Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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Historically, Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution of the United States have been significantly important, impacting the lives of every American. This honors thesis seeks to understand the ways in which the Constitution has been interpreted through the lens of political ideology. Using constitutional theory, I explain how the political ideologies of classical liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, and progressive liberalism have played a role in the interpretations of the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments. I also examine how these ideological interpretations have changed from 1776 to 2017, dividing the history of the United States into four eras: the Founding Era, the Civil War Era, the New Deal Era, and the Modern Era. First, the First Amendment's clauses on religion are examined, where I focus on the separation between church and state as well as the concepts of "establishment" and "free exercise." The First Amendment transitions from classically liberal, to conservative, to progressively liberal and classically liberal, to progressively liberal and libertarian. Next, we look at the Second Amendment's notions of a "militia" and the "right to keep and bear arms." The Second Amendment's interpretations begin classically liberal, then change to classically liberal and progressively liberal, to progressively liberal, to conservative. Finally, the analysis on the Fourth Amendment's "unreasonable searches and seizures" as well as "warrants" lends evidence to ideological interpretations. The Fourth Amendment, like the other two, starts classically liberal for two eras, then becomes libertarian, and finally ends libertarian and conservative. The implications of each of these conclusions are then discussed, with emphasis on public opinion in society during the era in question, the ways in which the ideologies in each era seem to build upon one another, the ideologies of the justices who wrote the opinions, and the ideology of the court.
ContributorsSmith, Charlene Anne (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Hudson, Jill (Committee member) / New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Dressler Makes Things (DMT), as a thesis project, explores the viability of DMT as a monetized blog. DMT is a life improvement blog with a focus on cooking. Its blog niche sits between nostalgic, sensory food blogs and professional, actionable life improvement blogs. Because blogs that bridge this gap are rare, DMT aims to fill this need by making cooking easy, affordable, and attainable for anyone, but particularly females in their early twenties. This thesis explores marketing topics like brand, blog niche, unique value proposition, current viewers, and user personas, as well as information about the current blogging environment and an analysis of relevant competitors. It also develops marketing objectives for DMT, as well as positioning, conversion, referral, content promotion, and partnership strategies to reach these goals. Finally, it discusses distribution, pricing, and promotional tactics, as well as an operational plan and financial projections.
ContributorsParsons, Dressler Eileen (Author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Bitter, Gary (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
It seems that we are incessantly scolded about the importance of the American political process and its virtue of practicality in contemporary society. Whether through the accumulation of the so-called facts about the issues that inform the veneration of the contest between candidates, the stern and noble duty of becoming an activist performing dreary tasks, or the religious fervor surrounding the sacred obligation of voting, we are assured and reassured that our system is sound and that we must only confront problems of implementation rather than structural ones. From here, the narrative goes that if we subscribe to the doctrine of exclusively employing the efficient, strictly rational, and the immediately realistic, we will almost assuredly succeed in persuading others toward producing the resolutions required to solve our shared challenges. Admittedly, these ideas serve a role in addressing the issues we face. However, when unaided by sophisticated and nuanced notions and applications of the fantastic, the beautiful, the ideal, the possible, the playful, the useless, in a word, dreaming, we foreclose the possibility of building a future that can qualitatively improve society and more meaningfully elevate our being-with-one-another in the world. Therefore, this work aims to validate the aforementioned claim by engaging in a critical, political, and hermeneutic exploration of what it means to dream against the backdrop of present-day American politics. It will honestly seek to analyze the prevailing notions of contemporary western thought and action to work on the way toward a new, yet latent, way of understanding. This understanding would fundamentally revolutionize the task of civilization as being grounded upon the appropriate channeling of our desires and dissatisfactions toward actualizing the projections of our imagination. Simply put, this project seeks to repudiate the mandate of work as toil and order as oppression to clear the way for envisioning a more suitable alternative.
ContributorsGoldsmith, Adam Jay (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In Arizona's early history, Females garnered more independence than most other women in the United States because they were forced to build a completely new life in settlements with little to no infrastructure. Now, Arizona has achieved a level of equality that no other state has yet to achieve in regard to gender representation. Yet, we have yet to achieve total equity. This paper looks to analyze responses that female senators from the Arizona State Legislature gave while being interviewed by the author. With questions derived from previous research conducted on women in politics at the state and federal level, this paper will delve into the personal experiences of six female senators. Although their personal narratives differ, their stories seem to reflect a collective tie that unites the female members together, beyond party allegiance. Each of the responses given by the senators had some aspects that showed trends supporting the majority of the hypotheses. Moving forward, in order to achieve 50% equality, two more senators would need to be elected and replace male senators.
ContributorsMacdonald, James Nicholson (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lyon, Jenna (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis examines the problems that occur when the politics and practices of social services, specifically maternal and prenatal care, are guided by a distorted understanding of immigration. It compares the politics and practice of this care across two international borders: the U.S.-Mexico and that within Hispaniola. In an ideal world, care would be extended to all individuals regardless of citizenship. However, since every welfare state has its limits at the national border, citizenship matters to both federal governments and medical professionals. Government-provided resources play an integral role in the current immigration debate, as these programs are a collective investment in which all individuals contribute in order to sustain it. The United States developed the welfare state in order to provide necessary resources to those who could not afford it. Its creators did not view these services as a handout, rather as a support for the future workforce of the country. However, health care was and still is not provided on this model of economic and social citizenship. Current U.S. healthcare policy dictates that no one can be turned away in an emergency situation because someone cannot pay their medical bill, including undocumented immigrants. But for immigrant mothers carrying children across the border, maternal and prenatal care does not qualify as an emergency and the federal government aid typically does not extend to them them as citizens. When care is extended to undocumented immigrants in the United States at all, it typically is provided to the child through Medicaid, who is by dint of the Fourteenth Amendment considered a citizen after birth. The relation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti offers a more complex situation, as the idea of birthright citizenship has recently been revoked. Following the Haitian Earthquake in 2010, the only healthcare to which many Haitians had access was across the Hispaniola border. Haitian women who give birth to children in the Dominican Republic are often not evaluated by a doctor until they are entering the delivery process, and even then health-care is complicated by or denied because of racial prejudice and unclear legal situation. In September of 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic issues a new ruling which declared that any immigrant born between 1929 and 2010 without documentation of their own or of their ancestors does not have citizenship, rendering many Haitians born in the Dominican Republic essentially stateless. To be born to a non-citizen mother typically means the child will likely be born with little or no prenatal care, and the mother will receive poor or inadequate care. Prenatal care is one of the most inexpensive elements of a care-model that carries huge returns relative to its costs. All governments would benefit from improved access to maternal and prenatal care because its future citizens who receive such care would be born healthier and have fewer expensive chronic illnesses. Fewer chronic illness among a population would have huge returns on the welfare state because fewer people would be utilizing it for expensive medical treatments. Though most medical professionals condemn the extreme act of denying care to pregnant women or infants (documented or not), the Dominican Republic and the United States have a popular politics that embraces this cruelty, despite the fact that both pride themselves on a multi-ethnic population. It is easy for policymakers to incriminate undocumented immigrants and claim that they are responsible for an illegitimate share of the consumption of the country's resources. Therefore, it seems likely that the host country's perceptions of immigrant natality and maternity help construct a negative image of the immigration "problem" in such a way that laws and policies are designed without accurate rationale. This thesis examines how the United States and the Dominican Republic might improve the relationship between the culture of healthcare and the role of the legal system for immigrants and their children. It seeks to understand the reasons, motivations, and consequences for denying immigrants services on the account of their citizenship status. The social, economic, and health consequences of being an undocumented citizen will be examined. Current legal policy and what political roadblocks and cultural prejudices must be overcome in order to implement a successful policy will be reviewed. Finally, the best practices prenatal care as a national investment will be discussed, as will the problem of cross-cultural perception of natality, maternity, and immigration.
ContributorsPrassas, Alexandra Rose (Author) / Oberle, Eric (Thesis director) / Vega, Sujey (Committee member) / Oberstein, Bruce (Committee member) / College of Letters and Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to create an informational book on gluten-free living. It is our hope that by the end of the book readers will have a better understanding that living with a gluten intolerance or auto-immune disorder does not control one's life. Someone just needs to put in a bit more planning and time in order to travel or eat out. The book goes into detail on every condition on the gluten-sensitivity spectrum. It also goes in-depth on medicines, recipes, and travel.
ContributorsSnodgrass, Allison (Co-author) / Snodgrass, Amanda (Co-author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Statistics are rising for adults who are overweight and/or obese, putting them at higher risk of developing serious health problems. Eating fewer portions of vegetable than the daily-recommended amounts contributes to this increase with. College students, being more susceptible to weight gain as they are transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Previous studies demonstrated that children ate more vegetables when repeatedly paired with a low-fat dip compared to when served plain. The current study examined whether this effect was also successful in college-aged subjects. A total of 148 (55 males, 91 females) college-aged students from an introductory psychology class at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive cauliflower or broccoli (raw) either served plain or with low-fat ranch dressing. Subjects showed a greater preference for and consumption of the vegetable plain that was previously given with dip than without dip. These findings suggest that serving vegetables with low-fat ranch dip two times can increase the liking and consumption of vegetables in college students.
ContributorsKim, Sophia L. (Author) / Phillips, Elizabeth Capaldi (Thesis director) / Bajaj, Devina (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
How are perceptions of morality and disgust regarding meat consumption related to each other? Which factor is more salient in determining one's willingness to eat the meat of a specific animal? How do these answers vary across religious groups? This study investigates the ways that concepts like morality and disgust are related to food preferences and hopes to shed light on the mechanisms that enforce culturally sanctioned food taboos. The study compares 4 groups of people in the U.S.: Christians (n = 39), Hindus (n = 29), Jews (n = 23), and non-religious people (n = 63). A total of 154 participants were given surveys in which they rated their feelings about eating various animals. Data from Christian and non-religious groups exhibited similar patterns such as a high likelihood of eating a given animal when starving, while results from Jews and Hindus were consistent with their religion's respective food taboos. Despite these differences, morality and disgust are strongly correlated with one another in almost all instances. Moreover, morality and disgust are almost equally important considerations when determining willingness to eat when starving.
ContributorsParekh, Shaili Rajul (Author) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This thesis will examine market research relating to consumer food trends and the business environment of Austin, Texas in order to evaluate the initial feasibility of establishing a small hydroponic produce farm. A main concern of this report is to provide a general overview of hydroponics and its potential advantages over traditional farming methods as a technique for producing food products for consumers in a local setting. To explore the potential of establishing such a venture, this report will also include a partial business plan focusing on the marketing strategy of initiating a hydroponic produce farm in Austin.
ContributorsShriver, John Andrew (Author) / Schmitz, Troy (Thesis director) / Manfredo, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
ABSTRACT The First Ladies: Exploring Achievement and Public Perception Overview The First Lady has become a fixation of the American people and the press. This thesis examines how specifically this interest in the President's wife has evolved over time. Additionally, it explores a variety of factors that could possibly influence public perception \u2014 era, cultural norms, and advances in technology. Research Questions Does the era of the tenure of the First Lady affect public perception and press coverage of her? Do the cultural norms and values of the time of the First Lady's tenure affect public perception and press coverage of her? Do advances in technology affect public perception and press coverage of the First Lady? Goals The goal of this thesis is to examine how the press and the public interact with First Ladies of varying eras and political stances to determine how their image is shaped and disseminated in the news and to the public. Methodology This thesis explored these questions comparing materials from presidential libraries, academic journals, and news articles from sources such as The New York Times and Washington Post.
ContributorsFranko, Anna (Author) / Edson, Belle (Thesis director) / Quinlivan, Raena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05