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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- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
Description
Genocide studies have traditionally focused on the perpetrator’s intent to eradicate a particular identity-based group, using the Holocaust as their model and point of comparison. Although some aspects of the Holocaust were undoubtedly unique, recent scholars have sought to challenge the notion that it was a singular phenomenon. Instead, they draw attention to a recurring pattern of genocidal events throughout history by shifting the focus from intent to structure. One particular branch of scholars seeks to connect the ideology and tactics of imperialism with certain genocidal events. These anti-imperialist genocide scholars concede that their model cannot account for all genocides, but still claim that it creates meaningful connections between genocides committed by Western colonialist powers and those that have occurred in a neoimperialist world order shaped according to Western interests. The latter includes genocides in postcolonial states, which these scholars believe were shaped by the scars of their colonial past, as well as genocides in which imperial hegemons assisted local perpetrators. Imperialist and former colonial powers have contributed meaningfully to all of these kinds of genocides, yet their contributions have largely been ignored due to their own influence on the creation of the current international order. Incorporating the anti-imperialist perspective into the core doctrine of genocide studies may lead to breakthroughs in areas of related policy and practice, such as prevention and accountability.
ContributorsParker, Ashleigh Mae (Author) / Thies, Cameron (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Political polarization is the coalescence of political parties -- and the individuals of which parties are composed -- around opposing ends of the ideological spectrum. Political parties in the United States have always been divided, however, in recent years this division has only intensified. Recently, polarization has also wound its way to the Supreme Court and the nomination processes of justices to the Court. This paper examines how prevalent polarization in the Supreme Court nomination process has become by looking specifically at the failed nomination of Judge Merrick Garland and the confirmations of now-Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. This is accomplished by comparing the ideologies and qualifications of the three most recent nominees to those of previous nominees, as well as analysing the ideological composition of the Senate at the times of the individual nominations.
ContributorsJoss, Jacob (Author) / Hoekstra, Valerie (Thesis director) / Critchlow, Donald (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The Arizona Teachers Academy is a program that was first designed and implemented by Governor Doug Ducey in 2017 with a simple concept: to cover the tuition and fees of Arizona higher education students learning to teach in exchange for fulfilling a commitment to teach at an Arizona public school following graduation. The academy has evolved quite rapidly in its short history, going from an unfunded mandate that Arizona universities could not afford to be funded to a voter-approved tax, and seeing its student enrollment numbers increase by over tenfold. This paper seeks to be an overview and process evaluation of the program, as well as an outlook into the program’s future. As a process evaluation, the thesis includes examinations of the program’s presumed logic model, that model’s assumptions, and relevant stakeholders. I used a multi-method approach: statutory and financial data were collected from web research and agency archival collections, and a series of interviews were conducted to ask analytical questions to key stakeholders and program directors about the program’s internal operations and data findings. These stakeholders and program directors consist of staff at the Arizona Board of Regents, the Arizona Department of Education, all three major Arizona public universities (Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona), as well as multiple elected officials and political advocacy groups that have impacted the program through legislation and ballot initiative. This thesis finds that the Arizona Teachers Academy does not have a stated logic model, which in turn led to program assumptions that fail to meet the needs of Arizona public schools and did not allow for all key stakeholders to be involved in the process.
ContributorsLister, Blake (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Broberg, Gregory (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Traditional forms of news distribution are rapidly dying out. Newspaper revenue continues to decline, while internet alternatives, accurate or otherwise, gain traction. One of the fastest growing forms of "new media" is the podcast. Everyone from comedians to organizations like National Public Radio is launching their own, and they are increasingly becoming legitimate sources of income when supplemented with advertising. Video podcasts have also exploded into the mainstream, generating millions of views on platforms like YouTube. However, it is rare to find a video podcast series with one journalist and a guest, and even less common for a show to be hosted by a college student. The "Tell it Like it is" video podcast is an attempt at bringing college journalists into the world of video podcasting. It examines the extent to which a single person can have a successful podcast while in college and what resources are necessary for the task. The following paper contains the history of podcasting, its growth in the 21st century, the inspiration for this project, an in-depth description and background of each episode, challenges, successes, future endeavors, and a conclusion. An accompanying website serves as the headquarters for the five-part video podcast series. The website also hosts additional information about the subjects and their careers. All episodes have been uploaded to YouTube.
ContributorsDowd, Kyle Christopher (Author) / Knudson, Syleste (Thesis director) / Sandoval, Mathew (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
This study seeks to understand the role that media coverage of the Red for Ed movement and related teachers strike in Arizona had on college students’ views toward the issues of teacher pay and education funding. I conducted a survey of 448 students from Arizona State University who were first administered a pre-test gauging their initial views on teacher pay and education funding. Participants were then divided into three groups, with the first group watching a video montage of Red for Ed media clips that contained a minute-long clip showing the average annual teacher salary level in Arizona. The second group watched an identical video montage as the first group but without the average teacher salary clip, while the third group watched an unrelated and politically insignificant video. Participants were then given the same series of questions after watching their respective stimulus videos to gauge post-test views. The results show that students exposed to media coverage that showed what teachers make on an annual basis saw significant decreases in what they thought teachers should earn and how much the state should devote to education funding in comparison to those who saw similar media coverage of Red for Ed but did not see what teachers earn. In contrast, the latter group saw no significant difference compared to those who were not exposed to any media coverage of Red for Ed, challenging the widely-touted “protest paradigm” trap often highlighted in current academic literature. Finally, the study shows that while ideology plays a role in support for higher teacher pay and willingness to raise taxes to fund education, liberal students showed no overall difference in how much they would fund education in comparison to moderate and conservative students. This study, therefore, provides insight into how interactions and portrayals in the media can influence public opinion towards teachers protests and their goals, as well as how educators can adapt to this dynamic by adopting specific protest strategies to more effectively build political and public support.
ContributorsTenty, Ryan Nicholas (Co-author) / Tenty, Ryan (Co-author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lennon, Tara (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
The use of nuclear weapons as a tool for international politics has been studied and debated on since their invention. With such a powerful threat of world annihilation at hand, it is possible that states will act in certain ways to avoid this outcome. Contrarily, scholars of international relations have also noted that some states have attempted to manipulate the risk of a nuclear attack in order to win against an adversary in a conflict. The Cold War between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union shows clear examples of the intentional use of nuclear bombs to sway an opponent’s decision-making in a crisis. The believability of the threat is often determined by arsenal size, past actions, and the increasing manipulation of risk. This paper is divided into four main sections providing an introduction to deterrence theory and the following case studies of the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. These were chosen due to their importance in shaping how relations between the US and USSR carried on for the remainder of the Cold War. Additionally, these crises show the varied responses by different US Presidents along with changing Soviet leaders. The goal of this paper is to explore the impact of nuclear weapons in the successful ending of these crises for the United States when combined with the different political, economic, and social factors at the time. While nuclear weapons do affect the outcome for each of the crises, the other factors cannot be ignored in explaining the actions of each state to achieve their desired conclusion.
ContributorsSchlotterback, Alexis Grace (Author) / Niebuhr, Robert (Thesis director) / Pout, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Military Science (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In an analysis of federal ADA law, we find that the ADA—the law that protects disabled people from exclusion in public spaces—has a fundamental inefficiency: the only way to fix accessibility issues under the ADA is to file a civil or Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit. This challenge leads to the perpetuation of inaccessibility and accessibility problems in public settings. To examine this issue on the Arizona State University Tempe (ASU Tempe) campus, I walked through 55 ASU Tempe classroom and research buildings and compiled a list of each accessibility problem present; I created digital floor plans detailing the location of each accessibility concern; and I worked with ASU professionals—such as Arizona State’s Coordinator of Accessibility (ADA) Compliance and professional staff at the Disability Resource Center—to remedy these accessibility issues. Through my research, I identified two areas of improvement regarding accessibility at ASU Tempe: the need for a streamlined tracking and fixing process of accessibility problems on-campus; and the need for an easy-to-access online form where students can report accessibility issues on-campus. I also discovered that despite the problems that need to be addressed, ASU’s professionals are committed to accessibility compliance compared to other institutions. However, despite the commitment from ASU professionals, as well as the ASU charter stating that “[ASU] is ...measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed,” expansion of accessibility for students with physical disabilities on the ASU Tempe campus remains a needed area of change. This will ultimately promote equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of ability. Furthermore, accessibility involves a continual process of assessment and improvement in spite of budgetary limitations and widespread disability stigmatization.
ContributorsSaunders, Mackenzie Rose (Author) / Oliverio, Annamaria (Thesis director) / Delaney, Shanna (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
If one were to go to Virginia today and visit Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson, they would find a building that resembles a museum more so than a home. Inside are paintings, maps, sculptures and even the antlers of many great beasts. But the first thing that will come to a visitor's sight aren’t these wonders, but rather the busts of two men that glare at each other at the entrance of the home. One stands on a pedestal, large and draped in cloth, the other a simple marble statue of a younger man. The former statue depicts Monticello’s owner and the latter is of the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton . One may find this curious, as the two didn’t have a friendship and were often thought of as the cause for the United States becoming a two-party system, due to their disagreements. For Thomas Jefferson the placement of these busts seemed natural as it put him into eternal combat with a man he considered his main political rival.
These two men could not have had more different upbringings; Thomas Jefferson was born to a wealthy family that owned land and slaves, whereas Alexander Hamilton was born on a Caribbean island in poverty, only to be orphaned early on in his life . Despite these differences both men found a common goal in fighting for independence for the American colonies. Jefferson would do so as a diplomat and author of the Declaration of Independence, Hamilton would be a patriot through being a soldier and assistant to General George Washington. Once the war was over, the two continued their service to the country and would find themselves as the first heads of the United States’ cabinet departments. By being in Washington’s cabinet, the two came in conflict with one another frequently on the policy of the time such as the country’s neutrality in foreign affairs. No issue put them more in conflict than their stances on the country’s economic state.
These two men could not have had more different upbringings; Thomas Jefferson was born to a wealthy family that owned land and slaves, whereas Alexander Hamilton was born on a Caribbean island in poverty, only to be orphaned early on in his life . Despite these differences both men found a common goal in fighting for independence for the American colonies. Jefferson would do so as a diplomat and author of the Declaration of Independence, Hamilton would be a patriot through being a soldier and assistant to General George Washington. Once the war was over, the two continued their service to the country and would find themselves as the first heads of the United States’ cabinet departments. By being in Washington’s cabinet, the two came in conflict with one another frequently on the policy of the time such as the country’s neutrality in foreign affairs. No issue put them more in conflict than their stances on the country’s economic state.
ContributorsSierra, Roman J (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Pout, Daniel (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Sexual violence is a problem that is present in communities worldwide for individuals of every gender identity and religious communities are certainly not immune, including Muslim communities. This project will explore how sexual violence manifests in Muslim communities while also discussing how sexual violence is rooted in cultural patriarchy rather than the religion of Islam itself. Islam is a religion of radical gender equality. The religious discrimination against women that has been witnessed throughout the past fourteen centuries is actually the remnant of unequal gender dynamics found in pre-Islamic patriarchal culture. Sexual violence is explicitly prohibited in Islam, as evidenced by the Qur’an and ahadith (records of the Prophet Muhammad’s life) and has no place in the global Muslim community, referred to as the Ummah.
This paper also delves into feminism in Islam and argues that Muslim women should not be forced to choose between their faith and their human rights; rather, women should be able to obtain an education and should play an essential role in the interpretation of religious texts.
The purpose of this thesis project is twofold: to examine the intersection of Islam, women, and sexual violence prevention as well as to develop and apply a sexual violence prevention curriculum that can be implemented within Muslim communities. The textual analysis of this project will include discussions regarding the primary source of the Qur’an as well as the secondary sources of ahadith and existing literature written by Muslim scholars, primarily female Muslim scholars. This will allow for an analysis of how women are portrayed in Islam as well as how Islamic texts and traditions challenge the patriarchy and rape culture in which sexual violence manifests. Using this foundational knowledge, the goals of the sexual violence prevention curriculum will be to facilitate a discussion between Muslims regarding what sexual violence looks like and what rape culture is, create support networks for survivors, discuss what to do if a friend discloses that they are a survivor or victim of sexual violence, reduce roadblocks to reporting, and analyze literature on feminism in Islam in order to support a movement for sexual violence prevention.
This paper also delves into feminism in Islam and argues that Muslim women should not be forced to choose between their faith and their human rights; rather, women should be able to obtain an education and should play an essential role in the interpretation of religious texts.
The purpose of this thesis project is twofold: to examine the intersection of Islam, women, and sexual violence prevention as well as to develop and apply a sexual violence prevention curriculum that can be implemented within Muslim communities. The textual analysis of this project will include discussions regarding the primary source of the Qur’an as well as the secondary sources of ahadith and existing literature written by Muslim scholars, primarily female Muslim scholars. This will allow for an analysis of how women are portrayed in Islam as well as how Islamic texts and traditions challenge the patriarchy and rape culture in which sexual violence manifests. Using this foundational knowledge, the goals of the sexual violence prevention curriculum will be to facilitate a discussion between Muslims regarding what sexual violence looks like and what rape culture is, create support networks for survivors, discuss what to do if a friend discloses that they are a survivor or victim of sexual violence, reduce roadblocks to reporting, and analyze literature on feminism in Islam in order to support a movement for sexual violence prevention.
ContributorsHill, Samantha (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Frick, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Abstract
According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 37 million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss, which impacts their ability to communicate fluently with the hearing world. This number includes up to 17% of the adult population, many who have experienced post-lingual or late-deafness. While hearing loss is known to be one of the most prevalent chronically disabling sensory conditions, little is known about the impact it has on individuals’ cultural identity and sense of well-being. There is somewhat of a deficit in the research literature addressing these issues of cultural identity, especially as it relates to post-lingually deaf adults. Improved knowledge of these dimensions of hearing loss is needed—a knowledge which could lead to more effective resources for late-deafened people. Though hearing loss can be disabling, access to American Sign Language and the Deaf culture may compensate for social and cultural loss and potentially improve well-being within late-deafened individuals. Using the framework of Social Identity Theory and Neil Glickman’s Deaf Identity Development model, this study sought to identify late-deafened adults who fall into the marginal category, placing them at greater risk of becoming socially marginalized and experiencing diminished well-being. Subjective well-being was then measured by the Flourishing Scale to determine how being socially marginal may impact one’s sense of self, personal prosperity, social efficacy, and sense of social competency. Results showed that marginal individuals do experience diminished subjective well-being, a fact which should be further explored by researchers, especially in the context of developing more effective interventions and services for late-deafened individuals.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 37 million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss, which impacts their ability to communicate fluently with the hearing world. This number includes up to 17% of the adult population, many who have experienced post-lingual or late-deafness. While hearing loss is known to be one of the most prevalent chronically disabling sensory conditions, little is known about the impact it has on individuals’ cultural identity and sense of well-being. There is somewhat of a deficit in the research literature addressing these issues of cultural identity, especially as it relates to post-lingually deaf adults. Improved knowledge of these dimensions of hearing loss is needed—a knowledge which could lead to more effective resources for late-deafened people. Though hearing loss can be disabling, access to American Sign Language and the Deaf culture may compensate for social and cultural loss and potentially improve well-being within late-deafened individuals. Using the framework of Social Identity Theory and Neil Glickman’s Deaf Identity Development model, this study sought to identify late-deafened adults who fall into the marginal category, placing them at greater risk of becoming socially marginalized and experiencing diminished well-being. Subjective well-being was then measured by the Flourishing Scale to determine how being socially marginal may impact one’s sense of self, personal prosperity, social efficacy, and sense of social competency. Results showed that marginal individuals do experience diminished subjective well-being, a fact which should be further explored by researchers, especially in the context of developing more effective interventions and services for late-deafened individuals.
ContributorsBlech, Jennifer Grace (Author) / Almasan, Oana (Thesis director) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12