Building on research on family communication and forgiveness, this study seeks to understand how families communicate the value and practice of forgiveness. Through semi-structured interviews, the study asks participants to recall their formative conversations and experiences about forgiveness with their family members and to discuss how those conversations influenced their current perspectives on forgiveness. Interviews from five female undergraduate students yielded seven main themes from where individuals learn how to forgive: 1) Sibling conflicts, 2) Family conversations about friendship conflicts, 3) Conversations with Mom, 4) Living by example, 5) Take the high road, 6) “Life’s too short”, and 7) Messages rooted in faith and morality.

The goal of this thesis was to better understand the lived experiences of an ethnically and linguistically diverse sample of mothers who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pregnant women experience higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes compared to non-pregnant women. Yet the impact on women’s psychosocial wellbeing may be just as problematic, given new mothers’ increased risk for depression postpartum coupled with the loss of multiple forms of support so critical during the postpartum period and new stressors created by the pandemic. A universal testing strategy at a Labor & Delivery Unit at a hospital in the Southwestern U.S early in the pandemic identified that Communities of Color – particularly resettled refugee women - experienced COVID-19 infection at higher rates compared to White women. Therefore, this study investigates stressors and coping strategies specific to the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods in a linguistically diverse sample of 140 women (Swahili n=18 , Kinyarwanda n=18 , Burmese n=13, Arabic=11, Spanish n=35, English n=45) who gave birth between May and December 2020. Across groups, the most severe health stressor was fear of self or infant contracting COVID-19, leading to strict adherence to prevention measures among women, and feelings of social isolation. This was followed by anxiety for lack of social support at birth, and, in some women, management of other health concerns related to increased risk for adverse pregnancy or severe COVID-19 outcomes. Coping strategies included looking to religion or spirituality for comfort, as well as spending more time with family. This analysis of how the pandemic affected women’s psychosocial wellbeing from pregnancy to postpartum informs adaptation of care for linguistically and ethnically minoritized groups and their infants.

Students who transfer to a university from a community college are a diverse, resilient group of individuals who often face many challenges and barriers upon transitioning from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution. Due to their upper-division status upon arrival at the university, transfer students are often overlooked and even unsupported throughout multiple aspects of the transfer process. To further understand the issues that are faced by transfer students throughout the transfer process, we conducted research to get a better understanding of exactly who transfer students are, what challenges they face, and how universities can better support these students so they are able to complete their baccalaureate. We compiled this research into an annotated bibliography and developed a presentation to discuss our findings, personal anecdotes, and the suggestions we have to help Barrett, the Honors College move towards a more transfer-receptive culture. All questions asked during the presentation have been documented.

Students who transfer to a university from a community college are a diverse, resilient group of individuals who often face many challenges and barriers upon transitioning from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution. Due to their upper-division status upon arrival at the university, transfer students are often overlooked and even unsupported throughout multiple aspects of the transfer process. To further understand the issues that are faced by transfer students throughout the transfer process, we conducted research to get a better understanding of exactly who transfer students are, what challenges they face, and how universities can better support these students so they are able to complete their baccalaureate. We compiled this research into an annotated bibliography and developed a presentation to discuss our findings, personal anecdotes, and the suggestions we have to help Barrett, the Honors College move towards a more transfer-receptive culture. All questions asked during the presentation have been documented.