Senior Capstone Experience

Introduction: Defining the Capstone Experience
All students graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences participate in a senior capstone experience which allows you to integrate many concepts and theories from your major course of study into a final project or activity. For graduating art and design majors, a final research project, a visual thinking journal, an exit portfolio, three public exhibitions, and a lecture (“Brown Bag”) on campus are required. The capstone experience is fulfilled under Art 489: Senior Thesis. In addition, each student is required to submit a thesis binder. This information includes an artist statement explaining the work, A resumé, slide portfolio (both hard copies and digital), a self assessment report, and a letter to future seniors.

A common dictionary definition of the word capstone is “the crowning point”. This implies that a capstone in an undergraduate art and design curriculum should serve as the crowning point of a student’s education. A capstone experience, by this definition, occurs in the senior year of the your course work. As such, the capstone experience provides an opportunity for you to integrate the principles, theories, and methods learned in courses required throughout the major in an applied context.

In this capstone experience, you are required to creatively analyze, synthesize, and evaluate learned knowledge within a project(s) context. You must define the problem(s), develop a solution plan(s), produce and demonstrate an artifact(s) that solves the problem, and present the work using visual, written and oral means.

In some cases, a capstone experience can also have a professional focus, whereas the results of the project are communicated effectively at a professional entry level by a method appropriate to the specific discipline.