2010 Capstone Festivals
Business
Business students are suiting up and checking their ties twice in the mirror for this year’s business capstone festival. Students have examined, analyzed and worked with local businesses to study their marketing plans, operations and policies. “It’s like having a personal semester long consultant for them,” said Marylou Shockley, Department Chair of the business program. The students then prepare a final report for the business they chose and create a 40 minute presentation for all to see. Some noteworthy businesses include the Sea Kings, Monterey Chamber of Commerce, Fresh Express and many others. The capstone festival for business majors will take place Friday May 21st and last the entire day.
Collaborative Health & Human Services
The Collaborative Health and Human Services (CHHS) department requires students to identify a problem in the community that deserves public action and what causes it. Ignacio Navarro, Assistant Professor of the Department of Health Human Services and Public Policy (HHSPP), said, “They design and implement a project through the agencies they are doing their internships with to ameliorate the problem. After they implement the project, they evaluate their results using a statistical analysis and an appropriate evaluation design.” It takes students a year to complete the project and it is presented during festival week to parents, HHSPP faculty and any people from the agency that helped them throughout their internship. The CHHS presentations will be held Friday, May 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library, Barnet Segal Auditorium.
Global Studies
The Global Studies (GS) major upholds an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of peoples, natural environments, cultures, economies and political systems of the world. It works toward providing the knowledge and skills needed to perform roles in intercultural relations and to pursue a successful career in global affairs.
This year’s GS Capstone Festival will take place May 20 at the Tanimura & Antle Memorial Library, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Barnett Segal Auditorium, room 1180. Senior Amber Spencer, a GS Major will be presenting her capstone at the festival. “I am excited to present my capstone on rainwater harvesting next week,” said Spencer. The festival will also be presenting a wide variety of capstones that cover all sides of GS studies. From U.S. Foreign Policy and a Nuclear Iran, by Anthony H. Bell to The Evolution of Philanthrocapitalism in the Fashion Industry, by Benjamin T. Rubio. Other topics include, The Beautiful Game: Soccer’s Impact on Ghana and South Africa’s Nationalism, by Jenya Jawad and Demystifying Day Labor in the Monterey Bay, by Matthew T. Gallegos.
Kinesiology
The kinesiology department capstone festival will be on May 20 in the UC living room from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
At this festival there will be approximately 40 students who will present posters on their capstone subjects. Three to four students will present their topics in a speech. James Bernard will be speaking about how his capstone was developing and putting together a cheer/spirit team for CSU Monterey Bay even though a football team is lacking. The spirit team is focused on the competitive aspect of the sport.
In pre-capstone students develop a topic and proposal. In their senior capstone they go out and do their capstones. “Pretty much like master thesis hours,” said Mark DeBeliso Kinesiology Department Chair. Capstone ultimately sets students up to present at a national conference.
Human Communications
Human Communications (HCOM) is undergoing a pilot capstone project next year. 20 students from different HCOM concentrations and Professor David Reichard will be challenging the way CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) handles capstone classes. This pilot comes on the heels of a study that Professors Reichard, Pat Tinsley and Gerald Shank conducted regarding the success of the current capstone model. “The current model was designed when the university was smaller,” said Reichard. Then, students were able to get more attention and better feed back from advisors. Now HCOM has grown to have 35 students per capstone section and there are multiple sections. The research showed the possibility of a different approach. “From that process we decided to try a new model, to test out a new approach the will get us back to the roots of CSUMB,” said Reichard. The new capstone project relies on the different concentrations to provide multiple viewpoints to achieve success for all students. The pilot will not be reinventing the wheel. “We want to preserve the best of we’ve done,” said Reichard. The process will be experimental and the students will have input in the final decision. HCOM will be holding their Capstone Festival on May 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the UC Ballroom.
Informational Technology & Communication Design
The Informational Technology and Communication Design (ITCD) major requires students to learn responsible ways of solving communication problems in the real world. To exhibit their understanding of the field, they must create a project, “Based on the course work taken in the major as well as the student’s individual strengths and passions,” says the ITCD homepage. The result of two semesters of work can be anything from complex web sites, programming or animations to planning and carrying out a technical event.
The festival will be held Friday May 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. in room 118 of the Media Learning Center. Project presentations will lead attendees into exploring student posters, displays and demonstrations. Visitors can interact and communicate with students who will be on hand to explain their research and development.
World Languages & Culture
The World Languages and Cultures (WLC) Capstone Festival will focus on the Spanish, Latin American and Japanese cultures. The festival will be different from other festivals in that students are putting to work their experiences from abroad to create capstone projects based on peoples, cultures and language. One such student is Spanish major, Savannah Gray. She studied the discriminating relationship between Dominicans and Haitians while abroad in the Dominican Republic. Her capstone, “Racial concepts in The Dominican Republic and how they are represented in the stories of Ana Lydia Vega, Aida Cartagena Portalatín and Juan Bosch,” explores how 200 years of bitter hostility between these two cultures were only quelled as a result of a natural disaster in the form of the regions last great earthquake.
Other students will “show their imagery about Palenque language, Kurosawa’s legacies, Andalusian gipsy, Sor Juana’s feminism, Totonecas culture and underground Japanese Hip-Hop,” said WLC department co-chair and professor, Dr. Maria Zielina. Many of the Japanese majors will explore aspects of Japanese culture such as Yosakoi Dance and Okinawan folk Music. The WLC Capstone Festival will be held on Thursday, May 20 and Friday, May 21 from 9a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Social & Behavioral Sciences
The Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS) Capstone Festival is May 20 at 9 a.m. at the University Ball Room. The festival will feature presentations from five SBS seniors including Evelyn Duran’s “Divided by a Border, United by Faith: Religion and Immigration at Iglesia Abierta.” Following the presentations guests are invited to join SBS in viewing the poster board presentations of the capstones. These capstones feature projects from within all of the SBS disciplines: Archeology, Political Economy, Geographic Information Systems Social history projects which include the students own archival research, Sociology, students examined a sociological question by doing their own observational studies, survey taking. Or by conducting a case study of a sociological study consisting of research done from library resources and past studies. Anthropology capstones feature the research done through the fieldwork.
Liberal Studies
Liberal Studies (LS) Department, students were allowed freedom when choosing the theme of their capstone. Dr. Scott Waltz, one of the LS capstone instructors, said, “Liberal Studies is about preparing students for their professional careers.” Many of the presentations include a theme centered around programs helping the community in a positive manner; one student implemented a celebration dubbed “El Dia de los Libros/ El Ejah del los Ninos,” or childrens day, which was put together for a local elementary school in Salinas. A different project will present how a student hosted a diversity and disability awareness workshop for the Boys and Girls Club in Salinas. Waltz said, “It’s exciting to see the students create something that uses their education but at the same time contributes to the community and of course demonstrate their readiness to be a professional.” The festival will alternate between students speaking about their presentations and a timeslot for research posters. The capstone will be held on May 20 10 a.m.- 4.p.m. in the University Cneter Conference rooms.
To view more spring 2010 capstone festival info visit otterrealm.net
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