Donut Devourers, Fish Fanatics, Politicians, and Educators: Faces and Voices of State Education Policymaking

White, Rachel Sue Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2017 해외박사(DDOD)

The nature of who is involved in making education policy is rapidly changing. At the local level, an increasingly diverse body of policymakers is in place with the potential for improved representation for marginalized groups. On the other hand, state-level education policymakers are being called upon to be more involved in making education policy, and state education policymakers are indeed tightening the education policymaking reins. Yet, we know very little about who state education policymakers are and how they go about making education policy decisions. This dissertation draws upon theories of institutionalism, representation, and policy responsiveness to examine (a) who gains state education policymaking power, (b) whose voices are heard in the state education policymaking process, and (c) the ways in which individual and institutional characteristics mediate the voices and victors in the state education policymaking process. I utilize demographic data of state legislators serving on education committees and state board of education (SBE) members across all 50 states, as well as data collected in a national experiment-based survey of state education policymakers and interviews with 44 state education policymakers located in six states. Although I find that state education policymakers are neither descriptively nor substantively representative of their constituents, considerable differences between state legislators and SBE members exist with regard to who they turn to when making education policy decisions. These results provide important insight into the way citizens think about the avenues through which they could engage, interact, and share important policy-relevant information and experiences with state education policymakers.

Studies on Diversity of Alternaria alternata Associated with Alternaria Leaf Spot in Sugar Beet

Jayawardana, Malini Anudya Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Alternaria leaf spot (ALS) is one of the foliar diseases that can impact sugar beet. Recently, ALS has been an increasing issue in fields from several states in the United States including Michigan. One of the most common causative agents of ALS is Alternaria alternata. This same organism has been reported as a pathogen not only in sugar beet, but also in a number of other crops. Michigan is the second most agriculturally diverse state in the United States and a wide range of crops are grown in the state. Since A. alternata is a pathogen on a number of crops currently grown and associated with sugar beet crop rotation in Michigan, it is important to learn about the interactions between A. alternata and its hosts. Therefore, the current projects were carried out to examine some of the host-pathogen interactions in A. alternata with a focus on ALS in sugar beet. The first project addressed developing effective inoculation methods for ALS in the laboratory, greenhouse or in the field. An effective inoculation method for ALS in sugar beet is important for assessing potential management tools for ALS such as screening for resistance and for fungicide efficacy. A detached leaf assay and a greenhouse inoculation with the inoculum in 0.2% malt extract as an outside nutrient source indicated a significant difference between susceptible and resistant varieties for the disease. Field results showed a significant effect of inoculation in three out of four years but showed issues with other pathogens and still need further testing. However, preliminary evidence for a consistent inoculation was observed in 2021, where the inoculum in an outside nutrient source, similar to what we used in the greenhouse, gave higher disease severity than a non-inoculated control or water-suspended inoculum. The diversity of A. alternata was observed in the second and third projects. Aspects of the host range of A. alternata were examined by isolating the pathogen from four crops growing in Michigan and cross-inoculating each isolate across four hosts. All the A. alternata strains caused lesions on all four host crops tested regardless of the crop from which they originally were isolated. Therefore, the results supported a wide host range of A. alternata. Furthermore, genetic diversity of A. alternata was examined in the third project. A total of 48 A. alternata isolates, collected from four hosts in Michigan, and in silico data for an additional 15 A. alternata isolates from different hosts in other geographic areas, were used in a genetic analysis using three loci. The phylogenetic tree in this study agreed with previous reports of a high level of genetic diversity for A. alternata. This was the first study to examine diversity on beet and indicated similar diversity to what has been observed on other crops like potato and apple. No clear separation was observed between A. alternata strains related to the host from which they were originally collected. This further supports a lack of host specialization of A. alternata among the diverse hosts examined. Therefore, care should be taken when including these crops in a crop rotation system. If these crops are grown in rotation, the potential for disease development needs to be considered for appropriate management. The pathogen diversity also has implications for screening for host resistance.

Water Safety Education in Michigan: Teachers as Navigators Towards Water Safety for Children and Youth

Field, Greg, Jr Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

Background: Drowning is the leading cause death for children ages 1-4, and second only to motor vehicle crashes for children and youth ages 5-14 (CDC, 2012; 2016). Protecting children and youth from drowning requires a set of water competencies, including, but not limited to, self-rescue, the safe rescue others, and effective prevention (Cummings, Mueller & Quan, 2011; Salomez & Vincent, 2004; Stallman et al., 2017; Thompson & Rivara, 1998;). There is evidence that water safety education can help build the water safety knowledge and skills to bolster these competencies among children and youth (Solomon et al., 2013; Petrass and Blitvich, 2014; Wilks et al., 2015; Turgut, 2016). In Michigan little is known about the water safety education efforts of schools, the water safety knowledge levels of teachers, and teachers’ willingness to participate in future water safety education.Purpose: This study aims to, identify the current water safety education and swimming efforts of Michigan K-12 teachers and their schools, identify the water safety knowledge levels of K-12 grade Michigan teachers, and explore the influence of teachers’ background factors, water safety knowledge, risk perceptions, past behavior, attitudes (ATT), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC), on intentions (INT) to teach three 30-minute water safety lessons through an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Methods: To achieve the purposes of this study an online survey was sent at random to over 200 public, private, and charter schools across Michigan resulting in 238 teacher participating in the surveys. Correlations were run between background factors, water safety knowledge and water safety education efforts of teachers and their schools. Teachers’ experiences with drowning and rescue, along with their perceptions of Michigan’s beach safety flags were explored using content analysis. Finally, a path analysis was utilized to analyze the influence of ATT, SN, and PBC on INT to teach water safety.Results: The final sample of 184 teachers represented over 80 schools, and closely matched the greater population of Michigan teachers. Results revealed that opportunities for students to participate in water safety education and swimming in Michigan schools are extremely limited. Only 13% of schools provide swim lessons, 11% provide water safety education in the classroom, and 3.4% of teachers teach water safety education lessons in the classroom. Although teachers accurately identified effective prevention efforts and drowning risk, they averaged just 50% correct on water safety knowledge questions and had incorrect perceptions of Michigan’s beach flags. Teachers had favorable attitudes toward water safety education, yet low INT to teach water safety. The path model based on TPB exhibited excellent fit (RSMEA .000, CFI = 1.000, TLI = 1.000 and SRMR = .000), and SN was found to be the sole predictor of teacher intentions (B .486 p < .001). Conclusion: There are very few opportunities for students to participate in water safety education and swimming in Michigan schools, and the water safety knowledge of Michigan K-12 teachers was generally low. Teachers value water safety education and believe it can be an effective way to help keep students safe in and around the water. However, teachers do not feel that teaching water safety education is a responsibility of their job or an expectation from school leadership. Additionally, teachers feel that they lack the support, competence, and resources needed to teach water safety lessons. Subjective norms were found to be the sole predictor of teacher’s intentions, highlighting the important influence of the social and cultural factors, cultivated by important referents, on teacher's intentions to adopt new curriculum like water safety education. Teachers value the expectations of their principals more than any other referent, and curricular expectations are ultimately shaped by standards set at the state level. Therefore, policy may be a key factor in the cultivation of teacher’s normative beliefs. There are several other water safety paths forward for Michigan schools, paths that move toward providing better opportunities for students to develop the water competencies needed to help keep them safe in and around the water.

Reforming Michigan's Criminal Indigent Defense Systems: Chief Judges' and Court Administrators' Experiences and Perceptions

Petlakh, Ksenia Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2017 해외박사(DDOD)

The need for improvement across Michigan's criminal indigent defense systems has long been recognized, and new legislation has created the opportunity to reform the quality of criminal indigent defense across the state. With the creation of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission and the establishment of the first set of minimum standards for criminal indigent defense, this study uses this unique time in Michigan's history to study implementation of reform in the courts at a critical time. Using implementation science and role theory to guide the study, key stakeholders---chief judges and court administrators---were surveyed anonymously across the State of Michigan. They were queried on the current state of criminal indigent defense in their jurisdiction, their perceptions on the new reform, and their role in implementing this new reform. Their experiences and perceptions provide insight into the critical role that key stakeholders' perceptions play in implementing reform in organizations. Findings indicate that while there is widespread support for the reform effort for criminal indigent defense systems in Michigan, there is skepticism that the state will provide adequate funding in order to ensure the success of the reform. There are also concerns about the logistics of the reform as well as some confusion about the specific roles that chief judges and court administrators will fulfill in the implementation process. The study provides insight into the thought processes of key stakeholders at a critical starting point of reform implementation.

Measuring the value and economic impacts of changes in water quality at Great Lakes beaches in Michigan

Cheng, Li Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

The objectives of this dissertation are to measure the monetary value of public Great Lakes beaches, then to measure the monetary value and economic impacts of water quality improvements to Great Lakes beaches. The first essay applied all trip data from a general population survey to Michigan adults to estimate the economic value of the public Great Lakes beaches. We found that on average a Michigan resident took 3.8 trips to the Great Lakes beaches in the summer of 2011. The seasonal value of access to a public Great Lakes beach ranged from $24.74 to $28.07 per person per trip, which would be reduced to two-thirds of the value if we only used single day trip data. To incorporate water quality attributes, Essay 2 combined trip data (RP) and choice experiment data (SP) to estimate the economic benefits from water quality changes at Great Lakes beaches in Michigan. We first applied a scaling approach to jointly estimate the parameters of attributes in both RP and SP data sets under a unified RUM framework. Different model specifications for common preferences across the data types were tested. The common preference test between the RP and SP data was consistently rejected. Our results provided empirical evidences that the scaling approach is not sufficient to account for differences in the amount of unexplained variance when using RP and SP data together in some applications. With some caveats, we then applied the calibration of SP to RP approach to measure the change in consumer surplus in response to two types of water quality scenarios. We found that water quality improvement impacts Huron south most, Michigan south least; water quality degradation impacts Lake Michigan most, Huron south least. To measure the economic impacts of Great Lakes beaches, the third essay applied a visitor spending survey to estimate Michigan beachgoers' spending to Great Lakes beaches. An on-site recruitment of beachgoers was conducted at three public beaches in Michigan in 2014. Intercepted beachgoers were asked to take a web survey about their beach activities and their spending of the visits. A sample selection model was used to address potential nonresponse bias problem in the spending data. We found the regional spending of an average beachgoer to Great Lakes beaches ranged from $35.92 to $248.80 in 2014 dollars. Essay 4 integrated the recreation demand system from Essay 2 and spending analysis from Essay 3 to estimate regional variations in economic impacts from trips to Great Lakes beaches in Michigan. We found that the spending by all Michigan beachgoers living in the Lower Peninsula had a total economic impact of direct sales within a region that ranged from $425.87 million to $1,724.1 million per season in 2014 dollars.

The Disenfranchisement of Justice-Involved College Students from State Financial Aid

Custer, Bradley D Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction have long-lasting and devasting effects on people involved in the criminal justice system. From losing the ability to find employment, to being banned from public housing, to losing access to most federal benefits, "justice-involved" people face a life of punishment, even after their sentences are completed. One rarely discussed collateral consequence is the inability of justice-involved people to get state financial aid grants for college. It is well known that incarcerated people cannot get federal Pell Grants for college, but some states impose even more restrictive barriers on state-funded scholarships for students who were previously convicted of crimes or who are currently incarcerated. Through statutory or regulatory eligibility rules, policymakers in over half of states deny aid eligibility to one or more populations of justice-involved student, according to this study's findings. The eligibility rules of these programs, often decades old, have never been investigated, leaving researchers without an understanding of the scope of the disenfranchisement of justice-involved students from state financial aid. This two-phase dissertation explores this policy issue. Because there was no existing research on this topic to build on, this dissertation begins with a descriptive study that illustrates the financial aid policy landscape for justice-involved students (Phase I). For the first time, I identified all the state grant programs that currently deny eligibility to incarcerated students and students with criminal convictions. The descriptive analysis also identifies when the policies were adopted and explores patterns in where the policies exist across the country. This accounting of policies unveils how commonly states deny aid to justice-involved students, something that policy researchers and advocates should scrutinize. Results from Phase I raised questions about the policymaking process, chiefly: how and why did state legislators adopt these eligibility rules to deny aid to justice-involved students? This is the pursuit of the policy adoption study (Phase II). Using qualitative case study methodology and framed in a conceptual model of state policy innovation and diffusion in higher education, I interviewed state policymakers and studied historical documents to understand the rationales for denying state grant aid to justice-involved students. Findings have implications for the study of state policy adoption as well as for policymakers and advocates seeking to restore state financial aid to justice-involved students.

Molecular diagnostics, epidemiology, and population genetics of the soybean sudden death syndrome pathogen, Fusarium virguliforme

Wang, Jie Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

Soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS), caused by Fusarium virguliforme, is one of the most devastating diseases of soybean responsible for yield losses in both North America and South America. In the United States, F. virguliforme is the predominant SDS causal pathogen, while four Fusarium species including F. virguliforme can cause SDS in South America. All four SDS-causing Fusarium species are located in clade2 of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) along with three bean root rot (BRR) Fusarium pathogens. Within this group of fungi, it is difficult to identify to species level based on morphological traits. We developed a specific and sensitive diagnostic real-time quantitative PCR assay (qPCR) for detection and quantification of F. virguliforme from plant or environmental samples. Furthermore, this assay was applied in characterization of temporal dynamics of F. virguliforme infection and colonization of soybean roots. The quantity of F. virguliforme increased over time and reached a plateau at the end of the season. The severity or appearance of SDS foliar symptoms was not associated with quantity of F. virguliforme infection, and cultivars with varied SDS resistance levels did not differ in their quantity of F. virguliforme in roots. The fungicide fluopyram has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing SDS foliar symptoms in field trials as a seed treatment; however, in vitro evaluation of fungicide baseline sensitivity of F. virguliforme had not been determined. In this study, 185 F. virguliforme isolates collected from multiple locations in the United States were selected for estimation of fungicide sensitivity to fluopyram. Overall, the US F. virguliforme population appears to be sensitive to fluopyram. The effective concentration to inhibit 50% growth for 95.1% of isolates was determined to be between 0.81 to 5 microg/ml, while only nine isolates were determined to be less sensitive. Since the first report of SDS in Arkansas in 1971, SDS had been reported in surrounding states with an apparent pattern of dispersal. To date, although SDS has been reported in most soybean producing areas in the United States, limited research had been conducted to study the population biology of F. virguliforme. We utilized 539 isolates from North and South America in a population genetics study to test the hypothesis that Arkansas was the center of introduction within the United States, and investigate possible intercontinental movement. The Arkansas population demonstrated the highest genotypic diversity and most diverse population structure. Coalescence based migration analysis also supported a directional migration model from Arkansas to Indiana and Michigan. Within the United States, there was a weak positive correlation (P = 0.08) between genetic dissimilarity and geographical distance, suggesting a mixed dispersal pattern of F. virguliforme in the United States. Although South America has been proposed as the center of origin in previous studies, this hypothesis was only supported in the migrate analysis, while the genotypic diversity and population structure compositions detected in the United States cannot be explained by this hypothesis. Therefore, Arkansas as the center of origin in the United States hypothesis is supported by the population genetic analyses, but the South America as the center of origin hypothesis does not have strong support in our analysis.

Women of Color International Graduate Students' Perceptions and Experiences of Safety and Violence while Studying in the United States

Naik, Sapna Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand women of color international graduate students’ conceptualizations, perceptions, and experiences of violence and safety, in addition to the influences of those perceptions and experiences on their lives, while studying in the United States. I perceived women of color international graduate students to be at a particular juncture of political context and oppressions that could influence their experiences. I conducted a qualitative interview study of 11 women of color international graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs at two universities in the southern United States. I was informed by a framework made up of intersectionality and transnational feminism.I learned women of color international graduate students’ conceptualizations of violence and safety complicated those found in the literature by understanding violence and safety in terms of physical, non-physical, and security aspects. Participants also had complex experiences and perceptions, including experiences of sexual harassment, threats of physical violence, discrimination, and silencing. Participants shared financial and visa status insecurity as contributing to lack of safety. I found policies and events factored into participants’ assessments of safety to varying degrees, with gun violence and campus carry factoring in heavily while sexual harassment from faculty members was less of a concern. Coronavirus emerged as contributing to lack of safety. Influences on participants’ lives included the creation of strategies to maintain safety and prevent violence. In addition, I found participants spent a lot of time and energy thinking about their safety. Participants had perspectives about effects on their own lives including loss of freedom and increased empowerment.I asked participants about their perspectives of university responsibility. While some participants did not perceive the university had additional responsibility than what was already done, others perceived their universities could improve on transparency and training. Their recommendations informed my recommendations in the final chapter. I offered implications for practice and policy, including universities making changes within and advocating for changes at a state and national level. I also discuss implications for theory, including the need for a racialized, gendered, internationalized, and graduate student worker lens, and one that incorporates women of color international graduate students’ previous and current locations. Suggestions for future research include research with other populations and taking into account changing contexts. I offer implications for methods including those that may help researchers studying precarious populations. My hope is this research will positively influence women of color international graduate students’ experiences in the United States.

Uber Politics: The Sharing Economy Meets American Federalism

Rosebrook, Erika Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation analyzes the policy paths of short-term rentals and ride-sharing to understand how and when state governments intervene in local issues. I use an original dataset of all state sharing economy policy from 2009–2018 to detail how the sharing economy emerged into the American policy landscape and was processed by state and local governments and the ways American federalism shaped the outcomes. Expectations from existing research would predict that the processes of short-term rental and ride-sharing policy adoption are similar and driven by partisanship, however through quantitative analysis and detailed case studies I find that instead, the policies proceed differently based on the division of functional responsibilities between state and local governments. Forty-nine states, driven by an alliance between interest groups and the availability of model legislation, quickly adopted similar ride-sharing regulations grounded in insurance policy that also largely eliminated local policymaking authority. For short-term rentals, the twenty-two states that have adopted state-level policy have moved more deliberately, customized the policy to state needs, and left cities with the governing authority to respond to local concerns. The divergent outcomes illustrate how states and cities sort out who governs what by filtering competing arguments and policy preferences through their existing functional responsibilities. This functional fit directs policies toward more receptive venues: if ride-sharing policy is about insurance, states, which typically regulate insurance, are more likely to step in and restrict local policy involvement. Conversely, after states were assured of receiving tax revenue, they left the regulation of short-term rentals to cities, as is typical for other land use-related governance. Ultimately, this research adds to the understanding of how emerging issues enter the policy landscape and when states intrude in local concerns.

The Implications that Change in Manufacturing will have on Employment of Michigan Workers

Jackson, Gina Marcella Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

Michigan is closely tied to its economic success as a manufacturing center and a hub for the global automotive industry. Over the years, automation and relocation has reduced the role of manufacturing as a source of employment and led to the decline of manufacturing communities in Michigan. The challenges of declining manufacturing communities and concern for access to employment by displaced workers and underrepresented groups prompts this analysis of career paths and education for advanced manufacturing. Research examined the potential for training and upskilling at community colleges, and the development of a labor pool equipped to serve in emerging and future manufacturing jobs in the United States and the State of Michigan.To understand the career paths available and the experience of students, three analyses were conducted of students, instructors, and employers. The student survey of 190 students across five community colleges in southeast, central, and west Michigan was conducted in the summer and fall of 2020. The study found community colleges are providing Michigan workers with the technical skills needed for advanced manufacturing jobs but more work needs to be done. There is a divide between what the businesses wish community colleges were teaching and the rate it is being taught and what the budget constraints of the community colleges allow them to teach and how fast. Policy recommendations to close the divide is to formulate government policies that assist students in paying for their education to allow more to attend a community college and provide financial support for schools to invest in the latest equipment and technologies for training that employers demand. The technician study can be utilized as Michigan sets policies to get more students to meet its Sixty by 2030 goal where 60 percent of adult workers obtain a certificate or degree by 2030.