WWII Studies Capstone

Culminating Experience

The culminating experience in the WWII Studies MA program is a Capstone course designed to help students build a graduate-level professional digital portfolio. The Capstone allows students to showcase the breadth and depth of their MA experience and to articulate the value of the degree to potential employers or admissions committee members.

Capstone Components:

Once a student completes all/most of other course requirements, the student enrolls in WWS 597: Capstone (3 credit hours). The outcome of this course will be the production of a digital portfolio consisting of four required components. The Capstone Portfolio must include the following:

1. A final project from one of the following courses:

• HST 454: The History of Genocide

• WWS 566: World War II Today

• WWS 564: The Global War

• WWS 591: Genocide, War, and Memory

• WWS 591: Framing WWII

• WWS 563: Lived Experience

• WWS 569: Memory and Monuments

• WWS 598: Leadership and Diplomacy in World War II, 1940-1945

• WWS 561: Decision Points I

• WWS 562: Decision Points II

The student will need to consider any recommendations and editorial suggestions made by the original instructor and by the capstone instructors, address any methodological shortcomings, revise and build on the original project to meet the new project parameters, and copy-edit the work prior to submission.

2. The final project submission must be accompanied by an audio or video presentation based off of the final project.

3. Assignment-specific Reflective Essay: As part of the Capstone Portfolio, students will produce an essay of no more than 700-words for the required component listed above. After a brief description of the topic, the essay should examine its significance, offer a short discussion of the conclusions the student drew, as well as reflect on what the student could have done differently. The essay should conclude with what the student found to be valuable in the experience. How did the experience strengthen the student’s skills and how can they be utilized in the future?

4. Program Reflection: It is the hope of the WWII Studies faculty at Arizona State University that each student will graduate with knowledge and competencies that transcend narrow disciplinary concerns. As part of the Capstone Portfolio, students will produce an essay, 500-750 words, that reflects on the two most important things the student learned in the WWII Studies MA program. In addition to identifying what those two things are, the student should explain why they are important and how they will be useful to the student after graduation.

13. Capstone Supervisory Committee

Students will automatically be assigned a Supervisory Committee consisting of the members of the WWII Studies Program Committee and, thus, do not need to submit a Committee Selection Form. The committee members for the 2023-2024 school year are:

Chair: Christopher Jones
Member: Yan Mann
Member: Jason Dawsey