Copyright (c) 2013 Marquette University All rights reserved. http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional Recent documents in College of Professional Studies Professional Projects en-us Fri, 17 May 2013 07:25:34 PDT 3600 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/33 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/33 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:05 PDT This case study explored the influence tactics used by successful information services project managers at Harley-Davidson. The participants were chosen via purposeful sampling for this study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, which brought out some themes on the qualities needed to be successful as an information services project manager. The predominant skills sets included active listening, effective communication, relationship building and organization. The influence strategies primarily mentioned by the participants were consultation and bargaining, which was similar to what was found in the review of prior research. Other findings from this research included the challenges faced by project managers and the methods they use to overcome these obstacles, the participants’ definition of project success and failure, and their description of successful project managers. Although there were many similarities in the responses of the participants, there were some key differences that are noted in the findings section. All of the project managers spoke of the strong desire to deliver a product that met the customer’s expectations and needs.

]]> Gail R. English http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/32 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/32 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:04 PDT The purpose of this study is to determine if the service-learning aspect of Marquette’s dental education enhances the dental students’ knowledge of the barriers to access to dental care for underserved populations. The goal of this study is to obtain feedback about service-learning in the MUSoD curriculum and disseminate the findings to others who teach service-learning in dental school curricula. MUSoD students have the opportunity to participate in multiple diverse outreach experiences throughout their four years of Dental School. Their attitudes toward service experiences and their perception of service-learning curriculum before and after they perform rotations will be recorded. Volunteers will be recruited with posters strategically placed throughout the school. Each class will also be contacted by email. Seven dental students from each class, D1, D2, D3 and D4 will be randomly selected to attend a one hour focus group during their lunch hour to discuss the MUSoD service-learning curriculum.

]]> Barbara Gaeth http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/31 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/31 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:02 PDT This study uses research literature and results from a qualitative project to discuss how gender-responsive programming would be beneficial to women offenders, both while incarcerated and upon returning to the community. Research proves that women offenders are different from their male counterparts regarding life factors and pathways to crime. The literature identifies how female criminality is heavily influenced by the life circumstances and experiences of women offenders. Recent studies stress the importance of considering the demographics and history of the female offender population, as well as how life factors impact women’s patterns of offending. Most women in the criminal justice system are poor, undereducated, and unskilled, and they are disproportionately women of color. Many women offenders come from impoverished urban environments, were raised by single mothers, or were in foster-care placement. The profile of the typical adult female offender is presented, as well as gender and cultural challenges that are constantly faced by this population. IMPACT OF GENDER-RESPONSIVE TREATMENT iii Also discussed is the basis of past practices concerning the program design, or lack thereof, for women offenders. Identified is a void that exists from the lack of gender responsive treatment and services available for women offenders. Highlighted is the magnitude of the lack of understanding among most criminal justice professionals regarding the actual need for this level of service. To close the literature review, the current ideology of gender-responsive treatment is discussed to provide insight of its importance in regards to the successful reintegration of female offenders. The findings of this research project identify the importance of knowing and understanding the unique story of women offenders in relation to effective treatment methods. Literature has argued that correctional programming and other community services should address the needs of women; which in turn, would open the door for positive outcomes in terms of reducing recidivism, offer the chance of a better quality of life, and gain greater incentives to avoid the criminal lifestyle.

]]> Melody N. Joiner http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/30 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/30 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:01 PDT Matthias A. Seisay http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/29 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/29 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:42:00 PDT This project was completed in order to fulfill the need of the Alma Center, a local non-profit organization committed to educating men with a hi story of intimate partner violence. This author worked alongside the Fatherhood class instructor in order to develop an updated curriculum that implements current, 2 1 SI·Century treatment initiatives in a classroom-based environment. Research was conducted in order to determine the nature and effectiveness of batterer intervention programs, such as the Alma Center incorporates, with the goal of increasing awareness for these programs. The outcome of the project was an updated curriculum that incorporates 21st Century treatment initiatives administered in a 16-week classroom-setting. This curriculum is currently being implemented in the Fatherhood Classes at the Alma Center.

]]> Kathryn E. Dolney http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/28 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/28 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:41:59 PDT Today’s workforce consists of individuals from four generations each bringing different perspectives and values to the workplace. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the generational differences to gain an understanding which may help managers communicate effectively with each generational cohort. This study uses the narrative research method. Following a review of the literature on the subject of multi-generational work teams, the study tells the story of four individuals, one person from each of the four generational cohorts. Each of the individuals has experienced the phenomenon of working on a multi-generational work team. The stories shared reveal the individual’s perspective with regard to values, communication, relationships, and motivation.

]]> Barbara J. Smyrl http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/27 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/27 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:41:58 PDT Bonni Wagner http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/26 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/26 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:41:57 PDT This research study is presented as a final project in fulfillment of the capstone requirement to the College of Professional Studies and the graduate school at Marquette University. This research study was presented with Dr. Jay Caulfield at the ISSOTL (International Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) conference, October 22, 2011. The research study included previous and current graduate students enrolled in the Nature of Cities course in the spring of 2008 and the Models of Sustainability course in the spring of 2011 within the public service program at Marquette University. Both of these courses were graduate courses that had substantial experiential learning experiences incorporated into their course design. This research study identified how experiential learning activities may add to a graduate student’s engagement and awareness of social issues. In addition, the research findings within this study are intended to give a general overview of how the participants’ experiential learning experiences have influenced and or changed their behavior. This study is inclusive to an introduction, literature review, overview of participants, methods, findings and discussion, limitations to research, additional research, and conclusion. It is the researcher’s intention to include an additional 10 participants within this study that will comprise of students enrolled in the Models of Sustainability course at Marquette University during the summer of 2010. Upon completion of this research study, it is the researcher’s objective to publish this study as an article within the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

]]> Treesa R. Woods http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/25 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/25 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:41:55 PDT This phenomenological study explored the level of concern regarding issues of sustainability, for individuals residing within one mid-sized Midwestern urban community. Ultimately, this research sought to determine those factors that increase the sense of urgency for some individuals to do more to reduce our global footprint and to create a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. The participants were chosen via purposeful sampling and the interview process was used for data collection. Several themes uncovered in the study findings were similar to those in the literature review, which include: caring for the environment, making connections within the community, recycling, gardening, and sharing gifts (assets) of each individual. Participants shared their journey in sustainability, which provided insight into what they currently do on a daily basis to care for the environment. To increase their knowledge of sustainability they use the library, television, Internet searches and social media sites. They may also learn from others. In addition, these sustainable practices, when shared, may set the example for others to do more in reducing their global footprint. To support sustainability, community mapping can be a valuable tool to identify recycling centers, farmer’s markets, local suppliers of green products, and other essential locations. Whether hard copy maps, Internet sites or applications (apps) for Apple I-devices or Android devices; community mapping can serve individuals who want to conserve the earth’s resources.

]]> Melanie J. Kornis http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/24 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/24 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:52:17 PDT This project will focus on one parochial Catholic elementary (K4-8) school that implemented the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) over four years ago. This qualitative research examines the impact that support or lack of support had on the program outcomes. The study will provide research on the OBPP along with various, alternative anti-bullying programs, efficacy of the anti-bullying program, and review the school community awareness of the OBPP. The research participants are administrators, faculty, staff, parents and community’s members who directly affect the Olweus Bullying Prevention program.

]]> Jane M. Vega http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/23 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/23 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:52:16 PDT We live in an interconnected world in which physical location has become less of a hindrance to communication, yet newer message transmission media alter not only the process but also the content of creative communication. While temporary virtual teams offer alternatives to solve issues which resist resolution using traditional approaches, virtual team characteristics can limit the ability to create novel and useful solutions. Since creativity is a necessary and significant requirement for success across a wide variety of domains, this poses a serious challenge for those intending to improve organizational creativity through the use of virtual teams and exposes the difficulty of studying creativity in a virtual environment. The author creates a modular online research tool to more effectively study how eight characteristics of virtual teams interact to improve or restrict creativity: depersonalization, time pressure, noise, level of organization, degree of autonomy, range of potential solution categories, expectation, clarity of purpose, and potential personal gain. The design and implementation of the virtual creativity research environment are examined and used to research whether it is possible to improve the creativity of ad-hoc online teams. Qualitative analysis of twenty quasi-experimental groups with total 136 participants determined a statistically significant difference between groups with two selected environments, with an effect size over 2.5. While the ability to control individual environmental elements is within the ability of the research tool created in this study, a multivariate analysis of individual elements was outside the scope of this initial study, but is suggested for further research.

]]> Michael A. Zore http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/22 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/22 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:45:13 PDT Few theoretical models clarify the ways in which a learning experience contributes to entrepreneurial behavior or directly pursuing entrepreneurism. The purpose of this research is to better recognize how women use values, motivations, and desires, through learning experiences, to start a nonprofit organization. Results reveal that, in order to increase the likelihood of females becoming entrepreneurs, they must put themselves in positions where they can have many different experiences. They must be willing to establish networks, overcome societal barriers as well as self-imposed barriers, and reflect upon the experiences they find themselves in, whether they are positive or negative. Such learning experiences were key to accelerating entrepreneurial endeavors by providing a forum for personal accountability, skill development, and inspiration.

]]> Theresa Kedinger http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/21 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/21 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:45:08 PDT Ann Kulow http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/20 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/20 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:35:09 PDT The critical essay seeks to establish a foundation for creating a servant leadership curriculum for high school and college students. The essay is divided into six sections. Section one, A Leadership Disconnect, contains a presentation of how our educational systems operate in support of prevailing leadership behaviors in a culture of global economic and social dysfunction. Section two, The Leadership We Have, contains an explanation of how current leadership constructs find their source in an archetypal transactional paradigm of competition and conflict. Section three, Re-thinking the Leadership Lessons Young People Receive, addresses how leadership lessons, messages and practices, in our schools are formed from an underlying paradigm of market forces, transactional authority, competition, and object based measures of success and failure. Servant leadership is introduced as a modern alternative leadership paradigm. Section Four, Tenets of Servant Leadership Literacy, contains an overview of servant leadership theory, themes and practice's as they have developed in the past 42 years. Section Five, Interdisciplinary Insights for Servant Leadership, provides examples of current servant leadership applications in traditional academic disciplines. Section Six provides a summary of key concepts from the preceding sections. It also provides foundational questions addressing the subject matter of each section from which a servant leadership curriculum can be designed.

]]> David W. Flowers http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/19 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/19 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:35:08 PDT The purpose of this research project is to analyze the current trends of individual charitable giving in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population. Using current literature on both national trends and more specifically, trends in the Wisconsin and the Milwaukee areas, this researcher related these statistics to the local 501(c) (3) and 50l(c) (4) nonprofit organization, Equality Wisconsin. This research provides Equality Wisconsin with a comprehensive analysis oftheir current development strategy and identifies opportunities for financial growth and individual donor funding, demonstrated through data analysis. Taking an introspective look at the lesbian and gay population both in terms of population and giving trends, this researcher analyzed Equality Wisconsin's donor database in association with the limited literature surrounding the topic.

]]> Anthony Geraci http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/18 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/18 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:10:28 PDT The purpose of this research was to examine the role and impact that mentoring has in the professional development of women, the overall upward mobility of women, and their ability to move into senior level leadership roles within organizations. Given the multitude of different barriers experienced by women historically, this research explored whether mentoring helps women to rise above these barriers including the proverbial glass ceiling to be able to advance in their careers. The research explored and examined the role of mentoring based on the mentoring relationship and experiences of women in middle management, how they perceive their career advancement opportunities, whether formal or informal mentoring relationships contribute to more positive career outcomes for women, and what they consider their organizations to be doing to support their advancement. This research used face-to-face interviews of women candidates in managerial/leadership positions in the Milwaukee area. The results of the interviews provided a point of view based on personal mentoring experiences, barriers experienced and the effects or impact on their ability to advance in their careers. This research also derived support from previous studies that when effectively designed and managed; mentoring makes a positive impact on organizations by yielding several benefits such as the attainment of salary increase, increase in managerial promotions, and greater career satisfaction (Hunter, 2011). This research addressed several critical questions, 1) Are women still experiencing barriers today that limits their upward mobility? 2) Do women experience different barriers and impediments than men? 3) Is there a correlation of mentoring to perceived career advancement for women? The Corporate Leadership Council (2004) research supports the premise that to help drive effective mentoring programs, organizations must recognize and understand the need to put in place comprehensive initiatives like mentoring to address perceived barriers hindering the advancement opportunities for women. The research further asserted that for mentoring to serve as a long-term solution to reduce barriers and the overall under-representation of women in management/leadership positions, these initiatives cannot be just paper initiatives, but supported by senior executives. The assumption from the research is that without senior management commitment, there is a risk that such initiatives will not be viewed as strategic priorities providing benefits to the company as a whole. The research supports that from a foundational perspective, it is extremely important for organizations to foster an environment that develops and sustains the natural occurrence of mentoring, especially with the increased demands for top talent and the need to develop that talent to meet the business needs of the organization resulting in a primary benefit to the organization. The benefit to the employees is that they become ready to take on more complex and higher level roles which can have a positive impact on their upward mobility. Results of this research project revealed there is a definite relationship to mentoring and job competence for participants in this study. However, because of the multitude of barriers (individual, organizational, home/family) experienced by women; opportunities for mentoring and networking are limited, which impacts their ability to gain the knowledge and skills (job competence) needed to advance in their careers. Direct interview data from this research also suggests that women indeed experience different barriers and impediments to upward mobility than men. Respondents reported that mentoring was very important to their career development, but they also indicated that it was sometimes difficult for them to obtain formal mentoring in their organizations.

]]> Kimberly Ashwood http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/17 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/17 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:10:27 PDT The purpose of this qualitative study is to gather information about why women become entrepreneurs, leadership qualities of successful women entrepreneurs, and the challenges women entrepreneurs face. Historically, women have had difficulty climbing the corporate ladder, balancing work with family responsibilities, and receiving top level compensation. They choose to become business owners even though they encounter multiple challenges throughout their entrepreneurial endeavors. Eight women business owners between the ages of 32 and 61 were asked ten questions regarding their experience with entrepreneurship. Responses were transcribed and the information was analyzed for similarities and differences. The findings of this study mirrored a large portion of the literature examined. Participants attribute their success as entrepreneurs to motivators such as flexibility, compensation, challenge, and autonomy. The information from this study substantiates other research about women entrepreneurs regarding their reasons for becoming entrepreneurs, their leadership qualities, and the challenges they encounter. These findings provide current information to women who have the desire to become entrepreneurs.

]]> Sasha Briggs http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/16 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/16 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:10:26 PDT Sheila M. Buechel http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/15 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/15 Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:17:33 PST Katherine S. Dean http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/14 http://epublications.marquette.edu/cps_professional/14 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:45:00 PST Jamie McNeilly