Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Grid and the Gridiron: Re-imagining Mega-Structures in the Neighborhood
    (2017) Cunningham, Peter; Kelly, Brian P; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In dense urban environments, space is valuable. Unused space is not a luxury taxpayers or developers can afford. Mega-structures like football stadiums are important civic and sacred spaces and are valued in American culture as such. However, they receive infrequent use, sitting idle most days of the year. This thesis will examine how architecture and urban design can make these sacred, civic spaces active and restore public value from Monday to Saturday. The means of activating spaces stem from allowing the field to function as a park, making retail space in and around the stadium functional on game days and non-game days, providing maximum structural flexibility for non-football functions, and adapting parking lots into public plazas by encouraging in them a variety of uses.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reading the Defense: Conceptualizations of Literacy By College Football Student-Athletes
    (2013) Segal, Pamela H.; Turner, Jennifer D; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study investigated how college football student-athletes conceptualize the academic and athletic literacies they experience inside and outside the classroom. Participants included sophomore, junior, and senior football student-athletes who all attended a large public university in the Mid-Atlantic area. Three distinct research tools (questionnaire, focus group, individual interviews) were used in this study. The data was systematically coded and analyzed using qualitative content analysis procedures. This study demonstrated that the football student-athletes were able to demonstrate their understanding of literacy through use of the discourse of football. Moreover, the participants used their football discourse to express their thoughts, support their views, and analyze texts, all literacy skills valued in the college classrooms. Also, the football student-athletes perceived a connection between academic literacy and football literacy. The participants recognized literacy in football in reading the plays, communication between players and coaches and the media, and executing plays on the field. Several implications of this study are: the value of athletic literacy and football discourse in various settings, an improved connection between education and athletics, and the creation of future literacy programs to support the football student-athletes. This study is the first step in exploring the connection between athletic and academic literacy in order to improve the development of college football student-athletes. The results of this study compel us to rethink the stigma attached to football student-athletes in connection to their literacy, the locations of literacy events and the importance of literacy in football and school at the college level.