The Projects for Professionals capstone course is the culmination of a student’s academic program in pursuit of the Corporate & Organizational Communication master’s degree. The goal is for students to apply the concepts and skills they have learned in their academic studies to a real-world challenge. Working individually or in teams, students act as virtual consultants to a wide range of sponsoring organizations.

This capstone course has two main stages, each of which lasts five weeks. During the first stage, called Research and Discovery, students learn everything they can about the sponsor’s organization, objectives, current communication or human resources practices, and the challenges that need to be addressed. During the second stage, called Recommendations, students develop a set of recommendations that will best support the sponsor. See the figure below illustrating the elements of the final report.

The sponsor meets weekly via videoconference, phone call, and/or email with the students. The sponsor assists students in learning about the organization, its mission, and its key business objectives. She or he also provides feedback on how effectively they are performing and areas where they can improve as consultants. The sponsor also plays a critical role in listening to and discussing the recommendations at the end of the project.

The students will provide their final recommendations in a written and oral presentation as directed by faculty.