This paper develops an analytical-psychological framework, grounded in Jungian depth psychology, for understanding branding as a symbolic and archetypal process within contemporary consumer culture. Brands are conceptualized as modern mythic narratives through which collective psychological tensions are culturally expressed, displaced, and negotiated. Through an interpretive analysis of Nike, Apple, and Dove, the study demonstrates how archetypal constellations—the Hero, the Creator, and the Caregiver—structure brand meaning and invite symbolic participation in identity formation and aspirational self-construction. Integrating cultural branding theory and symbolic consumption research, the paper reframes consumer engagement as a dialogical process of projection and potential reflection rather than a purely behavioral outcome. Drawing on Jung’s concepts of persona and shadow, it clarifies how brand identities function as public masks that express aspiration while simultaneously concealing contradiction and ambivalence. Ethical implications are examined through this tension, highlighting how symbolic power may intensify unconscious identification or foster reflective awareness. A final neuro-symbolic discussion offers a strictly heuristic analogy between individuation and integrative regulatory processes without neuroscientific reductionism.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic  university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study  methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning  experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to  topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study  highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a  historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a  commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is  significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a  virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in higher education, however, little is known about how AI feedback can be designed to support the relational and affective dimensions of studio learning. This mixed-methods pilot study examines an AI feedback system intentionally crafted with empathic and partnership-oriented features to assist senior design students in a studio course. Drawing on social-cognitive theory and feedback literacy, we propose an AI-Empathic Feedback Design model that positions AI as a relational co-participant in studio feedback processes. Twenty final-year design majors used a prototype tool providing qualitative critiques, sentiment-aware prompts, and progress dashboards over a 15-week semester. Pre/post self-efficacy scores increased from 3.40 to 4.10 (Cohen’s d ≈ 1.20), and students engaged in more iterations than a historical cohort. Thematic analysis highlighted enhanced creative confidence, heightened psychological safety, AI as a collaborative partner, and recognized limits of automated critique. While not designed for causal inference, the study shows how empathically framed AI feedback can foster mastery experiences, social persuasion, and low-risk experimentation in design learning.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in higher education, however, little is known about how AI feedback can be designed to support the relational and affective dimensions of studio learning. This mixed-methods pilot study examines an AI feedback system intentionally crafted with empathic and partnership-oriented features to assist senior design students in a studio course. Drawing on social-cognitive theory and feedback literacy, we propose an AI-Empathic Feedback Design model that positions AI as a relational co-participant in studio feedback processes. Twenty final-year design majors used a prototype tool providing qualitative critiques, sentiment-aware prompts, and progress dashboards over a 15-week semester. Pre/post self-efficacy scores increased from 3.40 to 4.10 (Cohen’s d ≈ 1.20), and students engaged in more iterations than a historical cohort. Thematic analysis highlighted enhanced creative confidence, heightened psychological safety, AI as a collaborative partner, and recognized limits of automated critique. While not designed for causal inference, the study shows how empathically framed AI feedback can foster mastery experiences, social persuasion, and low-risk experimentation in design learning.

As higher education adapts to the disruptive force of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), educators face the challenge of integrating these tools into the curriculum without compromising fundamental learning outcomes. This article presents a pedagogical framework that fuses Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory with a role-playing Digital Marketing Consultancy model. In this capstone project, students operate as startup agencies for real-world clients, utilizing GenAI for market research, content creation, and strategy development. Drawing on survey data from 74 participants, this study analyzes student perceptions of GenAI’s impact on productivity, learning, and professional preparedness. The findings suggest that when anchored in real-world experiential projects, GenAI shifts from a crutch to a collaborative partner, enhancing students' ability to engage in Active Experimentation and Abstract Conceptualization. The paper offers practical implications for higher education policy and classroom management in the AI era.

A great body of research supports the contention that student-faculty interactions promote engagement, an important predictor of student success (Guzzardo et al., 2021; Hollister, Nair, Hill-Lindsay, & Chukoskie, 2022). Initiatives that raise engagement are particularly important for students enrolled in online programs, who sometimes feel disconnected from the institutions they attend (Hehir, Zeller, Luckhurst, & Chandler, 2021). The Dennis Course-embedded Advising Model© (DCAM©) provides a structured solution to ensure that online students can engage directly with their faculty at a set cadence during their programs. This paper introduces the DCAM© and its aims and evaluates its theoretical basis. Applications of the DCAM©, including the socialization of mission-driven content, engagement-building among international students, skill-centering in micro-credentials, building connections in individual-based instruction, and supporting individual micro-mentorship in large-enrollment courses, are discussed in the context of student engagement. The paper closes with an analysis of future directions for the model.

There are 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States, yet synergies among them have not been fully leveraged. Recognizing the avenues where synergies can emerge is the first step to realizing them in practice. In this conceptual paper, we present a taxonomy of potential synergies, first at the partnership dyadic level and then at the network multi-nodal level within the HBCU ecosystem. We elucidate on the dyadic synergies through the collaboration between Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. The multi-nodal synergies presented are more theoretical, but examples from other ecosystems are cited for illustration purposes. The objective of this paper is to discuss and promote more synergies from potential relationships within the HBCU ecosystem. However, the discussion is more generalizable and relevant to resource-constrained universities and colleges more broadly.