The Richter Coursework Conversion Award

The Transdisciplinary Studies Program and the Office of Research, Sponsored Programs & Grants invite masters and doctoral students to apply for the The Richter Coursework Conversion Award.

Many course products (e.g., theoretical/research papers) developed by CGU students are publication-quality. The Richter Coursework Conversion Award is given to recognize this type of scholarly excellence from students in courses who have created work with the potential to become published knowledge in a formal, peer-reviewed journal. Through this award, students will further shape their foundational ideas into a published, peer-reviewed work through structured programming and mentorship. The award is for course products produced in the 2023 – 2024 academic year.

Award Amount:

• $1000/award for ‘traditional’ (subscription) journal.
• $2500/award for open access journal.

Please see explanation on publication types to help determine which is best suited for the specific entry.

Richter Coursework Conversion Award Fellows

The Office of Research, Sponsored Programs & Grants and the Transdisciplinary Studies Program are pleased to announce the Richter Coursework Conversion Award Fellows for the 2024 – 2025 academic year.

The Richter Coursework Conversion Award is generously funded by the “Richter Memorial Funds Master Code, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.” The Office of Research, Sponsored Programs, and Grants and the Transdisciplinary Studies Program thank them for their generous support of our students and their research.

Courtney Allred

“Student-Teacher Relationship Quality and School Belonging in Elementary School”

School belonging is a critical component of well-being that contributes to an individuals’ mental health and academic functioning. Unfortunately, school belonging is declining worldwide. Research has shown that student-teacher relationships (STR) influence a students’ sense of school belonging. This study investigates whether STR can explain a students’ sense of school belonging two years later using the data set ECLS-K: 2011. Hierarchical regression is used to determine the influence of student and school characteristics on school belonging. Regression with interaction is used to determine the interaction effects of SES. The results showed that conflict in a STR and teacher reported externalizing and internalizing behaviors had a significantly negative effect on school belonging. SES was shown to partially moderate the relationship between STR conflict and school belonging. This study demonstrates the need to reduce conflict in STR and also address internalizing and externalizing behaviors to support school belonging.

Eli Waxler

“Momentary feeling and flowing: Exploring feelings of personal expressiveness and flow during daily activities using experience sampling method”

Fulfilling and meaningful engagement in our daily activities is a key aspect of living a good life. However, up until this point, feelings of personal expressiveness, the subjective experience of eudaimonia in identity-related activities, have not been explored through experience sampling method. In the study reported here (N = 52, response N = 1478), feelings of personal expressiveness and flow intensity were explored at the momentary level within varying activity type categories. Results suggest that activity type has a distinct impact on feelings of personal expressiveness, with maintenance and work facilitating significantly less personal expressiveness and parenting facilitating significantly more when compared to leisure. Additionally, this study confirmed the relationship between flow experience and feelings of personal expressiveness at the momentary level but revealed complexities when activity type was introduced. Specifically, the relationship between feelings of personal expressiveness and flow intensity was significantly lower during parenting activities compared to all other activity types. Supplementary analyses suggest this may be due to the nature of parenting-related activities and the inability to become fully absorbed in the activity when caring for others. These findings have implications for facilitating flourishing in daily life, and evolve our understanding of feelings of personal expressiveness in a variety of ways.

Luciana Simion

“Mapping the Global Leadership Horizon Through Bibliometric Methods”

This study combines bibliometric coupling methods and co-word analysis to illuminate the landscape of global leadership (GL) research, focusing on prevailing research foci, theoretical trends, and prospective directions within the realm of leading across diverse global contexts. Analyzing 304 primary documents published between 1993 and 2022 that reference common secondary documents, the study identifies six prominent recent foci:, including firm globalization, leading in cross-cultural contexts, cultural intelligence (CQ), international social entrepreneurship, cross-cultural competencies (notably Chinese lessons), and global assignments willingness. The emergence of specialized intellectual structures, such as entrepreneurial social GL and global talent management, signifies the growth of niche areas of interest within GL. The centralization of CQ literature around 2016 highlights its pivotal role, supported by strong total link strength and interconnectedness. Concurrently, an analysis of bibliographic coupled countries reaffirms the dominance of a Western paradigm in GL research, yet recent collaborative efforts from countries like Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Norway, UAE, Thailand, Russia, or Mexico signal the onset of a more balanced representation of perspectives in GL. A co-word analysis reveals the enduring importance of “performance” and “model” in GL publications, underlining the sustained interest in assessing leadership effectiveness and the continuous pursuit of robust models. Lastly, CQ’s prominence in recent publications underscores the evolving focus on cultural factors in GL research and the field’s responsiveness to contemporary challenges.

YuKun Sun

“Examining the Bi-Directional Effect Between Purpose and Income Using Cross-Lagged Panel Model”

Purpose refers to a top-level goal that provides an individual with a sense of direction and meaning in life (Ryff, 2014). Purpose development is a lifelong process, and it is of great interest to understand the supportive factors of healthy purpose development. Some research suggests income is one such factor, while others disagree. This study investigates the reciprocal relationship between purpose in life and personal income by employing Cross-lagged Panel Model with Lag-2 effect (CL2PM) across three waves of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) national longitudinal study (N = 3293). Result indicated that neither purpose nor income significantly influenced each other over time. This was consistent across both low-income and high-income groups, suggesting that purpose in life is not tied to economic status. These findings challenge the prevailing notions regarding the link between purpose and affluence, emphasizing the need for more universal interventions to foster a sense of purpose across diverse income levels. The implications for understanding purpose development in the context of increasing income disparities are discussed, alongside directions for future research.

Kaitlin Breen

“Jane Crosby’s Conservative Activism: Performing Respectability in South Pasadena”

The conservative movement flourished in the mid-twentieth century, beginning with grassroots activism in the 1950s and 1960s, and culminating in conservative ideology entering mainstream electoral politics in the 1970s and 1980s. Conservatism found a home in suburban communities, and many women became involved in the movement as rank-and-file activists. As key members of the grassroots conservative movement, women organized clubs and lectures, distributed conservative literature, and participated in political organizations. Using archival sources and oral history, this paper examines the ways in which conservative women activists like Jane Crosby used respectability as a mode of organizing. Crosby navigated the expectations of her community and the conservative movement by conforming to conventional ideals of womanhood and patriotism, which in turn, provided her with a platform to advocate for causes such as anti-communism. Through the lens of Crosby’s political organizing, this paper examines the intersections between gender, politics, and respectability in conservative activism and emphasizes the ways in which conservative women activists navigated societal expectations in order to advance their political agendas.

Garrett Goodrich

“Phylogenetic and Morphological Support for a New Species in Eriogonum subg. Oligogonum (Polygonaceae)”

Recent phylogenetic work has revealed that Eriogonum, one of California’s most species-rich genera of flowering plants, has frequently been classified inaccurately by morphology alone and resolution within the genus benefits from DNA sequence analysis. Eriogonum polypodum Small (subgenus Oligogonum; California Rare Plant Rank 4.3) is a rare species endemic to California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range and has a disjunct distribution. Here we present genetic and morphological data from populations throughout the range of E. polypodum to show that this species includes two species as currently circumscribed. Eriogonum venosum (S. Stokes ex Smiley) Columbus, Thiessen, & G. Goodrich comb. et stat. nov. is described here as a previously unrecognized species from California’s Sierra Nevada in Fresno and Tulare counties. Eriogonum venosum represents the new name for populations in the northwestern range of E. polypodum s.l., and E. polypodum is retained for southeastern populations in Tulare and Inyo counties. Eriogonum venosum differs from E. polypodum in having larger leaves, longer branches, much longer branchlets, and a non-overlapping geographic range. DNA sequence analysis strongly supports the conclusion that these are sister species with no evidence suggesting ongoing gene flow. Insights into differences among known populations of each species are provided, including analyses suggesting additional population-level genetic structure within E. polypodum. Eriogonum venosum is distributed much more narrowly than E. polypodum, so conservation and potential rarity of the species are discussed.

Angel Reyes and Sharan Kohli

“2016: Deciphering Trump’s Path to the Republican Presidential Nomination”

This study investigated Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to understand how a state’s past confederacy status could influence the Republican party’s decision to nominate Donald Trump for the presidency so future campaign managers can better tailor their candidate’s persuasive rhetoric. This study contextualized Donald Trump’s Republican delegate vote share using the Republican delegate vote share, state confederacy status, state election date, state election type, and housing units per state capita as the socio-economic condition of interest. Our model finds statistical significance for state election dates at the .01 level with an estimated effect of .551 on Donald Trump’s Republican delegate vote share, suggesting that Donald Trump’s presidential nomination was potentially the by-product of early primaries and caucuses. When state election dates were removed from the model, the housing per state capita gained significance at the .1 level, with an estimated effect of -22.08 on Donald Trump’s Republican delegate vote share; however, the effect does not appear to be robust, as significance is lost when isolating or incorporating the variable. 86% of caucuses and 71% of primaries occurred within the first two months, which could inform how campaign managers formulate their strategy with consideration to social networks under socio-economic conditions. This study has the potential to discuss the results through a social network lens so that connections can be made between state delegates in their voting choices, allowing future presidential candidates to identify the most influential delegates for their campaigns.

Florencio Kabigting

“Improving Employee Creativity Using Paradoxical Strengths Regulation (PSR): A Mediated Path Analysis Among Personality Traits, Paradox Mindset, and Creativity”

To remain competitive in today’s globalized and technologically advanced world, organizations depend on employees’ creativity, which is why this study focused on enhancing our understanding of strength regulation through Paradoxical Strengths Regulation (PSR). This novel concept emphasizes effectively combining seemingly contradictory yet interrelated strengths to achieve optimal outcomes. The study operationalized strengths as the paradoxical personality traits of Openness and Conscientiousness as independent variables. It explored their connection to creativity through the concept of paradox mindset as the mediator variable. A sample of 189 US-based working (full-time and part-time) adult participants was used in a cross-sectional survey design, employing various statistical analyses (e.g., correlation, ANOVA, hierarchical multiple regression, and mediation with bootstrapping) to test hypotheses related to the PSR framework. The findings supported the hypothesis that a paradox mindset mediates the relationship between Openness and Creativity. Moreover, the study revealed that, on its own, Openness strongly correlated with Creativity, but this was not the case for Conscientiousness. Further, the traits had no significant interaction (i.e., they did not moderate each other), indicating that they do not necessarily need to go hand in hand to enhance creativity. Instead, leveraging one’s Openness trait and adopting a paradox mindset appears more beneficial. However, the study could not conclusively determine the efficacy of the PSR framework, suggesting that future research could explore facet (sub-trait)-level analysis for further understanding. The study’s implications, applications, strengths, and limitations were also discussed.

Moina Maaz

“The Socioeconomic Advantage of the Proletariat”

Salafism is a conservative revival movement within Sunni Islam, and Salafism is a religious movement that relies, for its ideology, on the literal interpretation of the Quran, the Sunna, and the consensus of the Salaf, which are the predecessors of the first three generations of Muslims. Women within this Salafi school of thought are deemed ignorant, weak, and unfit for participation in education, work, and all other aspects of social life. Their role is exclusive to households, serving their male relatives or husbands and caring for their children. Moreover, many Salafi scholars encourage the exploitation of women and the use of violence against them as the only means of control. The position of Salafi women can be viewed and understood through many social theory lenses, primarily through Karl Marx’s theory of class struggle. The women in the Salafi school portray the proletariat, a term used by Karl Marx to define the laboring and oppressed class in society. In this paper, I will argue that the role of women in Salafi thought mirrors Marx’s perceived role of the proletariat in that these women lack autonomy over their labor, bodies, and earnings. Also, I will discuss the post-colonial theory of Spivak’s subalternism to elaborate on the lack of agency of Salafi women and argue that they belong to subordinate social groups that further expand the Marxist theory of the proletariat. This research’s aim is twofold: First, to unveil the oppression of women in the Salafi school of thought and attract more attention to their marginalization and how their imposed roles can distort the image of Muslim women all over the world. By highlighting the control of women’s labor, I will present how the exploitation conducted in the name of religion is nothing but a cultural and patriarchal construct that has nothing to do with the core teachings and egalitarian message of Islam. Second, I will argue that the Salafi women’s positionality within the global Islamic community can adhere to Islamophobia and feed the Orientalist discourse in the West, as argued by Lila Abu-Lughod in her book Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?

Maneesha Sarda

“John Harmon’s Anxiety and Agency in Charles Dicken’s Our Mutual Friend: A Kierkegaardian Reading”

This paper explores John Harmon’s agency in Charles Dickens’ novel “”Our Mutual Friend”” through Soren Kierkegaard’s philosophical concepts of ‘anxiety’ and ‘the Knight of Faith’. Harmon faces anxiety at many levels. For instance, he is anxious because of his father’s will, which allows him to inherit property only if he marries Bella Wilfer who belongs to a poor family. Later, he is forced to adopt multiple identities of that of Julius Handford and Rokesmith Esquire that causes an identity crisis. Further, Harmon’s anxiety intensifies when he yearns to establish a mutual love relationship with Bella, who being a mercenary will not marry a poor secretary that he, as Rokesmith is. Nevertheless, Harmon as a character suffering anxiety is the point of intersection with Kierkegaard’s ‘anxiety.’ Kierkegaard posits that individuals facing anxiety possess the freedom to act through choices driven by faith, which is understood as hopeful belief that will mitigate existential distress. This perspective underscores anxiety as emancipatory i.e., granting agency with the promise of wish fulfilment. Drawing from Kierkegaard’s ‘anxiety’ and the significance of hope in decision-making, this study examines Harmon’s agency and its relationship to faith. It argues that Harmon, embodying the Knight of Faith, places faith in his love for Bella, and drawing strength from Kierkegaard’s ‘virtue of the absurd’ is capacitated to win her. Further, this paper also re-constructs Harmon’s apparent selfish personality as a sympathetic and a faithful romantic hero.

Lorise Diamond

“Baldwin’s Balls: Sensuality, Profanity, and the Testicular Fortitude to Reckon with Race”

Both sensuality and profanity dwell within the realm of love as truthful self-expression. Baldwin’s oeuvre elucidates love as race conscious activism, illustrating the sensuous as a barometer, finely poised between burgeoning self-awareness and the tumult of our most intense emotions. The sensuous embodies a kind of internal fulfillment, a benchmark that, once known, becomes a height to which we continually aspire. A profanity that corrupts or distorts erotic energy shows up as white oppression in Baldwin’s work. A sociopathy that perverts erotic energy inheres in white supremacist ecologies and operates rhetorically in his fictional and non-fictional narratives. It suppresses authentic desires, imposes harmful stereotypes, or exploits and manipulates intimate relationships, all serving as metaphors for or examples of the broader dynamics involved in racial subjection. Through encounters with sensuality and profanity and the acknowledgment of their immense influence, Baldwin’s audience contemplate honor and self-respect, a standard that accepts nothing less than sensuality’s intense embodied knowing. His oeuvre serves as a sensuality–profanity metric in U.S. race relations, weighing a skewed relationship between profanity and sensuality balanced by the sensual connection between Black and white Americans. This essay introduces readers to Baldwin’s work to uncover how sensuality prevents society from dismissing negative emotions as mere reflections of race and class-based resentment. Centering profanity, Baldwin deftly constructs sensuality as an inversive emotional balm for healing the U.S. race problem through the masculine energeia found in a pervasive testicular discourse.

Kim Megyesi-Brem

“Student-Centered Math Instruction and Math Achievement in Students from Low-Socioeconomic Backgrounds in Japan and the United States”

Socioeconomic status (SES) impacts math outcomes in students across the globe (Gustafsson et al., 2018). Student-centered math instructional practices may support students from low-SES backgrounds, possibly through egalitarian classroom norms that facilitate increased student support through expanded social capital (Algan et al. 2013; Bokhove, 2022; Riegle-Crumb et al., 2019). Japan and the United States are an interesting pair of countries to compare because their educational systems have different mechanisms for potential structural inequality. For example, Japan has a national curriculum, and math tracking does not begin until 10th grade, so all 8th grade students receive the same school learning opportunities in math, which differs from the United States. However, the prevalence of after-school cram schools in Japan gives an advantage to students whose families can pay for additional lessons, which is less of an issue in the U.S. Using eighth grade math performance on the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), this study uses linear regression and a social capital framework to explore the relationship between student-centered instructional practices, socioeconomic status, and math performance in both countries. Initial findings show that students from low-SES backgrounds underperform at almost the same rate in both countries. For students from low-SES backgrounds, initial results point to the benefits of math instruction that includes discussion in the United States and student-identified connections to prior knowledge in both countries, but negative correlations with teacher-reported connections to daily life. Additional mediation analysis is planned and techniques to improve the robustness of the findings.

Tahereh Miari and Zelal Kutby

“Unlocking Real-World Interaction Through Digital Unplugging: A Grounded Theory Exploration”

With the rapid evolution of emerging technologies and various social media platforms, our daily lives have become closely connected with digital devices. In the United States, households possess a median of five digital devices, underscoring the pervasive nature of technology in modern society. While these advancements have undoubtedly brought convenience and connectivity, they have also given rise to challenges related to human social interaction and excessive dependency on technology. Despite the establishment of the Global Day of Unplugging in 2009 as a symbolic initiative to prioritize human connection over digital engagement, our analysis reveals that the battle for mindful disconnection is far from over. This emphasizes the urgency of promoting awareness and embracing the practice of Digital Detox in our increasingly digitized and connected world. This study delves into the phenomenon of “unplugging” examining both the motivations behind its adoption and the barriers to its embrace. Unplugging emphasizes a more inclusive and neutral understanding of the practice, avoiding negative connotations associated with detox in some cultures. Through qualitative data analysis using Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM), our research unveils key insights into diverse participants’ experiences with unplugging, highlighting its positive impact on mental well-being, productivity, and life balance. Furthermore, our investigation uncovers concerns and challenges regarding the digital habits of future generations, signaling the need for a systemic approach to address the socio-technical complexities of digital technology’s influence from early ages. We advocate for further research and effective interventions to promote responsible technology usage and holistic well-being in the digital age.

Virginia Gary and Brianne Bachman

“United We Stand? Using Path Analysis to Assess the Impact of Social Status on Solidarity for Collective Action”

This study aims to investigate what factors might influence solidarity between advantaged group members (AGMs) and disadvantaged group members (DGMs) in the pursuit of collective action. Previous literature suggests that when AGMs and DGMs experience positive intergroup contact and when both groups’ needs are met during contact, there should be enhanced outgroup attitudes and increased mutual support for social change. AGMs and DGMs have different needs based on the type of identity threat they experience from intergroup contact. DGMs experience a threat to their agentic identity and therefore, prefer feelings of empowerment during contact while AGMs experience a threat to their moral identity and prefer feelings of acceptance during contact. It is unclear if need satisfaction through intergroup contact has been linked to enhanced solidarity between the two parties. Therefore, the present study utilized a secondary data set and a multigroup moderated mediation path analysis to understand: (1) whether positive contact influences solidarity between AGMs and DGMs through need satisfaction (measured by feelings of acceptance and empowerment from the outgroup), (2) if the relationship between need satisfaction and solidarity depends on perceived system injustice, and (3) whether these relationships differ for AGMs and DGMs. Findings from this study indicate that positive contact and need satisfaction during contact were significantly correlated with solidarity for collective action among AGMs but not among DGMs, and perceived system injustice was a significant predictor of solidarity, but not a significant moderator, among both groups. Implications of these results as well as future directions are discussed.

Hannah Middleton

“Identity Dynamics: Exploring the Intersections of Social Belonging, Racism, and Mental Health in International Asian Adoptees”

Transnational adoption, a complex process where children from one country find homes in another, raises significant questions about social belonging, cultural identity, and exposure to racism. This study delves into these aspects through a secondary quantitative data analysis approach, leveraging a dataset obtained under institutional oversight. Utilizing a sample of 247 participants primarily recruited via Facebook, this research examines the associations between social belonging, cultural connection, exposure to racism, and mental health outcomes, particularly depressive symptoms and general anxiety. Results indicate that feelings of social belonging significantly predict both anxiety and depressive symptoms, alongside compartmentalized cultural connection and exposure to racism. Depressive symptoms and general anxiety were also found to significantly covary. Notably, integrated connection to culture emerged as a predictor of social belonging, highlighting its role in shaping adoption experiences. Additionally, feelings of not wanting to have been adopted were significant predictors of exposure to racism, underscoring the psychological impact of adoption experiences. These findings shed light on the intricate interplay between social integration, cultural identity, and mental well-being in transnational adoption contexts. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for informing support systems and interventions aimed at enhancing the adjustment and resilience of transnational adoptees.

The Richter Coursework Conversion Award is generously funded by the “Richter Memorial Funds Master Code, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.” The Office of Research, Sponsored Programs, and Grants and the Transdisciplinary Studies Program thank them for their generous support of our students and their research.