Research

McDonough Receives Grant to Study Nonprofit Organizations

The McDonough Center received a $38,000 grant from the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund to conduct a year-long assessment of capacity needs of nonprofit organizations in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The purpose of the study is to determine the areas where local nonprofit organizations need to be strengthened.

According to Dr. Tanya Judd Pucella, project director and head of McDonough’s Office of Civic Engagement, the research will be important to the local nonprofit organizations, where she believes people are very passionate about what they do. Judd Pucella said the study could help nonprofit organizations improve in seven different categories such as information technology, planning and marketing.

The interest in assessing capacity needs of nonprofit organization comes from different factors. “There is a feeling out there that seems to be on a rise for people to work in the nonprofit sector, and students are considering work in nonprofit organizations as career options,” Judd Pucella said.

Statistics also show nonprofit organizations in Ohio and West Virginia have been rising. Between 1996 and 2006, nonprofit organizations grew in Ohio 51 percent and in West Virginia 59.4 percent.

Recent Research Projects by McDonough Scholars:

Research can be an integral part of a college education. It helps expand one's analytical, writing and presentational skills - essential assets of an effective leader. Students in the McDonough Leadership Program are encouraged to engage in undergraduate research projects. The McDonough Center provides financial assistance to allow students to present their research findings at academic conferences.

Nicolette Kynkor, a sophomore Organizational Communication major with a Leadership minor from North Canton, Ohio, attended the Women in Leadership Summit in Boston, Massachussetts from November 12-15th, 2006. The Women in Leadership Summit equips women leaders with the strategies and skills to catalyze change, accelerate development, gain visibility, and create sustainable operating results. Through the support of the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business and the hospitality of alumni, Susan and Jamie Brady, Nicolette was awarded the pleasure of discovering "a refreshed and enlightened outlook of leadership studies." Kynkor's Summit Testimonial

Matt Williamson and Eric Johnson attended a Student Leadership Conference held at the Center for Ethical Leadership of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin in January of 2005. Matt is a senior computer science and math double-major and leadership studies minor from Williamstown, WV. Eric Johnson, an '06 graduate, was a political science and psychology double-major and leadership studies minor from Wickliffe, OH.

Third Undergraduate Asian Symposium-Encouraged by the success of the first two undergraduate Asian Studies Symposia, the Asian Studies Program, in collaboration with The McDonough Center for Leadership and Business, and the Honors Program at Marietta College, has organized a Third Asian Studies Symposium for undergraduate students to share their scholarly interests in Asia and present their research results in a supportive environment. The symposium will be held at the college on Friday and Saturday, November 10-11, 2006. The conference invites proposals for panels and papers from a wide variety of academic disciplines. All proposals germane to Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia are welcome. Third Undergraduate Asian Symposium website

Meg Griffith, a junior Art History and Studio Art double major from New York, was recently awarded a "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation (JRCPF)" $1,000.00 grant to research and catalogue the pieces in the West African Art and Artifacts Museum of the Ely Chapman Educational Foundation. She is one of only five students in Ohio who received one of the grants to do their selected work. Article Detailing Griffith's Award

Past Research Projects by McDonough Scholars:

Angela Estep & Dr. Richard Danford, (2005) a senior International Leadership Studies (ILS) major from Proctor, West Virginia, worked on "Religion in Contemporary Costa Rican Culture," with Dr. Richard Danford, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese. She studied the Catholic Pentecostal movement, more commonly called the charismatic renewal movement, in Costa Rica. This movement spread throughout Latin America in the early 1970s through Catholic prayer groups and the guidance of missionaries sent to the area and is primarily characterized by speaking in tongues. The movement's impact in specific countries such as Mexico and Brazil has been previously researched, but little is known about Costa Rica. Her faculty sponsor, Dr. Danford, is affiliated with the McDonough Center and directs the College's Study Abroad Office.

Rognon, H. C., & Sibicky, M. E. (2004). Implicit Attitudes Toward Women in Authority: The Effects of Ambivalent Sexism. Poster presentation at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Washington, D.C. [Rognon '04 was a McDonough Scholar majoring in psychology; Sibicky is an associate professor of psychology and affiliated with the McDonough Leadership Program]