Master of Arts / Department of English / Mohammad I. Rahman / This project is a novel-in-stories that revolves around the misadventures and exploits of Povi McDougal, head diversity consultant for G & K, responsible for the aggressive sensitivity training of new hires in the company's bid to avoid future lawsuits. She is a nervy, disenfranchised, high-functioning alcoholic. When you think Povi, think binaries: she's a big-hearted misanthrope. She is furious yet wistful, edgy yet vulnerable, knowing yet obtuse, gas yet electric, etc. The stories are all narrated by Povi and are voice, language and character-driven. As a series of connected stories, the action is not in service to one primary plotline. There is, however, a narrative drive that treats Povi's dawning realization of and efforts to come to grips with, her personal and ethnic identity, her abandonment issues and self-imposed isolation. Central to these stories is a synthetic folklore. As a child, Povi's father enrolled her in the Indian Princesses youth group at the YMCA in a misguided attempt to help her connect more fully with her Native American heritage. Figuring prominently in the girls' mythology was the tale of Falling Rock, the highly sought Indian princess who wanders into the woods to escape the fray of young braves who seek her hand in marriage. "Legend" has it Falling Rock becomes lost and is never heard from again. The group's participants are told to be on the lookout for her whenever they see a yellow road sign bearing her name. In short, Povi is my Princess Falling Rock. Given her sense of disinheritance, it seems fitting that her folklore is synthetic, invented. Basically, I've gotten her to wander off into the woods for a bit of solitude, and have kept her there for a while, as she tries to find her way back to her tribe – or some such suitable substitute for tribal affiliation, community, love, what have you.

Master of Arts / Department of English / Daniel A. Hoyt / In this project, the opening chapters of a novel, a fifty-foot man falls to the ground in Athens, Ohio. He is pronounced dead at the scene. What begins as a bizarre happening in a small college town soon spirals into an event with global repercussions. The federal government puts together a team of four scientists: Peter, a biologist; Jonathon, an archaeologist; Alexa, a forensic scientist; and Carly, a geneticist. As politicians, the media, and religious figures latch on to the giant man, the scientists try to determine if the body is real. Meanwhile, a religious cult develops in Athens. The cult believes the body is the Judeo-Christian God because it resembles images of God in popular and classic works of art. The giant man came from up in the clouds, has a white, billowing beard, and is old. Cult members tie bandanas around their eyes because they believe humans are not meant to look upon the body of God. The novel is told from a third-person omniscient point of view and shows the far-reaching consequences of such a fantastic event in our contemporary world. The novel delves into the mind of the Pope, a mortician, a lawyer, clergymen, students at Ohio University, the mayor of Athens, and a four-year-old boy, among many others. These characters try to come to terms with what it means to have the unreal and the impossible happen in their ordinary lives.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Sherry J. Haar / The overarching goals of the project were to acknowledge both traditional and modern aspects of Turkish culture, inform designers and researchers of natural dye and screen printing methods, and advance the developing practices of sustainable design. Mixed methodologies of scientific and practice-based research guided the project. A collection of 25 prints inspired by the Anatolian region of Turkey were screen-printed with thickened natural dyes onto sustainable fibered fabrics. The research of traditional Turkish art and culture led to the inspirational concepts and brought the textile prints to fruition. Understanding the dyeing practices, regional traditions, and political rule of this nation informed the design process and directly influenced the composition and imagery of the designs. The final outcomes were exhibited at the Kansas State University student union art gallery. Research was conducted on the use of natural plant-based dyes madder, weld, and woad for screen-printing by determining the most effective thickener and thickening method. Thickening agents gum tragacanth and gum arabic were tested for fabric hand and the printed natural dyes were tested for colorfastness to light. Gum tragacanth at a ratio of .9875 g agent to 10 ml water emerged as the most smooth and pliable when evaluating fabric hand. Colorfastness to light was as expected for madder and woad with excellent to good fastness. Weld had an unexpectedly low rating indicating further study is needed. The developing practices of sustainable design were advanced as I used sustainable materials (natural dyes, natural gums, naturally fibered fabrics) and methods (hand screenprinting) throughout the project. The information from this project may be valuable to artisans to further develop their natural dye and screen-printing techniques; to researchers to provide a foundation for testing additional thickened dyes; and to industry professionals to modify their practices.

Master of Music / Department of Music, Theatre and Dance / Kurt R. Gartner / The current study is an in depth look of the impact of steel pan ensemble within the college curriculum of the Midwest. The goal of the study is to further understand what perceived impacts steel pan ensemble might have on student learning through the perceptions of both instructors and students. The ensemble's impact on the students’ senses of rhythm, ability to listen and balance in an ensemble, their understanding of voicing and harmony, and appreciation of world music were all investigated through both the perceptions of the students as well as the instructors. Other areas investigated were the role of the instructor to determine how their teaching methods and topics covered impacted the students' opinion of the ensemble. This includes, but is not limited to, time spent teaching improvisation, rote teaching versus Western notation, and adding historical context by teaching the students the history of the ensemble. The Midwest region was chosen both for its high density of collegiate steel pan ensembles as well as its encompassing of some of the oldest pan ensembles in the U.S. The study used an explanatory mixed methodology employing two surveys, a student version and an instructor version, distributed to the collegiate steel pan ensembles of the Midwest via the internet. The researcher intends for the current data to serve the music community in several ways: first, by determining exactly what the students and instructors value about the ensemble, we will better understand how an instrument created less than a century ago was able to infiltrate music programs all over the world. Second, giving instructors insight on the students' perspectives will also enable them to create a more effective and enjoyable curriculum. And lastly, with this information, instructors and program supervisors will be better suited to determine just how large of a role the ensemble should play in their students' education.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Robert W. Meeds / This report is based on an exhibition of 37 photographs at the Kemper Gallery in the Student Union of Kansas State University. All photographs presented here and in the exhibit were created during the past 28 years of my career. Hence the exhibit is a mid-career retrospective. My photojournalism experience is very unique in that I am the only photojournalist in the world who has worked as a presidential photographer, published photo essays in National Geographic Magazine as a freelancer, and been on the staff of a large metro newspaper. The photographs chosen for the exhibit were highlighted by, but not limited to, assignments from those three experiences. This report mirrors the exhibit except for a few additional photographs that, because of space limitations, didn’t make it into the final edit for the exhibit. There are three sections: Moments from Kansas to Papua New Guinea, The Presidency, and After 9/11. The “moments” section presents a wide variety of photographs from a wide variety of assignments. The “presidency” section focuses on my tenure as Official White House Photographer for President Reagan, and also includes photographs of the Reagan funeral, other presidents, and a possible future president. “After 9/11” begins at the Pentagon on 9/12, and then follows the course of events in Afghanistan during the following weeks. Extensive captions accompany most of the photographs. The captions are written in the third person which is customary for gallery exhibitions. More than the who, what, where and when, they provide some additional context and are intended to inform both the journalism student and the layperson.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Patricia Thompson / This report contains biographical, historical, and analytical commentary on the following composers and their pieces for soprano voice: Henry Purcell and The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation; Franz Schubert and Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877; Jacques Offenbach and Les oiseaux dans la charmille, from Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Libby Larsen and Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII; Charles Gounod and Ah! Je veux vivre, from Roméo et Juliette. These selections, unified by the theme of tragedy in various forms of love, were presented in a graduate recital in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy degree.