EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Communication Capstone
What is Communication Capstone?
Communication Capstone requires students to integrate knowledge obtained throughout the degree program and demonstrate communication competency through the development of a significant Academic Service-Learning project. Students partner with a nonprofit organization during the semester in order to help the organization with communication focused needs, all while enhancing their learning, and gaining insight into working in a professional environment.
Interested in getting involved and becoming a community partner? Contact Dr. Jenny Kindred, capstone instructor, by email: jkindred@emich.edu or by phone: 734-487-4225
information for Students
Student FAQ
Student Project Examples
Student Testimonial
Project Description & Requirements
information for Community Partners
Community Partner FAQ
Community Partner Letter
Community Partner Testimonial
We’re very grateful for the Capstone students. Their availability has allowed us to undertake work that, as a small nonprofit, we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. We’ve had students help us create a Trivia Night friendraiser from scratch, as well as many students who have been an integral part of our Annual Dinner planning committee. We’ve had several students help us with our annual Bed & Crib Drive, which included creating press releases, marketing materials, videos and more. We’ve also had students help us research foundations to help us get additional grant funding and conduct client interviews to create profiles.
We’ve found that EMU Capstone students bring a much-needed infusion of creativity to our communication and development efforts. They have really gotten involved. In many cases, they stay on after their Capstone tenure to see the culmination of their efforts. In short, the Capstone students give us the wiggle room we need to explore new methods of marketing and new development ideas.
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~Laurie Sternberg, Friends In Deed, Ypsilanti MI
Meet The Professors
Jeannette Kindred
Dr. Kindred joined EMU in the Fall of 2006 after teaching for six years at a small college in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Her research interests are in academic service learning, assessment, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She enjoys collaborating with colleagues and students on different kinds of research projects, most of which center on various learning environments. She has presented and published research related to student communication in the online classroom; learning about health information via an online virtual world (Second Life); the popular teacher rating site, Ratemyprofessors.com; the use of case studies as a teaching methodology; the effect of group versus individual grading strategies, and nonprofit capacity building as a result of university community engagement. Currently, she is working on a long-term project investigating organizational and community impacts related to Academic Service-Learning and the Communication Capstone course.
Dr. Kindred is also active on campus outside the classroom, having served regularly on CAS college council, CAS Assessment committee, and also serving in the AAUP Faculty Union Leadership for several years.
Dennis O'Grady
Dennis O'Grady specializes in interpersonal and family communication. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Miami University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He has been a professor at Eastern Michigan University since 1996. His research focuses on communication in “discourse dependent” families. Discourse dependent families are visibly different than the so-called traditional family and thus spend more time explaining, justifying, and defending their family to others. Dr. O'Grady has presented his research at numerous national and regional communication conferences. His work has been published in Parents and Children Communicating with Society, Gender Actualized: Cases in Communicatively Constructing Realities, Child Welfare, and others.
Dr. O'Grady teaches graduate courses in interpersonal and family communication and undergraduate courses in communication theory, nonverbal communication, and gender communication. He also serves as the undergraduate advising coordinator for the department.