Capstone in Integrative Studies is the culminating experience for the BAIS degree. In this course students review the disciplinary work they have completed throughout their undergraduate program, analyze that work, and update and organize it into a portfolio that represents a thoughtful reflection of their educational experience. Successful students demonstrate how what they've learned from different disciplines can be integrated into a final research project, which can be a thesis-driven or a problem-driven research paper, or an informed creative project with artist statement. Students will present their final work to a peer audience and include in a final portfolio of their best work in the BAIS program. Students will also be asked to consider how their BAIS degree can be used to find and succeed in a chosen professional field. IST 397 Interdisciplinary Inquiry is a prerequisite.
The BAIS graduates are capable of interdisciplinary thinking and integrative learning but perhaps not yet accomplished at transdisciplinary work. They are able to see connections across different college disciplinary courses and to integrate ideas and insights into a single project. Graduates can explain the nature and value of interdisciplinary study to a potential employer. They are prepared to begin more complex transdisciplinary study.
Students in IST 497 plan and produce an informed thesis-driven, problem-driven, or creative work that draws on insights and methods from different disciplines to arrive at a new synthetic insight or solution.
Students in IST 497 use multiple and sustained arguments that all support a clear conclusion or recommendation.
Students in IST 497 produce writing that is sensitive to the wide audiences both inside and outside the academy and across different disciplines.
Students in IST 497 generate relevant and reliable information through independent or collaborative inquiry and use that information properly in an interdisciplinary project.
All students will create a portfolio of their work. Students who have taken IST 185 Introduction to Integrative Studies and IST 397 Interdisciplinary Inquiry will continue with the portfolio created in those courses. Students who are working under catalogs before 2018 should consult their instructor for portfolio requirements. The portfolio requirements created in IST 497 include
Two Artifacts and Reflection (IST 497)
Select two of artifacts from different disciplines for this portfolio as evidence of your accomplishments in the BAIS program. Artifacts are essays, papers, or creative works you turned in for other classes in your areas. Choose your best work; you are encouraged to revise an artifact before submitting it. Include a short narrative in which you explain the assignment and the course in which it was assigned; its contribution to your driving interdisciplinary interests in the program; your revisions, if appropriate; and why it represents your best work.
Intellectual Autobiography (IST 497)
Submit a brief (2-3 page) intellectual biography. Describe your intellectual journey through the BAIS program. Include specifically a brief statement explaining what you studied in the BAIS program, the nature of integrative study as you now understand it, and in what your research interest consists.
Annotated Bibliography (IST 497)
Submit an annotated bibliography of at least six entries, three of which you will annotate.
Updated Prospectus (IST 497)
Update your prospectus from IST 397 if necessary or develop something new.
Capstone Project (IST 497)
Your final research project will demonstrate that you can integrate perspectives, methods and insights from different disciplines. Includes properly formatted bibliography.