The primary objective of this creative project was to produce a professional grade body of work, which clearly expresses the author's perspective and concerns. The works were executed in the traditional mediums of woodcut, etching, drypoint, and drawing. The second objective was to further explore these mediums and their potential in contemporary art. / Department of Art

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of elementary school principals in Southeastern Virginia regarding implementation of 21st century skills. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills framework was used as a foundation to identify the skills needed for the 21st century. In addition, the framework was used to examine elementary principal's perceptions of the most important and relevant 21st century skills to implement in elementary schools. A mixed method study of elementary school principals in Southeastern Virginia Public Schools was conducted. Principals from school divisions in Southeastern Virginia were identified and asked to complete a survey. An online research survey was distributed to Virginia principals to determine their perceptions of implementing 21st century skills in elementary schools in Virginia. This study revealed that elementary principals perceived 21st century skills as being "very important" and "very relevant" in elementary schools; however, the rate of embeddedness into the elementary curriculum was low. This study yielded valuable information regarding the perception of school leaders that might influence research, theory, practice and professional development of elementary school principals as we move further into the 21st century and its associated challenges and demands. / Ed. D.

The intention of this creative project is to explore the ideas of individuality and community through ceramic sculpture. The ultimate goal is to allow the viewers to draw their own conclusions about the suggested meaning, instead of forcing a direct reference. To achieve this, form, surface, texture, and grouping of individual pieces was utilized. Inspiration was drawn from the artworks of Barbara Hepworth, Michele Oka Doner, Yoonchung Kim, and from the multiple appendages of the sea anemone. The artworks were hand-built using high temperature clays that were fired in reduction, soda, and wood kilns. Plaster molds were used to maintain the identical forms, allowing the viewer to focus on textural variation. / Department of Art

The Sea Cow and the Siren is an animal-pedia, a translation of Marianne Moore's creature portraiture, and a serial blazon in verse.

The poems in The Observing Ape are arranged into three chapters: "Neighbors," "Making," and "Strangers." At their core, these poems trace the ways in which speakers internalize the exterior world. Although no single narrative unifies the collection, each poem records the consciousness of a speaker as the interior and the exterior intersect. Through persona poems and intensely perceived images, the collection strives to understand how humans learn, observe, and imagine. However, forays into visual art, primatology, and voyeurism color the poems with cultural referents, and these referents infuse the poems with a quirky reverence for a world that stretches beyond a strictly linguistic or personal experience. / Department of English

This creative project is a collection of five pieces of short fiction revolving around the life and times of one central character, a young man named Jared Yando. The perspective of each individual piece is centered at different points within approximately one calendar year, and chronicles the protagonist's life within that very transitional period. The focus holds mainly on Jared's relationships, from the latest one with his girlfriend Claudia to the oldest ones with his shattered but healing family. Throughout, these relationship partners take unexpected actions that result in unexpected consequences spanning both ends of the emotional spectrum. Jared finds himself repeatedly involved in that most human of predicaments as he is forced to sort out the actions of those close to him and determine what they have meant, and will mean, to the construction of his own character. / Department of English

The primary objective for this creative project is to develop a series of wheel-thrown and altered ceramic sculptures that reflect my intuitive formation process. Although the work was influenced by a wide variety of outside sources, much of the impetus was born of my personal reflections on the concept of physical touch. My actions during the creation process were governed by sensory information absorbed mostly through my hands on the clay, and enhanced by inherent properties of the material. These preliminary experiences eventually sparked a desire to share this discovery with the viewer in the same tactile way. I further wished to include observers in the exhibit in a more direct and physical way, offering participants opportunities to explore their own sense of touch and consider how they relate to the objects around them. This body of work is an in-depth study of my intuitive creative process, a model for exploring the relationships between process and materials, and a means of providing observers of visual art a chance to connect with a visual object in a tactile way. / Department of Art

This collection of short stories studies the elements of genre fiction and applies them to literary fiction. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror have specific manners in which they speak to an audience. By using these elements, for example the desensitization of the current generation of readers to most horrors, an author can demonstrate the core of the human relationship to pain, faith, or hope. Though some genre fiction seems to fit certain formulas, there are also horror or science fiction stories which do not fit a conventional mold. This collection sets forth to break away from genre fiction conventions. Also, this project utilizes the genre of magical realism, which is the medium between genre fiction and literary fiction, by using fantastic events within a mundane setting to emphasize the author's ideas. By bridging the gap between genres, magical realism reveals how interrelated the elements of all genres are. In this study stories use magical and horrifying events while maintaining an intention beyond the formulaic thrill. Therefore, genre fiction can have a place amongst literature. / Department of English

When Bahrain's uprising began in February 2011, the opposition presented united front. By the time of the national dialogue a year later, however, it had fractured both along and within sectarian lines. The government’s inconsistent response to the uprising also demonstrated tensions within Bahrain’s royal family. An analysis of discourse on the national dialogue, terrorism and violence, expatriates, and the Gulf Union plan revealed that Bahrain's political factions were divided by their conceptions of Bahraini identity and citizenship. Bahrain was a young nation and questions of identity were still very much under debate. This work drew on newspaper opinion pieces, official statements published by political groups, and posters and videos they posted on social media to explain the questions of identity that developed around these political debates. I also examined how these debates continued to divide Sunni and Shi’i groups within the opposition as well as the moderate and conservative factions within the royal family. Finally, I considered how these groups used their varying conceptions of Bahraini citizenship to justify their tactics in pursuing or attempting to quash the uprising. Even as each group demanded rights for citizens, they disagreed on what citizenship meant. Similarly, denying that their opponents were “true citizens,” allowed each group to delegitimize views they disagreed with. / text

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