Students of various majors

discuss their capstone

experiences
By Zo Berg, Madison Hays & Melvin Mendez | Feature Editor and Editorial
Assistants
Posted on 04.27.2016

The University of Indianapolis offers more than 100 undergraduate programs,

each with its own capstone project. Seniors at UIndy must complete a final
project or course at the 400-level that is supposed to encompass what they have
learned, while working to complete their major. The capstone for each major
differs, often leaving students interested in what students in other majors are
required to do.
Business majors apply what they have learned over the years in their capstone
by developing a product and working with and against other members of the
class for market share. Senior business major Justin Jones took the business
capstone course last semester. He said the class is divided up into groups.
Within each group, students fill the different departmental roles in a business,
according to Jones.
Its really like politics working, he said, because you have different departments
and different group members in charge of all departments, and they have their
departments best interest in mind. But its a group collaboration. We try to
develop a product thats going to be profitable and that we can sell in multiple
segments of the simulation.
Jones said that he was in charge of the marketing department he worked to
assign a price to the product, find the best place to launch it and look into how
much money they should spend on advertising. Jones said he thinks the
capstone was a good representation of the business world and was very helpful.
I think that it does give you insight on the pressure that different companies have
on releasing products, Jones said, [and] some of the things they go through as
far as the inter-business thinking as far as marketing, production, forecasting.
These are things that actually happen in businesses today.
The communication capstone project is a presentation and portfolio. This
semester, senior communication major Katlyn Walker completed the
communication capstone course. She said the class is split into two groups, with
each group presenting on a different day. Each group was responsible for
providing a theme, food, pamphlets and anything else they want to add to

entertain a jury that consisted of the communication faculty. Each student in the
group has his or her own presentation for which he or she took a previous
assignment and revised it, using new information he or she learned. During the
presentation, the jury graded the students on their criteria, sources and
presentation as well as a forum during which the students answered questions.
After the presentations, the students created online portfolios that they turned in
to some of the jury members. Walker said she is happy to end her college career
with the capstone because it prepares her for her future.
You go to classes everyday, and you learn something different. But its kind of
interesting to have a class where youre supposed to go back and remember
everything that youve ever learned, Walker said. [I] think Senior Project is the
great way to end your college career because then it reassures you that this is all
worth it.
The social work majors capstone project is to plan an event, which took the form
of a health fair. The health fair was opened up to the students of UIndy along with
the community. Seven vendors were included in the health fair, two of which were
the Marion County Health Department and UIndys health department.
Senior social work major Annabelle Henriquez is currently taking the social work
capstone course and said that in the class the students reviewed everything they
have learned in college, listened to guest speakers who informed them about
their professions and learned how to apply for jobs and to revise their resumes
and cover letters. Henriquez believes that the capstone course succeeded in its
goal of preparing students for the professional world after graduation.
The capstone course definitely reiterated the fact that I went with a profession
that I loved, Henriquez said. I really enjoyed the fact that he [our professor] has
professionals come in to talk to us. It just opened my eyes to different avenues
and different options that we can do as social workers. We always think of [the]
Department of Child Services, but there is so much more out there we can do as
social workers.
Music performance majors must give an hour-long recital before they graduate,
although according to senior music performance major Abigail ONeal, the recital
is more of a way to show what you have learned to your friends and family.
You have to give a hearing about two weeks before your recital, and thats what
youre actually graded on, ONeal said. Its two faculty members listening to all
of the music that youre playing and making sure its prepared.
For the senior capstone project in the sociology department, students focus on
making a presentation and either finishing a service project that they started their
previous semester or starting a new service project. Associate Professor of

Sociology and Criminal Justice James Pennell said that this semester the
students got involved in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in the
United States. They also have a presentation section to their capstone that
focuses on a career-oriented paper about problems that the students will
encounter working in their career. They then share what they have learned
through their research in the form of a presentation. According to Pennell, the
sociology capstone should demonstrate a students ability to make an argument
using evidence on social problems or issues.
Its a culmination of the different areas theyve learned, Pennell said. They
identify some area that they are interested in, and then they have to do a more
extended paper than they typically do in other classes. This is something that if
they want to go to graduate school, then they can talk about some area that they
are really interested in. If they are doing a more career-orientated paper, it helps
them understand issues in the career area better, like some of the things that
they will be dealing with.
History majors write a 22-25 page original research paper for their capstone.
Senior history and experience design major Austin Baker completed his capstone
and said that although students can research whatever interests them, they are
encouraged to research something related to Indiana, because the resources are
easier to find.
In the class, we talk about different research techniques, Baker said. And also,
we read a couple of books and articles that the professor thinks were good
examples of how people did research, or unique ways people did research.
Baker said that they have two presentations in the course: the first over their
topic and what they hope to find and the second after they complete their rough
draft. He said it was helpful because he has learned how to do research well,
which is a big part of the history field.
International relations also has a paper for its capstone project. An international
relations major must write an original paper or revise an existing paper of 15-25
pages. Senior international relations, political science and Spanish major Allie
Kast is currently taking the class and revising a paper she previously wrote.
Im going back and revisiting a paper I wrote for Political Development, she
said. And I wrote that one last semester on Spanish immigration policy. Im
going to make some changes and updates, as things have changed, and
hopefully add a little bit to it as well.
Kast said they do not have a set class time to meet, instead they meet with their
professor one-on-one to update him on their progress.
Kast is doing her capstone project for political science this semester. In the

political science capstone, students also must write an original paper or revise an
existing one that is 20-25 pages long, according to Kast. She said the class
meets about once a month on Friday, when it has something due. Kast said she
feels like she has improved her research skills through her capstone projects.
Actually I hope to get my Ph.D. and teach, Kast said. So its all been great
experience to have those Its helped me focus on my research skills and
abilities. Ive learned a lot of different research methods through doing so. So
hopefully, I can use all my research skills that I built through all my majors and
capstones in the long run, because I know Ill be writing longer papers for my
Ph.D., thats for sure.
The language capstone is a combined class for all language majors. Kast, who
took the class last semester, said it was taught in English. In the class, students
read various pieces of literature, translated into English, and discussed the styles
and structures of each of the authors as they related to Spanish, French and
German. Kast said that for the project, they had to create a portfolio of the work
they had done throughout college.
So it included a 2-3 page paper that we had written previously, a 5-6 page
paper, a research paper and a presentation, she said. And we had to compile
them all together to present to the language board. And with those as well, we
would go back and we made edits on them and revised them accordingly.
Within the philosophy capstone there are two courses: Portfolio Development
and Portfolio Completion. Senior philosophy major Joseph Krall completed the
Portfolio Development course last year and is currently enrolled in the Portfolio
Completion course. Krall explained that within the Portfolio Completion course,
he had to write two major philosophy papers. These papers could be either
based on new topics or expanded from old assignments. Once he completes
these papers, he will turn them in for an official review by a panel made up of
philosophy faculty. The panel will read the papers and give constructive
feedback. Within the class, Krall also had to write a literature review, for which he
had to read several articles and summarize how they related to his topics. Krall
found the course useful preparation for his future plans.
This has been a really good experience; going back to papers that Ive worked
on, on say philosophy of music or arguments for Gods existence. Those are the
two topics that I covered in my two papers, respectively, Krall said. Im planning
to go to seminary in the fall, so this has been really good to get my writing and
critical reading skills back in shape.
Senior pre-art therapy and psychology major Annisa Nunn said her capstone was
service-learning based. She said students picked something they were interested
in and focused on art therapy.

So what I did for mine [is] I worked with Dove Recovery House, Nunn said. It is
an addictions recovery, halfway-house in downtown Indianapolis. And what I did
was I planned projects based on the 12 steps of recovery. The goal was to do
12 different projects, [one] for each step. But we only ended up doing to step
eight and we did five projects, because we decided to stop it, because the
women there, they were always kind of doing a lot of therapy, so it was just more
of a relaxation time and doing art with them
Nunn said the students had planned class time but would usually meet every
other week or individually with the professor as they needed. Nunn said she
thought the capstone was a great volunteer experience and gave her
experiences she could use when applying for jobs in this field. She also said that
the capstone helped her to realize what she wanted to focus on, which is
addictions.
Chemistry majors take a lab class for their capstone. Senior chemistry major
David Hollis is currently taking the course. He said the students begin by doing a
literature review, but over the course of the semester, they do five labs, each one
focusing on a different area of chemistry. The students do a thermodynamics lab,
which includes an organic synthesis; an enzyme kinetics lab, which is a part of
biochemistry; an instrumental analysis lab; an analytical lab; and a physical
chemistry lab.
Hollis said although the class is supposed to last two hours, a lot of the
experiments take two or three hours and there is a lot of outside-of-class work,
but he does feel prepared.
I think just having to go through the different kinds of chemistry has prepared me
for it [the capstone], Hollis said. And then this lab is very difficult. And with
writing the lab reports and keeping detailed notes and advanced proceduresall
of those things prepare you for future chemical work or grad school or
something.
In biology, students can take one of two paths to complete their capstone,
according to Associate Professor and Chair of the Biology Department P. Roger
Sweets. Students can either take two credit hours worth of independent research
and a one credit hour reflection course or take a three credit hour course that is
similar to the research project. Sweets said that in both situations students must
write a research paper, present the results to a biology cohort and take the
Biology Major Field Test.
With 26 capstone courses listed in the UIndy curriculum guide, these are only
some of the many different things students can do to demonstrate what they
have learned during their time at UIndy. Students can attend other majors
capstone project presentations and ask other students questions to better
understand what the students in the various majors do.