Emily Price [Editor’s Note]; Micheal Bumgarner [Artist’s Statement]; Emrie Gilbert [“The Sins of the Fathers Visited upon the Children,” or How I Lived More-or-Less Openly Queer in the Southern Baptist Church]; Korbin Rhue [Playing Gods: An Aspiring Author’s Guide to Creating a Fantasy World That Feels Real to Your Readers]; Kylee Phalen [Prodigal Daughter: A Queer Christian’s Open Letter to the Church]; Ethan Walker [Hit]; Wendy Gourley [Seeing in the Dark]; Elias Murphy [Who I Am]; Andy Demczuk [Lesdiguières]; Amara Bunten [Method Acting]; Sappho Stanley [Like a Bosch]; Wendy Gourley [Butterflies]; Courtney Harvey [roolF eht no sI gniR ehThe Ring Is on the Sink]; Michelle Bravender [Forgotten Magic]; Emily Katt [The Moon-Eyed People]; Phi Hagelberg [Honeysuckle]; AQ Hanna [love, again]; Emma Sheedlo [corrosion]; Hannah Smith [Metacarpal Melancholy]; Hannah Smith [My Mother's Blessing]; Holly Todaro [A Witness, a Testimony]; Sappho Stanley [To the Dried McDonald's Fry in my Bag]; Andy Demczuk [AR for the Ears™]; Phi Hagelberg [a shell-shaped brain]; Phi Hagelberg [where I go when I masturbate]; Phi Hagelberg [A Year or Two Ago]; Chloe Philpot [blessing your hometown]; Chloe Philpot [I SEND MY CONDOLENCES TO THE SOUTH BUT LOVE IS SWEET AND I WANT TO TASTE IT]; Emrie Gilbert [Elegy for my Sibling]; Emrie Gilbert [grave-marker journey]; Emrie Gilbert [Hunter's Blessing]; Amara Bunten [her body is a graveyard]; Emily Katt [To Prepare]; Lilith Erbach [Eden: A Series of Haikus]; John Tipton [The Crash of a Wave]; Tuck Ledbetter [To Thomas Merton]; Tanner Linkous [Turning Off]; Tyler Wick [Late May 2014, the Day after a Storm]; Tyler Wick [An Act of Cleaning]; Tyler Wick [Everyone's Father Is a Carpenter] / https://dc.etsu.edu/mockingbird/1048/thumbnail.jpg

Chris Walonski [Superstition]; translation by Cindy Castle [Superstición]; Leticia Pizzino [Unlocking Hearts]; Amara Bunten [Deep River, Shallow Water]; Holly Todaro [Salvatore Elboro]; translation by Allen C. López [Salvatore Elboro]; Courtney Harvey [A Letter]; Cassie Selleck [Past Time]; translation by Rachel Reid [Pasa Tiempo]; Rhea Norris [Lying in Plain Sight: Deception through an Eating Disorder Lens]; Michelle Bravender [Life Half Lived]; Diane Mallett-Birkitt [I Am That Mom]; Donna Paulson [Barren Voices]; Zach Hicks [Amnion]; Emily Price [beestings]; Mallory Spisak [Annihilations]; Emily Price [ars protestor]; Jessica Dunker [Short Supply] / https://dc.etsu.edu/mockingbird/1049/thumbnail.jpg

AQ Hanna [dream journal]; AQ Hanna [diario de sueños]; AQ Hanna [in the car, alone], AQ Hanna [June]; AQ Hannah [July]; Cade Campbell [Young Love]; Cade Campbell [Amor Juvenil]; Hannah Smith [Anesthetic Love Song]; Hannah Smith [Canción de Amor Anestesiada]; Claire Webb [i'm sorry all you bath lovers]; Claire Webb [Moonwalker]; Claire Webb [Serenity]; Claire Webb [I wasn't There the Night He Died]; Elizabeth Carpenter [Constellations]; Elizabeth Carpenter [On This Farm]; Elizabeth Carpenter [In Their Narrative]; Rachel Kincaid [Morning Glories]; Ben Bilderback [Edward Hopper's Nighthawks]; L.C. Francis [Diary of a Trans Girl]; L.R. Tipton [Thank You]; L.R. Tipton [I Miss You]; Abigail Wolfenbarger [Fluoxetine (20mg)]; Raven Rhue [Framed]; Raven Rhue [Bath]; Raven Rhue [The Need for Brevity]; Emma Sheedlo [in November I burn monsters]; Emma Sheedlo [Roadside Cycles]; Emma Sheedlo [an open letter to my black pumps (and the girl who wore them)]; Hayden Cogdell [Caustic]; Hayden Cogdell [Chlorine]; Hayden Cogdell [From the Tunnel, I Heard Death]; Hayden Cogdell [Hum]; Hayden Cogdell [The Rite of Rot]; Percy Smalygo [honeysuckle leaves caught between your teeth]; Percy Smalygo [american reckoning]; Percy Smalygo [perseus]; Percy Smalygo [you're doing fine]; Eleanor Flory [char.lady]; Liam McCroskey-Shope [Flowers]; Liam McCroskey-Shope [The Old, The True]; Liam McCroskey-Shope [My Home in Seymour]; Alexis Calain [Condemned be the Fruit]; Alexis Calain [Roe to Rights]; Alexander Brown [God Bless Appalachian Modernization]; Alexander Brown [Kick of Love]; Sierra Arguello [Hallowed Be Thy Kingdom]; Sierra Arguello [Unfinished Set]; Sierra Arguello [Where Ends Meet]; Sierra Arguello [Why I Don't Let Go]; Abby Clement [History]; Abby Clement [Home]; ACE [Who Am I?]; Kelsey Ann Guy [HATE: HATE]; Kelsey Ann Guy [Reality Check]; Kelsey Ann Guy [I Know My Ending]; Remy Indigo [Glass Houses]; Camille Hagelberg [I only have one plastic hairtie, so I have to do this when it snaps]; Camille Hagelberg [I]; Camille Hagelberg [overlapping folds]; Camille Hagelberg [october euphoria clouds]; Eleanor Weedman [I Am]; Eleanor Weedman [Radio]; Eleanor Weedman [Sunday]; Eleanor Weedman [Asphalt]; Elias Murphy [Ineffable Love]; Elias Murphy [Micheal Knowles]; Madeline Rodenberg [My Mother is a Fish]; Madeline Rodenberg [Rosemary's Baby]; Dominique Snedeker [Primal Instincts of Childbirth]; Dominique Snedeker [Seasonal Delirium]; Dominique Snedeker [Time Plays Tricks]; Haleigh Almbarak [Self Portrait 3]; Haleigh Almbarak [Supermarket Waltz]; Haleigh Almbarak [We Call This Girlhood]; Cal Blagg [Near Yet Far]; Cal Blagg [QPR], Cal Blagg [The North Calls]; Iris Caldwell [Sunny Summer Afternoon]; Iris Caldwell [Twilight Zone]; Iris Caldwell [Twilight Zone]; Iris Caldwell [When Losing a Friend]; Oliver Gragg [the cat and the finch]; Keeley Michael Cook [The Necessity of Coincidence]; Laken Greene [The Schoolgirl Revelation]; Laken Greene [Your Alzheimer's]; Laken Greene [Youthful Skin]; Morgan Fellers [Uriah’s Reprisal]; Elliot Lucey [Vampling]; Amanda Demirović [Fragments of Home]; Rebekah Autumn Gobble Standbridge [Tree Bark]; Laree McMurray [Conversation Piece]; Ava Martin [Golden Eagle]; Elizabeth Rowe [Home]; Callie Honaker [Eyes on Me]; Kathryn Ford [Aphrodite's Fountain]; Nathan Lanning [No Color]; Goreti Lopez [Transformation]; Donald Miller [Making Peace with the Past]; Nathan Wurmser [Creation]; Carson Haley [Requiem]; Rebecca Cox [Model Audi R8]; Morgan Bakaletz [There's Yearnin' in the River]; Blake San [Curio]; Suzi Peter [Going Insane Under Carnival Lights at the Tennessee Valley Fair]; Elisabeth Denis [Smoke]; Nicholas Artrip [Interlude in Numbers]; Elias Murphy [How to be a Man]; Briana Presley [Uncanny]; Quinn Daniels [FWD: ENGL 2120 002 — Messed Up, May Not Make It To Class]; Abby Clement [Dust Bunnies]; Elias Murphy [Sisyphus’ Notice]; Claire Webb [Lady]; Claire Webb [Birria Tacos]; Colby Lee Dugger [Little Lord Hellbender]; Claire Webb [The Lighter]; Claire Webb [When the Rain Comes Down on Leitchfield Road]; Raven Rhue [Where Words Fail]; Adeline Rosebush [Wraith of the Grave]; Gabriel Tabor [Of Gorro, Protector of Lorhèa]; Polaris Storm [The Deer of Nightshade]; Anonymous [The Chipped Beak of Birds]; Emma Sheedlo [The Goddess of Magnolia Valley]; Judges’ Biographies

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) challenges us to explore whether human-to-human relationships can extend to AI, potentially reshaping the future of coaching. The purpose of this study was to examine client perceptions of being coached by a simulated AI coach, who was embodied as a vocally conversational live-motion avatar, compared to client perceptions of a human coach. It explored if and how client ratings of coaching process measures and outcome measures aligned between the two coach treatments. In this mixed methods randomized controlled trial (RCT), 81 graduate students enrolled in the study and identified a personally relevant goal to pursue. The study deployed an alternative-treatments between-subjects design, with one-third of participants receiving coaching from simulated AI coaches, another third engaging with seasoned human coaches, and the rest forming the control group. Both treatment groups had one 60-minute session guided by the CLEAR (contract, listen, explore, action, review) coaching model to support each person to gain clarity about their goal and identify specific behaviors that could help each make progress towards their goal. Quantitative data were captured through three surveys and qualitative input was captured through open-ended survey questions and 27 debrief interviews. The study utilized a Wizard of Oz technique from human-computer interaction research, ingeniously designed to sidestep the rapid obsolescence of technology by simulating an advanced AI coaching experience where participants unknowingly interacted with professional human coaches, enabling the assessment of responses to AI coaching in the absence of fully developed autonomous AI systems. The aim was to glean insights into client reactions to a future, fully autonomous AI with the expert capabilities of a human coach. Contrary to expectations from previous literature, participants did not rate professional human coaches higher than simulated AI coaches in terms of working alliance, session value, or outcomes, which included self-rated competence and goal achievement. In fact, both coached groups made significant progress compared to the control group, with participants convincingly engaging with their respective coaches, as confirmed by a novel believability index. The findings challenge prevailing assumptions about human uniqueness in relation to technology. The rapid advancement of AI suggests a revolutionary shift in coaching, where AI could take on a central and surprisingly effective role, redefining what we thought only human coaches could do and reshaping their role in the age of AI.

South Africa has a low throughput rate in the public higher education sector which leads to severe skill shortages that are urgently required by the country. In particular, the financial skills shortages are severe, especially those of accountants and chartered accountants. Keeping in mind the vastness of the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) market share of accounting students in South Africa, it is important to understand the distinct challenges related to retention and throughput of students pursuing an accounting qualification at an open distance learning institution such as Unisa. If one considers the landscape of accounting education in South Africa, the unique challenges faced by accounting students at Unisa and the recent scholarly addresses on retention and throughput of distance education students, as well as the disadvantaging factors with which Unisa students are faced, this study contributes to the theoretical comprehension of students’ retention and throughput rates in accounting education at postgraduate level. The focus of the current study was mainly on non-academic factors affecting the performance of accounting students at postgraduate level, since much research has already been done on academic factors that affect the performance of accounting students. Many studies are focussed on students at undergraduate level; therefore, in this study, postgraduate students studying towards becoming a chartered accountant were chosen. / Financial Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

Thesis (PhD (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Persistence is not a well researched phenomenon. In addition, no previous research has suggested a process depicting a combination of variables that are related to persistence. The current study explores the process of persistence from a fortigenic paradigm, which emphasises psychological strengths. The aim of the current study is to determine the relationship between various fortigenic variables and persistence. The fortigenic paradigm also suggests that psychological strengths can be developed. In order to understand the process of persistence, the current study includes both cognitive (locus of control, optimism, hope, self-efficacy) and emotional psychological strengths (self-esteem, performance self-esteem, resilience) that are related to persistence. Based on literature, the current study suggests a model depicting a sequential process of interrelationship amongst the fortigenic variables and their relationship with persistence. To test the validity of the proposed model, the current study uses a sample of individuals that must be persistent in order to achieve their career goals. A group of 295 aspiring Chartered Accountants who wrote Part 1 of the Qualifying Exam during 2005 participated in the study. From this group, 156 (53%) did not pass the Qualifying Exam during 2005. The study employs both survey and statistical modeling methodologies to guide the investigation. Standardised questionnaires are used for the eight different fortigenic variables. To determine the applicability of the factor structures of these instruments on the current sample, exploratory factor analysis is conducted. The suggested factor structures are confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis with acceptable levels of fit. The revalidated instruments provide better levels of fit than the original instruments. The current study first tested the model of persistence on the total group. The theoretical model depicting the process of persistence provides acceptable levels of fit with all the suggested paths in the model being statistically significant. The same model was tested on the group of individuals that failed previous attempts of the Qualifying Exam, but passed it during 2005. Better levels of fit are obtained with all the paths being statistically significant except between self-esteem and resilience. Again the model was tested using the group of individuals that failed previous attempts at the Qualifying Exam, which failed it during 2005, but still persisted in writing. Acceptable levels of fit are obtained with all the paths being statistically significant except between self-efficacy and resilience. However, the group that failed the Qualifying Exam during 2005 has significantly lower levels of both hope and performance self-esteem. In addition, discriminant analysis shows that hope, optimism, and resilience are factors that can classify individuals into either passing or failing. Of importance is the fact that as individuals write the Qualifying Exam on different attempts, there seems to be a lowering in the number of statistically significant relationships between the fortigenic variables and persistence. The current study ascribes this phenomenon to resource depletion. The latter makes it difficult for individuals to persist in using the same psychological strength if it is not replenished before usage. The study suggests an intervention programme that may enhance the levels of psychological strengths and persistence and counteracting the impact of resource depletion in aspiring chartered accountants.

A number of studies have been conducted on the attrition rates of undergraduate and graduate students. However, the body of knowledge concerning attrition for doctoral students, especially those who have attained the level of “all but dissertation” (ABD), is limited. The purpose of this research was to examine retention and attrition factors of doctoral candidates from a typical Higher Education Doctoral Program (Research II Public Institution) who were admitted to candidacy from 1991 through July 2000. Participation of the subject population was limited to those who had attained the level of ABD--those who had previously fulfilled the residency, coursework, foreign language or tool-subject requirements, and successfully completed the comprehensive/qualifying exams. This population included current ABDs, previously attrited ABDs, and graduates of the degree program. The research study was qualitative and intended to identify the effect of specific, predetermined factors that may have influenced or affected the progress of current, previous, and graduated students towards the doctoral degree in higher education. This study obtained responses to questions from the questionnaire/survey instrument concerning factors that affected program completion or attrition. Students had the opportunity to elaborate on factors from their dissertation, advisement, and personal, financial, and employment experiences that affected their ability to complete the program through open-ended question responses. By examining key factors in the doctoral degree experience from the three sample groups (current ABDs, previous ABDs, and graduated Ed.Ds), this study was able to draw some conclusions about doctoral attrition. Reconstructing and comparing the experiences of ABDs from the point of candidacy to the point of attrition or completion of the program determined trends, commonalities, and issues affecting achievement. Results of this study add to the limited research concerning ABD attrition and provide an insight from the student perspective as to the obstacles and support variables in the quest for the doctoral degree.

This study sought to determine the extent a relationship exists between locus of control and the rate of completion for proposal and dissertation defense among doctoral students. Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales were utilized to identify locus of control orientation. Findings indicated that: (1) a majority, 102, scored highest on the Internal scale; (2) Internal scale scores above the median related to increased probability of a proposal and dissertation defense and to reduced time in reaching those points; (3) no significant difference was found between male and female defensive externals in completing the proposal or dissertation defense; and (4) females tended to score higher than males on the Internal scale. Among conclusions drawn are: (1) Internal scale scores above the median relate to a reduced length of time to complete the proposal and dissertation defense; and (2) few doctoral candidates scoring higher on the Powerful Others or Chance scales were identified in this doctoral program after the point of qualifying examinations.

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / This study investigates the effectiveness of the information literacy education that Master of Business Administration (MBA) students receive at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB). The literature reveals that there is a growing trend worldwide to extend information literacy education to include graduate students. The study uses the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education Competencies as the theoretical framework together with Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. Both process and formative evaluation was used in the study. A mixed method approach was applied to gather data for the study using a pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire, interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer and a rubric assessment of students’ group assignment. The information literacy intervention focuses mainly on ACRL Standard 1, with more emphasis on ACRL Standard 2. ACRL Standards 3, 4 and 5 were briefly mentioned as it was difficult to cover all the ACRL Standards adequately within a once-off information literacy session.The results of the study show that the information literacy intervention was successful in introducing students to some of the electronic resources which is one of the major objectives of the intervention. Students’ scores in the pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire and the group assignment were high. This could be an indication that the information literacy intervention was a success. The interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer reveal that little collaboration between the library and business academics is taking place. This lack of collaboration affects the quality of the information literacy education in terms of business academics input in the information literacy intervention and in terms of reinforcing information literacy outcomes in students’ assignments. One of the recommendations is that collaborative relationships should be developed between the library and business academics in order to develop an information literacy plan that will fully integrate information literacy within Masters’ courses.

The profession of Psychology in post-apartheid South Africa has been dominated by women, despite attempts to address issues of equity, access and redress in recruitment and training. Certain obstacles to entering the profession, that may be specifically relevant to men, included the longevity and cost of training; the notion that Psychology is a ‘woman’s profession’; and the appeal of more lucrative job opportunities. Women, on the other hand, were often encouraged to enter female-dominated professions such as Psychology and financial support either from one’s family or an economically-independent partner facilitates the pursuit of this career trajectory. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of married females who were embarking on postgraduate study. Using semi-structured interviews, eight married female participants currently enrolled in Professional Masters programmes provided in-depth information on why they took on the dual adjustment of marriage and postgraduate study and what were the challenges and benefits associated with this process. Thematic content analysis was used to interpret these accounts which revealed that the dating phase of relationships often concluded as postgraduate study commenced due to the longevity of the study trajectory. To address the accompanying relationship insecurity, marriage was idealised as offering enhanced security and stability. Despite the notion that Masters and marriage would complement each other in order to overcome the difficulties of marriage and postgraduate study, a blurring of boundaries was experienced between the perceived challenges and benefits as the idealised complementarity was not actualised. Using feminist theory, the study added value to debates on the perpetuating influence of chauvinistic notions regarding marriage and career development for women inherent in the family life cycle theory, as well as explored the implications of the “feminisation” of the profession of Psychology on recruitment, training and future practice of female Psychologists.