About
Attention & Reflection
Regardless of the course topic, students in a Capstone Seminar will integrate and synthesize knowledge and skills acquired through their coursework and their co-curricular experiences to develop a comprehensive and multidimensional understanding of themselves and their field(s) of study. Students will engage in reflective practices, assessing how their academic and co-curricular experiences have shaped their personal growth, relationships, understanding of their faith, and their commitment to their values and ethical practices meant to advance the common good.
Imagination & Discernment
Students will engage with opportunities to explore in greater depth topics designed to prepare them both personally and professionally for life after college, with particular attention to relationships, work, spirituality, and citizenship. Course topics could include, but are not limited to, personal relationships, leadership development, ethical decision-making, spiritual and faith practices, healthy decision-making, mindfulness, resilience, career exploration, job search strategies, professional communication, and financial literacy. In addition to the attention placed on personal development, students in these courses will also be asked to consider their role and responsibility to real-world challenges and the promotion of the common good. Students will examine the ethical dimensions of the course topics, applying moral discernment to complex societal issues and developing a heightened sense of responsibility for examining self, self with others, and self in the world.
Most of these seminars have a maximum enrollment of 20 students, offering space in which students can ponder these topics within a community of discourse. The continuing success of the Capstone Seminar Program demonstrates that the senior year is a unique “teachable moment” made more rich and fully human by leading our students to ask themselves who they are becoming as they transition to life beyond Boston College.
Program Goals:
Grounded in the core Jesuit values of intellectual inquiry, moral and ethical discernment, and commitment to the common good, Capstone Seminars encourage seniors to develop a holistic understanding of themselves along four programmatic pillars: relationships, spirituality, citizenship, and career. To this end, proposed courses must meet both of the following criteria:
- Attention and Reflection: Lead students in sustained reflection on their lives from their childhoods, through their early years at Boston College, to their present.
- Imagination and Discernment: Ask students to imagine their futures as they consider how their undergraduate education and experiences may apply to and help animate their lives and the world beyond Boston College.
Capstone seminars are structured as either:
a) true University electives (with a sole course designation of UNCP) that are topical inquiries into a unifying theme of the instructor’s expertise and choosing, or
b) discipline-specific requiring advanced work within the students’ major/minor and cross-listed in that discipline.
We offer a rich variety of Capstone seminars that carry either a three, two, or one-credit load. The faculty and instructors of these courses represent over 20 different departments and programs as well as the Division of Student Affairs and the Division of Mission and Ministry, including deans, chairs, and directors and new instructors teach every year.
In the spirit of being able to offer as many seats to as many interested seniors, students are limited to taking no more than 5 of their 120 credits for graduation in the Capstone Seminar Program. If the Capstone seminar is designated to be graded on the 4.0 scale, students cannot opt to take the course for a pass/fail grade.
It is our sincere hope that all seniors take advantage of this academic opportunity that is rooted in Boston College’s Jesuit catholic identity.
Contact
Biz Bracher, Ph.D.
elizabeth.bracher@bc.edu
617-552-1749
Stokes South 141