Matching Items (12)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Arizona
- Creators: Division of Teacher Preparation
- Status: Published
Description
This thesis explores the role of film industry boosterism in Arizona from 1911 to 2014; it argues that boosters consistently employed film as a promotional tool toward building state identity for Arizona. These boosters harnessed a variety of strategies catered specifically to a combination of personal interests and historical circumstances. Consequently, their efforts produced a variety of identities for Arizona that changed over time as new generations of boosters addressed different concerns. These state identities that boosters wanted to build relied heavily on the power of perception, often attempting to overcome or reinforce stereotypical imagery and iconography associated with Arizona. Over time, boosters used the film industry to project Arizona as: a modern and progressive state that had outgrown its frontier past; an ideal setting to make films that relived the mythical Wild West; a film-friendly place of business ideally suited for Hollywood production; and a cultural haven for filmic sophistication. Textual analysis of primary sources comprises the methodology of this thesis. Primary sources include historical newspapers, such as the Arizona Republican, and archival records of Arizona's past governors, including Governors Jack R. Williams and Raul H. Castro. These sources constitute valuable documentation created by boosters in the course of their day-to-day activities promoting Arizona, providing a window into their aspirations, worldviews and strategies. Personal interviews with active and retired members of Arizona's film boosting community are also included as primary source material, intended to capture firsthand accounts of filmic activity in the state. Using these sources as its foundation, this thesis fills a gap in the historiography by analyzing the relationship between the film industry and Arizona's state identity. While a handful of scholarly works have discussed Arizona's film history to a minor extent, they tend to take a pure narrative approach, or offer a "behind-the-scenes" look that focuses on the production aspects of films shot in Arizona. No other work focuses explicitly on boosterism or explores the statewide meaning of Arizona's film history over such a comprehensive period of time. Thus, this thesis offers a previously neglected history of both film and Arizona.
ContributorsEhrfurth, Ryan (Author) / Thompson, Victoria (Thesis advisor) / Vandermeer, Philip (Committee member) / Smith, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This thesis examines the immediate post-World War II operational strategy of Valley National Bank of Arizona, a Phoenix-based institution in operation from 1899 until its 1992 acquisition by Ohio-based Banc One Corporation (now JPMorgan Chase). For the purposes of this study, the immediate post-war period is defined as 1944 to January 20, 1953, a span that opens with the bank's wartime planning efforts for the post-war period and ends with the 1953 retirement of bank president Walter Bimson. By the end of World War II, Valley National ranked as the largest financial institution in the eight-state Rocky Mountain region, as measured by total deposits. However, post-war regulatory issues, competitor expansion, and an inability to generate deposit volume sufficient to meet subject period loan demands challenged bank leaders seeking to maintain market share and grow company profitability and stock value. In response to these difficulties, the bank focused on a three-pronged operational strategy emphasizing advertising, market-appropriate deposit and loan product offerings, and an aggressive branching and acquisition campaign. This strategy did not result in unmitigated success as the bank did experience a decrease in average deposit account balances, lost mortgage market share, and undertook acquisition activity that later resulted in federal antitrust action. However, by the end of the subject period, the three-pronged strategy employed by the bank did result in an increase in deposit dollar market share, as measured by deposits controlled directly and indirectly by the institution, rising annual net profits, and substantial share price appreciation. The findings related to bank strategy and results presented in this thesis are based primarily upon information found in the 169-box Valley National Bank Collection housed at the Arizona Historical Society. Extensive newspaper research conducted using targeted date range and keyword searches and careful consideration of secondary source materials relating to the bank, the banking industry, and state, regional, and national politics, economics, and culture during the subject period provided additional information used in this study, and corroborated much of the material found in the Valley National Bank Collection files.
ContributorsSouthard, John (Author) / Warren-Findley, Jannelle (Thesis advisor) / Vandermeer, Philip (Committee member) / Gammage, Jr., Grady (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Although significant progress has been made in terms of LGBT rights in the United States, the topic has still remained one of the most prevalent and divisive issues in recent history. In Arizona, this prevalence and divisiveness has been illustrated through the state's civil rights and legislative history. Additionally, the importance of this issue is highlighted by the incidents of discrimination and bullying towards LGBT students in Arizona's schools. With this in mind, it was critical to conduct an exploratory historical analysis of LGBT rights in Arizona to better understand the recent history and current climate towards the LGBT community in the state. To explore this issue, the data consisted of reports on the fiscal impact of adopting LGBT-friendly policies, reports on LGBT health and well-being, reports on the school climate, court cases, pieces of legislation, opinion polls, news articles, and opinion pieces. This data on LGBT rights in Arizona was then codified, summarized, and analyzed using Axel Honneth's theory of recognition. Through the application of Honneth's theory to the data, it was possible to examine the history of recognition and misrecognition towards the LGBT community in Arizona. In total, there were six identifiable areas that emerged in which recognition and misrecognition exists: LGBT identity and well-being, marriage recognition, LGBT youth, rights and partner benefits, allies of the LGBT community, and opponents of LGBT rights. This project examined those areas through the lens of Arizona's history and provides insights into the current status of LGBT rights in Arizona.
ContributorsAhearne, Andrew Thomas (Author) / Carlson, David (Thesis director) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The spread of urbanization leads to habitat fragmentation and deterioration and changes the composition of ecosystems for species all over the world. Different groups of organisms are impacted differently, and insects have experienced loss in diversity and abundance due to changing environmental factors. Here, I collected seed beetles across 12 urban and rural sites in Phoenix, Arizona, to analyze the effects of urbanization and habitat variation on beetle diversity and abundance. I found that urbanization, host tree origin, and environmental factors such as tree diversity and density had no impact on overall beetle diversity and abundance. Beetles were found to have higher density on hosts with a higher density of pods. In assessing individual beetle species, some beetles exhibited higher density in rural sites with native trees, and some were found more commonly on nonnative tree species. The observed differences in beetle density demonstrate the range of effects urbanization and environmental features can have on insect species. By studying ecosystem interactions alongside changing environments, we can better predict the role urbanization and human development can have on different organisms.
ContributorsPaduano, Gabrielle (Author) / Savalli, Udo (Thesis director) / Sweat, Ken (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Cultural Perceptions of Leisure and Well-being in Rock Climbing Communities of Peru and Arizona, USA
Description
In December of 2015, I made my way to rural Peru for a few weeks, my first visit to South America. While I was there, I observed a devotion to family and leisure activity, topics that were not heavily prioritized in my experience in Arizona. Upon my return, I became more involved in leisure activities, particularly running, hiking, yoga, and climbing. These involvements noticeably benefitted my health and well-being. The way the Peruvians I met prioritized these subjects fascinated me, and I wanted to study this difference between Arizona and Peru. In July of 2017, I returned to Peru for a semester abroad with my bags packed and the following research questions: 1) Are differences in motivation for rock climbing between Arizona and Peruvian climbers associated with cultural values? 2) Do leisure activities and the amount of time spent on them have an effect on quality of life? 3) Does the degree of climbing specialization impact perceptions of well-being? 4) What characteristics impact perceptions of quality of life among climbers? Are these characteristics affected by country of origin? My prediction was that Peruvians had higher quality of life due to their emphasis on leisure. Through this study, I learned that this conclusion was not as simple as I anticipated.
ContributorsMatta, Samantha Tania (Author) / Hultsman, Wendy (Thesis director) / Sampson, David (Committee member) / Lee, Rebecca (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This research paper aims to analyze the intricacies of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as its reauthorizations, primarily No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with a brief look at the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Most attention will be placed on Title I of each piece of legislation. Accompanying the analysis will be insight and data examining the varied levels of success for each piece of legislation aimed at minimizing the achievement gap. The data will highlight graduation rates, test scores, dropout rates, adult literacy rates, school enrollment, etc. The research paper will analyze these items on a national scale, then it will direct its attention to Arizona schools. Charter schools will not be analyzed within the scope of this research paper. In exploring these details in terms of a specific state since ESEA's inception, the research paper hopes to better examine the effects of ESEA and perhaps suggest parallels to states nationwide. Since there are so many diverse factors in determining student and school success, it would be unwise to make concrete claims about these figures and whether they prove ESEA was a success or failure. However, the purpose of providing this data is to suggest possible relationships between these federal initiatives and student success. Furthermore, as a prior student and current teacher at a Title I school in Arizona, the author acknowledges that there is potential for bias and the perspective provided in this research paper may differ from that of the reader.
ContributorsFranklin, Keely Ellen (Author) / Ludlow, Carlyn (Thesis director) / Cocchiarella, Martha (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This dissertation uses the narrative practice of chorography as a genre for assessing the history of placemaking in the Salt and Gila River region of central Arizona from the late seventeenth century through the mid-nineteenth century. Chorography concerns the descriptive representation of places in the world, usually of regions associated with a particular nation. Traditionally, chorography has served as a written method for describing geographical places as they existed historically. By integrating descriptions of natural features with descriptions of built features, such as ancient ruins, chorography infuses the physical landscape with cultural and historical meaning. This dissertation relies on a body of Spanish- and English-language chorographies produced across three centuries to interpret how Euro-American descriptions of Hohokam ruins in the Salt and Gila River valleys shaped local placemaking. Importantly, the disparate chorographic texts produced during the late-seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries reflect ‘discursive continuity’—a continuity of thought spanning a long and frequently disregarded period in the history of central Arizona, in which ruminations about the ruins of ancient cities and irrigation canals formed the basis for what people knew, or thought they knew, about the little-known region. When settlers arrived in the newly-formed Arizona Territory in the 1860s to establish permanent settlement in the Salt and Gila River valleys, they brought with them a familiarity with these writings, maps, and other chorographical materials. On one hand, Arizonans viewed the ancient ruins as literal evidence for the region’s agricultural possibilities. On the other hand, Aztec and Cíbola myths associated with the ruins, told and retold by Europeans and Americans during the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, offered an imaginative context for the establishment and promotion of American settlement in central Arizona.
ContributorsCaproni, Linnéa Katherine Elizabeth (Author) / Thompson, Victoria (Thesis advisor) / Vandermeer, Philip (Committee member) / Timothy, Dallen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Historians typically view the postwar suburban metropolis from one of two vantages: from the vantage of urban capital as it flowed out of central cities into new automobile suburbs, where a new suburban culture emerged and flourished after 1945, or from the vantage of central cities, which become progressively hollowed out, leaving behind badly deteriorated inner-city services and facilities. Rarely, however, do historians view the postwar suburban metropolis from the vantage of peripheral small towns and rural countrysides. This study looks at the “metropolitan revolution” from the outside in, as the metropolis approached and then absorbed a landscape of farms and ranches centered on a small farm-service town. As a case study, it focuses on Tempe, Arizona, a town and rural countryside eight miles east of Phoenix.
During the postwar period, Tempe became part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Agricultural production in Tempe yielded to suburban development, as a producer-oriented landscape of farms and ranches became a consumer-oriented landscape of residential subdivisions and university buildings. Intangible goods such as higher education eclipsed tangible goods such as grain, dairy, and cotton. Single-family houses supplanted farmland; shopping centers with parking lots undermined main street businesses; irrigation water became domestic water; and International-style university buildings displaced vernacular neighborhoods rooted in the early history of the settlement. In Tempe, the rural agricultural landscape gave way to a suburban landscape. But in important ways, the former shaped the latter, as the suburban metropolis inherited the underlying form and spatial relationships of farms and ranches.
During the postwar period, Tempe became part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Agricultural production in Tempe yielded to suburban development, as a producer-oriented landscape of farms and ranches became a consumer-oriented landscape of residential subdivisions and university buildings. Intangible goods such as higher education eclipsed tangible goods such as grain, dairy, and cotton. Single-family houses supplanted farmland; shopping centers with parking lots undermined main street businesses; irrigation water became domestic water; and International-style university buildings displaced vernacular neighborhoods rooted in the early history of the settlement. In Tempe, the rural agricultural landscape gave way to a suburban landscape. But in important ways, the former shaped the latter, as the suburban metropolis inherited the underlying form and spatial relationships of farms and ranches.
ContributorsHallam, Nathan (Author) / Vandermeer, Philip (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Karen (Committee member) / Thompson, Victoria (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Families of students with disabilities and those who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), are looking for better educational opportunities. Charter schools offer promise as they were designed to promote student learning with limited control from the state. Charter schools though, have been criticized for relying on exclusionary discipline policies that affect CLD students and students with disabilities disproportionately. This study was designed to understand how Arizona charter schools use exclusionary discipline practices, with a focus on students with disabilities and CLD students. Two participants, a fourth grade and fifth grade teacher from a Phoenix metropolis charter school completed surveys and interviews where they answered questions about their classroom and their school’s discipline policies. Teachers were asked how they have adapted and administered classroom discipline policies and to what extent have positive behavioral strategies been implemented in an online setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic when schools transitioned to virtual learning. The results showed that in a virtual setting, teachers retained the practice of removing students from the “classroom”, expectations had to be modified to meet the needs of the new environment, and the school counselor served in conflicting roles. The findings suggested that charter schools and teachers may be transferring and adapting their reliance on exclusionary discipline practices even for an online setting with classrooms that have students with disabilities and those who are CLD.
ContributorsMendoza-Mada, Andres Francisco (Author) / Harris, Pamela (Thesis director) / Oakes, Wendy (Committee member) / Educational Leadership & Innovation, Division (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
As the COVID-19 pandemic globally altered the way education was accessed by students and facilitated by teachers. Educators understand the importance of students engaging in the learning experiences to promote achievement. In this paper, we address the following objectives: (1) provide a conceptualization of student engagement from the perspective of teachers, students, and families, (2) identify the factors that influence student engagement, (3) identify the distinctions and similarities between in-person and virtual learning, and (4) recommend practices to increase student engagement during virtual learning. Research plans were to collect data in Oujda, Morocco and Arizona, USA to examine educational experiences in two different contexts. In this paper, we present data from the Oujda participants. Results indicated various levels of students’ emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagement due to factors involving technology, supervision, motivation, and teacher pedagogy. Results reflected various perspectives of teachers, students, and parents regarding student engagement, yet all the perspectives indicated that engagement and preference is higher for in-person learning than virtual learning.
ContributorsGarlock, Olivia (Author) / Oakes, Wendy (Thesis director) / Pinkerton, Tanya (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor)
Created2021-12