Capstone Project

Catalog description

The capstone experience provides seniors with the opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor and to conduct extensive research on a topic of their choice. The program consists of a capstone seminar, taken in the first semester of the senior year, and a year-long individualized thesis tutorial. During the capstone seminar, students define a thesis topic of their choice, develop a bibliography, read broadly in background works, and begin their research. In the tutorial, students work on a one-to-one basis with a faculty director to hone their research and produce successive drafts of a senior thesis. The capstone experience culminates in the public presentation of the senior thesis. Students may also elect to participate in a College Capstone Project with students majoring in other disciplines in the arts, and the natural and social sciences. Collaborating students work with a faculty member to define the overall goals of the Capstone Project, as well as the particular goals of each participant.