SearchFaculty Research
James Ault is collaborating with Dr. Stephanie Wernig in analyzing variables that predict academic success for undergraduates at Creighton. He is also working with faculty and administrators in the School of Dentistry to analyze variables that predict satisfaction with professional practice patterns of alumni. He is also in the seventh year of a project to evaluate the relative reliability of surveys of student opinion about faculty effectiveness in classroom settings.
Roger Bergman recently published a book titled "Catholic Social Learning: Educating the Faith That Does Justice" (Fordham University Press), based on his experience as a reflective practitioner of justice education in various faith-related settings, his awareness of the need for reflection on Catholic social pedagogy, and his own work as the founding director of the Justice & Peace Studies Program at Creighton and his commitment to justice in Jesuit higher education. His agenda for 2011 is to begin research on a sequel.
Ray Bucko is currently working on a historic repatriation initiative. He is researching the lives of Fathers Buechel and Zimmerman with Marcia Poole at the Bette Strong Encounter Center in Sioux City Iowa. He is on a variety of committees including the St. Francis and Red Cloud museum boards thus applying his expertise to benefit Native communities; He is working with Dr. Raymond J DeMallie to publish Father Eugene Buechel’s ethnographic field notes and other data. He is awaiting acceptance of his article on William J Bordeaux which will be published as part of an anthology of contemporary ethnohistorical methods.
Barbara Dilly is currently documenting and writing the story of an American farmer's daughter during the second half of the nineteenth century through analysis of a quilt created by a woman who lived her rural life course in four different states. The quilt reveals the social contexts, cultural knowledge, and material reality of a highly mobile family farming class in America during this period. This work contributes to a larger ongoing project on the "Social and Cultural Transformations fo the American Family Farmer's Daughter." The larger project is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the social and economic role of daughters of farmers in American agriculture and rural society. This work examines the inquality in race, class ethnicity, gender and regional experiences in time and place in American agriculture as demonstrated in popular culture depictions of young women.
Kristin Fitzgerald is in the final phase of her dissertation research among Lakota Christians in Rapid City, South Dakota. Her work recognizes that many urban Native Americans today participate in a number of typically Western institutions, such as their local churches, while also maintaining their claims to tribal heritage(s). Further, while missionaries historically attempted to cariously replace or reform traditioinal customs and beliefs with those of Christiantity, many denominations now celebrate multiculturalism, which as offered indigenous groups both opportunities and challenges in the Church. Fitzgerald's work proposes that Lakota congregants and clergy from two urban Lakota churces (Catholic and Episcopalian) in Rapid City, South Dakota, are trying out and standardizing new models of 'traditionally Lakota' practices and beliefs during rituals, activities, conversations, and life histories.
Charles Harper revised three books, Food, Society, and Environment, 2e, published by Trafford Publishers, and Society and Environment, 4e, published in 2012, and Exploring Social Change, 5e, published in 2011 5e. The last two were published by Pearson Prentice-Hall, Inc. He wrote and presented two invited papers: "Environmental Education: Culture, Incentives, and Public Campaigns," presented to the fourth annual conference on environmental education in Cheju South Korea, sponsored by the Korean Government and Korean UNESCO, and "Religion and Environmentalism," presented to the Symposium on Religion and Environment sponsored by the Kripke center for the study of religion and society. The second paper is currently submitted for publication.
Laura Heinemann is interested in medical anthropology and kinship, the anthropology of biomedicine, and informal, home-based caregiving. She recently earned a Joint PhD in Anthropology and Social Work from the University of Michigan. Her dissertation research project, entitled "Transplanting Kinship: Transplantation, Kin Relatedness, and Daily Home Life in the U.S. Midwest" received funding from the National Science Foundation. This year, she is working to publish her dissertation as a book, and is collaborating with Dr. Alexander Rodlach (PhD), Dr. Laeth Nasir (MD), and Dr. Dianne Travers Gustafson (RN, PhD) on a qualititative study to identify the needs and concerns of Omaha's Florence Clinic patients, particularly those with a migration and refugee background.
Dawn Irlbeck is working with Julia Hudson, a current SOC senior, researching the experiences of Latino police officers as they police different racial/ethnic groups. They will be presenting their initial research findings as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference in Cincinnati, OH in March, 2008. In addition, Dr. Irlbeck is completing a book on racial profiling for a scholarly publishing company, which will be published in 2008. Dr. Irlbeck is also working with another Creighton student, Ryan Vacanti, conducting a qualitative analysis of interactions between law enforcement officers and motorists during traffic stops.
Rebecca Murray continues to research the effect of urban environments on crime, particularly with regard to how they have affected policing and community social control. She, along with Dr. Dawn Irlbeck, Dr. John Crank of UNO and former Omaha Police Dept. Deputy Chief Mark Sundermeier, published the book Mission Based Policing in the Summer of 2011. This book combines a look at hot spot and urban policing that uses an environmental influence, and has been nominated for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Outstanding Book of 2011. In addition, Drs. Murray and Irlbeck have successfully obtained a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for a Nebraska State Victim Assistance Academy Initiative, which will be launched in the Summer of 2013. Dr. Murray continues her work with the Police Research and Policy Group, a multi-institutional research consortium aimed at alleviating crime in Omaha, and the Nebraska Innocence Project, which aims to free wrongfully convicted individuals and educate the public on the problem of wrongful convictions. She is currently working on research with former Creighton student Laurel Gegner on how police policies might affect risk of wrongful conviction in Nebraska.
Alexander Roedlach is working with Dr. Laura Heinemann (PhD, MSW), Dr. Laeth Nasir (MD), and Dr. Dianne Travers Gustafson (RN, PhD) on a qualitative study exploring the needs and concerns of patients visitng the Florence Clinic in Omaha, particularly those with a migration and refugee background. The utlimate goal of the study is to contribute to an evaluation of the existing services provided by the Florence Clinic. He is also currently developing a year-long study exploring the parish-nursing model. The goal of this study is to better understand (1) what types of parishes are more likely to adopt the model than others, (2) what types of clients tend to benefit from parish-nursing services, and (3) what are the motivations of nurses to become involved in such services.