Developing an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an important precursor to pursuing a STEM career. Given the United States’ relatively low standings in science and math compared to similar industrialized nations and its desire to be competitive in an increasingly STEM-based global economy, policy makers are...
Between 1815 and 1830, the western Atlantic experienced a surge in maritime piracy. The United States was confronted with the ancient specter of hostis humani generis, the enemy of all, which threatened the safety and prosperity of the young maritime nation. Questions emerged: Who was responsible for policing international waters?...
My dissertation, “Talking Drum: Chicago’s WVON Radio and the Sonorous Image of Black Lives, 1963-1983,” studies WVON radio as a mediating institution of the black public sphere in Cold War Chicago. “Talking Drum” explores how WVON celebrated, represented, and mobilized black public life in the mid-twentieth century amid a dominant...
Parents are visiting the Internet in increasing numbers for guidance about the dental health of their children and are bringing this information into appointments with their children's pediatric dentists. Since the impact of this phenomenon on dental discussions is largely unknown, this study was conducted to discover what factors influence...
Teasing is commonplace in our social interactions (Kowalski, 2007). Due to its paradoxical nature it can be employed to produce both positive and negative outcomes (Keltner et al., 1998) however, the ambiguity and subjectivity in teasing can make it susceptible to misinterpretation (Kowalski, 2000; 2007; Kruger et al., 2006). The...
This study examines rhetorical practices through which disenfranchised women developed tenable political identities and integrated themselves into the public realm in the Pacific Northwest between 1868 and 1912. Through close analysis of rhetorical activities in which thousands of women participated--including club discourse, public commemoration, legal advocacy, petition work, and publication--it...
This dissertation focuses on the contribution of Joseph Addison and his London newspaper The Spectator to the modern "social imaginaries" (Charles Taylor) of public, market and nation. Addison's championing of perspicacity in prose and detachment in aesthetic judgment created protocols of "stranger sociality" (Michael Warner) that made participation in these...
Upward influence is an important vehicle for employee participation in work and decision-making. Research suggests that the forms and success of upward influence vary according to agent attributes, the supervisor-employee relationship, and the work context (Waldron, 1999; Wilson, 2002). Unexamined within this array are employee attempts at shaping their own...
This dissertation is a textual history of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the American independence movement during the first half of 1776. The study uses the methodologies and vocabularies of rhetorical studies, early modern history, and political theory to analyze the 180-degree turn in colonial public opinion away from a...
This dissertation concerns the rhetorical discourses that define a wireless technology revolution in the United States. This inquiry engaged in rhetorical criticism of key documents, texts and exigencies embedded within successive stages of the wireless revolution spanning twenty years. Three sites of discourse were analyzed: the wireless industry's vision and...
This project examines the relationship between graphic design and public life in an effort to understand how graphic design functions as a mode of communication, how visual images present interpretive problems for communication scholarship, and how the increasing presence of visual images in public space inform and are informed by...
Research suggests that there exists in some homosexual men a moral push towards the disclosure of their HIV serostatus; yet, does an antithetical, individualistic, and self-oriented movement that searches for restitution for HIV infection exist in others? The following study tested the influence of vengeance, hostility, anger, and other negative...
Organizational research has analyzed employee-organization relationships for years (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990; Levinson, 1965; Tsui, Pearce, Porter, & Tripoli, 1997). However, the research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has mainly focused upon antecedents and consequences of OCB attentive to organizational outcomes. This study extends OCB research to investigate OCB...
Downsizings are now so pervasive that millions of Americans are laid off each year with the stated purpose of improving their organizations' financial outcomes. However, one of the unforeseen negative consequences of downsizings is high attrition by employees who "survive" the layoffs. This dissertation seeks to extend our understanding of...
This dissertation examines topical humor produced by "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Saturday Night Live," and The Onion for the period of one year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Three phases emerge: the purgation of extreme emotions like anger, acceptance or...
Chinese television has gone through enormous growth and significant structural change since the economic reforms of the 1970s. The changes include an increased number of channels, the establishment of overseas channels, increased reliance on advertising, more diversified programming, and heightened market competition. The new multi-channel media environment has the potential...
While the rumors of "worship wars" dividing North American Protestantism are not news, ongoing questions remain concerning the effectiveness of trading in traditional organs for electric guitars and hymnals for PowerPoint. The recent availability of the largest, inter-faith-group, congregational-level data set (n=14,021) and theory development concerning the evolving attractive power...
Organizations comprise of groups who share and compete for resources. During organizational change, resources are often redistributed. Although change messages highlight overarching benefits for the organization, recipients of the message are interested in knowing how they will be affected at the group level, and this affects the way the message...
The progressive women’s movement in the United States during the mid-twentieth century enjoyed increased support and success until national politics were dominated by conservatives during the 1980s. This dissertation analyzes the discourse around women’s issues created by two of the largest conservative women’s organizations, Eagle Forum and Concerned Women for...