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A Response Disequilibrium Approach to Escape and AvoidanceResponse Disequilibrium Theory (RDT) offers a novel framework for analyzing negative reinforcement, and therefore, escape-avoidance behavior in humans. Timberlake and Allison (1974) approximated an RDT approach to negative reinforcement, while Heth and Warren (1981) designed a procedure to test it. Participants in Heth and Warren could terminate audio or visual stimuli as a form of escape-avoidance behavior. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend Heth and Warren with a modern-day computer apparatus that included social media advertisements (Ads) and TikTok videos (Vids). The research question in the current study asked: Is there an escape-avoidance equilibrium that an individual will defend during conditions of response deficit or excess? A counterbalanced multi-treatment ABACA design was used to measure Ads and Vids termination durations in baseline (A) and during conditions of response deficit (B) and excess (C). Response deficit restricted access to Ads termination while response excess provided an overabundance of Vids termination. Both Ads and Vids played simultaneously during all conditions. Eight undergraduate students were recruited from Salem State University’s research participant system. Five of eight participants showed escape-avoidance equilibriums for terminating more Ads than Vids, while three of eight had an equilibrium for simultaneous play of Ads and Vids with minimal termination. Escape-avoidance behavior increased in the response deficit and decreased in the response excess condition. The observed reduction in escape-avoidance behaviors could be socially significant and provide practitioners ways to ameliorate negatively reinforced behavioral disorders.
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A Behavior Analytic Approach to De-Escalation: Behavioral Skills Training for Undergraduate Student LeadershipIn a higher education setting, undergraduate student leaders can be seen as beneficial support for others affiliated with the campus environment both through verbal and interpersonal interactions with peers. Proposed in this paper is a conceptual model evaluating the interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBCs) through operant and respondent processes. Additionally, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) in teaching undergraduate student leaders de-escalation strategies relevant to higher education settings. Three participants engaged in baseline and post-intervention (post-BST) role-play scenarios for six targeted behavioral strategies. Results indicated BST increased or maintained levels of strategy utilization in participants as well as improvement of provision of university resources despite existing knowledge of the intended use of each resource. This suggests that BST is an effective means of teaching behaviors related to de-escalation in the higher education setting and may support broader applications in campus conflict management.
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The Blackheart's Descent: MoonThis graduate thesis includes the first roughly 100 pages of the second section of my fantasy-fiction novel, The Blackheart's Descent. The novel is about a young woman named Terryn Leclair, a princess of the Kingdom of Light, Halcyon, and her journey to become a Queen. This section in particular focuses on Terryn's journey of healing and learning to live in Halcyon, the Kingdom of Darkness. This novel looks to explore themes such as black and white morality, forgetting the past vs. honoring it, acculturation and excommunication, and rebuilding one's life after tragedy.
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The Savage With The Two SwordsThis manuscript is the first ten chapters of a dark queer romance parody novel based on one of the lesser known knights from King Arthur's court, Sir Balin. On the day he is released from prison, he wins a magical sword that is said to be cursed. With the magic of the sword, his addictions with drunkenness and fighting, plus his coming to terms with his own sexual identity and his strange dreams becoming a reality, Balin's adventures lead up to rash decisions which he is not ready to pay the consequences.
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The Color We Could Live WithThis manuscript is a work of literary fiction that explores identity, secrecy, and the cost of survival across generations. Structured through alternating timelines, the narrative follows Olivia, a young woman in the present day who discovers a hidden collection of letters in her grandmother Dorothy’s attic, and Dorothy’s life in the 1950s American South. The letters reveal Dorothy’s first marriage to Earl, a gay man, in what would now be understood as a lavender marriage—an arrangement made to navigate the social, religious, and legal constraints of the time. As Olivia uncovers this concealed history, the novel examines how silence, repression, and societal expectations shape personal identity and family legacy. Drawing on epistolary elements and fragmented narrative techniques, the manuscript emphasizes moments of revelation, omission, and emotional resonance, influenced by contemporary approaches to narrative structure such as those articulated by George Saunders. The project investigates how stories are constructed and withheld, asking what is lost, protected, or transformed when truths remain hidden. Ultimately, the manuscript situates personal memory within broader cultural histories, highlighting the enduring impact of marginalized identities and the intergenerational consequences of secrecy.
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Three Language Schools, Same Mission, One NNEST: Native-Speakerism in the Discourses of Three Private Language SchoolsThis qualitative study examines how private language schools reproduce or resist native-speakerism through public-facing discourses of three language schools where I also worked: British Town (Turkey), Canadian College (Colombia), and Approach International Student Center (Boston). Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, I analyzed websites and job advertisements through an integrated framework: Selvi’s job-ad coding of discriminatory language, Fairclough’s three-dimensional CDA, and Kress & van Leeuwen’s visual grammar. Data consisted of public facing school discourses and screenshots of institutional pages and recruitment posts; analysis combined deductive codes (e.g., nativeness requirements, citizenship/passport filters, credential talk) with inductive themes in text-image pairings. The findings indicate that Turkey and Colombia explicitly and implicitly convey preference for native or foreign speakers by implementing British, US, and Canadian symbols; images of international (white) teachers; and different tiers of language course packages that indicate access to native or bicultural educators is superior and more valuable. By contrast, the Boston site centers qualifications, mentoring, and mission fit; job language avoids “native” requirements, and the staff page displays significant diversity. The patterns across cases hint at how market branding, rules, and school goals all work together. This research introduces a single, integrated coding model for websites and ads. Limitations include three cases and public texts only; future work should connect discourse to HR records and pay scales across sites and over time.
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Keeping Yunes Alive: The Vulnerable Witness in Gate of the SunLebanese author Elias Khoury (1948–2024) grapples with witnessing, memory, and the future of Palestine in his acclaimed novel, Gate of the Sun (1998), which follows narrator Khalil Ayyoub as he watches over and memorializes the life of comatose freedom fighter Yunes al-Asadi. In this thesis, I examine how Gate of the Sun explores witnessing as it articulates silence and is shaped by trauma. As understood through Gate of the Sun, bearing witness is an empathetic act of resistance which enables liberation.
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Program for 2025 Spring, Dances in the Raw and Student Recognition CeremonyProgram for the event at O’Keefe Center. Contains the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2025 Fall, Faculty and Alumni ConcertProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2025 FallProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2025 Fall, Dances in the RawProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2024 SpringProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2024 Spring, Dances in the Raw and Student Recognition CeremonyProgram for the event at Harrington Building Gymnasium. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2022 FallProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2023 Fall, Dances in the Raw and Student Recognition CeremonyProgram for the event at South Campus Gymnasium. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2022 SpringProgram for the event. Contains the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2022 Spring, Dances in the RawProgram for the event at Twohig Gymnasium. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
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Program for 2023 SpringProgram for the event. Contains an introduction about the concert, the performance titles, the names and bios of choreographers, dancers, artistic directors, writers, and more.
