Corporations, design firms, technology, and furniture companies are rethinking the concept of the ‘workplace’ environment and built ‘office’ in an effort to respond to changing characteristics of the workplace. The following report presents a case study, post-occupancy assessment of an architecture firm’s relocation of their corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX. This ethnographic research transpired from September 2013 to February 2014 and included participant observation, employee interviews, and an office-wide employee survey. Applying a user-centered approach, this study sought to identify and understand: 1) the most and least effective design elements, 2) unanticipated user-generated (“un-designed”) elements, 3) how the workplace operates as an environment and system of design elements, and 4) opportunities for continued improvement of their work environment. This study found that HKS ODC successfully increased access to collaborative spaces by increasing the size (i.e. number of square feet, number of rooms), variety of styles (i.e. enclosed rooms, open work surfaces), and distribution of spaces throughout the office environment. An increase in reported public transit commuting from 6.5% at their previous location to 24% at HKS ODC compares to almost five times the national public transit average (5%) and fifteen times the rate of Texas workers (1.6%) and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area (1.5%). This supports the real estate decision and design intent of the office that relocating near public transit would increase use (nearly six times that of reported use at 1919 McKinney, 6.5%). Additional findings and discussion relate to HKS ODC’s design enabling increased access to natural light and improved air quality, increased cross-sector collaboration, increased connection to downtown Dallas and engagement with the larger Dallas architectural community, as well as the open office environment encouraging education between all employee levels. Discrepancies between designed ‘flexibility’ and work away from the desk are explored along with the role of technology to facilitate work without replacing face-to-face interaction. This work also identifies key challenges with the design and employee experience and provides recommendations for addressing areas of concern for continued improvement of the workplace design. Continued user-centered research in the field of workplace design is necessary to assess the effect of current interventions in other office environments for comparison and inform future endeavors.

Equitable access to healthy food is a multifaceted issue faced by many underserved populations. Intimate understanding of individual communities’ food practices allows for the creation of community-based interventions that elaborate upon specific needs and desires. Through collaborative research and action, this study aims to become better informed of the current eating habits of community members participating in The Happy Kitchen program at Wesley Rankin Community Center in West Dallas, how those habits have changed over time, and the factors that contribute to access and utilization of a healthy diet. This research seeks to develop a dialectical relationship between the participants and GROW North Texas to design relevant cooking classes and interventions in West Dallas; thereby increasing access to and consumption of nutritious food.

This study was conducted to analyze the differences in the news coverage of public education by a state and local newspaper, to ascertain if trends exist in the coverage of topics, and if the coverage is negative, positive, or neutral. All issues of The Dallas Morning News and The Piano Star Courier from the years 1988 and 1993 were evaluated. All articles about public education (with the exception of athletics, obituaries, and advertisements) were evaluated using a content analysis form. The content analysis form provided information for classifying all articles. Information was tallied for the number of articles and column inches by newspaper and category. Findings indicated a number of differences between the two newspapers in 1988 and 1993. The Dallas Morning News increased the number of articles and column inches of space it committed to the coverage of public education from 1988 to 1993. During the same period The Piano Star Courier reduced both the number of articles and column inches of space which it used for the topic of education. The Piano Star Courier began publishing editions on only five of the seven days per week in February, 1993. The Dallas Morning News reduced its local coverage and increased its coverage of state and national education topics during the same period. The change in coverage was shown through the increased number of articles and space allocated to state and national topics. Changes also occurred in the number of negative articles published by the newspapers. The Dallas Morning News increased the number of negative articles as it focused on state and national news. The Piano Star Courier reduced the number of negative articles as it focused on local topics. The findings also indicate that certain categories of articles are more likely to present education in a positive manner. Local education news stories are more likely to be positive than state or national stories. Personal stories about students and/or teachers tend to represent schools in a positive light. The topics of discipline, vandalism, finance, and administration usually have a more negative effect. Findings reveal that differing trends exist in major state and local newspaper coverage of public education. Knowledge of these trends can help educators promote a positive image of public education.

The City of Dallas Environmental Education Initiative (EEI) is a hands-on, inquiry-based, K-12 water conservation education program that teaches students concepts about water and specific water conservation behaviors. Few descriptions and evaluations, especially quantitative in nature, of water conservation education programs have previously been conducted in the literature. This research measured the quantitative effects and impacts of the education program on water use in single-family homes in Dallas, Texas. A total of 2,122 students in 104 classrooms at three schools in the Dallas Independent School District received hands-on, inquiry-based water conservation education lessons and the average monthly water use (in gallons) in single-family homes was analyzed to measure whether or not there was a change in water use. The results showed that over a period of one calendar year the water use in the single-family homes within each school zone and throughout the entire research area in this study experienced a statistically significant decrease in water use of approximately 501 gallons per home per month (independent, t-test, p>0.001). Data from this research suggests that EEI is playing a role in decreasing the amount of water used for residential purposes. Additionally, this research demonstrates the use of a quantitative tool by which a water conservation education program’s effect on behavior change can be measured. This research shows great promise for reducing use and increasing the conservation of our world’s most precious resource.

This collection of seven representative original short stories will include four short stories relating to a fictional location in Dallas, the Starry Skies gay country-and-western dance hall. Three short stories set in fabulous, sometimes absurd settings, will follow. A preface dealing with the nature of fictional place and non-fictional place in fiction will precede the collection of short stories.

The purpose of this study was to record and interpret the methods and procedures employed in the operation of the centralized system of the athletic program in the white senior high schools of Dallas, Texas, for the years 1931 through 1940.

This problem's investigation deals with gauging the artistic influence, if any, pioneer editorial cartoonist John Knott had on his successors, Ficklen and McClanahan. Information was gathered through interviews and the pages of the Dallas Morning News. Organization is as follows: introduction, biography and art of Knott, biography and art of Ficklen, biography and art of McClanahan, summary and conclusion. The study found minimal artistic influence by Knott on the cartoons of Ficklen and McClanahan. Compared to Knott, Ficklen and McClanahan had different art backgrounds, cartoon styles, personal and political beliefs. Knott's successors admired different artists, drew during a different editorial page emphasis and had more freedom in cartoon selection than Knott did. Neither Ficklen nor McClanahan listed Knott as an artistic influence.

City planning in Dallas, Texas, gives insight into various aspects of the early planning movement in the United States. Dallas city planning offers an opportunity to study the initial work for a plan; citizens' involvement in the pre-planning campaign and later in the workings of the plan itself; the conception of the plan; its implementation; and the differences between the proposed and the implemented plan. Specifically, the 1911 plan for Dallas, Texas affords a chance to examine Kansas City landscape architect George E. Kessler's ideas on urban areas. He believed that planning for an adequate boulevard system would enhance the beauty of a city as well as improving the business climate.

The purpose of the paper is to develop projections of occupational employment in the Dallas and Fort Worth Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA) using Area Projection Method A, developed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) . An objective of the paper is to determine whether reasonable projections can be made for the Dallas and Fort Worth areas using the method. The projections and results can be used by local manpower and education planners to satisfy their planning requirements. The final chapter concludes that Method A does produce reasonable projections, but points out that the projections lack detail. Their value lies in projecting the overall trend and direction of the composition of employment, and their usefulness is primarily in policy making.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to write a narrative account of the meaning, objectives, and functions of -auditorium work in public schools and to note the importance of providing for pupil participation in auditorium classes, and recommended practices in planning for and presenting programs in this phase of the educational situation; (2) to develop in detail the practices, procedures, and techniques contained in printed and mimeographed materials distributed by the Board of Education to auditorium teachers to serve as guides in conducting auditorium work in the elementary schools of Dallas, Texas; and (3) to evaluate these instructional materials in the light of modern practices, procedures, and techniques advocated by authorities in the field of auditorium work. As an outgrowth of these three phases of the study, it was believed that certain conclusions might be evident as to the efficacy of the auditorium work in the elementary schools of Dallas in so far as it could be determined by a careful examination of materials prepared for the use of auditorium teachers in conducting their classes. It was believed, also, that it might be possible to make recommendations for the improvement of auditorium work in the elementary schools of Dallas in the light of the instructional materials now used by auditorium teachers as compared to modern conceptions of auditorium advanced by authorities in the field.