Senior Independent Study Theses from 2026
Framing Empire: How The New York Times and The Washington Post Sold the U.S. Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 –and How Black & Haitian Voices Resisted these Imperial Narratives, Fridosse Adam Idrissou
Department: French and Francophone Studies; History
Humanitarianism & Medicine: Hierarchies of Control in the Rohingya Crisis, Sofi Adams
Department: History
Agricultural economics weaponized as a tool of neocolonial development, Jessica Nana Aniamponmaa Akonor
Department: Economics; French and Francophone Studies; History; Philosophy; Sociology and Anthropology
Buddhist Transformation of the Body through Korean Image Consecration and Death Ritual, Joey Beckerman
Department: History; Religious Studies
Deep in the Heart of Texas: College Football, Race, and Booster Culture Through the Lens of the Southwest Conference, Andrew D. Bell
Department: History
Shifting Understandings of Sex, Class and Gender in Postwar Japanese Women: 40 years of post-war Japanese History, Elizabeth T. Bergman
Department: History
Broken Promises: The Exploitation of Marginalized Groups in Modern Warfare, Catherine Grace Colarusso
Department: History
Looking Beyond Productivity: Camphill Communities and the Question of Living Socially Well, Willam Leo Edmonds-Doberenz
Department: History; Philosophy
The Human-Bonobo Interface: Ethnoprimatology and Affiliative Bonobo Behavior in Zoological Gardens, Abigail E. Frock
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology
Death of a Revolutionary Dream Stories from Nicaragua During the Sandinista Revolution, Kyle Jen Shuler
Department: History
History not ‘Herstory’: How Dead White Men Still Haunt the American Classroom, Lucia B. Johns
Department: Education; History
Sex Education, Sexuality and Morals: The Failures of Sex Education Across the 20th Century, Kassidy X. Liles
Department: History
The One Constant: Baseball in Cuban National Identity, Alex Markland
Department: History
The United States Information Agency and Domestic Support for Public Diplomacy During the Cold War, Emma C. McKone
Department: History; Political Science
Fire Pits, Ducks, and Chemical Warfare: A History of Agricultural Pest Control in China, Trevor J. Mullen
Department: History; Environmental Studies
Red Scares in the New Republic: The Politics of Sovereignty in Early Postcolonial South India, Tarsha Swami
Department: History; Political Science
"Very Soon We Were Up Against Cold Facts:" Medical Challenges and Solutions on the Western Front of WWI, Benjamin W. Witt
Department: History
Film and Memory: Representations of Russia’s World War II and the Soviet War Cult, Ezra Wyner
Department: History
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2025
The Pursuit of Indigenous Justice: A Historical Study of How Congressional Legislation Has Affected Criminal Justice on Federal Reservations in the United States, Colton Beaudoin
Department: History
"Love Is an Action": Reclaiming U.S. Education Through Critical Pedagogies, Brianna G. Becerra
Department: Education; History
Anatomy of Anguish: Analyzing Martha Graham’s Early Work as Political Assertion, Eleanor Gale Boomhower
Department: History; Theatre and Dance
Think of the Children: Conservative Women and Educational Controversies, Jane Carpenter
Department: History
Historical Agendas: The College Board and the American Past, Noah Bruce Cohen-Mitchell
Department: History
‘Obnoxious and Disliked’ and the ‘Bastard Orphan’: 1776 and Hamilton’s Role in Shaping Individuals’ Knowledge of John Adams’s and Alexander Hamilton’s Contribution to the Creation of the American Standards of Governance, Heather Cook
Department: History; Political Science
A House Divided: America, Masculinity, and the Vietnam War, Mitchell C. Ecklund
Department: English; History
Meth, Rape, and State: Japan's Postwar Nation-Building, Jack Fleming
Department: History
The Heart of Wooster: A Family Legacy That Will Live Forever, Thomas Gfell
Department: History
Deprived of Liberty, Deprived of Death: U.S. Sponsored Torture in Public Debate from the Cold War to the War on Terror, Julia E. Glenn
Department: History
A Comparison of Belief Structures and Practices Found in Ancient Greek and Roman Society in the Works of Livy, Herodotus, and the Archaeological Record., Brandon Grindall
Department: Classical Studies; History
How the Roman World was Restored; an Analysis of the Last Decades of the Crisis of the Third Century, Casey Gray Hakim
Department: Classical Studies; History; International Relations
Fandom Contextualized: Fan Culture, Consumerism, and Community, Samantha O. Jones
Department: History
Evolution of Inclusion: Changing Services, Collections, and Policies in American Public Libraries from 1940-Present, Quentin A. Kitchell
Department: History
Commentaries on the Chenghua Emperor’s Court Politics Through Bird and Flower Painting, Ryan Q. McLaughlin
Department: East Asian Studies; History
Beguines and the Boundaries of Power: Reassessing Women's Autonomy and Influence in Secular and Ecclesiastical Society, Natalie D. Miller
Department: History
Saints, Shrines, and Souvenirs: The Effects of the English Reformation on Pilgrim Badge Use, Melanie Olmsted
Department: History; Religious Studies
“And You May Ask Yourself, ‘Well, How Did I Get Here?’”: The Tension Between Authenticity and Commercial Value in Early American Punk and New Wave Music, Zachary Perrier
Department: History
Self-Directed Sexual and Reproductive Health Education: A Demonstration of the Need for Intervention Based on Historical Precedent of Shame, Misinformation, and Concealment, Emily Rae Spicer
Department: Interdepartmental; History
Violent Legacies: Transitional Justice and Postwar Violence in Guatemala, Carter R. Stanley
Department: History; Political Science
Rethinking the 1779-1780 Morristown Encampment Through the Eyes of the Common Soldier, Molly Sugar
Department: History
Using the Thompson Family History to Unpack Desegregation in Philadelphia Schools and the Great Migration, Bryce Jhourdyn Thompson
Department: History; Africana Studies
Contemporary and Historical Conflict between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the United States Government, Shilo J. Yellow Boy
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2024
The History of Mental Health in Urban Schools: A Case Study of Crenshaw Middle School, Canton City School District, Noah Albright
Department: History; Education
Island of Interest: Political Rivalry, Violence, and Diplomacy in Early Modern Sri Lanka, Tim Arace
Department: History
A Power in the Land: The First Transcontinental Railroad and the Second American System, Drew Baird
Department: History
The Russo-Ukraine War and How Crimea, Mercenaries, and Drones are Impacting the War, Ethan Becker
Department: History
The Effects of Early Christianity on Early Medieval Scottish Mortuary Practices, Auna Campbell
Department: Archaeology; History
Collecting the Collectors: Archives and their Administrators in a Digital World, Tobin Chin
Department: History
Advocacy or Authorship: A Sustained Organizational Influence Analysis of the American Legislative Exchange Council's Voter ID Act, 2011-14, Hannah D. Eastman
Department: History; Political Science
Using History to Understand Tejano Identity: An Examination of Using History to Teach Identity in K-5 Education, Carolina F. Gonzales
Department: History; Education
Sorting Rocks: The Nuclear Industrial Complex and Southeastern Ohio, Miriam E. Harley
Department: History
Garos: A Displaced Community’s Fight for Epistemic Justice, Aaron Huq
Department: History; Philosophy
The Manuscripts of Timbuktu, A Historical Look at the West African City, Its Manuscripts, and Islam, Turned into an Education Unit for High School Classes, Bryce Kamphues
Department: History
How does Black-Issued Media from the Pre- and Post-Emancipation Era Speak of and Display Lincoln as a Political Figure? Louisiana vs. New York, Molly Kershner
Department: History
Motion in America; Exploring the Electric Vehicle, Kai H. Leisher
Department: History
怖い(kowaii) to 可愛い (kawaii): The Transformation of the Kappa and Tsuchigumo in Japanese Media, Mia Mann
Department: East Asian Studies; History; Sociology and Anthropology
From Fiction to Fact: Introducing High School Students to Medieval Women’s Studies using the Novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, Jonah Z G McGlumphy
Department: History
Gridiron Gladiators: Death and Violence in Early Years of College Football 1860s-1920s, Kobe Nadu
Department: History
The Social and Economic Impact of the Great Migration on Akron, Ohio, Olivia Nengel
Department: History
Comparing Cases of Illegal Mining and Conflict Mineral Extraction in Different Post-Colonial States: Brazil, Venezuela, Ghana, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mike Paskus
Department: Earth Sciences; History
A Historical Analysis of State Public School Holocaust Education Mandates in the United States from 1994-2023, Jason Prather
Department: History; Education
Crossing the Rubicon: Brazilian Water Access from Public Provision to Privatization, Tyler Rak
Department: History; Political Science
Victorians and Video Games: Exploring Historical Education Through Video Games in the 1851 Great Exhibition, Adam M. Ryan
Department: History; English
“Shades of Pemberley”: Transformation and Preservation through Adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Emma Shinker
Department: English; History
A Treacherous and Narrow Path: Examining the Economic Views of Father Charles Coughlin, Connor Smith
Department: History
The Musée du Quai Branly: Applying Decolonial Practice in a Modern Ethnographic Museum, Delaney Tubbs
Department: History
Grief in Prison: How Incarceration Shapes Inmates Experiences with Loss, Anna Walsh
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology
Public Health and Propaganda: How the PRC Mobilized the Masses for Preventative Healthcare During the Maoist Period, 1949-1976, Alexander W. White
Department: History
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2023
Seeds of Liberation or Spheres of Domination: Role-Playing Games and Alternative Social Formation, Peter Barker
Department: History; Philosophy
Into the Mythopoeia of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: Exploring Memories of War through Fantasy Literature, Claire Berlin
Department: History
“Forever On My Mind:” Blues Songwriting in the 1960s, Shane Byrne
Department: History
“Coeds and the City” A gendered analysis of the College of Wooster’s town-gown relations in the 1950s., Katie Grace Chapman
Department: History
U.S. Military Intervention in Ukraine: Modern Warfare, Postcolonial Conflict, and The Russo-Ukrainian War, Patrick Colwell
Department: History
Face the Music: The History of Women’s Music within Cultural and Intersectional Feminism, Megan E. Conklin
Department: History
The Revelations of Roman Tombs, Evan M. Daggett
Department: History
Have A Nice Trip: Psychedelics and Spirituality in 1960s Haight-Ashbury, Lily Kate Harpham
Department: History
Chief Wahoo: The Decline of Native Imagery in Professional Sports, Charles Franklin Henegar
Department: Education; History
Imperial Shadows that Yet Remain: Examining the Transnational Impact of History on Contemporary Japanese and South Korean Relations, Milo Hoff
Department: History
More Than Stories: An Oral History of Dungeons & Dragons Players in the 1970s and 1980s, Laura E. Jentes
Department: History
Cash Flow, Justin L. Jones
Department: History
Becoming HOA: Constructing A Virtual Realistic Webxr Archive To Imagine And Unimagine The HOA Identity In Present-Day Vietnam, Minh Nguyen
Department: Computer Science; History
Imperialism in Action: A High School Unit Designed to Teach Core Concepts of Imperialism During the Scramble for Africa, Nathaniel Perry
Department: History
Nuclear Power Plays: An Examination of US Opinion on the Nuclear Energy Industry through Film, Samuel William Powers
Department: History
Teaching the Long Civil Rights Movement: A Construction of Lessons That Dive Further In-Depth Than What the Ohio Standards Require, Nicholas Rabaut
Department: Education; History
A Portal to Transcend the Spaciotemporal Realm: A Queer Utopian Schemata for (re)Considering Emotion and Community Formation in 1970s Lesbian Feminist Periodicals, Aspen Rush
Department: History; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Islands In an Indian Sea?: The Story of British Spaces in Colonial India, Dylan Strickland
Department: History
Secluded in the Snow, Emma Swindell
Department: History
The Evolution of Black of Black Freedom Through Political Power, Quincy A. Taylor
Department: History
From the Dim and Shadowy Past to the Computer Screen: Digitally Centering Indigenous Voices in Wayne County, Ohio, Glenna Van Dyke
Department: History
The Science of Using Women and The Art of Eating Italian: Italian Food Culture From 1848 to Today, Theresa E. von Wallmenich
Department: History
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2022
The Evolution Of Chinese Media In Africa: From Kung Fu Movies To Television And Internet, Frank Adams
Department: History
Desperate Democrats In The Reagan Revolution: A Party Determined To Win The White House, Matthew Maxwell Akins
Department: History; Political Science
Sioux Resistance: How The Lakota, Dakota And Nakota People Maintain Their Fight Against The United States For Sovereignty And Land, Natalie Bean
Department: History
Chevy: Like A Rock, Dylan Lee Carr
Department: History
Ascent Of Giants: Using Historical Fiction As An Accessible And Comprehensive Format For Teaching History Within The Classroom And Beyond, Katie Fields
Department: History
Misconceptions In Parallel: Belligerent Perceptions Of Mediator Bias In The Chinese Civil War, Spencer Gaitsch
Department: History; Political Science
Cultural Destruction: An Analysis Of Ulysses S. Grant And Theodore Roosevelt’s Native American Policies And How They Connect To Twenty-First Century Injustices, Cole David Hissong
Department: History
Bosch, Triptychs, And Mystery, Aleksander Joseph Kowalchuk
Department: History
Motor City Madness: Class Race And Postwar Suburbia, Brendan C. Linn
Department: History
The Play’s The Thing: An Analysis Of Professional And Amateur Queer Theater From 1967-1987 Through The Lens Of Star Trek: The Original Series Fandom, Cat Moreschi
Department: History; Theatre and Dance
Grotesque Cultural Exchange: A Study Of Japanese Fashion History, Brimmer D. Morrison
Department: History