What it involves
More independence than a normal course: you propose, plan, and execute a substantial piece of work with a faculty advisor and periodic check-ins, often presented publicly at the end (see the undergraduate research symposium). Engineering and design majors build and test; humanities and social sciences write and defend; applied fields document a real placement.
Setting yourself up
Know which term your capstone falls in and don't overload around it. Line up an advisor whose interests fit your idea the term before. Treat the proposal seriously — a well-scoped project is the difference between a rewarding final year and a scramble. Keep every deliverable; the capstone is often the centerpiece of a job or graduate-school application.
In and around Porter Falls
Curriculum decisions at Porter run through the departments that meet in Founders Hall and the Applied Arts Building, then to Faculty Senate, then to the Provost in Millwright Hall. The pace is deliberately slow and the review calendar is published.
The practical details
Form: A design project, a thesis, a portfolio, a performance, a clinical placement, or a seminar — set by the major. Purpose: Integrate the whole degree, work at a professional standard, and produce something you can show. When: Usually a two-term sequence in the senior year; some majors place it in a single term. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Office of the Provost (Millwright Hall, Room 300). Call (715) 555–0130 or email provost@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.