Capstone Submission Checklist

Before the Semester:

• Select a member of the Graduate Faculty to serve as your capstone chair. Although you indicated a preliminary chair via a COMM 6000 module assignment, this selection is not finalized until you have a conversation with the faculty member and they have agreed to serve that role.
• Meet with your capstone chair to discuss your proposed topic at least two sessions before the capstone submission deadline. This will provide ample time for you and your chair to finalize the prospectus before submitting to the program director for review by the graduate council (composed of all graduate faculty in the MAPC program).
• Submit a Capstone Prospectus document in the session immediately preceding the semester in which you plan to complete your capstone.

The prospectus should be emailed to the graduate program director, who will then distribute to the graduate council for full review and approval. Please make sure that you have worked with your capstone chair to finalize your submission and solicited feedback from the SUU Graduate Writing Center before submitting it for formal approval. Your submission will not be reviewed if you fail to complete either of these two steps.

• Add the capstone course to your schedule by filling out an online Add/Drop Form. This form will be routed to your capstone chair and the graduate director for approval. Please note that each faculty member has a separate course listing for thesis and for projects, so make sure you sign up for the correct faculty member and for the correct type of capstone.

During the Semester:

• Coordinate with your chair to establish working deadlines for various sections of your capstone and to stay on top of those deadlines. Although most of your classes up to this point in the program have been delivered via Canvas, faculty generally do NOT use Canvas in working with students to complete their capstones. The whole process is done through emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings, so please don't panic if there is not a Canvas shell created for the course. You need to contact your chair at the beginning of your capstone session for your instructions on how to proceed.
• Once the capstone thesis/project is near completion, have your chair review your document for a final time to ensure it satisfies the requirements for a capstone. In addition to feedback from your chair on the final document, you are also required to have your capstone reviewed by someone in SUU's Graduate Writing Center, who will proofread your paper for grammar and proper APA formatting. You can make an appointment for a virtual meeting with a writing tutor at the following website: SUU Graduate Writing Center. Your capstone will not be formally submitted and your degree awarded until the program director receives an email from the writing center documenting your visit with the writing tutor.

Submitting Your Capstone Paper:

Once your paper is free of errors and approved by your chair, please complete the following steps to submit your capstone paper:

• Library Permission Form: Fill out the Library Permission Form with your personal information and signature.
• Emailing Documents: Email your paper as a PDF document and the library permission form (with all of your personal information and appropriate signatures to the graduate director, Kevin Stein, at stein@suu.edu and the HSS graduate coordinator, Stacie Stein, at staciestein@suu.edu. The HSS graduate coordinator will ensure that your documents are submitted to the library for archiving.

Receiving a Final Grade:

• Once the capstone is submitted to the program director and HSS graduate coordinator, please check your grades to make sure that your capstone chair submitted a passing grade for you.
• Once you have submitted the application for graduation (https://www.suu.edu/graduation/graduates.html), emailed your capstone and library permission form to your chair, and ensured the chair submitted your final grade for the capstone course as well as any "continuance" capstone courses you needed to complete it, the registrar will record your grade(s) and the degree will be awarded. It may take a while for your diploma to arrive, so please be patient. SUU prints diplomas at the end of each semester and they are sent out as a batch typically 30-45 days from the end of the semester.
• Keep in mind that the graduation ceremony (at the end of the Spring semester) is not required for you to receive your degree. We love it when students are able to come to Cedar City, participate in the ceremony, and take pictures with us, but for many this isn't logistically feasible and they are happy to have their degrees arrive through the mail.