WCore Senior Capstone Courses
ACCT-467: Accounting Information Systems (Min Credits: 4.00)
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: Studio Seminar (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 (Min Credits: 2.00)
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 pro forma financial statements will be developed. Competencies Evaluated: - Create the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow or cash budget for an entity. - Demonstrate responsible financial decision-making in the best interests of self, organization, community and society. (WCore: SC)
BBA-PRJ5.F: Final Bus Plan Presentation (Min Credits: 2.00)
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. Competencies Evaluated: - Develop a professional, written business plan that addresses all required elements of a comprehensive business plan. - Demonstrate effective oral communication techniques, in either synchronous or asynchronous mode, a final business plan presentation to stakeholders. (WCore: SC)
BIOL-420: Senior Seminar (Min Credits: 2.00)
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,Computer Science (Min Credits: 2.00)
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. (WCore: SC)
COMM-490: Portfolio Workshop (Min Credits: 2.00)
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, internships, and professional work experience. Course should be taken in one of the last two semesters before graduation, preferably in the final semester. (WCore: SC)
DANCE-490: Senior Seminar (Min Credits: 2.00)
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 (Min Credits: 2.00)
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: SRCAP)
ECON-485: Senior Seminar (Min Credits: 4.00)
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. (WCore: SC)
EDUC-418: Student Teaching Seminar (Min Credits: 2.00)
This seminar provides a forum for teacher candidates to share information, address concerns, and network with supportive peers and faculty members during their student teaching. Additional foci on the teacher candidates' capstone assessment and career guidance are also provided. (WCore: SC)
EDUC-495: Senior Thesis/Project (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 college-wide sharing of their learning portfolio. Requires Senior standing and EDUC 390 or EDUC 440. May be taken at during the same semester as EDUC 440. (WCore: SC)
ENVI-405: Senior Capstone (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 (Min Credits: 4.00)
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)
HIST-490: Research Seminar in History (Min Credits: 3.00)
A required seminar for history majors, continuing the work begun in HIST 390. (WCore: SC)
JUST-490: Senior Capstone (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 - Literary Studies (Min Credits: 4.00)
A capstone course for LMW majors who are developing the skills to produce a well-researched, fully documented, comprehensive thesis on a textual, rhetorical, educational, linguistic, or media-focused 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 involving language, text, and narrative, and they will conduct advanced research. The course culminates in a successful completion of a written research project and satisfies the senior capstone requirement for LMW majors on the literary studies track. (WCore: SC)
LMW-405: Thesis - Creative Writing (Min Credits: 4.00)
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)
MATH-485: Senior Seminar (Min Credits: 2.00)
As the capstone to your mathematical career at Westminster, Senior Seminar provides the opportunity for you to summarize your experience by investigating a mathematical area that you love and want to know more about. As part of the Senior Showcase, you will have the opportunity to share this mathematical passion with your class and the Westminster community. You will also develop a final portfolio of the work you've completed throughout your mathematical career. (WCore: SC)
MGMT-450: Advanced Strategic Planning (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 (Min Credits: 2.00)
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 (Min Credits: 2.00)
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 Neuroscience (Min Credits: 2.00)
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-431: Capstone Synthesis (Min Credits: 2.00)
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 Educ and Leadership (Min Credits: 4.00)
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)
PHIL-390: Thesis Research Preseminar in Philosophy (Min Credits: 4.00)
A required seminar for senior philosophy majors, this course focuses 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. Students will prepare a substantial literature review and thesis proposal. Majors and minors take this course during the fall semester of their senior year. (WCore: SC)
PHIL-490: Research Seminar in Philosophy (Min Credits: 4.00)
This is a required seminar for senior philosophy majors, continuing the work begun in PHIL 390. Students produce a substantial piece of original scholarship in philosophy and present it to program faculty and their peers. Philosophy majors take this course during the spring semester of their senior year. (WCore: SC)
PLSC-490: Senior Capstone (Min Credits: 4.00)
A required course for all senior political studies majors. Students select, research, analyze, and discuss a political studies topic or problem. The results of each student's project will be written as a senior thesis and presented for discussion in a seminar setting. (Wcore: SC)
PUBH-490: Public Health Capstone Project (Min Credits: 4.00)
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. Prerequisite: completion or concurrent enrollment of all required courses in the major. (WCore: SC)
SOC-470: Senior Thesis (Min Credits: 4.00)
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 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 (Min Credits: 2.00)
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-470: Directing (Min Credits: 4.00)
Study of the theories and practices of staging plays for the theatre. Includes script analysis, production planning, rehearsal techniques, stage composition, and designer/director communication. Each student directs a one-act play for public performance. (WCore: SC)
WCSAM-400: Science Capstone (Min Credits: 2.00)
In this capstone seminar, students will extend their learning about a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topic of interest, improve skills in scientific communication and develop a creative portfolio by completing an interdisciplinary capstone project. Students will design and conduct literature research on a STEM topic of their choosing, design and prepare a professional scientific communication, present their work on campus at the Undergraduate Conference and identify a source to publish their scientific work to the larger community. This course provides the opportunity for students to begin a research project or can complement a project they have already begun within a variety of STEM majors. This course satisfies the WCore capstone requirement. (WCore: SC)