WCore Senior Capstone Courses
| ACCT | 467 | Accounting Information Systems | 4 Credits |
| An introduction to systems analysis and design with a strong emphasis toward accounting information systems. Conceptual foundations of accounting information systems; database and file- oriented systems; the systems life cycle; control and audit of accounting information systems; and accounting information systems applications are reviewed. A relational database software package is introduced and used to prepare a term project. (WCore: SC) | |||
| ART | 475 | Senior Seminar | 4 Credits |
| Designed to help students create a strong, unified body of work. Students of all disciplines work on their own time, with weekly meetings devoted to critiques, discussions, guest speakers and professional development issues. Studios are available to most students. This is the Art Program’s capstone course and should be taken by all Art majors during Spring Semester of student’s last year of study. (WCore: SC) | |||
| BBA | PRJ5.5 | Financial Plan | 4 Credits |
| Student learners will apply critical financial concepts of literacy, reporting, analysis and forecasting and apply these concepts in planning the financial operations of an organization. Underlying assumptions and financial data in support of a sales forecast, cash budget and proforma financial statements will be developed. (WCore: SC) | |||
| BBA | PRJ5.F | Financial Business Plan Presentation | 2 Credits |
| Student learners will create professionally organized final business plan customized for potential investors or decision-makers; learners will present key aspects of the business plan to stakeholders in order to incorporate feedback into a final deliverable. (WCore: SC) | |||
| BIOL | 420 | Senior Seminar | 2 Credits |
| This course is designed as a senior level capstone in the Biology curriculum. Students will develop a sense of significance of communication of data in fields of science. They will learn how to use the current databases, journals, and internet to access scientific literature. They will also build a proficiency in writing and communication skills with regards to sharing scientific information. (WCore: SC) | |||
| CMPT | 390 | Senior Capstone | 2 Credits |
| A required capstone course for senior Computer Science and Computer Information Systems majors. The purpose is to develop a significant independent software project. In addition, students are expected to submit portfolios of their coursework at Westminster University. (WCore: SC) | |||
| COMM | 490 | Portfolio Workshop | 2 Credits |
| Gives students an opportunity to create portfolios from samples of their work that reflects skills acquired in the Communication program. Students learn to produce professional-quality portfolios displaying artifacts completed in courses and internships, as well as through professional work experience. The course should be taken in one of the last two semesters before graduation. (WCore: SC) | |||
| DANCE | 490 | Senior Seminar | 2 Credits |
| The capstone course in the Dance Program, this course looks beyond studio practice to prepare students for success in their professional careers. Through a range of supplemental skill sets, students hone the abilities necessary to navigate and succeed in a wide range of professional aspects of dance and the arts. These skill sets include but are not limited to portfolio development, administration, marketing, and technological literacy. (WCore: SC) | |||
| DANCE | 491 | Senior Showcase | 2 Credits |
| This semester course gives students a forum to demonstrate their mastery of choreographic ideas, audition and rehearsal processes, and performance design - culminating in a high quality production. (WCore: SC) | |||
| ECON | 485 | Senior Seminar in Economics | 4 Credits |
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The senior seminar is structured along two tracks – economics thesis work and advanced empirical project. Students can choose from the two tracks depending on their background training and career plans. Students who choose the economics thesis work must produce original scholarship in economics or related disciplines. Students may choose topics from economic theory, economic history, law, economic growth and development, environmental, international, or monetary and financial economics, or focus on contemporary economic and public policy questions or a doctrinal work on economic thought. This option is relevant for students completing the B.A. or the B.A. pre-law tracks in economics. This option is suitable and advisable for students who seek to get involved in an intensive research program and who plan to pursue advanced work in economics education or industry research. The advanced empirical project option is most appropriate for students who are completing the B.S. track in economics. The economics faculty and the seminar adviser will recommend the theme of the empirical project. Students are encouraged to explore local or regional policy questions, or choose topics in business development, insurance, marketing, international business, finance, or strategy, or choose to investigate broader contemporary social and economic problems. BS.ECON students are required to complete the ETS exam, which is generally administered in BUSI 350. If students take ECON 485 instead of BUSI 350, please contact the Gore School of Business Administrative Office to schedule the exam. Get more information on the ETS exam. Exceptions may be considered by program chair when relocation or other conditions make completion of the test impractical. (WCore: SC) |
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| EDUC | 418 | Student Teaching Seminar | 2 Credits |
| Student teachers meet four times on campus throughout the duration of the student teaching semester. In-depth discussion and reading enable students to acquire and refine skills needed by all professional teachers. Topics include parent relationships, student assessment and grades, professional growth and collaboration with colleagues, and other issues. Visits from practicing experts from the profession are included also. Case studies and portfolios are presented and explored. (WCore: SC) | |||
| EDUC | 495 | Senior Thesis/Project | 4 Credits |
| Students complete the thesis or creative project designed in EDUC 390 and learn skills for data analysis and presentation of research findings. Students complete a program portfolio and participate in university-wide sharing of their learning portfolio. (WCore: SC) | |||
| ENVI | 405 | Senior Capstone | 4 Credits |
| A capstone course for Environmental Studies majors ordinarily taken during one of the last two semesters of undergraduate study. The Senior Capstone will challenge students take the learning they’ve done in the classroom and apply it to the real world. Students will work in partnership with local community organizations, government agencies and individuals to identify and address environmental needs through community-based action. This work can take different shapes for students from the different concentrations, and will give students the chance to develop their ability to grapple with complex environmental issues and conduct efforts in preparation for future careers, graduate school, and more. (WCore: SC) | |||
| FINC | 495 | Finance Capstone | 4 Credits |
| This course integrates the concepts/theories the student has acquired in their undergraduate experience from Undergraduate Business Core courses, Upper Division Finance courses, and Finance Elective courses. By creating and analyzing a variety of financial models, students will demonstrate their ability to effectively understand and communicate complex financial concepts, analyses, and decisions. Students will also study ethics to increase their financial ethical awareness and to create their personal ethics statement. (WCore: SC) | |||
| GEOL | 360 | Field Geology | 6 Credits |
| This course, which should preferably be taken in the summer before senior year, provides the opportunity for students to put their skills into practice. After an initial week of in-class instruction on field methods, students will get in the vans for the ultimate in experiential learning. At various field locales around Utah and Colorado, students will gain experience mapping, measuring sections, and creating stratigraphic columns. (WCore: SC) | |||
| HIST | 490 | Research Seminar in History | 3 Credits |
| A required seminar for history majors, continuing the work begun in HIST 390. (WCore: SC) | |||
| JUST | 490 | Senior Capstone | 4 Credits |
| Students select, research, analyze, and discuss a topic or problem. The results of each student’s project will be written as a senior thesis and presented for a discussion in a seminar setting. Required for all majors in their senior year. (WCore: SC) | |||
| LMW | 403 | Thesis | 4 Credits |
| A capstone course for LMW majors who are developing the skills to produce a well-researched,
fully documented, comprehensive thesis on a literary topic. Students will interact
with a faculty member and other students in a seminar setting. They will demonstrate
their ability to grapple with complex issues of literary study and conduct advanced research. The course culminates in a successful completion of a written research project. (WCore: SC) |
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| LMW | 405 | Thesis - Creative Writing | 4 Credits |
| A course to support and guide LMW majors who have chosen the creative writing concentration
in developing an original group of poems, short stories, creative nonfiction pieces,
play(s) or novel. Ideally, this course should be taken after the student has completed
all the other requirements for the creative writing concentration, as it will entail
revising work submitted to workshops in addition to producing new work. Hours are
arranged. (WCore: SC) |
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| MATH | 485 | Senior Seminar | 2 Credits |
| This class will collaboratively review the core areas of undergraduate mathematics and build a more complete and integrated view of mathematics. All students will be required to take the Mathematics ETS exam at the conclusion of the course. Teaching and academic majors must register for the Senior Seminar during the spring semester of their senior year. Students who will be student teaching during that semester may take it the previous year. (WCore: SC) | |||
| MGMT | 450 | Advanced Strategic Planning | 4 Credits |
| This course examines how firms gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Fundamentally the course addresses three core questions: 1. What determines the overall profitability of a business? 2. Why do some companies fail, while others succeed? 3. What, if anything, can managers do about it? The course demonstrates that for firms to be successful, the strategy must permeate all departments and functional areas. As such, this course integrates knowledge and skills gained from studies in the functional areas of business (e.g., marketing, organizational behavior, finance, accounting). The course also focuses on corporate strategy - how firms create value with multiple business units. These issues will help students understand and cope with issues they will face in the business world. Students acquire tools, insights, frameworks, and experience that will aid them in helping organizations achieve success. (WCore: SC) | |||
| MKTG | 490 | Senior Seminar in Marketing | 4 Credits |
| This is an integrative course in marketing planning and strategy that delineates the relationship among marketing decisions. Marketing functions are examined through application, focusing on case analysis to successfully integrate all elements of the managerial process. The course presents concepts from a decision making perspective rather than from a descriptive point of view. This approach reflects our emphasis on the marketing decisions that students are most likely to confront in their careers. Additionally, because marketing managers are held accountable for profits as well as sales, budgetary considerations of marketing decisions are discussed. (WCore: SC) | |||
| MUSC | 420 | Senior Recital | 2 Credits |
| This is the capstone project for music performance minors, a 30-45-minute solo recital to be given on campus in the recital hall during the final semester of private lessons or a semester following the final semester of lessons. This credit hour will be earned in the same manner as that of private lessons, but with the specific goal of a performance determining the nature and intensity of training. (WCore: SC) | |||
| MUSC | 421 | Senior Project | 2 Credits |
| This is the capstone course for music majors who are completing the Bachelor of Arts degree without a performance emphasis. This project can address any number of subjects—musical or connected to music in at least one major way—and it may take any number of different forms, though both subject and form must be worked out and agreed upon by the student and at least one music faculty member. (WCore: SC) | |||
| NEURO | 409 | Advanced Topics in Neuroscience | 2 Credits |
| This course explores current topics in neuroscience across a variety of levels of analysis from molecular/cellular through behavioral. Students read current literature and propose research experiments incorporating multiple levels of analysis. (WCore: SC) | |||
| NURS | 410 | Nursing Leadership Capstone RN to BS | 6 Credits |
| In this course the RN student will have an opportunity to demonstrate competency skills, and knowledge gained through previous course work and service learning. An important aspect of this course, and a central concept throughout this program, is nursing leadership. The student will have three opportunities to demonstrate their new knowledge of expanded nursing leadership. First, using discussion format students will provide peers with content on assigned topics such as problem solving, change, conflict, organizational assessment, and legal and ethical aspects of practice. Overall the quality of health care practices will be examined. Secondly, students will continue with a service learning activity that they developed in NURS 385 (Teaching, Mentoring, and Health Promotion). Finally, the student will complete a capstone and management experience at an agency or organization that is different from where they currently practice in order to diversify their nursing background. (WCore: SC) | |||
| NURS | 431 | Capstone Synthesis | 2 Credits |
| Weekly seminar provides an opportunity for the analysis, synthesis, refinement and integration of nursing knowledge. This course provides activities and discussion that facilitate the student’s transition to professional nursing practice. The student will build clinical reasoning and develop beginning proficiency in patient management and evaluation through assignments in a variety of patient care settings. Working closely with staff and faculty, the student will gain the confidence and the skills needed to function as a novice nurse who is a designer, manager and coordinator of care. (WCore: SC) | |||
| OEL | 410 | Seminar in Outdoor Education and Leadership | 4 Credits |
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In this capstone course students will integrate their experiences, research, goals, and practical application of outdoor education and leadership. The course will focus on contemporary issues and trends in the field with topics including social justice, public land management (federal, state, and local), ethics (environmental and virtue-based), practical application of research, options for further education in the field, and career opportunities. During the course, students will identify their individual context within outdoor education and leadership, and complete a comprehensive capstone project. The project requires students to research their area of interest, write a literature review, present their personal professional philosophy, and how they plan to contribute to the field based on their career goals and education. (WCore: SC) |
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| PHIL | 390 | Thesis Research Preseminar in Philosophy | 4 Credits |
| A required seminar for senior philosophy majors, focusing on research, analysis, and writing techniques aimed at a particular topic or question in philosophy, in preparation for the production of a senior thesis in PHIL 490. Majors and minors should take this class during the fall semester of their senior year. PHIL 390 results in a thesis paper of 25–30 pages for Philosophy minors only. (WCore: SC) | |||
| PHIL | 490 | Research Seminar in Philosophy | 4 Credits |
| A required seminar for Philosophy majors, continuing the work begun in PHIL 390. Students produce a substantial piece of original scholarship in Philosophy. Philosophy majors should take this class during the spring semester of their senior year. (WCore: SC) | |||
| PLSC | 490 | Senior Capstone | 4 Credits |
| A required course for all senior political studies majors. Students select, research, analyze, and discuss a topic or problem. The results of each student’s project will be written as a senior thesis and presented for a discussion in a seminar setting. Required for all majors in their senior year. (WCore: SC) | |||
| PSYC | 400K | The Science of Psychotherapy | 4 Credits |
| Perceived by some as a nonscientific practice, there are thousands of controlled research
studies that demonstrate the efficacy of psychotherapy as a systematic practice informed
by psychological principles. Students will learn pertinent research designs, key research findings, and debates in the field as to why psychotherapy is effective. This course is ideal for students who want to attend graduate school in a helping profession. Prerequisites: PSYC 252, 390, junior or senior status, or consent of instructor. (WCore: SC) |
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| PUBH | 490 | Public Health Capstone Project | 4 Credits |
| The course will provide students with an opportunity to synthesize all previous course work and practical experience to generate an evidence-based public health research project. Students will, with the guidance of a faculty mentor, choose a research topic, and by attending periodic workshops and lectures and by submitting intermediate assignments during the duration of the research project, generate a submission-quality research paper and present the results in a seminar. The course will culminate in a presentation of the research project by the student at a seminar, and the potential submission of a publication-quality research paper or poster. (WCore: SC) | |||
| SOC | 330 | Sports and Society | 4 Credits |
| This course explores sports as a significant cultural, political, and economic force in American society. Focusing on both established and alternative sports, the course incorporates a sociological perspective to critically examine how sports are organized, played, experienced, observed, perceived, and critiqued in the United States. (WCore: WCSBS, SC) | |||
| SOC | 470 | Senior Thesis | 4 Credits |
| All sociology majors will produce a senior thesis that examines a sociological topic and/or phenomenon through original research, secondary analysis, and/or theoretical exploration. As part of their senior thesis, all sociology majors will participate in a senior thesis seminar (or a senior thesis directed study) in which they critically share their thesis work with their fellow students and/or thesis advisor. All majors signing up for the thesis must have completed SOC 390 (after having first completed MATH 150, DATA 150, or DATA 220 as a prerequisite). To take the thesis, all students must have senior standing, a declared major in sociology, and consent of the instructor. (WCore: SC) | |||
| SPAN | 470 | Senior Thesis | 2 Credits |
| A capstone opportunity to produce a well-researched, fully documented, comprehensive thesis on a literary or cultural topic under the support and guidance of a Spanish faculty member. (WCore: SC) | |||
| THTR | 485 | Theatre Senior Seminar | 2 Credits |
| This capstone serves as a final opportunity for graduating seniors to receive faculty evaluation of their portfolio, vitae, resume, and monologues. This course will provide an appraisal of a plan of action for success in graduate school and/or a student's chosen profession. It is a final opportunity for a student to undergo personal, professional, and programmatic assessment. (WCore: SC) | |||
| WCSAM | 400 | Science Capstone | 2 Credits |
| This capstone seminar provides students with an opportunity to extend their learning through designing and conducting an interdisciplinary science capstone project in small teams. Students will learn how to develop and complete collaborative STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research projects, and present their work both on campus and in the local community. This course is designed to complement senior projects within students' majors. (WCore: SC) | |||