UIS Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

The University of Illinois Springfield Research Board has awarded Communication master’s student Kelsi Megan Kerns with the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for the 2008-2009 academic year. Kerns wrote her thesis on the topic of Does Hannah Montana Really Do Homework? A Content Analysis on the Portrayal of School in the Popular Disney Channel Series.

Eight graduate programs nominated finalists for the award. Each of the submitted thesis/projects have, thus, already received departmental recognition for excellence and will be publicly honored at a reception on January 25, 2010.

The Research Board was impressed with the high quality of all these scholarly works. Determining which among them should be singled out for special recognition was a challenging task.

Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Projects: 2008-2009

The thesis/projects of the following students received their departments’ Outstanding Thesis or Project Awards for 2008-2009.

Communication - UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for 2008-2009
Kelsi Megan Kerns
Committee Chair: Kathy Jamison
Does Hannah Montana Really Do Homework? A Content Analysis on the Portrayal of School in the Popular Disney Channel Series

Biology
Jaclyn Michelle Negor
Committee Chair: Michael Lemke
Review of Secondary Production Concepts and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Production Estimates from Two Illinois River, IL Wetlands

History
Nicole Louis
Committee Chair: Deborah McGregor
The Healthiest City in the World: Chicago and the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918

English
Erin Tepen
Committee Chair: Sara Cordell
Beyond the Masquerade: The Hysteric's Discourse in Edith Wharton's House of Mirth and the Age of Innocence

Environmental Studies
Abby Hahne
Committee Chair: Tih-Fen Ting
Communicating Risk through Use of an Interactive Mapping Application: Designing and Publishing Illinois Superfund Risk Information for the Federal Site Remediation Section of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Human Services
Kristen Bein
Committee Chair: Denise Sommers
Harnessing Our Collective Power: Research on the Creation of a Feminist Management Model

Liberal and Integrative Stuides
Michael J. Kim
Committee Chair: Karen Kirkendall
Skills Coaches as Part of the Educational Team: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Teaching of a Basic Surgical Skill in the Laboratory Setting

Management Information Systems
Isaac Lee Abbs
Committee Chair: Yifeng Zhang
A Web-Enabled Data Mart for the City of Tucson Election Data