Dissertation defense schedule

"L'art pour I'art"?: The Infused-Acquired Duplex Ordo of Art as an Intellectual Virtue

This dissertation, utilizing a Thomistic analysis, investigates the intellectual virtue of ars (art) in relation to the coexistence of the infused and acquired virtues within the cognitive structure of the Christian artist. In other words, this work analyzes the relationship between acquired ars and infused ars, with their distinct ends and interrelated configuration, as grounded in the perfection of human nature through the supernatural reality of grace. The basic formulation of this interrelationship is as follows: infused ars as directed to the production of sacred artwork builds upon acquired ars as directed to the production of secular artwork, but infused ars completes and fulfills acquired ars as meritoriously directing its proximate end to the human person’s supernatural end. As a whole, this project – by focusing on the intellectual virtue of ars – unites Thomistic virtue ethics and aesthetics in a heuristic synthesis.

This analysis is divided into six chapters. First, I articulate the historical crisis in art and aesthetics that has contributed to the internal alienation between the categories of artist, artisan, and beauty. Second, I organize a developed Thomistic aesthetic that unites St. Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of ars as an intellectual virtue proportional to the practical intellect, a careful reflection on the Thomistic characterization of beauty, and a synthesis of ars and beauty in light of the empirical fact of historical development in art. Third, I examine the unity within the Christian artist’s rationality by utilizing Alasdair MacIntyre’s conception of tradition-dependence and Bernard Lonergan’s theology of conversion. Fourth, I develop this synthesis by drawing attention to the external social/cultural conditions needed for ars to flourish, focusing on the dialectical structure of artwork and the internal movement between traditions in liturgical history. Fifth, I revisit the general debate concerning the coexistence of the acquired and infused virtues in the same Christian subject. Sixth, I synthesize the distinct dimensions of the infused-acquired duplex ordo of ars by illustrating the manner in which (i) infused ars builds upon preexisting acquired ars and (ii) acquired ars is directed by infused ars to a final supernatural end.

INTEGRATING AI AND EDUCATION DATA FOR PRIVACY-PRESERVING PREDICTION OF STUDENT SUCCESS

Student retention remains a persistent challenge in higher education; this dissertation addresses it through three interconnected studies that advance methods for predicting and supporting at-risk students while enabling privacy-preserving collaboration among institutions.

The first study surveys transformer-based text classification for educational applications across six dimensions: data modality, model size, input length, accuracy, computational cost, and safety (privacy, bias, and explainability). Although roughly 60 to 80 percent of organizational data pairs text with tabular fields, multimodal research has focused on text-image and text-video methods, a significant gap for educational applications.

The second study develops a cluster-then-classify methodology integrating categorical and continuous student data. Using records from 3,089 undergraduates, K-Prototypes clustering identifies five subtypes among non-returning students, and XGBoost and Gradient Boosting classifiers detect departure and assign subtype. Departure proves only weakly predictable from administrative and academic-performance data (non-returning F1 of 0.43), while subtypes are highly separable among students who do leave (macro F1 of 0.93 to 0.94); the binding constraint is detection rather than subtype assignment. Inverse-frequency class weighting outperforms synthetic oversampling, and a fairness audit on Pell eligibility finds that the most accurate model exhibits the smallest equalized-odds disparity.

The third study presents a privacy-preserving Remote Data Science framework: researchers from three universities of varying sizes develop classifiers on synthetic data, and the data owner executes them on one institution's private records with differential privacy applied to results. The framework achieves consistent performance (macro F1 of 0.690 to 0.695) under strict FERPA compliance, and its dual-server design suits smaller institutions with limited technical resources.

Together, these studies contribute methodological advances in educational data mining, a reproducible typology of undergraduate departure, and a practical path to inter-institutional analytics with responsible data practices.

Informing Femtech Design for Diverse and Changing Reproductive Health Experiences

Femtech apps are increasingly used to track, interpret, and manage reproductive health information, including menstrual cycles, symptoms, fertility, and other sensitive health data. Although these apps can improve access to reproductive health information, collecting data does not necessarily mean that they adequately support diverse and changing user needs. This research examines user experiences with femtech, privacy and personalization practices, and how current apps support reproductive health experiences that do not always align with standardized assumptions.

A multi method approach examined femtech from both user and app perspectives. More than 110,000 app store reviews were analyzed to identify concerns related to usability, functionality, accessibility, and privacy over time. Additional analyses focused on privacy concerns following the Dobbs decision and reviews from users with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A structured walkthrough of ten period tracking apps examined privacy information, user controls, onboarding, and personalization. Interviews with 20 women with PCOS explored how users select, evaluate, and use femtech apps to understand their bodies, manage reproductive health, assess trust and privacy, and communicate with healthcare providers.

Across the studies, recurring mismatches emerged between the information users provide and the support they receive. Apps could record irregular cycles, health conditions, goals, and preferences while continuing to rely on standardized assumptions. Privacy controls could exist without being easy to locate, understand, or use. Users often compensated by interpreting outputs, ignoring irrelevant feedback, combining multiple resources, and continually reassessing app usefulness and trust.

The primary contribution is a shift from evaluating whether an app can record reproductive health information to considering whether it can accommodate the person represented by that information. This distinction emphasizes responsiveness to variability, changing needs, goals, and privacy concerns, while drawing attention to the additional work users perform when apps do not adequately fit their circumstances. Building on this contribution, the research provides design recommendations and a foundation for evaluating and informing more responsive femtech design.

A CALL FOR SYSTEMATIC VALIDATING PRACTICES FOR
FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS (FGCS)

This qualitative multi-site case study examined what ecological factors (people, processes, context, and time) affect the ability of faculty, staff, and other stakeholders to collaborate towards implementing and sustaining systematic validating practices for first-generation college students (FGCS or FGS) and how validating practices become systematized across a university. Framed by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1979, 1993) and grounded in Rendón Linares and Muñoz’s (2011) extended theory of validation, the study focused on the university exosystem, or the sphere in which students are indirectly influenced by institutional structures, policies, and relationships.

The study was conducted between November 2024 and August 2025, a period characterized by organizational instability and transition in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, at two Jesuit, Catholic universities with institutionally supported programs for FGCS. Data were collected through document analysis, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators involved in FGS support efforts. Data were analyzed using cross-case thematic analysis to identify patterns related to the development, implementation, and sustainability of validating practices.

Findings indicated that validating practices became systematized through four interrelated processes. First, a mission-anchored culture of care supported 1) the development of wraparound structures, 2) everyday care as policy that affirmed FGS, and 3) intentional hiring
for mission. Second, data-to-action communication cycles helped institutional stakeholders to 1) elevate counternarratives, 2) codify the FG identity, and 3) leverage FG data strategically to advocate for student needs. Third, constructive allyships and coalition-building across
departments bolstered collaboration and broadened responsibility for FGCS success. Fourth, systematic validating practices were sustained through flexible and resilient leadership, reflective practice, and responsiveness to institutional change over time, including a period of high staff turnover and burnout.

The findings suggest that validating practices for FGCS are most sustainable when they are woven into institutional structures, communication routines, and collaborative institutional culture rather than isolated within individual programs. The findings of this study contribute to the literature by further extending ecological systems theory to higher education contexts and demonstrating that collaboration towards systematic and sustainable practices can be achieved through coordinated institutional action.