. T . . .

Long-term mental health systems utilization is caused by inadequate education, untreated mental illness and social isolation, among other factors. These factors are amplified in rural areas, where many people do not have access to quality health care, . . .

Homeless youth are entering housing programs, only to re-enter homelessness. This thesis project is an evaluation of the 6th Street Center for Youth’s housing program in Chico, California, which had never been evaluated before. The program houses home . . .