Honors Program Theses
The University Honors Program is an intellectually stimulating and socially nurturing community of students of exceptional academic achievement. Every honors student has the opportunity to complete undergraduate research during their time at UNI by writing a thesis. Students work with faculty members in their major or area of interest to develop and conduct a study during either their Junior or Senior year. To go to the Honors Program page, click here.
From this page, you can browse our Honors Program Theses by academic department or by the year of completion Some theses and dissertations are not eligible for open access.
Browse Honors Program Theses by academic department:
College of Business Administration
- Accounting
- Economics
- Finance
- Management
- Marketing and Entrepreneurship
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies
- Health, Recreation, and Community Services
- Kinesiology
- Special Education
- School of Kinesiology, Allied Health and Human Services
- Teaching
- Art
- Biology
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Communication and Media
- Computer Science
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Languages and Literatures
- Mathematics
- Philosophy and World Religions
- Physics
- Theatre
- School of Music
- Science Education Program
- Geography
- History
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Social Work
- Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
- School of Applied Human Sciences
College of Education
College of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Browse Honors Program Theses by year of completion:
Submissions from 2025
Inked Narratives: Exploring the Motivations Behind Tattoo Culture, Katelyn Bakker Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Attitudes Toward Juvenile Offenders: How Juvenile Justice Personnel Perceive Juvenile Recidivism, Morgan Barnette Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Editing the MGV-1 Gene of Fusarium graminearum Using Homology-Directed Repair, Tatiana Barriga Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Auditory Perception of Foreign-Accented English in Noise, Carly Bendull Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Who Owns the Dead: The Unequal Access to Repatriation in US Law, Sydney Blum Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Legacy of Redlining: Examining Educational Inequalities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Emily Brennom Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Language Assessment in Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology, Sierra Kay Buscher Open Access Honors Program Thesis
A New Application of the Coimbra Method On Cranial Entheseal Changes, Emily Marie Carlo Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Female Client Preferences of A Financial Advisor’s Gender, Rachel Ames Clayberg Open Access Honors Program Thesis
How Do Documentaries Depict the Experiences of Juveniles in Correctional Facilities?, Emma Decker Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Evaluating Corporate Advertising: How Deception Leads to Downfall, Madison Duong Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Communicating Across Languages: The Complexities of Bilingual and Multilingual AAC for Arabic Speakers, Emma Fagerstrom Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
An Analysis of Commercial Real Estate, Amanda Christine Fowler Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Relationship between Backgrounds and the Perception of Tones in Mandarin, Abigail Franks Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Spectroscopic Analysis of Caves: The Influence of Organic Overburden on Karst Speleothems, Jacqueline Heggen Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Field of Speech Language Pathology: A Comparative Literary Review of Language Development, Ana Herrig Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
A Deep Dive into the Alignment of Classroom Management and a Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum, Aliya James Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Efficacy of Spanish Audio-Supported Second Language Vocabulary Learning in a Single Case Study, Destiny M. Jones Open Access Honors Program Thesis 2025 Award
Comparing the Cognitive and Physiological Effects of Traditional and Virtual Reality Exercise in Overweight/Obese Adults, Emma Kelsey Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Influence of Mental Skills and Social Support During the Injury Rehabilitation Process, Paige Kisley Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Phylogeography of Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum, using RadSeq Analysis, Lauren Klein Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Language as Privilege: Socioeconomic Status and the Politics of Foreign Language Learning, Brenda Koumondji Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Outlaws, Lawmen, and the Emergence of Justice on the Western Frontier, Kaci Mae Krier Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Analysis of the Relationship Between Health Behaviors and Civic Engagement, Faith Larsen Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Philosophy in Filmmaking: Animation vs. Live Action, Veronica J. Larson Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Hireability of Female Hispanic Applicants by Accent/Career Type and Participant First Language, Lauren R. Logue Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Easter Egg Strategy: An Analysis of Taylor Swift’s Easter Egg Strategy and Swiftie Engagement for the Midnights Album, Kate McAlister Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
The Effects of Aerobic Exercise Stair ‘Snacks’ on Cognition, Madeline Claire Moran Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Architecture of the Mitochondrial Genome of a Parasitic Louse, Geomydoecus centralis, Grace Phyllis Mraz Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Acoustic Analysis of Vowels in Foreign-Accented English, Hannah Nedder Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Building Better: Lean Construction vs. Traditional Methods, Payton Olson Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Redlining and its Consequences: High School Sports Winningness in the Des Moines, IA Independent School District, Grant Lane Pedersen Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
No pued/o/ encontrar la/s/ palabra/s/ correcta/s/: An exploration of morphological selections in monolingual Spanish and bilingual English-Spanish AAC systems, Sara Petersen Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Preliminary Findings for Conversational Synchrony in Early Huntington’s Disease Patients, Samantha Robinson Honors Program Thesis (Electronic Copy Not Available)
Connecting the Cedar Valley: The Design and Impact of a Nonprofit News, Morgan Ryerson Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
DEI Initiatives Through the Eyes of Young Consumers: Analyzing Gen Z and Gen Alpha Brand Perceptions, Rachel Stephany Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Analysis of the Menstrual Product Initiative at the University of Northern Iowa, Catrina Marie Tounjian Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Art of Accessing Science, Kyle Mark Trunnell Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Genetic Diversity of Bluegill in Iowa, Eva van de Mortel Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Effects of Short-Term, High Dosage Creatine Supplementation on Cognitive Measures Following Mental Fatigue in Healthy Young Adults, Olivia Van Meter Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Implementing Peer-Mediated Support Interventions for Children Diagnosed With Autism, Elise Wehr Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Pools of Reflection: Grappling with Change and the Idea of Self, Haeley Wolter Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Submissions from 2024
The Relationship Between Athletes' Competitive State Anxiety and Self-Confidence and Coaches' Behaviors, Derek Anderson Open Access Honors Program Thesis
We Did What? To Whom? An Analysis of How US Educational Materials Present the Philippine-American War and Occupation, Jude Beekman Open Access Honors Program Thesis
“Our Hands are Tied”: How State Educational Diversity Laws Affect Iowa Public Educators and How Educators Respond, Lydia Berns-Schweingruber Open Access Honors Program Thesis 2024 Award
Variability of Water Quality in Relation to Farming Along the Raccoon River in West Des Moines, Iowa, Kelly Biscoglia Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Using PTA Staining with Micro-CT Scanning to Analyse Structural and Anatomical Variation in the Tooth Pulp Cavity in Mammals, Derek Thomas Blackburn Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Thing with Feathers for Orchestra, Treyton Blaser Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Concert Band Methods and Supplemental Ensemble Material for the High School Band, Carissa Blumka Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Olivine Variability of the Nickel Lake Macrodike of Northern Minnesota, Katelyn Boege Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Mathematical Conjectures in Grades Three through Five Relating to Fractions and Decimals, Lauren Elizabeth Bork Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Balancing Progress and Ethics: Exploring the Science and Ethics of Gene Editing: Literature Review, Jackson Burgess Open Access Honors Program Thesis
A Literature Review of Factors Contributing to Archaeal Diversity, Anna R. Carmen Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Changing Demographics in a Rural Iowa High School: A Case Study of the Experiences of Emergent Bilinguals, Lindsay Carter Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Crafting a Traveling Icon: The Role of Mobile Carillons in Honoring Tradition, Emily S. Clouser Open Access Honors Program Thesis
"Sit Still, Look Pretty to Survive": An Analysis of The Hunger Games Trilogy, Bryleigh Sharon De Jong Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Using GIS To Evaluate Habitat Connectivity Among The Pollinator Conservation Reserve Program Pollinator Habitat (CP-42) Restorations In Northeast Iowa, Ethan D. Dickey Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Information Provided by State Human Trafficking Websites: A Content Analysis, Brooklyn Dilley Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Unreliable Narrators; Origins and Impact, Lauren Fetzer Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Using Fiddler Crab Species to Identify Coastal Biomes Around the Perimeter of the Atlantic Ocean, Amber Finke Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Beyond the Classroom: Do the Iowa Civic Virtues Standards Achieve Their Goals?, Damien Foster Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Housing Affordability: An Examination of Factors in Black Hawk County Impacting Housing Affordability for UNI Graduates, Mason DeLaine Fritz Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Adoption and Perception of Pharmacogenomics: A Literature Review, Anna C. Girten Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
The Impact of COVID-19 on the IT Services Industry, Shekynah AnneMarie Haworth Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Characterization of Zebra Calcite to Better Understand Wind Cave National Park as an Extraterrestrial Analog, Jenna Heinen Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Characterization of mtDNA Minicircles in a Chewing Louse Stachiella octomaculatus, Jaylie Hicklin Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Reexamination of College Students’ Behaviors and Knowledge of Recycling, Ella Hilbrant Open Access Honors Program Thesis
¿Tengo el derecho a votar?: Un análisis de las leyes del acceso lingüístico y los impactos de recursos multilingües de votación en la participación de votantes hispanos en Iowa y Michigan, Madeline L. Hinz Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Impact of Sentiment on Iowa Farmland Values by Agricultural District, Skyler Kelly Open Access Honors Program Thesis
It’s Not All About Winning and Losing: Increasing Fan Experience in Collegiate Basketball, Lydia Kernen Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
Language Barriers in the U.S. Legal System for Primarily Spanish Speakers: Attorney Perspectives and Potential Solutions for True Equal Access, Emma F. Kizer Open Access Honors Program Thesis
"I Failed My Brother": How Online Radicalization Affects the Family Unit, Serenity Dawn Kollasch Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Small Business Burnout: Reversing the Entrepreneurial Exit, Adele Kuruppu Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Impact of High School Climate and Bullying on Depression and Anxiety in Emerging Adulthood, Tyler K. D. Larson Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Impact of ESG Initiatives on Stock Returns, Reagan Lommell Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Integrating Music in PK-12 Classrooms to Impact Behavior, Improve Academics, and Support Developmental Milestones in Children, Emily Grace Manis Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Proportional Reasoning: Understanding Student Thinking with Direct and Inverse Proportions, Emma Marshall Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Effect of Gender-Based Occupational Segregation on Women's Earnings in the United States and Canada, Jadyn Grace Milius Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Gender Socialization and Social Media in College Students' Fear of Crime, Ashlyn C. Miller Open Access Honors Program Thesis
The Role of FLO11 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Colonization of the Lepidopteran Gastrointestinal Tract, Kayla Jeanette Minor Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Why Would I Read When the Game is On?: Reasons Adults Give for Reading or Not, Emmy C. Nelson Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Gender and Student Motivation in Domestic and Foreign Language Study, Macey Overturf Open Access Honors Program Thesis
A Qualitative Case Study of Montessori Approaches to Learning Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iowa, Ellie Penick Open Access Honors Program Thesis
An Analysis of Crash Factors on Total Property Damage, Erica Peters Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Comparing In-Person and Remote Language Assessments for Adults with Communication Disorders: Clinical Applications for Speech-Language Pathologists, Lauren Rotherham Honors Program Thesis (Electronic Copy Not Available)
The Effects of Exercise in Cognitive Function in Older Ad, Josephine Sagan Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Little Miss Sure Shot: Essays on a Young Woman Journalist's Search for Fulfillment, Mallory Schmitz Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Confronting CTE: A Blog Dedicated to Increasing Awareness in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Caden Shea Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Exploring Social Emotional Learning: Impact, Policy, and Effective Implementation, Rebekah Simmons Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Why Play? Exploring the Realities of Play-Based Learning in Kindergarten, Sofia Josephine Steele Open Access Honors Program Thesis
A Comparison Between Two Schools Implementing Trauma-Informed Classroom Management, Maddie Steffen Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Exploration of Affine Functions, Katelyn Jo Stirling Open Access Honors Program Thesis
An Analysis of Post-War Economic Growth in the Balkans, Edina Tahirovic Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Gene Looping in Brewer’s Yeast: Exploring the Role of DNA Mechanics in Three-dimensional Genome Structure, Thalia Torres Guzman Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)
An Analysis of Artificial Intelligence's Potential in Assessments of Math Learning, Casandra Tounjian Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Orthographic Influences on the Production of French Nasal Vowels by English-Speaking Learners of French, Claire Evelyn Tow Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Equity in Harmony: Music Teacher Preparedness and Perceptions of Multilingual Learners In The Midwest, McKenzie Vick Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Editing the Tri5 Gene of Fusarium graminearum Using CRISPR/Cas9, Madelyn Rae Waters Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Death and Grief in 21st Century America: A Literature Review on Bereavement & Attitudes Toward Death, Jordan Whitney Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Submissions from 2023
New Policy Opens Trade with India for Pork Producers in the U.S., Morgan Marie Aitchison Open Access Honors Program Thesis
