Spring 2012 Capstone Deadlines

• April 11: First draft capstone reports and self-assessments to advisors.
• April 18: Adivor comments returned to students (without formal assessment).
• April 25: Capstone reports to advisors (and 2nd readers for honors) for first assessment.
• May 2: First assessment returned to students.
• May 9: Capstone report to advisors (and 2nd readers for honors) for final assessment.

Computer Crashes and Deadlines: Loss of your capstone due to a computer crash is not a valid excuse for missing deadlines. You have many ways of backing up your capstone data and files, so be sure to frequently back up all important capstone files as you update them.

Capstone Draft Deadline:

• To receive credit for meeting this deadline, you are required to submit a complete capstone report, unless legitimate logistical constraints associated with data collection and/or analysis make this impossible. In such cases, and with advisor approval, you must submit at minimum a polished cover letter, introduction, and methods section to receive credit for meeting the deadline.
• If you meet this deadline:
  • Your capstone advisor is obligated to return your capstone draft to you with comments within one week.
  • If your capstone advisor does not return your capstone to you by the faculty deadline, you are guaranteed one week to revise from the date you receive feedback on your capstone draft (i.e. the deadline for the first assessment will be pushed back).
• If you miss this deadline:
  • Your capstone advisor is not obligated to provide any feedback prior the first assessment.
  • Your capstone seminar grade will be lowered one step (e.g. from a "B" to a "B-").

First Capstone Assessment Deadline:

• To receive credit for meeting this deadline, you are required to submit a complete capstone report.
• If you meet this deadline:
  • Your capstone advisor (and second reader, for honors) is obligated to return your assessment and feedback to you within one week.
  • If you do not receive your assessment and feedback by the faculty deadline, you are guaranteed one week to revise from the date you receive your assessment and feedback (i.e. the deadline for the final assessment will be pushed back).
• If you miss this deadline:
  • You will not receive a first assessment of your capstone report.
  • Your capstone seminar grade will be lowered one step (e.g. from a "B" to a "B-").
  • Note: students who miss this deadline or submit very incomplete capstone reports by this deadline commonly do not pass capstone because they lose the opportunity for feedback and revision prior to the final assessment.

Final Capstone Assessment Deadline:

• No capstones will be accepted for assessment after this deadline.
• If you miss this deadline:
  • Your captone grade will be the grade your capstone received on the first assessment. (If you did not submit a capstone for the first assessment or did not pass the first assessment, you will not pass capstone in the current semester.)
  • You will receive feedback on whether or not you passed your capstone prior to the capstone festival so that you know whether you will be allowed to present.
• If you do not submit a passing capstone report by this deadline:
  • You will not be allowed to present at the capstone festival.
  • You will receive a grade of "RP" (Report in Progress) or "F" in Capstone Seminar II.
  • You will not graduate in the current semester.

Capstone Festival: You are required to have passed your capstone assessment before you will be permitted to present at the capstone festival.

Deadline Extensions: Because the SEP faculty agreed to strictly and collectively hold all capstone students to the above deadline policy , individual faculty members are not at liberty to allow deadline extensions. The SEP faculty agreed to strictly and collectively hold students to the above deadline policy for several reasons:

• Granting extensions is not fair to students who have effectively budgeted their time to get drafts of their capstone reports submitted by the established deadlines. If some faculty hold their advisees to strict deadlines while other are lenient about deadlines, that creates inequities that allow some students more time to work on the capstone reports than others. Consequently, individual faculty have agreed to hold all students to established deadlines.
• One objective of the capstone requirement is to prepare students for professional work in the real world where deadlines are really deadlines. Thus we expect you to be able to budget your time so that you are able to complete and submit yourwork by the established deadlines.
• Faculty members budget time into their schedule to complete capstone assessments in a timely manner. If you miss the deadline, you cannot assume your advisor (and second reader, for honors) will have time to assess your capstone work in a timely manner.

Adjustments to Deadline Schedule: Sometimes faculty members need to adjust deadlines because other professional obligations prevent them from following the established deadlines. If this is true for your advisor, s/he will work out an alternative deadline schedule with you in advance.