The full text of Senior Independent Study Theses submitted during and after 2012 are available to download only by College of Wooster users. Unless listed as an exemplar, all other theses are restricted.

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Senior Independent Study Theses from 2023

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Black and Red Markers on White Boards: Applying John Ogbu's Cultural-Ecological Theory of Minority Student Experiences to Higher Education, Geoffrey Allen
Department: Chinese Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Reality Television’s Vision of Class: A Deep Dive into Class Performance in Windy City Rehab, Gillian Rhiannon Ashley
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Establishing Mixedness: Exploring the Role School Plays in Multiracial Identity Formation, Langston Bealum
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Creating a Caring Community: An Examination of Mutual Aid Networks, Abigail Beard
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Towards a New Political Sovereignty: A Case Study of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Citizen-Science Project, Sam C. Boudreau
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Asian by Birth, American by Circumstance: How Transcultural East-Asian Adoptees in the U.S. Create Multi-Cultural Identities & the Toll of the Covid-19 Anti-Asian Hate Crisis in Altering Identity Conception, Maud Bulman
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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"Footsteps in the dark:" An Analysis of Identity Salience in Queer Christian College Students, Allison M. Cunningham
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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In the Spotlight or In the Wings? Looking at African American Culture and History in Museums, Anailah Funchess
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“Newgenics”: A Comparison Study of Parents of Children with Down Syndrome in Denmark and The United States, Lauren Ganson
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Sexless in the City: Performances of Masculinity by Involuntarily Celibate Men in Online Forums, Dana Giffen
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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Summer Camp as a Social Institution of Change: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Summer Camp as a Total Institution that Cultivates and Fosters Self-Discovery and Personal Growth/Change Among Counselors, Conor J. Greene
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Ink Exchange: A Study of Traditional Japanese Tattoos Migration from Japan to America, Samantha Harrison
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Examining Influences Behind Perceptions of Inequality in Education: Meritocracy Through Multicultural Perspectives, Alicia Krielaart
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Becoming a National Park Ranger: An Ethnographic Research Study Examining How Rangers From the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Conceptualize Their Role in Nature and the Park’s Preservation for Visitors, Abby Kushner Benson
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Socio-Cultural and Biomechanical Impacts of Throwing Velocity for Professional Baseball Pitchers, Steven Leicht
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Eat Your Heart Out: The Role of Food in the Health and Livelihood of a Free-Meal Site Community, Brianna Lyman
Department: Biology; Sociology and Anthropology

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"Does this spark joy?": Aesthetics, Gender, and Ideals in Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kayla E. Stevens
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Why Athletes Lose Money: Examining Social Factors That Cause Male Professional Basketball Players to Go Broke, Paige Wells
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Somewhere In Between: Examining Mixed-Race Beauty Politics in The United States, Chloe Dawn Wright
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2022

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On The Basis Of Biological Sex: Examining The Social Impacts Of The Maintenance Of The Two-Sex System In Sports, Camille Carr
Department: Religious Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Clifton Canidae: An Anthropological And Sculptural Exploration, Sydney D. Clifton Ms
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Art and Art History

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Biopolitics And Immunitary Paradigm: Understanding College Of Wooster Students Opinion Towards The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sky Crain
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Identity Crisis: The Internet As An Alternative Source Of Sex And Reproductive Health Information For LGBTQ+ Individuals, Ruth Dahlhausen
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Right To Healthcare In Practice: Affordable Health Clinics & Spanish-Speaking Patients, Nicholas J. Harling
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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You Can’t Build A Canoe Online: Activism And Identity In Indigenous Taiwan, Adam King Hinden
Department: Chinese Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Meat Your Vegetables: An Exploration Into Food Sustainability On A Small Liberal Arts Campus, Audrey R. Holder
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“Orange Is The New Mistreatment?”: An Analysis Of Knowledge And Perceptions Of Incarcerated Women And Their Mistreatment Through (Non)Viewing Of Orange Is The New Black, Nikki M. E. Hoseus
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Paleolithicc: Understanding The Woman Of Willendorf Through Contemporary Fat Studies, Shelby HL Jones
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Ganesh On My Christmas Tree: A Look At How Immigration To The Us Affects Generations, Anika Grace Teredesai Karp
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Why Is K-Pop So Popular?: A Study Of K-Pop Fandom, Abby M. Krizan
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Follow Your Arrow Wherever It Points: How Fandom Forms And How Fandom Interprets Gender Dynamics Through Kacey Musgraves, Noah Levy
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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The First-Generation College Student Experience: How Financial Disparities Impact Success Rates Among Students, Riley Leann Maas
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Exploring The Black Entrepreneur In America: The Relationship Between Black Business And Society, Khaylen M. Mahdi
Department: Business Economics; Communication Studies; Economics; Psychology; Sociology and Anthropology; Interdepartmental

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The Impacts Of Childhood Parental Death Among College Aged Students, Jillian L. Ness
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Conjuring Authenticity: The Coven, Buckland Museum, And The Representation Of Magic Behind Glass, Ellen M. Nikirk
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology

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Play Like A Girl: Examining The Stigma Of Women’s Health And Menstruation In Athletics, Rachel M. Osterhouse
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Forming National Identity Through Commemoration: Representation Within Postage Stamps At The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, Kate Read
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Will You Accept This Rose?: The Representation Of Black Women On The Bachelorette Seasons 13 And 18, Saralee Renick
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Effects Of Second-Hand Trauma: A Look Into The Lived Experiences Of African American Students And Their Perception Of Police Officers Versus Campus Security, Aryana Rhodes
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Analyzing The Experiences Of Adult Children Language Brokers In Mexican Immigrant Families, Vanesa Rubio Toxtle
Department: Education; Sociology and Anthropology

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Keep Students On The Field To Stay In The Classroom: The Effects Of Public School Funded And Regulated Extracurricular Activities On The School-To-Prison Pipeline., Sydney Pare Schuster
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Decision-Making in the Face of NFIP Policy Changes, Mohini Sharma
Department: Global and International Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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“No Matter Where You’re From, We’re Glad You’re Our Neighbor”: Enacting Justice Initiatives And Community Formation In Faith-Based Organizations, Jenna M. Smith
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Our Bodies, Our Work; An Ethnographic Study Of Tattoo Artists In Chicago, Gabriel C. Spalding III
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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A Love Letter To Myself: The Social And Cultural Experiences Of Sexual Assault Survivors On Small Liberal Arts College Campuses And Using Ethnographic Playwriting As Advocacy, Gabriella M. Sullivan
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Theatre and Dance

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Building Youth Power To Transform Education: Exploring A Detroit Area Teenage Activist Organization, Harry Susalla
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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What Do College Students Know About Animal Trafficking?, Kennedy M. Tanner
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Puffins, The Charismatic Clowns Of The Sea: Examining The Relationship Between Community Identity And The Social Construction Of Animals, Megan Henry Tuennerman
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Mommy Issues: An Investigation Into How Social Systems Affect Single Mothers And The Adolescent Experience Of Their Children, Paige Gleason Williams
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Does Having A Birth Plan Impact Your Birth Experience? A Deeper Look Into Birth Plans, Birth Assistants/Attendants, And The Microbiome In Birth Experiences, Elijah Winfield
Department: Biology; Sociology and Anthropology

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2021

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Narratives of Heritage: Gender, Representation, and Diversity at the First Ladies National Historic Site, Annelisea Brand
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Exploring Risk, Uncertainty, and Ambiguity under the lens of the Entrepreneurial Day Trader, Jerry L. Bronson
Department: Business Economics; Sociology and Anthropology

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Liberté, Égalité, Paternité: Understanding the French anti-gay and anti-reproductive technology movement, La Manif pour tous, Elizabeth Cotton
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; French and Francophone Studies

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Can Climate Fiction Novels Inspire Social Change? A Literary and Empirical Ecocritical Analysis, Claire Davidson
Department: English; Sociology and Anthropology

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Music-making and Identity: Constructing and Collaborating on the Musicians' Self in Bluegrass Bands, Michael Dean
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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"Love is a Bulletproof Vest": Protest as an Exploration of Women’s Right to the City, Sarah Foley Duran
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“A Big Opportunity for Everyone to not Hide Those Beautiful Bodies”: Building Community Among Women of Color in the Body Positivity Movement on Instagram, Lilia Federico
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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Defeating the COVID-19 Infodemic on Twitter: A SIP Agent-Based Model of Rumor Propagation and Truth Bot Intervention, Zhen Guo
Department: Computer Science; Sociology and Anthropology

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Trying to “Do No Harm”: Empathy’s Relationship with Medical Education, Cydney Grace Hall
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Collecting as Seva and Decolonizing Display: Art Collectors in the Sikh American Diaspora, Saeed Husain
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“We Need Your Help”: The Rhetorical Construction of the Citizen Detective in True Crime Podcast Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad, Amelia A. Kemp
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Adding to the Narrative: Stories of the Holocaust through Portraiture and the Museum, Marloes Krabbe
Department: Art and Art History; Sociology and Anthropology

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Birth Work, Reproductive Justice, and Communities of Care, Hannah Lindsay Lane-Davies
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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Fabric and Flesh: A Tactile Exploration of Personhood and Becoming, Ella Lang
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Reconstructing Home and Family: An Analysis of the Family Life Experiences of Queer Central Americans Living in the United States., Cesar O. Lopez
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Socializing Sons: How Lesbian Parents Engage With Masculinity While Raising Their Sons, Laura Isabel Montoya
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Collective Memory and Community in the Sri Lankan Diaspora of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA, Anura Namachchivaya
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Small Town Queers: The Intersections of Gender Identity and Regional Location, Hayden Ruairí Nolan
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Experience of Black Police Officers and an Examination of whether the Black Community Supports Them, Camryn Pollard
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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What Are Perfect Places, Anyway?: Exploring the New Zealand Government's Approach to Youth Suicide Prevention, Olivia C. Proe
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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New Space, No Place: Navigating Experiences in a Predominately White Higher Education Institution as Latinx Students, Priscilla Ramos Rico
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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"MIXED-ISH" Exploring the Racial Identity of Black/White Biracial College Students, Keonn Scott
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Artifacts of Culture: Encounters with Multivocal Objects in Margaret of Austria’s 16th-Century Library, Jonas Short
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Art and Art History

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The Nurses and Mothering (NAM) Study: Intensive Mothering and the Dual Caregiving Role of Nurse Mothers in the Shadow of the Coronavirus-19 Pandemic, Sabina Beth Skolnick
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Reimagining Injustice Education: An Analysis of Pedagogy in Indigenous Museums, Tara Elizabeth Strauch
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Running with Responders: Exploring Anthropological Contributions to Disaster Response and An Ethnographic Study of First Response Culture, Diane Elise Tierney
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Global Ramifications of the Black Lives Matter movement, Perry E. Worthey
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2020

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Holding Hands with a Privatized Care Industry: The Paradoxical Relationship Between the Motives of Senior Care Workers and the Bureaucratic and Market-Oriented Structures in which They Are Embedded, Katherine H. Atwell
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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What Factors Affect the Perceptions of Higher Education Among the Hispanic Communities?” Do Hispanics Think That Higher Education Is a Reality or a Dream? and Why Do They Think So?, Fabio Barreto
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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A New Generation Rising Like the Sun, but Who Directs the Light?: An Analysis of the Sunrise Movement’s Meteoric Rise and Limited Scope, Benjamin J. Bridgman
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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A New Perspective on Poverty Alleviation: Evaluating Microfinance Programs Through Social Impact Indicators, Robert Driscoll
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“Sometimes You Want to Just Run Away”: Participation and Mobilization of the New Sanctuary Movement, Elyse Echegaray
Department: History; Sociology and Anthropology

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Slender Waists and Coral Lips: An Examination of Gender Construction in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty Fairy Tales, Isadora M. Hetrick
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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A Hidden Curriculum: Understanding the Impact of Emotional Labor on Elementary School Teachers’ Self Identities, Stephanie Hilton
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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“All Bodies Are Good Bodies”: How Anti-Diet Culture Activists Use Instagram to Challenge Diet Culture Norms, Miranda James
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Continuation of Violence: Analyzing the Retraumatization of Incarcerated Survivors of Domestic Violence and Evaluating the Potential of a “Trauma-Informed” Prison Model, Eliana Kahn
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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What are My Rites?: Exploring Tahara as a Ritual Process in Judaism, Kaitlyn Khayat
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Religious Studies

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Framing White Supremacy: The Creation of Collective Identity Over YouTube, Henry A. Mai
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Durkheim’s Day in Court: A Sociological Analysis of Supreme Court Cases Concerning Conditions of Confinement Under the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, Elizabeth Main
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Parks for the People: A Comparative Analysis of Diversity Engagement between Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Yosemite National Park, Cameron Miller
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Hope and Struggle: Towards a Socialist Internationalism for the Rural Working Class, Robyn O. Newcomb
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Dream, Believe, Achieve: The Study of Mentoring and the Impact It Has on Student Athlete, Kylie Orr
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Gatekeeping in the Transgender Community, Kevin V. Ortiz
Department: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sociology and Anthropology

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Animals at the Fair: An Investigation Into Culturally Relevant Curriculum in Wooster City and Northwestern Elementary School Math Classrooms, Olivia R. Poindexter
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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An Ethnographic look at Organizational Culture within the Children's Defense Fund, Alyssa Noelle Rotte
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Lost in Excavation: A Study of Ancient Greek Burial Artefacts and How They Are Displayed in Museums in the Context of Their History, Nina Ruth Hooper Rusmore
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Classical Studies

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Wading Through the Gene Pool: Genetic Counseling and its Principles, Sidney Senita
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Is it Just a Language Exam? An Analysis of the Test D'Évaluation De Français as a Marker of Republican Integration, Margaret Maeve Simmering
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; French and Francophone Studies

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AgriCulture: Selective Strategies One Cooperatives Uses as a Mediator for its Amish Growers, Elizabeth Stanis
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Stitching Society Back Together: An Analysis of Post-Genocide Restorative Justice and the Prospects for Fostering Interpersonal Trust in Rwanda and Guatemala, Emily Stoehr
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Political Science