The Commission on State Governmental Management has nearly completed a five-year study of the executive branch of Virginia government and has developed a number of recommendations which have been implemented to varying degrees at this time. The reorganization efforts of this Commission have resulted in the initiation of a more integrated management and decision-making system--a system that promises to improve procedures for allocating resources and encourage increased accountability for performance in state government. The degree of success and also the particular failures that the Commission has experienced are explained through examination of previous reorganization efforts and the problems in state governmental management which prompted its formation--providing an outline of the historical and contemporary constraints and opportunities influencing the reform process. The Commission's approach and procedures, its specific proposals and the present status of these proposals are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on evaluating the management, planning, and budgeting systems developed as a result of Commission recommendations. This analysis is intended to provide a background for suggesting the difficulties that Commission reforms face in implementation and for preliminarily assessing the impact of the Commission's work on Virginia government. / Master of Urban Affairs

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In this study, the experiences and perspectives of 10 bereaved mothers were investigated. The research was guided by a feminist and contextual perspective. A contextual theory of stress supports an examination of the perspectives of individuals in families regarding the impact of stressful circumstances. Individuals are assumed to be both active and responsive to the social system which includes individual, dyadic, familial, social, community, and cultural levels of analysis. A feminist perspective emphasizes reflexivity, collaboration, emotionality, and accessibility in the process of research and focuses attention to broader cultural ideologies which influence the lives of individuals. Women's lives carry with them the assumption of motherhood and the protection of children. When a young child dies, mothers find themselves in a marginalized social category / Master of Arts

Weekly newspapers of Montgomery, Giles and Roanoke Counties, the Continental Divide Counties covering the period from 1866 to 1876 are used to assess the lives of southwest Virginians. The newspapers reflect a strong traditional political, economic and social conservatism during a period of economic struggle for small subsistence farmers. In order to better their marketing, the citizens resorted to a variety of internal improvement schemes, but it was not until the unsolicited Republican capital of Philadelphia businessmen invaded that a major railroad link was built. Whereas attempts to channelize the New River failed, efforts to improve municipal waterworks were largely successful. The inhabitants were people of strong moral convictions, as evidenced by their enthusiasm for the temperance movement and their endorsement of the southern Civil War memorial associations. Reluctantly turning from their Jacksonian principles, the Ninth District embraced organized political conservatism through convention politics, in a statewide conservative effort to destroy Radical Republicanism. / M.A.

In 1972, the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) began in the states. Many states quickly ratified the amendment but the ERA stalled fifteen states short of the necessary three-fourths to become part of the United States Constitution. Virginia was one of the states who did not ratify the amendment and this study examines the reasons why. Much like other southern states, conservative Virginia legislators wanted to maintain traditional gender roles. STOP ERA and other anti-ERA organizations mobilized before the proponents developed a unified campaign. Legislators were able to use the rules of the General Assembly to block serious consideration and ratification of the ERA. Proponents of the amendment started with an educational campaign but faced the problem of not being in a position to challenge the powerful conservative leaders in the General Assembly. They then shifted to a campaign based on electoral politics. However, the transition occurred too late to effect the outcome of ERA ratification in Virginia.

In mid-November, 1775, Lord Dunmore last Royal Governor of Virginia attempted to enlist the support of rebel owned slaves to crush Patriot resistance to Great Britain. This study examines the slaveholders' response to Dunmore's actions. Virginia's slaveholders fought a counter-revolution in order to maintain traditional race relations in the colony. Patriot propaganda portrayed Dunmore as a race traitor, who became symbolically more "black" than white. Slaveholders characterized Dunmore as a rebel, a madman, and a sexual deviant - stereotypes normally given to slaves by their "masters." Since Dunmore threatened to destroy the defining institution of slavery, planters sought to salvage their identities by defending the paternalistic philosophy and racist assumptions upon which slave society was based. Planters overwhelmingly became Patriots to protect slavery. / Department of History