Gunnar Abramson

Major: History

Comparative Colonialisms: Variations in Japanese Colonial Policy in Taiwan and Korea 1895-1945

Historians of East Asia have long noted a substantive difference between the reactions to Japanese colonial domination in Taiwan and Korea, both during the colonial period itself and in the post world war two periods. This paper examines some structural differences between the colonial regimes in Taiwan from 1895-1945 and Korea from 1910-45 within the context of the proto-nationalist identities that existed prior to the arrival of the Japanese in both locations. The paper also examines the role of competing ideas of association and assimilation in Japanese colonial theory of the time and surveys the different effects these competing theories produced in the form of different types of colonial governance in each locale. I argue that the Korean sense of cultural one-ness stemming from centuries as an ethnically homogenous, pre-modern polity, more often than not, inevitably engendered resistance to Japanese control while in Taiwan the opposite was true. Having existed as a "frontier island" for close to three centuries before Japanese annexation, Japanese efforts to modernize the island were largely aided by islanders, Japanese rule being remembered fondly after control of Taiwan shifted to Nationalist China. I assert these internal differences in native attitudes to Japanese control coupled with the prevailing attitude in Japanese policy making circles of the pre-1945 era - which regarded Korea, due to geopolitical concerns, as more strategically important than Taiwan - changed the style of governance in each colony. Though some specific policies carried out by each colonial government general were identical in intent and even in name in both colonies, their application was markedly different due to both the internal realities of each colony and different concerns regarding each colony among political leaders in the home islands.

Linda Walton, PhD

Linda A. Walton is Professor of History and International Studies and Chair of the History Department at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Trained as a historian of China, she has conducted research in Japan, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China, and is the author of a book, book chapters, and articles on the social and intellectual history of middle period China (11th-14th centuries). She is co-author of In the Balance: Themes in Global History (McGraw-Hill, 1998), and one of two lead scholars for Bridging World History, a multimedia world history curriculum for high school teachers and college students.

Kerrie Beach

Major: Psychology

Adolescent Delinquency: Self-Efficacy as an Influence

Adolescent delinquency has many consequences on the individual, his or her family, friends, and society. Preventing delinquency is important for those at risk. This project suggests that there are many factors that fall between risky behavior and self-efficacy. One’s belief that he/she can accomplish something plays an important role in social functioning. However, academic performance, parental support, demographics, and depression can also influence one’s perceptions of his or her self-efficacy and vice versa. Extensive research has been done on self-efficacy and adolescent achievement, but few programs have been implemented to address these challenges. I propose to marry theory and practice through a program designed to increase self-efficacy and therefore, decrease delinquency.

Gabriela Martorell, PhD

Gabriela Martorell obtained her PhD in Psychology at University of California, Santa Barbara, with an emphasis in Human Development. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in developmental psychology, human development, cultural issues in psychology, evolutionary psychology, and developmental psychopathology. Her research interests include attachment theory, cortisol and stress, positive affect, and high-risk populations.

Carolyn Becker

Major: Anthropology

This paper is an ethnographic research regarding unenrolled Native Americans in metropolitan Portland, OR. Under federal law, individual federally recognized tribes or Native/Indian nations determine their own requirements for membership, and these rules vary widely from nation to nation. This is one of the primary expressions of indigenous sovereignty in the present, akin to defining national citizenship. On the other hand, the particular membership requirements adopted by native governments often deny enrollment to some individuals who are otherwise members of native communities. These unenrolled people live on reservations and in cities, just like other Native Americans. They are, however, an invisible group to tribal, state, and the US governments, and to scholars who have not investigated the situation of this population. Among issues they face are denial of access to health benefits, tensions within the Indian community, and unique challenges to individual identity and self-esteem. These matters are particularly weighty in the case of mixed-race Native people. Based on ethnographic interviews and participant-observation, this paper gives voice to unenrolled people in order to illuminate their situation.

Thomas Biolsi, PhD

Tom Biolsi is a Professor of Anthropology and Director of Native American Studies. He has taught at PSU since 1990. His research focuses on the history of Indian-White Relations, and he has written two books on the Sicangu Lakota people of Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota.

Jacob Biamonte

Major: Engineering/Physics

As a dual Computer Engineering and Physics major, I have had the opportunity of working as a research assistant for my mentor Professor Marek Perkowski of the ECE department for just shy of a year now. After returning from Korea we started a new lab at PSU called the Quantum Information Laboratory. This opens up a lot of opportunities for our research and for PSU since we have a 100-machine computer network designed to act as a single super computer.

The diagnostic problem of fault localization for quantum circuits is considered for the first time. In this study we introduce an algorithm used to identify and localize errors in quantum circuits; we apply our algorithm to example circuits using known errors that occur in quantum circuits [ 3, 4, 5], and we define the quantum fault model. An overview is presented contrasting classical test theory with the new quantum test theory presented here. Two new types of faults having no parallel in other types of circuit technology are presented, named and formalized in this work. We introduce and define the quantum fault table, and categorize its entries; a method is presented illustrating how to construct a class of statistical decision diagrams from entries in a quantum fault table.

This study has been initiated for the following reasons: (1) various quantum error-correcting codes have been developed, but no research has been done on the problem of formulating a general approach for minimizing the number of tests needed to identify errors in the quantum circuit itself, (2) such research may lead to the development of improved error correcting codes, (3) physicists currently resort to exhaustively testing quantum circuits, where all possible inputs and outputs are compared; based on the current trends in quantum computing technology, quantum circuits will soon be larger than what is feasible to test exhaustively, forcing a need for the diagnostic testing method introduced here, and finally (4) Quantum test set generation has been mentioned in the literature several times, yet at the time of this writing no in-depth study has been done [13, 12].

Marek Perkowski, PhD

Marek Perkowski is a Professor of Computer Engineering at the ECE Dept of PSU. His PhD is in automatic control from the Department of Electronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland. He has been on faculties of Warsaw University of Technology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Technical University of Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea. He has been involved in research on Computer Aided Design of VLSI, intelligent robotics and Machine Learning since 1980's and recently works on automatic synthesis and optimization of quantum circuits. He has obtained several grants from NSF, Intel, Sharp, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, KAIST and others, and worked as a programmer and consultant.

M. Perkowski is currently a chair of IEEE Technical Committee on Multiple-Valued Logic and he was the chair of several conferences on this and other topics. He is an author of more than 300 papers and several books. Several of his programs are used in CAD industry and his research is widely cited. He is on the NEC list of most cited computer science authors. His dream is to build a complete interactive theater of humanoid robots controlled by quantum immunological software.

Adam Carpinelli

Major: Liberal Studies/Black Studies

I was born in long Island, New York but grew up in Northern Virginia close to the nation’s capitol. I play guitar, mandolin, jazz drums and percussion. I am interested in the African roots of world music and philosophy, and I am currently exploring non-western philosophies as they explain music therapy and how humans use music for healing and forms of cultural resistance.

Musical Transformations in Resistance-Based Cultures of the African Diaspora

My project is a four-year, ongoing investigation on musical transformations in resistance-based cultures of the African Diaspora, in the Caribbean and the North/South American continents. I will discuss musical applications of religious, cultural and socio-political resistance by the African Diaspora to European hegemony and colonialism during and after emancipation. The transformations of African based resistance music is explained in order to understand not only its current presence and functions in world music but its modification, exploitation and transformations from religious African retentions into secular and popular music in the New World. The study looks at qualities of the music that have made them popular regarding African retentions, reinterpretations, syncretism and revivalisms among the Diaspora as they facilitate the continuing struggle for African liberation and freedom worldwide. The focus is to identify how music is used as a conduit for social change and resistance involving upheaval or revolt among oppressed or enslaved societies of the African Diaspora. Specifically, the cultural reactions of the African Diaspora to inequities will be examined through a general survey of the various musical forms, styles, genres and instruments that created African based resistance music. The prime aim of the project is to lay preliminary groundwork for future explorations on this umbrella topic.

E. Kofi Agorsah, PhD

Dr. E. Kofi Agorsah, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is a full professor of Black Studies and International Studies and former Chair of the Department of Black Studies, at Portland State University, Oregon. He was formerly Keeper of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and served as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, 1983-1987.

Carrie Cobb

Major: Economics

I am an economics major. I grew up on Deer Isle, a small island in Downeast Maine. My main academic interest is Latin America, with a particular emphasis on Mexico.

This project explores the characteristics, labor conditions, and social networks of Mexican migrant and immigrant workers in Portland, Oregon. In restaurants, Mexican labor is often crucial to the daily production of food, yet the workers themselves are often relegated to the back of house, out of view. Language barriers further marginalize this population. There have been several studies done about restaurant labor in areas with high concentrations of Mexican immigrants, such as San Diego, but this study is the first to explore labor issues faced by the Mexican-born population working in restaurants in the Portland area. The methodology is chain referral sampling, a method commonly used by researchers to gain interviews with hidden populations. The method uses different contacts within the community to find participants, who are then able to introduce the interviewer to further potential participants. This study shows that many immigrants work long hours and often hold more than one job. Their employers sporadically adhere to labor laws such as overtime pay and mandatory breaks. The study also reveals an important role for social networks in assisting immigrants in entering the United States and obtaining employment. Furthermore, the study examines the role of capital accumulation as a motive to migrate for migrants who did not plan to settle in the United States. Despite the relatively low pay of restaurant work, the study finds a high rate of saving and investment within the migrants who planned to return to Mexico.

Leopoldo Rodriguez, PhD

Leopoldo Rodriguez is Assistant Professor of Economics and International Studies at Portland State University. Between 1998 and 2001 he taught at Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. His areas of specialization are political economy, development and international economics with a regional concentration on Latin America. He has written about neoliberalism, the Mexico peso crises of 1994-1995 and the Argentine crises of 2001-2002. He has also conducted research on the Cyprus conflict and female migrant worker in North Cyprus.

Jason Damron

Major: Anthropology

A Queer Visit to Red and Blue States

The intersection of Queer, Marxist, and other political economic theory may provide for a more textured understanding of contemporaneous political, academic, and media assessments of social thinking and its supposed patterns. Another understanding of the popular, diagrammatic prescription of a “Red and Blue” state America reveals this rhetoric as a disguise for political economic ends. Interrogating the politics of moral panics and “culture wars” emphasizes that central to this supposed schism is the anxiety of “other” sexualities and moralities and their implications on a “utopian”, capitalistic family.

Querying this red/blueprint is significant for its illumination of the politics of moral panics, the familialist rhetoric of bourgeois economic interests, and leftist discourses of identity politics and pseudo-political performance strategies. I argue that a political economic critique of both right and left political discursive traditions disrupts the Red and the Blue state rhetoric as a diversionary political tactic that evacuates a substantial critique of capitalism.

J. Cherry Muhanji, PhD

Marcia Klotz, PhD

There is the rhythm of the mother, the suppressed poet, and the worker. There is the rhythm of the first-time college studentin my 40’s, the activist, and the budding prose writer. The dizzying rhythm toward the Master in African American Studies, the PhD in English, Anthropology, and African American Studies with a strong emphasis on Women’s Studies, one novel and a collaborative short story anthology published in that wake. Now, the McNair program. Suddenly, a break in rhythm the professor/ tutor of 6th graders in Kansas City, and still the working writer. Now the rhythm moves through the Northwest as I teach incoming freshman post 9/11 and a critical piece on Jazz, called “Soundtrack”—published--- and now a playwright, and some performance. Also I’m working on a play called “Mile (as in Davis) After Dark”--- strange rhythm-this.

Marcia Klotz, PhD, Stanford University, 1994

PSU Faculty since 2002

Trieste Dobberstein

Major: Biology

Gene Flow in an Invasive Species of Grass, Brachypodium sylvaticum

Invasive species of plants are responsible for an estimated $100 billion annually for management regimes and damage control. Invasions remain largely ignored until invasive populations have reached critical levels, at which point costly and time consuming efforts are required for containment or control. Studying the early stages of an invasion can provide insight into the mechanics behind the establishment and spread of invaders, as well as shed more light on the processes of microevolution. Brachypodium sylvaticum is a grass recently invasive to the Willamette Valley, and possesses many traits valuable to a migration and evolutionary study. This study has focused on the long-distance migration patterns of B.sylvaticum using microsatellite DNA. Microsatellite loci, which are not under any selective pressure and enjoy high mutation rates, can provide researchers with data enabling them to draw conclusions about the gene flow of populations, such as those of B.sylvaticum.

In-field observations of this invasive grass suggest that this highly damaging invader enjoys the greatest success in disturbed areas such as logging tracts, riparian areas, and alongside roads. The grass appears to establish in shady, wet areas of a region first, moving along stream or road corridors, after which it moves into adjacent open fields. Further genetic analysis can confirm or disprove this hypothesis. Preliminary data and field observations also point to “guerilla” dispersal, in which large, established populations provide seeds to far-away sites; the migration of this genetic material appears to be propelled by logging trucks and tourists. Under the right conditions, B.sylvaticum can quickly out-compete most native flowering and nonvascular plants, making it an immediate danger to the health of Oregon’s forests. Also, considering its’ propensity to quickly establish in highly disturbed areas like logging tracts and wildfire sites, B.sylvaticum may prove to make the restoration of these forests a daunting and costly job.

Mitchell Cruzan, PhD

Dr. Cruzan conducts research on the processes of adaptation and speciation in plants at Portland State University. He graduated with a BA and an MA in Biology from California State University, Fullerton. He obtained his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. After receiving his PhD, he completed post-doctoral research fellowships in the Department of Botany at the University of Toronto and in the Department of Genetics at the University of Georgia before becoming an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Most recently, he spent six months on a visiting professor CNRS fellowship at the Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France before joining the faculty at Portland State University in 2002.

Amy Driscoll

Major: English

Throughout the 20th Century, women with direct experience of war (military wives, active duty soldiers, journalists) have produced a vast and diverse body of literature: their accounts of war and military life add a valuable perspective to what is still often regarded as an exclusively male concern. Recently, however, a shift away from women writing these stories has taken place. I examine possible reasons for this change. I have found that the socio-economic, class, and gender issues currently at play within this community result in women not being encouraged to write, publish or find value in their stories. In the past, writing by women interacting with the military communities was primarily by women who were upper class, or who married into the officer corps of the military, simulating an upper class lifestyle. Working class women, enlisted men's wives, and women soldiers have seldom written of their experiences, except in letters, journals, or autobiographies that were “ghostwritten” by men. The shift to an all-volunteer force, as well as the need for wives to supplement the meager military income in a situation where opportunities to find work are severely restricted, are some of the forces changing the makeup of the military, and silencing the voices of women who need to be heard.

Barbara Guetty, PhD

Barbara Guetti did her undergraduate work at Harvard-Radcliffe, studied in Paris for a year, received an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD from Cornell. She has taught at a wide variety of colleges and universities: Rutgers, City University of New York, Yale, Simon’s Rock, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and Reed. She has been teaching at Portland State University since 1994, specializing in English and European Romanticism and Literary theory. She also teaches courses in women’s studies, contemporary English and American literature, and narrative theory.

Natasha Hartsfield

Major: Anthropology

I am a Portland transplant from Tallahassee, Florida. I have been in Portland for nine years and have been at PSU for three. I am an Anthropology major with a minor in Latin America. My hope is to pursue a PhD in Anthropology with emphasis on cultural resistance movements.

Racial Hegemony in America: The Struggle for Identity among the Black Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeastern United States

The notion of race was introduced to the Americas at the time of colonization. For the Black Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes, racism has led to the rejection of their tribal heritage from both Tribal and United States governments. The Black Indians are of both African and Native American ancestry with a history born in America and rich with resistance against colonial power. Blood quantum, the governmental requisite for membership, is but one of the many laws put in place to govern Native American Tribes. The case of the Black Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes demonstrates how the introduction of the hypodescent rule or “one drop of blood” rule by the United States laid the foundation for the systemic effects of the racial hierarchy within the tribes. This introduces the question: Why in a Nation that claims “freedom for all” there continue to be groups of people whose identities are not recognized? Why are descendants of both Native American and African ancestors ineligible for education scholarships, land allotments, gaming and fishing rights and other tribal allowances? In 1965 African- Americans were marching on Washington to demand their rights as American citizens. Today Black Indians are marching on Washington from Indian Territory in Oklahoma to demand their rights. As this is an issue that may be further explored, future research might include a comparative study of other unrecognized groups that have been affected by colonialism, incorporating archival and material culture research with oral histories.

Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate, PhD

Pedro has a PhD in Interdisciplinary Archaeological Studies from the University of Minnesota, an MA in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Pedro works on archaeological and anthropological studies of the Caribbean region, focusing on the Dominican Republic and Cuba, and on topics of Indigenous survival and cultural resistance

Erin Horst

Major: Mathematics

This paper presents the results of an in-depth analysis of student responses to a differential equations modeling problem administered as part of an international comparison study. The international study compared students’ skills and understandings in an inquiry-oriented approach to the teaching and learning of differential equations (project classes) to other traditional approaches (comparison classes). The guiding question of the research was to identify why comparison students fared better overall than project students on a routine modeling problem. To answer the research question a tripartite coding scheme was developed.

The coding scheme illustrated that project students were failing to: (1) initiate a correct model of the problem, (2) understand conceptually the presence of time within a differential equation, and (3) appropriately interpret and apply the initial condition of the given modeling problem. Suggestions for improvements to the differential equations curriculum are included.

Karen Marrongelle, PhD

Karen Marrongelle is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. She conducts research in mathematics education, specifically the learning and teaching of undergraduate mathematics. Recent projects have included: investigating the resources necessary for teaching a research-based differential equations curriculum; identifying tools for mathematics teachers to put research-based suggestions into action in their classrooms; developing a model of professional development for mathematics graduate teaching assistants; and designing mathematics content and leadership experiences for K-12 teachers and administration

Gabriel Flores

Major: Sociology/Political Science/History

My majors are Sociology, History, and Political Science, with a minor in Psychology. I volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank where I lead shifts in their Learning Garden. Currently, I’m planning an art show fundraiser scheduled for the end of September.

Restaurant Workers’ Role as Cultural Liaisons

Restaurant workers are not only allowed to the land of the gourmet, but are looked as experts in that field. Restaurant invest considerable amounts of money in their “front of the house” staff through food/wine tasting and seminars, constantly encouraging their personnel to embrace their roles as a cultural liaisons. My analyses focuses on the role the restaurant plays in the economic, social and cultural lives of its employees. Economically, servers may consume considerably more than others who are in the same income bracket and do so because of their substantial knowledge in the realm of the gourmet. Socially, the restaurant worker is embedded in a possible subculture that openly discourses on cuisine and mannerliness. Culturally, the eatery personnel are placed as knowledge holders of food, beverages, and ambiance. This research is an exploration on how eatery workers use their cultural knowledge, a knowledge that they may have only recently acquired.

I am using two methodologies-surveys and interviews. I am sending out 1030 surveys using the Willamette Week’s and The Oregonian’s annual dining guides as a sampling frame in order to capture the Portland metropolitan restaurant population. The survey broadly examines their socio-economic backgrounds, current food and beverage consuming habits, knowledge offered by restaurants, attitudes toward guests, and comfort/stress while dining/shopping for food/beverages. The survey also explores the world of the “front of the house” staff as a subculture by questioning the connection they have to persons at their place of work as well as other eating establishments.

Interviews are used to get a more nuanced picture of the individual. Through interviews I am able to more effectively capture how a restaurant person occupies a variety of eating spaces and how décor, cuisine, and other restaurant staff influence him or her. The interviews will help in exploring the world of a restaurant subculture by looking at how often they personally connect with others in the industry, whether at their won restaurant or elsewhere.

Randy Blazak, PhD

Randy Blazak is an associate professor of sociology at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. He is the director of the Hate Crime Research Network (www.hatecrime.net) which connects academic work on bias criminality. He is also the cofounder of Oregon Spotlight, which monitors hate groups in the state of Oregon and he is the chair of the Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes. He has published his research on youth and hate in journals, book chapters and books, including his text with Wayne S. Wooden,, entitled Renegade Kids, Suburban Outlaws: From Youth Culture to Delinquency ( Wadsworth, 2001) and an upcoming text for Wadsworth on juvenile delinquency. His most recent work appears in The Encyclopedia of Terrorism (Sage, 2002), Home-Grown Hate,( Routledge, 2004), Globalizing the Streets ( NYU Press, 2004) and General Strain Theory: Essential Readings ( Wadsworth, 2004). Dr. Blazak is currently researching prison Odinism among white supremacists.

Brad Fortier

Major: Anthropology

I am originally from Milwaukee, WI. When I am not studying anthropology and mentoring for University Studies, I am busy being an international star of stage.

Kath Weston asserted in her book Families We Choose (1991) that homosexuals were stereotypically assumed to outside of kinship and family, yet Weston argued that homosexuals, in fact, created lifelong kinship and family ties through choice of partners, friends, and raising children. The new millennium has brought this issue to the forefront, and gay families are becoming a visible reality. The perception of homosexuals as being counter to family is being shattered by the move towards marriage rights for same-sex couples in the United States and Western Europe.

On July, 1st 2000, Vermont afforded same sex couples most of the rights and privileges of marriage, but refers to this bundle of partnership rights as “civil unions” rather than marriage. In 2003, California passed a domestic partner law giving same-sex couples virtually all the rights of marriage without using the term. On February 4th 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. Then on February 12th, 2004, San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Multnomah County Oregon began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples on March 4th, 2004. This was where my film investigation began.

This film outlines the effects of legalizing same-sex marriage on the families who participate in it by focusing on the events in Multnomah County in 2004. It depicts the struggles of the families who seek state legitimation for their alternative family structure and encapsulates the trials inherent in having a gay identity as the head of a household. Through interviews of scholars, activists, and participants, this film shares a view from the inside out on gay marriage and the resistance it represents to a heterosexist hegemonic order in the United States.

Margaret Everett, PhD

Margaret Everett is an associate professor of cultural anthropology. She holds a BA from Smith College and a PhD from Yale University. Her teaching and research interests include Latin America, medical anthropology, urban anthropology, and applied anthropology. Her current research involves bioethics and the social impact of new genetic technologies. She has published in a number of journals, including Social Science and Medicine, Human Organization and Anthropological Quarterly.

Cara Kaser

Major: History

I grew up in Sublimity, Oregon were the bucolic culture of tractor-pulls and yearly cattle stampedes through downtown was enthralling, but not as interesting as studying the cultural and sexual mores church authorities assigned to women in medieval Europe. I will graduate from PSU in June 2005 and am eager to purse graduate studies in medieval history either at PSU or another university. I hope to eventually live in a town like Sublimity again, where the rustic nostalgia of rolling farmland, Fourth of July parades, and only one person to vote for as mayor attract longtime residents, urban dwellers, and closet medievalists.

The Clerical Wife: Medieval Perceptions of Women During the 11th and 12th Century

Church Reforms

To those who promoted the agendas of the eleventh and twelfth century church reforms the cleric’s wife embodied those things which inhibited the process of man reaching the holy: lust, defilement, worldliness, and temptation. But to those who demanded that she remain a part of conventional marital structures and sacred traditions, the clerical wife remained an important – and controversial – aspect of clerical culture throughout the Middle Ages. The figure and image of the priest’s wife has eluded historians for generations, as her presence as an important component of the controversy surrounding the heightened enforcement of clerical celibacy throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries – and beyond – was not prominent in the writings of popes, reformers, or the medieval laity. Perhaps this is why modern historians have not carefully examined the figure of the clerical wife, as ecclesiastical canons, decrees, letters, and vitae sharply point to her regular absence. Therefore it is within these absences, silences, and scarce references that the clerical wife is constructed, and it is from her absence within these texts that speak strongly to her position in clerical cultural as significant.

The image of the clerical wife slipped between classifications defined by ecclesiastical traditions and norms, and through the polemical writings of established clergy and church reformers to become almost non-existent within the scope of medieval history. The medieval clerical wife embodied the ideal of a new religious figure, in which she was not set apart from the world of temporality, nor was she strictly assimilated into the world of the holy, but instead existed in both. Because of this, the image of the clerical wife remained obscured, as ecclesiastical ideology and negative rhetorical disputations towards women attached to clerical figures peaked during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The conceptions of clerical wives proposed by reformists parlayed into ecclesiastical attempts to enforce clerical chastity, but these attempts also met with resistance from clergy and their wives who demanded legalized marriages, recognized legitimacy for their children, and who attempted to construct an image of the clerical wife as beneficial contributors to both clergy and the Christian community

Caroline Litzenberger, PhD

John Ott, PhD

Dr. Caroline Litzenberger is an Associate Professor of History at Portland State University. She is the author of The English Reformation and the Laity, published by Cambridge University Press, and is currently investigating issues of gender and geography as factors in religious identity formation in Reformation England. Her teaching interests include English history, the history of Christianity, and the history of European women. She received a John Elliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award in 2002, and is a fellow of the (British) Royal Historical Society.

Jessica Krug

Major: History/Black Studies

I feel enthralled each day to have the opportunity to participate in a university education; for those in my family, simply graduating high school seemed the pinnacle of education. I study history and Black studies, and plan to pursue a PhD African history. The ultimate goal of my scholarship is to write for the world the histories that have been forgotten and deliberately withheld.

Constructs of Freedom and Identity and the Jamaican Maroon Peace Treaties 1739

The Jamaican Maroons constitute independent polities formed from the descendents of fugitive slaves who, in 1739, signed peace treaties with the British colonial government guaranteeing their autonomy. Central to the Maroons construct of identity is the sacredness of these treaties, which, according to oral tradition and extrapolation from written sources, was sealed with the Akan blood oath. Further, Maroon culture evolved mythic constructs, including the legends surrounding Nanny, to delineate clearly between Maroon and non-Maroon. The British, by contrast, approached both the conflict of the Maroon War and the subsequent diplomacy, laden with the shifting racial constructs of eighteenth century Europe. In examining the cultural meaning given to the various symbols of conflict and peace, a more lucid understanding of the terms of the 1739 treaties can be achieved. Particularly significant is an examination of the vital clause of the treaty that mandated that Maroons return all subsequent fugitive slaves. This clause has led many historians working within a pan-African paradigm to classify Maroons as collaborators, but such a characterization is both historically anachronistic and inimical to the manner in which Maroons understood themselves.

John Ott, PhD

Chyerel Mayes

Major: Psychology

I am an older returning student in pursuit of a life-long dream of becoming a Psychologist. I am pursuing a BS in Psychology. My goals are to earn a Master in Public Health Administration and a PhD in Psychology.

Black women’s health issues have not been sufficiently researched and the medical profession has not adequately addressed chronic illnesses such as Fibromyalgia. This project will highlight the neglect, insufficient research and other factors that prevent black women from acquiring access to quality health care. I will use medical journals, articles, books, historical reflections, oral history, personal experiences, education and data from African-American women’s mental health symposiums clarify my thesis.

The racializing of black women’s health issues can no longer be ignored and treated as low priority because of invisibility. Combating health issues is a daily struggle for African-American women, especially when there is no representation in leadership, research studies, conferences, seminars, and policy making. Studies show black women have a higher mortality rate than any other racial/ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death. Research and advocacy are needed to eliminate and combat the lack of access to quality treatment for black women’s health issues.

J. Cherry Muhanji

Jeremy Parra

Major: Mathematics

Nitrogen Dioxide is a key urban pollutant linked to negative health effects and formation of ozone in the troposphere. Traditionally concentrations of NO2 are actively sampled with the use of instruments such as chemiluminescence analyzes which cost approximately $17,000 per monitor. Passive diffusion samplers are utilized as a relatively inexpensive method (~ $1.50 per sampler) for measuring ambient NO2. We are interested in providing local communities and environmental action groups with access to this cost- effective method. Because NO2 is a product of automobile exhaust and acts as a tracer for other hazardous pollutants, it is important that neighborhoods interested in their air quality have the ability to determine their exposure.

It is the goal of this project to provide the experimental background to establish a strong correlation between the accepted method of measurement and passive diffusion tubes. Several calibration experiments were conducted in a laboratory environment to determine the response of diffusion tubes to varying concentrations of NO2. Weekly and bi-weekly studies were conducted in ambient conditions along with collocated chemiluminescent analyzers. Two field studies were conducted in north east Portland, Oregon. The observed concentration obtained from the two field studies are compared with projected concentration derived from pollutant modeling software Caline 4.

Linda George, PhD

Linda George, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Center for Science Education. She received a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University of Chicago and her PhD in Environmental Sciences/Chemistry from Portland State University. Her research interests are centered on issues in urban atmospheric chemistry. Her work has been in integrating traditional scientific research with environmental justice, feminist science education and environmental education programs.

Jonathan Strong

Major: History

I grew up in Chicago, Illinois and spent much of my formative years canoeing in Canada. My passion for paddling eventually brought me to Portland, Oregon in 1998. Since the fall of 2002, I have studied Southern and 19th century cultural history and race theory at Portland State University.

Who’s Got the Bullets? Wilmington, North Carolina 1898

Various historians have aptly called the Wilmington race riot of 1898 the only successful coup d’etat in American history. The violence in Wilmington was the crowning achievement of a statewide white supremacy campaign. The insurgent Democrats manipulated racial and sexual anxieties, gender antagonisms, and the sanctity of womanhood, under the mantle of destroying “negro domination” and restoring government back in the hands of principled white men. Although the rhetoric used to incite the coup d’ etat was infused with the republican ethos of civic virtue, the violence in Wilmington was symptomatic of a contestation for political power between white elites to control the state of North Carolina. Furthermore, the centrality of whiteness and its redefinition were inextricably linked to the republican notion of the fitness to self-govern. In returning power to men of principle, the Democrats sought to use exclusionary politics to demarcate and redefine whiteness in the Post-Reconstruction period.

David Johnson, PhD

David A. Johnson is Professor of History at PSU. He received his BA in Comparative Culture from the University of California, Irvine (1972) and PhD in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania (1977). His first book, Founding the Far West: California, Oregon, Nevada, 1840-1890 (1992), received the 1992 Best Book Award from the Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association, and was finalist for the Victor Prize for Prose Non-Fiction from the Oregon Institute for Literary Arts. At PSU, Johnson has received the Burlington Northern Award for excellence in teaching and scholarship (1992), the John Eliot Allen Teaching Award (2000), and the Branford Price Millar for outstanding scholarship and service (2004). From 1993-1996 Johnson was Chair of the PSU Department of History, and, since 1996, Managing Editor of the Pacific Historical Review.

Tu Tran

Major: Mathematics

I grew up in Vietnam and came to America twelve years ago. I like to play the piano, especially when it rains hard.

The Localization of the Vietnamese Automotive Industry

Vietnam’s government has worked with eleven automotive corporations over the last decade to create a strong automotive industry in Vietnam. Now that vehicles are being assembled in Vietnam, only ten percent of the cost is contributed to the Vietnamese economy through labor wages. Eleven automotive corporations failed to fulfill their agreements with the Vietnamese government when they started their plants in Vietnam, which was to bring the level of localization to 30-40 percent within ten years. The government instituted an automotive development strategy to further the localization of automotive production in Vietnam. Part of this development was to increase taxes that began in January 2004, forcing eleven automotive corporations to localize or increase their localization.

Charles Grant, PhD

Stanford University, BA Economics 1967

McMaster University, MA Economics 1969

University of London, PhD Economics 1985

Began teaching at Portland State University in 1991

Jessica Tyner

Major: English

I spent most of my undergraduate extracurricular activities involved with Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, and plan to be an advisor upon graduation this spring. This fall, I will apply to graduate school in poetry and will eventually enter a doctoral program in Educational Policy, and I hope to teach poetry writing at the university level.

Writing for Health in Portland

This project investigates how creative writing, specifically poetry, affects the emotional, physical and/or mental health of persons who experience it. I am examining how socio-economically challenged and/or minority persons value writing in their lives. The case studies are from interviews with socio-economically challenged and minority participants. In addition to the health benefits of writing, I am also researching how the availability of opportunities to express oneself in writing benefits the entire community in which such workshops are available, thus making the community as a whole healthier.

Tracy Dillon, PhD

W. Tracy Dillon, PhD, is a Professor and Chair, Department of English, and Director, Center for Excellence in Writing, Portland State University. His research and teaching interests include Romanticism, studies in the history of business and technical writing and editing, and intercultural communication.

Felicia Wells-Thomas

Major: Social Sciences/Mathematics

I am interviewing women of African decent whose families migrated from segregated communities in the south to Portland, Oregon during World War II. My intent is to capture their individual experiences of having moved from segregated societies to Portland, a city that had no dejure segregation. I focus on women because they were the ones directly dealing with domestic issues, and whose voices were often ignored. I am particularly interested in these women’s views of segregation and integration. What were the advantages and disadvantages of segregation and desegregation? Thus far, I have discovered that, one of my narrators put it: “Portland was no promised land for me.”

J. Cherry Muhanji

Deborah Wilson

Major: Finance

I am a Business Finance major and will be graduating in the fall of 2004. My desire for knowledge drives me to further my education. My success in future endeavors is only limited by my imagination.

Certified organic farming requires an immense amount of time, energy, and money, with very slim reward. New technology in seed production may improve the situation. This new technology is labeled, “Marker Assisted Breeding", and it is opening up old-world opportunities by identifying attributes in ancestral species that have been bred out over the last few thousand years. By reinstating natural traits such as pest and drought resistance, and improved yield, overall profit for organic farmers should increase due to lower production costs associated with a decrease in input needs, as well as higher yield.

Jeff Gerwing, PhD

Jeffrey Gerwing has his PhD in Ecology from Penn State University. His doctoral research involved understanding the ecological consequences of forest management for timber in the Brazilian Amazon. In his current position as Assistant Professor of University Studies, he is interested in developing and assessing curricula designed to foster scientific literacy in general education courses. His current research is focused on understanding the ecological and social impacts of forest management for fire risk reduction in forests of the Pacific Northwest and developing neighborhood-based sustainability indicators for Portland neighborhoods.