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Employing both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, my dissertation project involved three phases aimed at examining women’s sexual selfviews. The primary aim of this research was to develop a comprehensive and multifaceted self-report measure of women’s sexual self-views. Phase 1 began the investigation of women’s sexual self-views through open-ended questions posed during qualitative interviews with a diverse sample of women varying among many demographic variables. The initial selection of items of the Women’s Sexual Self-Views (WSSV) scale were derived from the transcripts of Phase 1 interviews. Phase 2 focused on the development of a valid instrument intended to tap the construct of women’s sexual self-views and examined its association to potentially relevant variables, including sexual functioning status. Results from factor analyses highlighted discrete factors of women’s sexual self-views which were labeled as: Positive Sexual Self-Views (12 items), Negative Internal/Affective Sexual Self-Views (6 items), Negative External/ Behavioral Sexual Self-Views (5 items), Interpersonally-Relevant Sexual Self-Views (6 items), and Conservative Sexual Self-Views (5 items). The final version of the WSSV scale is a brief, 34-item measure of sexual self-views. Psychometric evaluation of the WSSV scale provided preliminary evidence of reliability and validity. The ability of the WSSV scale to differentiate between women with and without sexual concerns was demonstrated for the Positive Sexual Self-Views domain and the Negative Internal/ Affective Sexual Self-Views domain. That is, women with sexually difficulties had lower Positive Sexual Self-Views and higher Negative Internal/ Affective Sexual Self-Views as compared to sexually healthy controls. Phase 3 investigated the relationship between sexual self-views and memory for sexual information. Results provided initial evidence that participants performed better on sexually-relevant memory tasks which were consistent with their sexual self-views. I believe that the following study provides a deeper understanding of the cognitive factors involved in female sexual functioning and begins to provide a framework for understanding the role of memory in women’s sexuality. / text

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This study is an evaluatioon of Zavala Elementary School in Austin, Texas in order to determine administration strengths and weaknesses.

There is plenty of support for local musicians in Austin. It ranges from providing health benefits to receiving home loans to equipment insurance. The live music capital of the world has provisions for recording artists as well as street performers whose primary source of income is music. These facilities go a long way in maintaining Austin‟s identity as one of the major music cities in the world. They also bring together members of this community for benefits that help strengthen the local music industry, which has been an important part of the city‟s economy for several years. / text

The practice of cultural planning proceeds largely in the absence of discussion regarding its purpose, norms and goals, either in academic literature or among its practitioners. This paper seeks to uncover the norms and goals of cultural planning, as understood by cultural planners working in Austin, TX, through a series of interviews with these individuals. Interviews also brought to light cultural planners’ understandings of the function of art in communities. Ultimately, little connection was found between cultural planners’ understandings of the function of art in communities and the norms and goals of cultural planning. It is argued herein that these two conversations must be closely linked and that cultural planner’s understandings of what art can and should do in communities must form the basis for the goals and norms of cultural planning practice. / text

According to the recently released National Climate Assessment (NCA), climate change will disproportionally impact the health of the most vulnerable communities in Central Texas (Melillo, 2014). Exactly how climate change will impact these populations is unclear (Measham, 2011; Martens, 2014). Nationwide, there are few examples of cities looking at the impacts of climate change on existing public health issues and vulnerable communities. The NCA, Austin/Travis County Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), broadly identifies vulnerable communities as children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and some communities of color (Melillo, 2014: Luber, 2009). The 2014 release of the NCA, in addition to the 2013 completion of the CHA and CHIP, provides an opportunity to compare current public health issues with projected changes in climate. The deductive process starts with a review of the CHA and CHIP to identify issues that are directly impacted by hotter and longer heat waves including a lack of physical activity, a decrease in mobility, and greater social isolation. These issues are then compared to likely climate scenarios for Austin in the coming century. For Austin, climate scientists project longer and hotter heat waves and higher overnight average temperatures. The results of the process are a hypothetical framework and specific actions to incorporate increasing temperatures into short-term and long-term health improvement planning. Comparing the NCA and CHA/CHIP reveals that an increase in intensity and duration of heat waves will make it especially dangerous for vulnerable communities who already struggle with health issues sensitive to heat such as obesity, respiratory ailments, and social isolation (Martens, 2014). Further analysis finds that the health implications of climate change come down to three broad topics: outdoor physical activities, lack of access to healthcare facilities, and isolation. Austin’s increasing temperatures and growing population means that more resources and efforts are needed to ensure the safety of all Austin residents. In this thesis, I put forth a hypothetical decision-making framework that prioritizes the allocation of resources to advance Austin’s pathway to climate resiliency. In addition, tools and actions are proposed to increase the climate resilience of the most vulnerable community members in Austin. / text