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Item The Promise of Financial Peace: Congregations, Personal Financial Literacy Teaching, and the Unique Appeal of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University(2026-05) Barrett, Elise Erikson; Herzog, Patricia Snell; King, David P.; Steensland, Brian; Whitehead, AndrewThis paper engages congregational studies from the aperture of a particular practice claimed by more than a third of United States congregations: personal financial literacy teaching in the congregational context. Proceeding on the basis of a statistical analysis of the National Study of Congregations' Economic Practices (NSCEP), the paper investigates what kinds of congregations engage in personal financial literacy teaching, as well as correlated practices and possible outcomes of this practice. A key finding is that Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University is the only external curriculum named in the NSCEP by congregations who use external curricula for their personal financial literacy teaching. A qualitative textual analysis of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University curriculum follows, and findings are analyzed to discover and describe cultural, sociological, and theological narratives and frames to better understand the unique appeal and popularity of this mode of financial literacy teaching. Recommendations for congregational leaders and practitioners are offered, based on these findings.Item White Supremacy and the Slow Violence of Environmental Racism: An Indianapolis Case Study(2026-03) Clark, Benjamin James; Kelly, Jason M.; Etienne, Leslie K.; Kryder-Reid, Elizabeth; Hyatt, Susan B.This dissertation is a case study of three communities in Indianapolis that have been impacted by environmental inequalities. In Riverside, we have a groundwater contamination site. In Martindale-Brightwood, the community is confronting the legacy of a lead smelting plant. And on the city's Old Southside, there are air quality concerns related to the presence of the interstate and industrial facilities nearby. All of these communities have a history of having been redlined in the 1930s and they continue to live with that legacy today. The connection between redlined communities and environmental inequalities is well established and Indianapolis is no different. In addition, and related to having been redlined, all three communities have been impacted by the interstate. Communities of color were redlined and the redlined communities were targeted by interstate planners when establishing routes. In the larger context, we see that these communities are impacted by bureaucratic malaise and indifference. I argue that this malaise comes from something called administrative racism, which means that through banal bureaucratic practices, these communities suffer from environmental injustice brought about by lax regulations, poor enforcement, zoning issues, and tedious and drawn-out processes. The slow violence of environmental racism comes from administrative racism, bureaucratic malaise, and indifference.Item Fulfilling the Promise: A Mixed-Methods, Deweyan Analysis of the 21st Century Scholars Program at Ivy Tech(2026-01) Pike, Mark D.; Wokeck, Marianne; Coleman, Martin; Hensel, Devon; Nguyen, DavidThis dissertation examines the structural fit between the 21st Century Scholars (TFCS) program’s eligibility requirements and the lived realities of student Scholars at Ivy Tech Community College in Muncie, Indiana. Drawing on John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy, particularly his concepts of education, democracy, and vocational development, the study explores how program rules intersect with students’ work obligations, family responsibilities, and community involvement. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the research begins with a student experience survey administered to all 21st Century Scholars who attended Ivy Tech Muncie between 2016 and 2024. The survey identifies statistical relationships between eligibility compliance and key variables such as employment hours, caregiving duties, and access to campus resources. Qualitative interviews with a subset of respondents follow, offering narrative insights into how students experience, interpret, and navigate those structural tensions. Findings reveal significant misalignments between policy expectations, particularly the 30-credit annual requirement, and students’ lived experiences, often shaped by economic precarity and competing obligations. These misalignments not only threaten eligibility but also undermine the broader goals of higher education as defined by Dewey: to cultivate democratic participation, personal growth, and vocational purpose. Ultimately, the study shows that while the TFCS program aims to expand access to college for low-income students, its increasingly restrictive compliance model creates barriers that disproportionately affect the very students it intends to support. The dissertation concludes by recommending targeted policy changes and institutional interventions—grounded in Deweyan educational theory—that promise to better support student success, foster shared interests, and realign the program with its democratic ideals.Item An Ethnographic Study of Black Teenagers, Gun Violence, and the Youth Control Complex in Indianapolis(2025-05) Luthe, Allison Leigh; Tucker Edmonds, Joseph; Hyatt, Susan; Silva, Lahny; Vogt, WendyThe violent gun-related death of teenager David Lowery in 2020, alongside troubling statistical trends, catalyzed this research on teen gun violence in Indianapolis. While Black teenagers are not inherently more violent than their white counterparts, they often live in racially segregated neighborhoods that foster isolation, economic hardship, and higher crime rates. Structural inequities, combined with historical disinvestment, leave these communities vulnerable to cycles of violence. This study employs community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles and multi-modal ethnography, centering teenage voices—including a teenage co-researcher and video producer—to explore the lived realities of youth impacted by gun-related offenses. Data collection began with semi-structured interviews of ten young people charged with gun-related crimes as teenagers by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. These youth described peer influence, social media portrayals, and fear as motivations for carrying firearms. To address gun violence, teenagers recommended increased community activities, mentoring, and counseling, alongside improvements to their neighborhoods, such as repairing abandoned homes and fostering deeper relationships with youth. Many expressed feelings of entrapment within their environments, highlighting the need for safe spaces that instill hope and provide tangible opportunities for change. The research team created a short film based on interview data and screened it with youth workers and stakeholders within the youth control complex to gather feedback and spur discourse. The significance of incorporating a teenage co-researcher is amplified through storytelling, demonstrating how participatory approaches shift narratives around expertise and youth agency. This project revealed four critical recommendations: (1) Reconsider who is an expert as research is designed and carried out: (2) Dismantle the youth control complex and focus resources no developing relationship sand connections with families; (3) Foster discussion and conversation for an educated civil society; (4) Critique the failure of local elected officials and public policy to support families and build thriving neighborhoods. This study contributes to conversations on violence prevention, racial justice, and youth advocacy, emphasizing how rethinking expertise and prioritizing youth-led initiatives can generate systemic solutions to gun violence rather than merely treating symptoms.Item The Soil of Our Grandmothers' Gardens: Womanist Visual Culture Excavated From Memories and Depictions of Plantations in Antebellum America(2025-03) Gladden, Shonda Nicole; Edmonds, Joseph Tucker; Daniel, Jamie Levine; Haberski, Raymond; Mingo, AnneMarie; Morgan, Kelli; Etienne, Leslie Kenneth; Craig, DavidThis dissertation is about Black women’s experiences and memory excavation; centering the lives and land of Black women descendants of formerly enslaved Africans, and portraits of Black women’s lives as depicted in plantation themed cinema. I position my research in relation to and in conversation with Womanists, social scientists, and American Studies scholars who have utilized their scholarship to subvert power structures that demand particularized form and function. By staking my theoretical claims in Womanism, I am demarcating the kind of American Studies scholar that I am: one who studies within communities of Womanist scholarship, and in conversation with Black people who corporately wrestle with the construct of America from the vantage point of embodied, thinking Black people of faith, who live for, and love Black people and Black culture. The nontraditional form of this dissertation specifically, and the fungibility of my research identity in general, are intentioned expressions of my scholarly voice and orientation to the field. As part of this dissertation research, I conduct community engaged research through a film festival. I exhume effects of memory and storytelling through oral histories. I unearth artifacts of soil and sacramental re-memory through ritual soil collections. These three seemingly disconnected modes of research are tethered together to answer the question, “How do vestiges of plantation narratives inform Black women’s resilience in light of anti-Blackness embedded in modern institutions?” To answer this question, I examine soil as source of affect, develop and host a film festival as a means of localizing and illumining modern experiences with a transhistorical materiality- namely the plantation, and conduct oral histories as a means of cultivating an epistemic archive. At times I am interpreting soil as place, utilizing its excavation as method, and at other times deploying it as metaphor; always tilling the soil as a potentiality for fertile memory excavation.Item Black Women as the Critical Link Between Traditional Institutions and Minoritized Communities(2024-12) Murphy, Stacia N.; Scheurich, James Joseph; Hyatt, Susan B.; Steensland, Brian; Haberski, Raymond J.Poverty plagues many U.S. urban communities, particularly Black and brown populations. Gaps in wealth accumulation continue to widen between whites and Blacks, and neighborhoods are increasingly segregated by race and income with Black and brown populations more frequently living in concentrated poverty. Unfortunately, these factors combine to negatively influence other quality of life outcomes such as economic mobility, food security, health disparities and medical costs, infant and maternal health, life spans, education, discriminatory policing practices, and environmental health issues, factors that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, development continues to play an integral role in the way that urban cities attempt to solve their problems. In Indianapolis, the primary practitioners of urban development are housed within several key intuitions, and ultimately, typically held by white men or women, who make economic decisions that shape the lives of Indianapolis residents. Unfortunately, these institutions are often disconnected from populations at the margins and, thus, community engagement is the mechanism through which institutions attempt to connect with these communities. Consequently, it is common to see individuals who look like the populations that institutions want to serve in these positions. These individuals can be thought of as bridges between these communities and the institutions in which they work. Utilizing Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Critical Race Theory (CRT), this study explores the lived experiences, knowledges, and practices associated with the role of bridge between institutions and community with a focus solely on Black women in these roles. Through textual analysis of transcribed interviews based in grounded theory with some mix of deductive and inductive coding, this study will help us better understand local perspectives about community engagement specifically and urban development more generally.Item "Death to the World" and the Aesthetics of Conspiracy(2024-12) Saler, Robert Cady; Goff, Philip; Steensland, Brian; Haberski, Ray; Whitehead, AndrewThis study examines the small but influential "Death to the World" movement within U.S. Eastern Orthodoxy. The study offers the first comprehensive history of the movement from its origins into the present, and it also demonstrates how key affective components of the movement's appeal (asceticism, punk rock aesthetics, etc.) have been adapted into participation in conspiracy theorizing. The dissertation draws on contemporary conspiracy theory scholarship, religious studies, and sociology to make the case that "Death to the World" stands as a helpful case study for how the affective dimensions that make a movement successful also open it up to conspiracy theory participation.Item Bringing Clinical Organizational Ethics into Practice(2024-05) Swartwood, Brigitte Rene; Beckman, Emily; Haberski, Raymond; Hartsock, Jane; Helf, Paul R.; Meagher, AshleyThis dissertation consists of four papers that focus on the integration of clinical organizational ethics (COE) concepts into clinical practice. As defined by Miller and Hartsock, COE is a distinct area of ethics that addresses recurrent clinical ethics dilemmas. These dilemmas are issue-based and arise directly from patient care, yet these issues affect multiple patients. The resolution of these dilemmas are often revisions of procedures, policies, or practices.1 By analyzing specific organizational-level policies and practices, I attempt to ground these theoretical ideas by considering their impact on clinical outcomes. These four papers illustrate the integration of COE into practice in three ways: conceptually, empirically, and through recommendation of change in practice. "Victims of Violence, Hospital Policies, and Potential for Bias" and "Opioid Prescribing, Hidden Influences, and the Cultural Impact of Christianity" conceptually discuss a policy or practice affecting clinical care. "Victims ofViolence ... " investigates the implications of No Information Status policies and suggests that they may burden bedside staff while providing a false sense of safety and may exacerbate existing health disparities. "Opioid Prescribing ... " examines how Christian frameworks may be implicitly shaping clinicians' approaches to opioid prescribing within the setting of chronic nonmalignant pain management. "Evaluation of Security Emergency Responses: Racial Disparities in Activation" uses empirical evidence to discuss racial disparities in security emergency responses (SERs) within a hospital. This paper used a retrospective, descriptive cohort study to illustrate ethical implications of polices that exacerbate health disparities. Finally, "The Importance of Data Collection in SERs" proposes a framework for collecting data and addressing SER challenges within an organization. This improvement in hospital practices will provide opportunities to address some of the complex challenges surrounding SERs. Collectively, these papers aim to fill gaps in the literature, challenge implicit biases, and address specific challenges in clinical care using a Clinical Organizational Ethics framework.Item Intersectional Solidarities: A Design Approach to Building Collective Power in Racialized Organizations(2024-05) Carey, Nicole C.; Schall, Carly; Shasanmi, Amy; Edmonds, Joseph Tucker; Wheeler, RachelThis dissertation explores the development of a novel framework for fostering intersectional solidarities within racialized organizations, aimed at enhancing anti-racism efforts and building cross-racial coalitions. Drawing on Critical Participatory Design and grounded in real-world experiences, the Doing Intersectionality framework is presented as a practical tool for practitioners navigating the complexities of racialized organizations. It presents the importance of addressing power dynamics, belief in marginalized stories, the creation of inclusive norms, disruption of harmful narratives, implementation of transformative change, and the importance of continuous healing. Theoretical underpinnings from scholars like Gloria Anzaldúa, Patricia Hill Collins, and Audre Lorde informed the framework, emphasizing the role of consciousness, healing, and coalition-building in dismantling dominant narratives and fostering new realities in solidarity. The discussion also navigated the lived experiences of Black and/or Latinx professionals in Indianapolis, highlighting how their identity formation and relational dynamics inform cross-racial interactions and contribute to multiracial coalition-building efforts. Practical insights were shared, including challenges encountered during the design process, such as resistance to change and the emotional toll on professionals of color. The dialogue underscored the necessity of adopting an intersectional and relational lens in organizational practices to address complex social issues and promote equity and inclusivity. By integrating theoretical insights with actionable strategies, this research advocated for a new consciousness in organizational antiracism work, one that acknowledges the interconnected liberation of individuals across diverse social locations. This synthesis aims not only to contribute to the academic discourse on race, identity, and organizational behavior but also to offer tangible solutions for practitioners committed to fostering meaningful systemic change within their organizations.Item Collaborative Leadership in Social Innovation: A Leadership Framework for Tackling Wicked Public Challenges(2023-11) Freije, Brenda Hacker; Haberski, Raymond J., Jr.; Blomquist, William A.; Craig, David M.; Hong, YoungbokIn today’s world, we regularly hear about and experience intractable, systemic social problems that seem to defy solutions. How do we engage in systems change to address them? What processes can help us deal more effectively with them? It is not enough to say we need to change their systems. We need to know how to change them and lead others in the work. This dissertation explores how leadership teams and organizations can tackle wicked public challenges by working collaboratively with stakeholders through a process of trying to understand the challenge and designing strategies to influence systems change. I offer a Leadership Framework for these efforts that puts the collaborative leader in the role of expert intermediary responsible for seven Core Functions within the Leadership Framework. As expert intermediary, the collaborative leader facilitates vision-informed and values-driven decision-making and draws on a range of leadership and problemsolving approaches with four priorities: (1) to provide a systems view and understanding of the challenge, (2) to facilitate collaborative engagement and learning from a wide range of stakeholders, (3) to consider in the design and implementation of strategies and solutions the interconnections between economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection in human flourishing, and (4) to recognize that values run through it all. I refer to the Leadership Framework and its process as Collaborative Leadership in Social Innovation. I lay out the Leadership Framework as a concept map showing the Core Functions arranged along a path with Key Actions for each Core Function and other foundational components to the path. Learning is the glue that holds the Leadership Framework together and a key output. The Leadership Framework is designed to improve decision-making about wicked public challenges by ensuring sufficient time is dedicated to the Core Functions that precede the design and implementation of strategies and solutions. Following the Leadership Framework reduces the chances that solutions will lead to unintended results, miss opportunities, or focus on solving smaller problems in siloes that get at symptoms but rarely the heart of a challenge.