Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
Cassandra Danielle Anderson
Bachelor of Arts
VISUAL ARTS/Sculpture through Anatomy
An exploration of kinetic sculpture and anatomy to synthesize an understanding of puppetry, body-space identity, body aesthetics, and imagined life.
Project: Installation and performance art pieces that illustrate an understanding of sculptural movement and body aesthetics.
Sponsor: Timothy Segar
Outside Evaluator: Olivia Bernard, independent artist
Samuel Whitney Bass
Bachelor of Arts
WRITING & POETRY & Literature /poetry
A collection of original poems and songs, with a supporting examination of the ways in which first-person rhetorical devices develop a sense of intimacy in the poems of Elizabeth Bishop, Sharon Olds, and Sylvia Plath.
Project: Collection of original poems.
Sponsors: T. Hunter Wilson, Geraldine Pittman de Batlle
Outside Evaluator: Sam Ross, editor of Circumference
Max Samuel Braden
Bachelor of Arts
POLITICS & AMERICAN STUDIES/Economic History
A critical study of the role of the United States and U.S. policy in post-World War II international relations and world order, examined through specific policies and structures of power as well as through the U.S.’s internal narrative of its role in the world.
Project: State power and market order: understanding and evaluating the current literature on post–cold war world order.
Sponsors: Lynette Rummel, Kathryn Ratcliff, John Rush
Outside Evaluator: Thomas Redden, Southern Vermont College
Matthew Nicholas Czuba
Bachelor of Arts
TESOL Certificate
LANGUAGES/Linguistics and Mandarin Chinese
A series of investigative efforts into the syntax, semantics and morphology of Mandarin Chinese directional constructions based in the principles and parameters approach to theoretical linguistics.
Project: A first approximation between syntax and semantics pertaining to Mandarin Chinese complex directional constructions.
Sponsor: Grant Li
Outside Evaluator: C.T. James Huang, Harvard University
James McCutcheon Davis
Bachelor of Arts
LITERATURE & WRITING/Fiction
A novel portraying a community of families in the wake of tragedy, exploring themes of loss, family, addiction, and coming-of-age, with supporting work on narrative techniques in James Joyce’s Ulysses and in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
Project: Jackie June, a novel.
Sponsor: T. Hunter Wilson
Outside Evaluator: Kathryn Kramer, Middlebury College
Alanna Sabin Doyle
Bachelor of Arts
CLASSICS
Two short examinations on the fact-versus-fiction narrative of the Scipio family in the Punic Wars and the social climate of the first century BCE, seen through Cicero and Catullus.
Project: Paper on the Scipio family in the Punic Wars.
Sponsors: Adam Franklin-Lyons, Isabella Grunberger-Kirsh
Outside Evaluator: Christopher Van de Berg, Amherst College
Jennifer Lynn Dudley
Bachelor of Arts
PSYCHOLOGY & DANCE
An examination of the intersection of dance, body image, and disability.
Project: An exploration of how emotion and state of mind affect body movement, and vice versa.
Sponsors: Thomas Toleno, Kristin Horrigan
Outside Evaluator: Kate Tarlow Morgan, independent choreographer and author
Kelsey Carruthers Gibson
Bachelor of Arts
TESOL Certificate
LANGUAGES/Applied Linguistics & HISTORY
A comparative study of the linguistic effects of colonization in Algeria and South Africa.
Project: Comparative analysis of language policies in Algeria and South Africa.
Sponsors: Adam Franklin-Lyons, Nelli Sargsyan
Outside Evaluator: James Collins, University at Albany
Mary Victoria Gilmore
Bachelor of Arts
POLITICS & GENDER STUDIES
An examination of the tensions between feminist movements and the stigmatization of vulnerable populations.
Project: A critique of radical feminism and liberal feminism.
Sponsors: Meg Mott, John Sheehy
Outside Evaluator: Lise Sanders, Hampshire College
Sophia St. Clair Gorjance
Bachelor of Arts
WRITING/Fiction
An original post-apocalyptic novella, in addition to two short critical papers on Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban and the silent novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan, respectively.
Project: An original post-apocalyptic novella.
Sponsors: T. Hunter Wilson, Gloria Biamonte, Thomas Toleno
Outside Evaluator: Kathryn Kramer, Middlebury College
Kelly Elizabeth Hickey
Bachelor of Arts
VISUAL ARTS & HISTORY
A multimedia approach to understanding personal narratives, especially regarding class and gender. Using printmaking, ceramics, drawing, and oral history accounts to explore the ways that people tell stories and share experiences.
Project: Exhibition of mixed media works investigating visual narrative.
Sponsors: Cathy Osman, Kathryn Ratcliff
Outside Evaluator: Lynne Yamamoto, Smith College
Ian Logan Hitchcock
Bachelor of Arts
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES/History, Literature, Human Ecology
An interdisciplinary examination of social responses to anthropogenic climate change, utilizing literary, historical, and ecological approaches, to understand why we have struggled to recognize and cope with global climate disruption.
Project: Unleaded: regulation of ethyl gasoline in the 1920s.
Sponsors: Adam Franklin-Lyons, John Sheehy, Jennifer Ramstetter
Outside Evaluator: William Kovarik, Radford University
Lauren Nicole Hunley
Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
TESOL Certificate
ANTHROPOLOGY/Latin American Studies and Languages
An exploration of three different facets of Latin@ and U.S. Latin@ identities through various aspects of language and literature.
Project: Anthropology paper on code-switching among middle class Limeño/a youth.
Internships: Lima, Peru
Sponsors: Rosario de Swanson, Nelli Sargsyan
Outside Evaluator: Patricia Gubitosi, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sasha Maria Iammarino
Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
TESOL Certificate
ANTHROPOLOGY/Migration Studies and Cultural Studies & PHOTOGRAPHY
A visual, anthropological, and historical exploration of the sending and receiving travel patterns of Brazilians on Martha’s Vineyard.
Project: Essay on Brazilian sending and receiving migration patterns in Martha’s Vineyard.
Internship: Governador Valadares, Brazil
Sponsors: Rosario de Swanson, John Willis
Outside Evaluator: Leah Schmalzbauer, Amherst College
John Stewart Ivers
Bachelor of Arts
MUSIC/Composition
A portfolio of compositions in various media, ranging from electronic to orchestral works, and a music theory analysis paper on the work of Arvo Part.
Project: Portfolio of compositions.
Sponsors: Matan Rubinstein, Stanley Charkey
Outside Evaluator: Samuel Pluta, University of Chicago
Felix Jordan Jarrar
Bachelor of Arts
MUSIC/Composition and Piano Performance
The composition and production of an original chamber opera. A paper analyzing Franz Liszt’s setting of “Die Lorelei” by Heinrich Heine, and a lecture-recital featuring new piano music influenced by research and analysis of birdsong and Liszt’s music.
Project: A chamber opera based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
Sponsors: Stanley Charkey, Brenda Foley
Outside Evaluator: Lewis Spratlan, Amherst College
Dylan Samuel Jockel
Bachelor of Science
BIOLOGY/Evolutionary Biology and Genetics
A consideration of the historical and modern theories at the intersection between phenotypic integration and plasticity and how each processes evolutionary instruction from the environment.
Project: An essay on the evolution of phenotypic integration’s genetic and developmental basis.
Sponsor: Jennifer Ramstetter
Outside Evaluator: R. Craig Albertson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Samuel Ethan Judson
Bachelor of Arts
COMPUTER SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS/Cryptography
A study of modern cryptographic algorithms and protocols, with particular emphasis placed on the foundations of the mathematical reasoning applied to cryptography and the bounds thereof, especially with respect to entity authentication.
Project: Creation of a flexible entity authentication protocol for medium-scale systems.
Sponsors: Jim Mahoney, Matthew Ollis
Outside Evaluator: Michael Fischer, Yale University
Lily Kane
Bachelor of Arts
TESOL Certificate
DANCE/Choreography & PSYCHOLOGY/Development
An exploration of the ways in which trust development and trust renegotiations are communicated through human relationship.
Project: A collection of choreographic works depicting varied forms of trust.
Sponsors: Kristin Horrigan, Thomas Toleno
Outside Evaluator: Candice Salyers, Mount Holyoke College
Haneulsol Kim
Bachelor of Science
TESOL Certificate
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
A study of how environmental hormones such as BPA affect the human endocrine system, and how they function as a synthetic estrogen or an anti-androgen, including a self-designed laboratory experiment on how BPA alters the estrogenic activity in breast cancer cells.
Project: Self-designed laboratory research on bisphenol-A (BPA) and estrogen receptors.
Sponsor: Todd Smith
Outside Evaluator: Francis Carr, University of Vermont
Christian Jude Lampart
Bachelor of Arts
LITERATURE/Russian Literature & RELIGION/Eastern Orthodox Christianity
An exploration into the significance of humility, longing, and spiritual community in the soul’s union with Jesus Christ, and the transfiguration of fallen human nature in the works of Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Project: The relationship between man’s remembrance of God, and man’s love for man, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
Sponsors: Geraldine Pittman de Batlle, Amer Latif
Outside Evaluator: Maximos Constas, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Connor Foy Lancaster
Bachelor of Arts
FILM/VIDEO STUDIES
The development and production of dramatic short films obliquely inspired by the work of Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, and Lars von Trier.
Project: Three films produced in divergent styles.
Sponsor: Jay Craven
Outside Evaluator: Jesse Kreitzer, Burlington College
Jeong Eun Lee
Bachelor of Arts
ECONOMICS/Chinese Economy & LANGUAGES/Chinese
A Study of the Chinese economy and Chinese language
Project: Evaluation of Yuan as a major reserve currency.
Sponsors: John Rush, Grant Li
Outside Evaluator: Zhongjin Li, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Colin Forbes Leon
Bachelor of Arts
SCULPTURE/Kinetic Sculpture
A study of sculpture and kinetic sculpture that explores the nature of physicality and spacial presence, gravity, and movement.
Project: An exhibition of sculptural and other art works that are based in physical presence and movement.
Sponsor: Timothy Segar
Outside Evaluator: Joseph Smith, Mount Holyoke College
Sheng Li
Bachelor of Arts
POLITICS
A study of the U.S.-China relationship from the early–19th century to the present, based on historical considerations as well as recent empirical field survey research.
Project: A theoretical analysis of four major events in U.S.-Chinese relations between 1949 and the present.
Sponsors: Lynette Rummel, Seth Harter
Outside Evaluator: Thomas Redden, Southern Vermont College
Christopher G. Maleney
Bachelor of Arts
LITERATURE/Exploration Narratives & HISTORY/Colonial Narratives and WRITING/Fiction
An examination, through literature, history, and fiction, of the ethical choices individuals make when becoming aware of the abuses inherent to empire.
Project: Gulliver’s Travels and Heart of Darkness.
Sponsors: Geraldine Pittman de Batlle, Adam Franklin-Lyons, T. Hunter Wilson
Outside Evaluator: Brian Mooney, Storymatic Studios
Gage Nimershiem Martin
Bachelor of Arts
MATHEMATICS
A broad study encompassing typical topics covered in an undergraduate mathematical education.
Project: Algebraic geometry: Seshadri constants and elliptic ruled surfaces.
Sponsor: Matthew Ollis
Outside Evaluator: Colin Adams, Williams College
Rebecca Rose Meade
Bachelor of Arts
FILM/VIDEO STUDIES/Editing and Acting
Assorted acting and film-editing projects combined with the development of a script and production for a character-based comedy.
Project: A short comedy film.
Sponsor: Jay Craven
Outside Evaluator: Sascha Stanon-Craven, The Onion News Network and Adult Swim
Ethan Fast Minkema
Bachelor of Arts
SCULPTURE & PSYCHOLOGY/Visual Perception
A study of sculpture and psychology that engages both the aesthetic and cognitive aspects of objects in visual space.
Project: An exhibition of two- and three-dimensional artwork.
Sponsors: Timothy Segar, Thomas Toleno
Outside Evaluator: William Brayton, Hampshire College
Reily Bruce Mumpton
Bachelor of Arts
HISTORY/Western Martial Arts & FILM/VIDEO STUDIES/Narrative and Documentary Film Production
A study of narrative film production and Germanic Law in the mid-late-13th century, examining the Papal Reform movement, use of trial by combat, and standards of evidence in Germanic Law courts.
Project: A narrative film and paper exploring the relationship of Canon Law and the use of judicial combat in legal settlement.
Sponsors: Adam Franklin-Lyons, Jay Craven
Outside Evaluators: Stephen Shellenbean, Autumn Tree Productions
Liana Talhaber Nuse
Bachelor of Arts
MUSIC/Performance and Ethnomusicology & DANCE
A body of original songs arranged, recorded and performed in a live setting
Project: A cyberethnography of YouTube, Reddit, PC Music, and forum comments on QT’s “Hey QT” music video.
Sponsors: Matan Rubinstein, Kristin Horrigan
Outside Evaluator: Corinna Campbell, Williams College
Joseph Jonathan Persio
Bachelor of Arts
PHILOSOPHY & POLITICS
An examination of philosophical accounts of the individual and the state which emphasizes the importance of difference.
Project: An essay on the system of problems and ideas in Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition.
Sponsors: William Edelglass, Meg Mott
Outside Evaluator: Casey Ford, University of Guelph
Christopher Brigham Pratt
Bachelor of Arts
FILM/VIDEO STUDIES/Screenwriting
A feature-length, original comedy screenplay, which takes place during the course of one night.
Project: A feature length comedy screenplay set in and around a Rhode Island cranberry bog.
Sponsor: Jay Craven
Outside Evaluator: Jesse Kreitzer, Burlington College
Naji Forest Pride
Bachelor of Arts
VISUAL ARTS/Photography & ASTRONOMY
A Plan in photography and astrophysics with an emphasis on night sky and night landscape photography and crowd field photometry.
Project: Photography exhibit.
Sponsors: John Willis, Sara Salimbeni
Outside Evaluator: Sharon Harper, Harvard University
Peter Ernest Pugh
Bachelor of Arts
TESOL Certificate
AMERICAN STUDIES & ANTHROPOLOGY/Jazz Studies
An exploration of the history and music of early jazz with an emphasis on the formative place of New Orleans.
Project: Issues of race and class among early jazz musicians in New Orleans.
Sponsor: Kathryn Ratcliff
Outside Evaluator: Julian Gerstin, Keene State College
Jonah Rosenblum
Bachelor of Arts
AMERICAN STUDIES/Aging Studies & Philosophy
A multifaceted exploration of aging in the United States with an emphasis on the lived experience of people in residential care communities.
Project: Growing old: A collage of experiences.
Sponsors: Kathryn Ratcliff, William Edelglass
Outside Evaluator: Beth Spicer, Vermont Department of Disabilities
Emma Rachel Rottweiler Rusbarsky
Bachelor of Arts
PSYCHOLOGY & GENDER STUDIES/Sex and Sexuality
An interdisciplinary investigation of the narrative of biological essentialism and its impact on LGBTQ+ communities, including analyses of historical relationships and intersections between the feminist, gay, and trans* rights movements, as well as the medicalization and pathologization of these communities in the field of psychiatry.
Project: An analysis of the relationship between psychology and the LGBTQ+ community through the lens of nosological practices.
Sponsors: Thomas Toleno, Jaime Tanner
Outside Evaluator: Megan Becker, Brattleboro Retreat
Gregory Michael Schacht
Bachelor of Science
CHEMISTRY/Biochemistry of Cuisine
An examination of the chemical processes involved in making food, combining chemistry with cooking to present a topic often seen as remote and academic.
Project: Laboratory analysis of some specific reactions in cooking.
Sponsor: Todd Smith
Outside Evaluator: Richard Blatchly, Keene State College
Sarah Grace Scott
Bachelor of Arts
HISTORY/Cultural History and Art History
An inquiry into themes of identity in the post-war period in Britain as expressed through youth subcultures and their music.
Project: Identity and alienation in The Who’s Quadrophenia and Arthur by the Kinks.
Sponsors: Adam Franklin-Lyons, Felicity Ratté, Matan Rubinstein
Outside Evaluator: Jennifer Hall-Witt, Smith College
Johan Samuel Sigg
Bachelor of Arts
FILM/VIDEO STUDIES/Film Studies & LITERATURE/Russian Literature
Exploration of spiritual themes in the work of Dostoevsky, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Ingmar Bergman.
Project: Papers analyzing and comparing work by these artists, along with a shorter paper about American TV comedy.
Sponsors: Jay Craven, Geraldine Pittman de Batlle
Outside Evaluator: Kenneth Peck, film critic
Jennifer Nuala Smyth
Bachelor of Arts
FILM/VIDEO STUDIES/Narrative Film
A study of the filmmaking process from screenwriting through production and postproduction.
Project: A short film produced from an original screenplay.
Sponsor: Jay Craven
Outside Evaluator: Jesse Kreitzer, Burlington College
Laura Stakiwicz
Bachelor of Arts
THEATER
An exploration of the concept of empathy as a practical theory of acting, influenced by the works of David Foster Wallace.
Project: A solo performance, devised from a series of interviews.
Sponsors: Brenda Foley, John Sheehy
Outside Evaluator: Janice Perry, University of Vermont
Megan Lillian Stypulkoski
Bachelor of Arts
BIOLOGY/Chemical Ecology & PAINTING
An exploration of plant secondary metabolites in relation to the environment and humans, supported by works of art that explore an invented world.
Project: The manipulation of plant secondary metabolites for food, medicine, recreation, and ornament.
Sponsors: Jennifer Ramstetter, Cathy Osman
Outside Evaluator: Leif Richardson, University of Vermont
Edward N. Suprenant
Bachelor of Arts
Certificate in Nonprofit Management
PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
An exploration of the meaning of wisdom in the Samdhinirmocana Sutra and its continuities in Buddhist thought, as well as critical-constructive reflections on its significance to contemporary Buddhist theology and embodied practice.
Project: An analysis of wisdom in the Samdhinirmocana Sutra and its continuities in Buddhist thought.
Sponsors: William Edelglass, Amer Latif
Outside Evaluator: C.W. Huntington, Hartwick College
Emily Putnam Tatro
Bachelor of Arts
VISUAL ARTS & ASIAN STUDIES/Khmer Cosmology
An exploration of embodiment and the process of memory through an exhibition of visual art utilizing gesture and immediacy and an ethnography on stories of spirits, haunting, and medicine from Cambodians and Cambodian-American immigrants.
Project: An exhibition of visual art exploring immediacy embodiment, the process of memory, and the authority of gesture.
Sponsors: Cathy Osman, Seth Harter, Timothy Segar
Outside Evaluator: Holly Hughes, Rhode Island School of Design
James Michael Turpin
Bachelor of Arts
DANCE & LITERATURE/African-American Literature
Examining the symbolic power of black American identity through movement and text.
Project: “Never over,” a dance performance exploring resonances and dissonance of raced and gendered bodies in different contexts.
Sponsors: Kristin Horrigan,Gloria Biamonte, John Sheehy
Outside Evaluator: Etan Nasraddin-Longo, independent scholar
Benjamin John Walker
Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
TESOL Certificate
ASIAN STUDIES
An analysis of early 20th century Vietnamese society as new ideas and non-elite figures fill the vacuum created by colonization, with particular focus on the roles of education and literacy in the anti-colonial movement.
Project: Broadening of a Vietnamese voice: New avenues for socio-political influence outside of the traditional elite.
Internship: Hanoi, Vietnam
Sponsor: Seth Harter
Outside Evaluator: Nu-Anh Tran, University of Connecticut
Professional Studies Bachelor Degrees
Robert L. Crowley
Bachelor of Science in Managing Information Systems
Design meets bloom: A framework for creating workshops for PivotWerks instructors.
PivotWerks is a training and consultancy team that partners with educational organizations, cultural institutions, non-profits, and companies to provide training and organizational development. Bob’s Capstone is the creation of a framework that can be used by PivotWerks instructors to develop workshops that are tailored to meet the needs of adult learners and are built on modern learning theories. This framework also incorporates feedback mechanisms. The feedback gathered from participants will be used to continually improve workshop offerings and enable PivotWerks to deliver high quality and consistent training offerings.
Professional Studies Graduate Certificates
Judy L. Hayward
Certificate in Educational Technology
Professional Studies Master Degrees
Donovan Andru Arthen
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Business plan for the Village Vine.
Donovan’s Capstone project was to create a business plan for the Village Vine, a natural wine bar that brings together food, drink, and cultural arts to foster community development. The business will create access to excellent natural wines made with no additives by working directly with winemakers to cut costs to the consumer. In addition, it will be developed to use the toasting and cultural traditions of the Georgian supra as vehicles to cultivate deep and meaningful conversations as well as provide opportunities for artistic sharing and performance.
Laura Anne Battles
Master of Arts in Teaching with Technology
English language training for restaurant servers in the Lake Atitlán area of Guatemala.
For Laura’s Capstone, she created an online, multimedia, English course for the students of a culinary arts program in Guatemala. Her goal was to supplement the scant face-to-face English instruction these students receive and to help them learn to communicate better with the many English-speaking tourists who frequent the area. Increased English proficiency means better job prospects and greater economic stability for these young, indigenous students and their families.
Heidi L. Doyle
Master of Arts in Teaching with Technology
Sharing a passion for makerspace
Makerspaces are popping up all over the place these days, and school libraries are an ideal location. The Sunapee Central Elementary School Makerspace was created in early 2014 and has gotten rave reviews from students. However, the teaching staff didn’t have any experience with makerspace or any understanding of how these tools could be used in their classes. Heidi’s Capstone project focused on increasing teacher awareness of makerspaces by creating a website, designing and implementing a series of workshops focused on makerspace tools and their application in classroom use, and adapting the schedule to create more opportunities for students to use the makerspace. Knowledge and skills in change management, educational theories, marketing, web design, survey, design, and communication were essential to the project.
Noah Celestin Fishman
Master of Business Administration: Managing for Sustainability
The ReSOURCE way: Charting a path toward sustainability through operational efficiency and employee engagement
Noah’s Capstone focused on developing an operations strategy for ReSOURCE, a nonprofit that runs retail reuse stores to fund its job training and poverty relief programs. Through employee engagement around development of a set of principles and practices, this project sought to create a pathway for sustainable growth and operational excellence for the organization. Techniques and tools employed included strategy mapping, appreciative inquiry, value stream mapping, workshops, systems thinking, visual communications, and agile project management. Outcomes of the project include a long-term operations strategy and several new organizational initiatives including: a bonus program, training program, and revised work flow processes.
Nicole Grace Godin
Master of Science in Management: Healthcare Administration
Southern Windham County resource map.
Brattleboro consistently ranks among the top three districts in Vermont with the highest homeless populations. To serve this population, service providers from local agencies rely heavily on knowledge of local programs, services, and resources that are ever-changing and form a vast web. What’s challenging is that there are no unified tools, trainings, or collective sources through which to obtain this information. Partnering with the Southern Windham County Continuum of Care, this Capstone sought to address the problem of community resource knowledge management by creating an electronic, user-friendly tool to compile and organize community resource information. Ultimately, the Southern Windham County Resource Map will be a “one stop shop” where service providers can find information on a range of topics appropriate to the needs of the clients they serve. In turn, this Capstone will improve both service provider and organizational productivity while streamlining client connections and building resourcefulness and autonomy.
Teresa A. Benevento
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Personal leadership development for human resources operation center’s first-line supervisors.
Teresa Benevento’s Capstone was the creation of a personal leadership development program for first-line supervisors within her division (in federal government), which provides leadership concepts, practice, and mentoring through the nexus of guided group discussions, peer mentoring and critical reflection. The program will leverage past training, personal/personality assessments, and available resources while integrating Department of Homeland Security’s training mandate with the division’s strategic goals to foster personal and organizational leadership development in a format that is meaningful and relevant.
Mamadou Cisse
Master of Arts in Teaching: Social Justice
Geometry and its history
While working toward licensure as a secondary school math teacher, Mamadou has interned and taught in math classes at Leland and Gray Union Middle & High School. His final exhibition focuses on the uses of geometry. The ability to prove the similarity of triangles using proportionality, side-side-side, and side-angle-side relationships has had important real-life applications as far back as ancient Egypt and the Babylonians (2600 – 1300 BC), respectively. Examining geometry from a historical point of view, one cannot simply ignore that the Egyptians already had the notion of angle and triangle similarities with their famous pyramids, as well as the Babylonians who used geometry to develop the science of astrology. But to date, a question must be asked: Why is it that the western world took the credit through the channel of the great Greek mathematicians’ work, contained in The Elements by Euclid (325 BC), or the Pythagorean Theorem (500 BC)? Raising the question of Euro-centrism in the history of mathematics is very critical and needs to be addressed.
Kori Lynne De Luca
Master of Arts in Management: Healthcare Administration
Adolescent well visits: The recommendation, the rationale and the reality.
In Vermont last year, one quarter of school students and half as many middle school students were depressed enough to consider suicide. Over half of high school students and 17 percent of middle school students drank more than a few sips of alcohol. There is evidence that a visit with a healthcare practitioner is an opportunity to assess and counsel adolescents about choices and risky behavior. The family practice clinic that Kori manages only saw 45 percent of our adolescents for a well visit in 2014. The goal of the project is to increase the number of adolescents seen in their clinic by using an evidence-based approach called a group visit. This is structured like a mini health fair for adolescents and includes education and an exam by a health care provider. If it is successful, she hopes to spread the program to other clinics in her health system.
Saranya Lakshmanan
Master of Arts in Teaching: Social Justice
How morning meetings help exercise social-emotional skills, create cooperative learning environments, and play a role in community building.
Saranya’s presentation focused on the seven principles of the responsive classroom approach and zeroed in on the importance of practicing morning meetings in classrooms every day to facilitate students’ social-emotional learning, create a climate of trust, and nurture a network of cooperative learners. Activities included the four components of morning meeting–greeting, sharing, group activity, and announcements, purposes and reflections. Ideas on how to introduce morning meeting to students, establish a set schedule, and implement morning meeting effectively were also included.
Sarah Mutrux
Master of Science in Management: Mission Driven Organizations
A systems thinking approach to strengthening partnerships among grant-makers and grant-seeking nonprofit arts organizations.
The first step to successfully implementing change is to fully understand the problem. Sarah’s project investigates two existing systems: grant-seeking nonprofit arts organizations and grant-making foundations and organizations in Vermont. Through narrative and visual mapping her project identifies where the systems overlap and link together; at least one point that each system can engage to amplify progress toward their goals; and how to create reinforcing loops that strengthen partnerships and efficacy. This research is the springboard to finding a new way for grant-makers and grant-seekers to work together.
Felicity Blanche Ratté
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Civil, civic engagement and collective identity building.
Felicity’s project consists of a study of the soft skills and practices that lead to productive, civil, civic engagement. Through the use of a strengths-based approach called appreciative inquiry, the project analyzes volunteer community members’ most successful experiences with collaborative decision-making. The goal of the project is to create a curriculum for a civic engagement training for multi-generational students.
Lauren Rebecca Jensen
Master of Science in Management: Healthcare Administration
Post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency responders.
Emergency responders are exposed to devastating situations almost daily, events that can result in their developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because of the stigma related to asking for help, symptoms often go untested leading to ongoing issues. Working with local departments of emergency responders, Lauren’s Capstone focused on creating a written informational guide that raises awareness of PTSD. It includes behaviors that may suggest someone is struggling with the disorder as well as appropriate ways to offer help.
Adam J. Katrick
Master of Science in Management: Mission Driven Organizations
New territory: Wolfgard’s path to planning a wolf center.
Seeing, hearing, and interacting with wildlife is the best way to learn about our wild communities. As the founder of the non-profit Wolfgard Northeast, Adam teaches the public about wolves in New England, a place where wolves once lived and may someday return. His organization is doing something that’s never been done in Vermont: creating a wolf center. They envision a place where people can see and hear captive wolves, learning through experience. Adam’s Capstone project parallels his work with the organization’s planning task force–creating three different plans for the center, one of which will become the final design
Jay Kullman
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Visioning process to re-open the Plymouth Country Store.
The small town of Plymouth is located in the mountains of central Vermont. The Plymouth Country Store was the hub of the town prior to 2009. During stable and/or good economic times, construction workers, locals, and skiers kept the store churning along. The store has always been economically challenged. In 2008, the store changed hands briefly, and eventually, no longer viable, it closed in 2009. With the store gone, locals have lost their place to cross paths and interact. Not having the store as a meeting place has detracted from the sense of community. Additionally, the closest place to get groceries, necessities, or even a sandwich is five miles in either direction. Jay’s Capstone focused on articulating and managing a visioning process with a steering committee and the larger Plymouth community in the effort to develop a plan to re-open the store. This includes an opportunity for residents and the steering committee to have genuine input on what the store might look like while Jay developed and integrated this feedback into a framework that is financially viable. The ultimate goal is to gain support for the work and have residents participate as volunteers in the opening and operating processes.
Rachel Elizabeth Ruppel
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Work redefined: A systems approach to city policy on home businesses in Bend, Oregon.
Americans are increasingly using their homes as workplaces, but zoning regulations for home businesses are often out-of-date and have not kept pace with the changing economy. This is the case in Bend, Oregon, where Rachel works as a community planner. The community’s goal for home businesses is to strike a balance between economic vitality and neighborhood livability. Rachel used systems thinking methods to study and evaluate how the City of Bend’s regulations and policies currently work. Based on this assessment, she developed a set of policy and regulatory recommendations that are focused on achieving the desired outcome of a strong economy and strong neighborhoods.
Kristen M. Santos
Master of Science in Management: Mission-Driven Organizations
Starved for revenue: Helping legacy farms weed out misconceptions to allow for growth–a feasibility study.
Meaningful work opportunities are a right for all, and farming can serve as the context where many people, including adults with developmental disabilities, can find meaning and community. With Kristen’s background in management, occupational therapy, leadership coaching, hobby-farming, and as a parent of two children with developmental disabilities, she conducted a feasibility study to explore the various funding and credentialing options for a new nonprofit in Northern Virginia, Legacy Farms, with the goal of helping them get to the next level in their organizational development.
Vaniel Winston Tate
Master of Business Administration: Managing for Sustainability
Urban renewal: Employment and environment.
Winston’s Capstone project was to develop a business plan for a social enterprise known as Phoenix Community Builders. This business will be structured as a for-profit and a not-for-profit corporation. The company will use green technologies to save, restore, and resettle abandoned and derelict residential and commercial properties in Springfield, Massachusetts. The project’s intent is to use housing as the vehicle to provide healthy interiors, and to create jobs and educational opportunities to sustain a sense of place for inner city residents.
Joshua M. Wyman
Master of Arts in Teaching: Social Justice
Getting your hands dirty.
Joshua’s action research was focused on developing experiential learning opportunities for the students in his classroom. Through experiential learning, students become active participants in their learning. Experiential activities can deepen students’ understanding of past and present material conditions while engaging students who may feel apathetic to content.