Senior Independent Study Theses from 2016
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, it’s Just My I.S.: An Historical Exploration of Superheroes and American Identity, Caroline G. Breul
Department: History
The Rubber City’s Other Export: Harvey Samuel Firestone’s Urban Investment and Employee Management Policy in Akron, Ohio and Liberia, Marcus Carano
Department: History
Living the American Dream in the Eyes of Immigrants: A Study of Italians and Jews from 1870-1920, David Castrignano
Department: History
Living the American Dream in the Eyes of Immigrants: A Study of Italians and Jews from 1870-1920, David Castrignano
Department: History
Living the American Dream in the Eyes of Immigrants: A Study of Italians and Jews from 1870-1920, David Castrignano
Department: History
Battle for the Birthing Chamber: Gender, Tools, and Writings in Childbirth in Early Modern France, Anna Claspy
Department: History
The Schools of Choice: An Evolutionary History of Charter Schools and the Charter School Movement, Sheamus G. Dalton
Department: History
The Scholar, the Teacher, the Saint: The Life, Work, and Nonviolent Philosophy of James M. Lawson, Jr., Kristen Estabrook
Department: History; Religious Studies
The Hero, Villain, Martyr, and Terrorist: John Brown and his Portrayal throughout History, Joseph R. Gilmore
Department: History
From "The Bear" to "The Ball Coach": The Evolution of College Football Coaches from 1945-2015, Daniel S. Gorzynski
Department: History
Dungeons, Dunces, and Dragons: The Collapse of the Post-War American Family in the 1980s Satanism Scare, Nicolaus J. Hajek
Department: History
There is No Return to Normalcy: How Warren G. Harding Addressed the Issue of Race Following the Great War, Brett J. Hall
Department: History
Khrushchev’s Nuclear Gamble: Misjudgment, Rhetoric, and Cold War Politics in The Cuban Missile Crisis, Nicholas Halle
Department: History
No Laughing Matter: Medicine and Pregnancy in Giambattista Basile’s Tale of Tales, Greta Hayer
Department: History
An Unlikely Hero: How Virginia Hall Became the Most Feared Allied Spy in Occupied France, and Why You've Never Heard of Her, Abigail C. Helvering
Department: History
The CIA and the Culture of Espionage: How the CIA's Effort to Prevent Domestic Espionage Influenced American Culture, Corwin H. Huegel
Department: History
Atomic Terror in the Face of a Determined Enemy: A Look at Revisionism and Revisiting Why the Atomic Bomb Was Necessary, Brock D. Jones
Department: History
Victims of Downing Street: Popular Pressure and the Press in the Stoddart and Conolly Affair, 1838-1845, Sarah E. Kendrick
Department: History
Fears of the Body: Exploring the Regulation of Male Sexual Acts in Nineteenth Century England, Sophia Krauth
Department: History
Why Is Skateboarding so Popular? An Examination of the National Sensation that is Skateboarding and its Relation to the Atlanta Skate Market and Experience, Zachery A. Lampkin
Department: History
Captivity, Execution, and Liberation: An Examination of Deteriorating Treatment within Japanese and German Prisoner of War Camps During World War II, Keith Lemke
Department: History
In the Middle of the Fight: An Assessment of the Formulation of Armored Tank Doctrine in World War II, Christopher M. Logsdon
Department: History
The Virtuous Rebel: Developing an Anarchist Ethic Informed by the American Anarchist Movement (1881-1919), Michael S. Long
Department: History; Philosophy
Matilda Loses the Throne, But Takes The Stage: Connecting the Present and the Past by Dramatizing the Key Female Figure from the History of “The Anarchy”, James F. Lorenzin
Department: History
"That She is of White Blood and Free and Entitled to Her Freedom:" Examining the Louisiana State Supreme Court Case of Morrison v. White from 1857-1862, Roderick D. Malone
Department: History
"I'm not black... I'm Dominican:" American Perceptions of the Dominican Republic's Racial Identity, Patric Marshall
Department: History
In Black and White: The Sociopolitical Rhetoric Surrounding Anti-Miscegenation Attitudes in Ohio, Sarah McCrea
Department: History
U.S. Special Operations Forces: A Broader Role in the Battle Against Radical Insurgencies, Stephen A. McKinney
Department: History
Distilling the Quintessence of British Marxism amidst Stalinist Superficiality ~ Identifying the Ideology of the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1930s, Colin J. Montgomery
Department: History
The Economic and Historical Review of the Non-profit Hospital Dr. Altruist: Or how I learned to stop donating to hospitals and love conspicuous production, Ian Murphy
Department: Economics; History
The Ramifications of an Intellectual Precursor: The Potential Revolutionary Circulation and Literal Legacy of the Radical Achievements of the Mexican Revolution, Olivia J. Murphy
Department: History; Spanish
Can Martyrdom Transcend the Ancient and Modern World? History and Archaeology at the Roman Fort of Halmyris, Colin P. Omilanowski
Department: Classical Studies; History
Sport as an Instrument of Social Change: A Study of the Effect of Sports on the Movements for Racial Equality in the United States and South Africa, Will Ossyra
Department: History
War and the Environment in the Mother of States: The Dynamic Relationship Between the Natural Environment of Virginia and the American Civil War, Isabel D. Perman
Department: History
"Don't Read This!": Lemony Snicket and the Control of Youth Reading Autonomy in Late-Nineteenth-Century Britain, Brittany A. Previte
Department: English; History
From the Muses to the Museum: Presenting The Iliad Through Public History to Facilitate Historical Perspective, Emily K. Pudnos
Department: Classical Studies; History
Contraceptive Controversy in Nineteenth Century New York City: An Examination of Ann Lohman's Contentious Impact on Women's Reproductive Health, Karli Pulice
Department: History
If You Draw It They (Might) Come: Analyzing American Consumer’s War Bond Purchasing Habits During the War Loan Drives of 1943 and 1944, Alexander M. Rentzepis
Department: Economics; History
The Affect of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, Nicholas Ryan
Department: History
The Role of the Army Rangers From D-Day to the Rescue Mission at Cabanatuan, David Smith
Department: History
Colonizing Wilderness: Alaska's Imagined Identity, Audrey Steiner-Malumphy
Department: History
From Hitler to Hippies: The Story and Impact of the Volkswagen Beetle, Harrison Suttle
Department: History
Lessons from Andøya: The 1995 Black Brant XII False Alert as a Lens on Post-Cold War Relations, John W. Trainor
Department: Film Studies; History
Examining Conceptions of the Nation at World's Fairs and Expositions, 1958-2015, Elliott H. Valentine
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology
Flames and Identity: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and The Vision of New Chicago, Julia L. Williams
Department: History
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2015
Soeurs d'Empire: Trois histoires de voyage, de genre et de camaraderie dans des récits de voyage féminins d'Algérie, 1869-1900, Elisabeth Abell
Department: French and Francophone Studies; History
A Beautiful Self, A Beautiful Home, A Beautiful Romance: Magazine Advertisements and the Creation of Domestic Culture in the 1950s, Chelsea Amis
Department: History
Animating America: A Historical Study of How the Art of Animation has Helped to Define American Culture., Andrew J. Badger
Department: History
The Nuke in Our Souls: The Apocalypse Comes Down to Earth in Three Postmodern Novels, Andrew Bevis
Department: History
The Development and Impact of Investigative Journalism, John Michael Bogusz III
Department: History
The “Production” of Urban Poverty: Comparative Analysis of Brazilian Favelas and South African Townships (1964-1985), Ngozi Monica Cole
Department: History
The Role of Espionage During the American Revolution, WIlliam J. Coll
Department: History
What Went Wrong?—The Cleveland Browns’ Expansion Years 1999-2003, Ian Crawford
Department: History
Organizing on the Margins: The National Domestic Workers Union of America and the Development of Intersectional Labor Activism in the 1970s, Shannon Dade
Department: History; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
“A Moral Heroism Even Greater and Grander Than That of the Soldiers Who Fell:” The Transformation of the Public Sphere for White Southern Women After the Civil War, Diana R. Drushel
Department: History
The Moral Implications of Legislative Reform and Civil Strife, Nathan A. Gibian
Department: History
Captain John Smith and the English Colonists Changing Perceptions of Virginia and the Algonquin Native Americans, 1584 to 1622., Jalyn Glassco
Department: History
Masculine Space: The Final Frontier; A Historical Analysis of the Spatial Politics of Gender through the New Woman’s Access to Brassieres, Bicycles, and Higher Education in the United States from 1890-1930, Shelby Kirst Goldman
Department: History
Abstractions from 1848: Marx, Tocqueville, and Herzen, on the Revolution, Ned Huffman
Department: History
“How Long Can You Suppress a Feeling?"An examination of Global Black Oppression through State-Sponsored Violence, “Othering,” and Conservative Policies in relation to the 1981 Brixton Riots and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, Kelly D. Jones
Department: History
The Impact of Neoliberalism on Urban Schools in Cities with Black Mayors: Cases in Newark, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., Miko J. Jones
Department: Africana Studies; History
Sauerkraut and German-American Identity: A Case Study, Victoria Kean
Department: History
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' Speech: A Rhetorical Analysis of his Efforts to Motivate his Audience and to Re-establish his Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, Nathan R. Lapin
Department: Communication Studies; History
Walk This Way: Hip-Hop's Journey from Sub-Culture To Pop Culture as a Musical Genre, Jon Erik Lindberg
Department: History
All the World’s a Stage: Elizabeth I and the Crafting of Power Through Dance, Jocelyn M. Lion
Department: History
Fire from the Sky: Theories of Strategic Bombing and their Implementation in the Second World War, Jacob J. London
Department: History
Boys in the Jungle, Elephants in the City: An Analysis of the Colonial and Imperialistic Themes in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and Jean de Brunhoff’s The Story of Babar, Anna M. Masland
Department: History
A Study of the First African American Males Breaking the Racial Barriers of the NFL, Michael L. McCants II
Department: History
Insurgencies and the United States: An Exploration of the Factors Influencing the Outcome of American Counterinsurgency Campaigns, Aaron McDougal
Department: History
Samurai Baseball: A History of the Japanese Players in the American Major League Baseball, John W. McLain
Department: History
Big Brother is Watching You: A Historical Contextualization of Authoritative Power in Dystopian Literature, Lydia McPherson
Department: History
Memsahibs at Work: British Women's Political Participation in the Raj, 1858-1914, Laura Y. Merrell
Department: English; History
The Russian Mafia: The Spread of Organized Crime through Globalization of Markets, Trey E. Moats
Department: History
Just Spoonful of Sugar Makes Imperialism Go Down: The Role of Sugarcane in the Formation of Portugal's Atlanti Empire, Robert B. Mosher
Department: History
Finding Vlad: A Historical Fiction Novella, Caroline M. Mount
Department: English; History
The Suez Crisis of 1956: The End of British Influence & Imperialism, Ryan P. Neff
Department: History
Knight Life: The Construction of the Modern Knight Templar through the Symbols of the Past, Mike Ohsfeldt
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; History
Russian military adaptation to a changing battlefield: A study of military reforms after 1992 and the 2008 conflict in Georgia, Nicholas J. Oneill
Department: History; Russian Studies
Was the Great War Just?: A Re-examination of Just War Theory in Light of Events During 1900-1920, Oliver S. Raker
Department: History; Philosophy
Origins of Oregon: A Cultural Geography of Two Oregonian Cities, Claire McNaught Ramey
Department: Geology; History
Health Care for Everyone: Presidential Influence on the History of Medicare, Daniel Reese
Department: History
Ski Masks and Assault Rifles: A Brief History and Examination of the Violent Politics of the Irish Republican Army in the 1960s and early-1970s., Benjamin W. Robertson
Department: History
The Cultural Effects of Federally Mandated, Off-Reservation Boarding Schools on North American Indian Women, Molly Sennett
Department: History
Cold War Hopes and Fears: Science Fiction Film in the Fifties, Meg Sharber
Department: History
The Cool Kids at School: A Comparative Analysis of Native Education Policies and the Rise of the African Elite in Colonial Senegal and Kenya, Stephanie C. Sparrow
Department: International Relations; History
The 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympic Games: Altitudes Effects on the Performance Capability of Track and Field Athletes and Future Training Methods of Distance Running, Karl R. Stemen
Department: History
Sexually Incompatible: Female Solders and Social Change of the American Civil War, Emily Stoner
Department: History
“The Gang of Virtue”: Colonial South Africa, Congo and Kenya in British Imperial Literature and Media, 1870-1970, William Swank
Department: English; History
Turkey's New Islam: A Study of Religious and Political Identity in the Kemalist Political State, Nathaniel D. Weaver
Department: History; Religious Studies
Pittsburgh Steel: Cultural Identity in the Mill Towns of Pittsburgh, Jonathan McLaren West
Department: History
The Steady Path to Prominence: World War One and the Development of U.S. Global Engagement, William Wojtkiewicz
Department: History
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2014
The Silent Protest: An Investigation of the 1988 Deaf President Now Movement, Rachel L. Appleton
Department: Communication Studies; History
A Wilderness of Mirrors: Intelligence in the Revolutionary War, John T. Battaglia
Department: History
Independent Study Is-Real (Israel): An Examination of American Immigration to Israel, Kristen Bell
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology
They Teach As They Were Taught: Teaching and Women’s Work in America’s Early Republic, Nichole Blackwood
Department: History
Radically Practical: Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch’s Response to Modernity, Elizabeth J. Boykin
Department: History
Re-Examining Carter: The President’s Relationship with Congress in Formulating and Enacting Comprehensive Energy Legislation, Jeremy E. Burke
Department: History
Convenience and Control: Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Privatization Attempts 1980-2014, Tyler M. Campbell
Department: History
Our Best Work Was Never Recorded: Understanding the Role of Public Perception during the Beatles’ Formative Years, David Cath
Department: History
Breaking Down the Walls: Black Student Activism at The College of Wooster, 1960s-1990s, Antwan Chambers Jr.
Department: History