Graduate Capstones Deliver Impact Beyond the Page

May 24th, 2021   |   School for International Training, SIT Graduate Institute

Fifteen SIT Graduate Institute students joined SIT leadership, faculty, and staff on Friday, May 14, 2021, for a closing ceremony celebrating a week of Capstone research presentations. The Capstone concludes the SIT graduate student experience for most degree programs and empowers students to synthesize their master’s learning in the form of a final research paper. The Capstone Seminar, which is held three times throughout the year, provides a vital opportunity for the students to bring that learning into conversation with peer research and experiences across the world.

"Capstone week is the culmination of so many individual journeys for MA students—and those who have supported them along the way,” says Interim Director of SIT Graduate Institute Dr. Kathryn Inskeep, who helped welcome students to the ceremony. “It is simultaneously the last step toward degree conferral and the next step toward professional goals."

Among this May cohort were thirteen students representing SIT’s part-time, hybrid master’s degrees in Sustainable Development, International Education, and Intercultural Service, Leadership & Management, as well as two students who completed SIT’s Graduate Certificate in International Education. With their Capstones, students delved into pressing issues from HIV/AIDS prevention in Southern Cameroon, to nuclear security and emergency management, English teacher training practices in Costa Rica, student mobility in the wake of COVID-19 in mainland China, and more.

“The Capstone Seminar showcased the best of the SIT Graduate Institute,” reflects Dr. Joseph Lanning, program chair of the master’s degree in Development Practice, who served as lead facilitator for the seminar. “The broader impacts of our students’ scholarly contributions go far beyond this seminar and encompass the work of case studies and original research that addresses major challenges and issues facing humanity while highlighting the importance of community organizing, resilience, collaboration, creativity, and hope. Their work was critical and generative, leading to concrete ideas and recommendations.”

The broader impacts of our students’ scholarly contributions go far beyond this seminar and encompass the work of case studies and original research that addresses major challenges and issues facing humanity while highlighting the importance of community organizing, resilience, collaboration, creativity, and hope

The closing ceremony also included remarks from SIT President Dr. Sophia Howlett, SIT Sustainable Development Program Chair Dr. Aly Dagang, and SIT Executive Director of Institutional Relations & Strategic Partnerships Mory Pagel. In August, the students will participate in SIT Graduate Institute’s Commencement where their degrees will be conferred, and which will officially mark the end of their SIT graduate studies.