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Item type:Item, Hope for Their Transformation Must Never Be Lost: Mission and Charism Aligned Student Discipline at a Brothers of the Sacred Heart High School(Creighton University, 2026)An ordered and structured environment is a key tenet of Catholic K-12 schools. Yet, how discipline is understood and maintained in a Catholic school setting, in accordance with a school’s specific mission and charism, remains unclear. This study explored how teachers and administrators at a Brothers of the Sacred Heart high school in the United States understand and maintain student discipline in accordance with the governing documents of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. A case study at a Brothers of the Sacred Heart secondary school in the Northeast was conducted. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Findings revealed that discipline at this school is rooted in reflection, relational trust, dignity, and hope in student potential, all of which reflect the Brothers’ mission and the charism of Fr. Andre Coindre, as well as the broader Catholic mission of whole-person formation. This article seeks to help Catholic school leaders understand how their school’s mission and associated charism influences school policies and procedures.Item type:Item, The Silent Partner: How AI Coaching Tools Help Support Leadership in Performance Conversations(Creighton University, 2026)Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from a theoretical prospect to a working tool across financial services, where it increasingly shapes how leaders make decisions and engage their teams. This Dissertation in Practice examines how business leaders engage with and perceive an AI coaching tool, grounded in transformational leadership principles, as they prepare for and conduct employee performance conversations. The purpose of this study is to explore how leaders perceive, interact with, and consider applying such a tool in developmental, employee-centered conversations. The aim is to inform leadership practitioners and human resources professionals as AI coaching tools enter leadership development, rather than to prescribe a solution. The project is informed by literature on transformational leadership, the limits of traditional leadership development, and the emerging use of AI in coaching and performance management. A qualitative pre/post-intervention design is used to examine how mid- and senior-level leaders at a large U.S. financial institution engage with a custom generative AI coaching tool configured around the four dimensions of transformational leadership. Data are drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted before and after an engagement period and are analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive thematic analysis. The DIP has three components: a proposal grounded in relevant literature, a submission-ready manuscript reporting the empirical study, and a practitioner recommendation plan informed by the study. The document concludes with a reflection and the development of a leadership philosophy.Keywords: transformational leadership, AI coaching, performance conversations, leadership development, financial servicesItem type:Item, Biodegradable Polymeric Ion Releasing Fillers(Creighton University, 2026-04-09)Dental sealants are a highly effective tool used by dentists to prevent occlusal caries in children by sealing pits and fissures of molars. However, polymerization shrinkage can lead to marginal leakage and secondary caries over time. Biodegradeable polymeric ion-releasing fillers (PIRFs) synthesized from alginate have the potential to be a useful sustainable tool that can provide sustained pH independent release of ions that promote remineralization in enamel. These PIRFs were rinsed to remove excess calcium ions and then charged with a 0.9M NaF solution or 3-6M K2HPO4 solution. After being soaked in these solutions the PIRFs exhibited effective ion release into water. When incorporated into BisGMA/TEGMA sealants adequate depth of cure and degree of conversion properties were observed. PIRFs promote a solution that promotes remineralization of enamel which may also help reduce secondary caries risk while also being sourced from renewable alginate.Item type:Item, Mentorship Experiences of Female Clergy in the United Methodist Church: A Phenomenological Study(Creighton University, 2026)Within the United Methodist Church (UMC), female clergy navigate institutional structures and gendered leadership dynamics that shape their ministerial experiences, yet little is known about how clergywomen experience mentorship in this context. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored how ordained and licensed female clergy in the UMC experience and make meaning of mentorship. Participants included eleven ordained and licensed clergywomen with at least two years of ministerial experience. Thematic analysis surfaced four themes: relational mentorship; formal structures and uneven access; gendered leadership dynamics; and vocational formation. The findings from this study suggest that participants experienced mentorship as most meaningful when it was relational, sustained, and personally engaged. Formal denominational mentoring structures were inconsistently implemented and frequently disrupted by the itinerant appointment system, and gendered dynamics shaped participants' access to mentorship and willingness to be vulnerable. From the findings, it is apparent that mentoring support must be responsive to the itinerant system and gendered dynamics; therefore, my proposed solution is a two-component framework: an Itineracy-Resilient Mentoring Redesign to strengthen existing formal structures, and a Clergywomen's Peer Mentoring Cohort to create a sustained peer-driven space alongside formal systems.Keywords: mentorship, clergywomen, hermeneutic phenomenology, United Methodist ChurchItem type:Item, Machine Learning for Exotic Particle Detection in Ultraperipheral Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions(Creighton University, 2026)High energy particle physics is the study of our universe's most fundamental particles and forces. One area of research in the field of particle physics is ultraperipheral collisions. Ultraperipheral collisions are collisions of relativistic nuclei in which the impact parameter is greater than the sum of the two radii; this leads to electromagnetic interactions rather than strong interactions. Standard searches for new or rare particles in ultraperipheral collisions rely on predefined decay topologies or available Monte Carlo simulations. A separate analysis must be conducted for each particle and/or decay topology. This thesis presents possible strategies for the detection of rare particles by means of anomaly detection through the usage of autoencoders, a type of unsupervised machine learning. This method makes it possible to flag exotic events without having to define specific selection criteria and allows for multiple simultaneous searches in a single analysis. Two autoencoder implementations are investigated. They are trained with simulated samples of processes observed in ultraperipheral collisions by the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider, and realistic experimental particle identification capabilities have been included. These autoencoders are then tested using an independent sample of the same processes that has been injected with rare events. The test sample combines the various processes in approximately the same ratios as they are observed in ALICE data. The autoencoders show success in flagging exotic decays with efficiency and purity values comparable to, or better than, traditional searches.