Thomas Szabo

In his acclaimed work I and Thou, Martin Buber wrote about separation and its counterpoint, connection. Although Buber’s lens was trained on spiritual development, a humanistic understanding of the way that ideology separates humans from each other may follow equally from both Buber’s analysis and that of Relational Frame Theory (RFT). In this talk, I will describe the psychological framework of RFT and how this can be used to understand the way cultural rules become what we know when we say we know ourselves. I will briefly touch on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, an empirically supported treatment that can soften the mortar of ideological walls. 

Preyeta Hossain

Ethical practice in human service professions is commonly framed as an individual responsibility grounded in professional codes and moral reasoning. While individual accountability is essential, this lens overlooks the organizational contingencies that shape ethical behavior in practice. Professionals operate within training systems, supervision structures, and leadership climates that influence which behaviors are reinforced, discouraged, or professionally risky. Using an Organizational Behavior Management framework, this conceptual analysis reframes ethical practice as an emergent property of organizational design rather than individual disposition alone. Training practices, reinforcement systems, psychological safety, and leadership responses function as behavioral contingencies that directly affect ethical decision making and reporting behavior. When ethical action is punished or unsupported, it becomes less likely to occur and persist. This paper argues for a shift from purely individual ethics models toward system level accountability in human service settings and outlines organizational variables that can strengthen ethical practice through intentional design. The analysis offers a practical framework for improving ethical outcomes through organizational design rather than relying solely on individual judgment.

Ellie Wroten

This paper examines my own experience as a young woman who was diagnosed as having a pathogenic BRCA-2 mutation in my twenties. According to Singer (2021), carriers of BRCA-2 genetic mutations have a lifetime breast cancer risk of over 70%, with a 30-50% chance of developing ovarian cancer; my own geneticist estimated my risk at 95%. People diagnosed with these or similar mutations are prone to a young age at the onset of disease and have often identified as “previvors”, a term coined by the advocacy group Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) (2024).

Using data from my social media posts, pictures taken from July 2024 to the present, and my own journals from July 24 to the present, this paper takes an autoethnographic approach to examining this phenomenon (Ellis, 2011). The life course, ambiguous loss, symbolic interactionist, and other perspectives are crucial to the analysis of the social responses to my diagnosis with this mutation in August 2024 through January 2026. This is an experience that provides an interesting window into the sociocultural dialogue of breast cancer as a sociocultural experience, from mainstream to dedicated pre/survivor communities, as well as possible support needs. Themes include changes in gender expression, disenfranchised grief, and unexpected supports. Sociocultural contexts drove some positive and negative aspects of this experience, such as my family and friend groups, previvor support spaces, and cancer awareness movements. 

Faye Sciple, Tamera Jones, Zakiya Wilson-Kennedy

Incoming students in science fields are faced with transitional challenges from high school to college. As a result, retention rates within science fields are a concern for institutions nationwide. One contributing factor may be students’ varying educational backgrounds, which can lead to weaker foundational knowledge, thus affecting their performance in sciences classes, particularly general chemistry. In an effort to mitigate these challenges deeper learning was implemented in a general chemistry course to explore if increased engagement with course material and the promotion of critical thinking leads to better student outcomes and retention. The goal of this study is to understand if incorporating active learning pedagogies, will create an environment in which students are able to develop the six essential skills for deeper learning, self-regulated learning, and metacognitive awareness. Data collection includes an open-response survey and focus group interviews administered to students taking a general chemistry course at a large public university in the south. The responses were analyzed through inductive and deductive coding, as well as thematic analysis. We expect the preliminary results of this study to find that students develop deeper learning skills when they interact creatively with the material. This research will aid in developing more effective learning and course structures for students in chemistry.

Lee Presley Gary, Jr., Krystle Attard, Neville Calleja

The Intrepid – 13 is a pilot learning odyssey designed as a 13-Week

Seminar Series and covering research articles and case studies –

featuring evolving, latent or lingering public health challenges, each

with different venues and degrees of discernment.  Included in the

pilot is a new hybrid case study methodology, designed to rethink the

traditional delivery of graduate-level, core public health courses.

Participant participation is interactive – and equally rewarding by

design.  The pilot is underway at the University of Malta, and the

expectations, challenges and insights generated by the project will

be presented, including early lessons learned.

The research articles and case studies are blended and overlap to

rediscover various diseases and related outbreaks in a new learning

mode.  Unique healthcare management issues are presented with

selected case studies, revealing geopolitical and available care

dilemmas.  Participants are asked to share their new, unique, and

novel discoveries in each article – plus to

reflect on their own good, bad, and ugly impressions extracted from

the articles and cases.  Also, participants are expected to prepare

closing class presentations on lessons learned, while emphasizing

methodology, data resources, and technology extracted from the articles and cases.