Capstone Confusion
By: Makayla Casarez, Reporter
The Academic Building on the Aquinas Campus – Photo by Makayla Casarez
As students prepare their course schedules for the Fall 2025 semester, those who plan to graduate in December choose their final classes, often including the capstone courses of their particular majors. For most students this is a non-issue, though the same cannot be said for some English majors who graduate in December of 2025. The AQ English department is not offering the English capstone course until the Spring 2026 course catalog. Resulting in the suggestion for those English majors who are graduating in December 2025 or will otherwise be unable to attend the English capstone course being offered in the Spring 2026 semester to take the History capstone course instead.
The reasoning behind this recommendation has been the subject of much speculation and confusion among students with most students assuming that the proposition results from staffing changes in the English department. To clear up the confusion The Saint reached out to the professors involved.
“…English capstones are not offered by the English department in fall semesters – only once in the spring semester.”said Professor Amy Dunham Strand, Associate Professor of Women & Gender Studies, Interim Chair of the English Department Director of the Women & Gender Studies Program and Director of the Jane Hibbard Idema Women’s & Gender Studies Center. “Students who wish to graduate in December 2025 and did not register to take the English capstone this semester (SP 25) have thus been advised to take the upper-level History seminar, ‘Witchcraft, Magic, and Miracles,’ to accommodate the December graduation date. The English department views this interdisciplinary topic as ideal for both English and History majors…”
According to Dunham Strand, the English department not offering the English Capstone is not abnormal. Outside of this, the History Capstone being taught by Professor Gunnoe, History Department Chair and Director of Irish Studies, offers opportunities for both English majors and History majors alike.
“This seminar’s topic ‘Witchcraft, Magic, and Miracles,’ has attracted significant interest from both historians and literary scholars,” said Gunnoe. “Although history and political science share some topical overlap, history and English scholars employ more similar methodological approaches.”
While many capstone courses are offered in the fall, or maybe even twice a year, the English Capstone course is offered once a year during the spring semester. As a result, English Literature and Writing majors who are projected to graduate in the fall semester were advised to take the English Capstone course the spring semester before the semester they are to graduate, or have been advised to take the interdisciplinary topic offered by the History Capstone. Staff opinion on the topic remains generally positive, though that cannot be said for all parties involved. Student opinion on the matter seems to be mixed with some students having negative feelings while others feel neutral or positive about taking the class.
“I am honestly disappointed in not being able to take the senior capstone that I have been studying for during my entire college career,” said senior English major Sophia Lentine. “Though I understand that there is limited English faculty, I can see where a History Capstone would align well with English Literature, but I believe an independent study option would have been more appropriate for English Writing majors. I’m wanting to start a career in communications and I wish my senior capstone was more focused on that aspect of writing. I am a bit apprehensive about taking the History Capstone. I have no prior experience with college level history courses let alone a capstone.”
“I do not have any negative feelings towards taking the History Capstone itself, I actually think it sounds interesting, but I do find it incredible that there will literally not be enough English faculty to offer a capstone course next semester,” said junior English major Anna Benstead. “My only fear with this is that it will be specifically designed for history students… and so as a 400 level course I will not be equipped in the ways that I need to be and otherwise would have been to succeed.”
The Statue of St. Thomas Aquinas at the Main Entrance to the Aquinas Campus – Photo by Ashlyn Armock
English majors are not the only individuals impacted by the collaboration between the two departments.
“…I feel badly for the English majors who do not have their own capstone to take. This has happened to many other majors and I feel for them too…”said junior social studies major Ryan Lozinski. “I feel the class won’t be as fast paced as a capstone should be. There will be a heavy emphasis on accommodating between the history and social studies majors versus the English majors. The accommodations will feel like a slower pace and we won’t get as in-depth about some discussions versus others…”
Though the opinions on English majors joining the history and social studies majors in the History Capstone differ between the professors and students, and from student to student, the broadening of the class offers much opportunity for diverse perspectives and discussion.
The Saint 