“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” –Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. President

Welcome to our capstone course! What do you think of when you hear the word “CAPSTONE”? For many of us, we picture something sitting on top of a significant structure. Some of us may think of something ending. For our purposes, we are going to see our capstone as the synthesis of academic and professional experiences that will culminate into a project that incorporates our learning, skills and established managerial best practices.

Our Management Integrative Capstone will provide an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve learned from your CPS at UNH major as a whole. How will all of the courses you take for your major form a body of knowledge you can use to advance your personal and professional goals? Our integrative capstone course has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate to yourself and others that you can communicate clearly, think critically, and apply knowledge to real world questions or problems. Prior capstone students have actually had integrative capstone projects adopted by their employers!

Our course aims to fulfill the vision as stated in the MGMT797 course description: This capstone course for Applied Studies in Management builds on all previous work in both the applied studies foundation and business management. Students synthesize their knowledge of an applied field and management theory to develop and implement effective managerial strategies in their own field of professional interest by completing a course project. Students explore current research in the field of management to meet their personal professional goals and goals of their organizations. 

To achieve this vision, the course is designed to meet the following learning outcomes:

1. Identify and use current research and resources in management to meet personal professional goals and goals of their organizations.
2. Combine knowledge of best practices in an applied field and management theory in an area of professional interest by completing a course project.
3. Evaluate the nature and application of ethical principles in the creation and execution of a management capstone project.
4. Assess individual strengths and plan for ongoing professional development as managers.
5. Follow CPS at UNH policy that all research activities which involve human participants, regardless of the level of risk foreseen, require review and written approval by the College’s Institutional Review Board prior to the initiation of the activity.

So, as we move into our capstone work I hope you’re thinking about a project that excites you and will enable you to integrate your learning with your experience to fulfill this culminating course experience! To help get you started, several past student projects have been included for reference in our course shell (with their permission, of course), as well as a chapter in this OER called “Pay It Forward” which includes advice from prior students for positioning yourself for success.

For reference purposes, there is no hard and fast rule to the expected capstone project length, but as this document serves as the primary assignment for this course, your final paper should be approximately 15 – 20 pages.  The format for the finalized project will be as follows:

Section I          Introduction

The introduction should identify the focus of your project and explain the relevance to your major and connections with your applied field of studies that you have built upon in your B.S. Applied Studies Option in Management.  Are you submitting to a supervisor, a board?  Be sure to identify your intended audience.

Section II         Project Outcomes

List your project outcomes that you developed in the Project Analysis phase of your work.

Section III        Literature Review 

Present your literature review noting best practices in the field, as well as the conclusions you’ve drawn from the literature review.

 Section IV        Project Content

Describe your project and include all materials associated with it so that the reader develops a good sense of what the project entails.    Show your implementation and evaluation plans.

 Section V        Conclusions and Reflection

Appendix       This section will contain any supplementary information and/or supporting documentation.

So, congratulations on getting to this point in your academic career. Best wishes for a successful journey toward degree completion!

– Prof. Kelly Duggan