It's required for Full University Honors. Students pursuing Associate University Honors can complete one too, even though it isn't required for that track.
Honors Capstone
Every University Honors student can complete a capstone: a significant project of your own choosing, guided by a faculty or staff mentor, on a topic that matters to you. It's a part of your NIU education that's entirely yours. For many students, it becomes the thing they're proudest of by graduation.
Honors capstones are required for Full University Honors and optional for Associate University Honors. They’re built into a normal schedule as a three-credit course students usually complete their final year.
Why Complete a Capstone
Completing a capstone project gives you the opportunity to:
- Work one-on-one with a faculty or staff mentor on a project you choose
- Explore and expand your knowledge by going deeper into something you already love, or branch into something new
- Sharpen your communication, critical thinking and reflective practice
- Share your work publicly, with a real audience, at a real venue
- Reflect on your own learning and how far you've come
This combination of sustained mentored work, a finished product, and the ability to talk about it with confidence is exactly what graduate admissions committees and employers are looking for.
Scholar Spotlight
My capstone was by far the most rewarding and difficult thing I have ever done. I would never have composed a piece like I did without being in the Honors Program. I will be able to put that on my resume and use it for the rest of my career.Katie Krogman, elementary education
What a Capstone Can Look Like
Capstone projects are as varied as our students. They include original research, creative and artistic work, community-engaged projects, clinical or fieldwork experience, entrepreneurial ventures and internships. What they have in common is a mentor who knows your field, sustained independent work over a semester, and a chance to put something real into the world and talk about it with confidence.
Planning to Work on Your Capstone?
Current Honors students completing a capstone should let the Honors Program know, and we'll add you to your capstone semester's group in the Honors Program Blackboard community. That's where you'll find onboarding videos, info sheets, templates and everything else you need, step by step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most students complete their capstone in their final year, working with a mentor over the course of one semester.
No. Many students don't settle on a topic until they've taken classes in their major and found a question or mentor that excites them.
No. Capstones can take many forms, including creative and artistic work, community-engaged projects, applied or entrepreneurial ventures, clinical or fieldwork experience, and internships. What's required is that it's completed through a registered capstone course, supervised by a faculty mentor or staff liaison, and results in a substantive independent or team-based project.
Often it's a professor from a class, a research lab, or an activity you're already involved in. The Honors Program helps connect students who haven't yet found a fit.
Yes. Honors students can apply for conference travel funding and other support through Honors, OSEEL and their own academic departments to help cover the cost of conducting and presenting their capstone.
No. Capstones are built into a normal course load as a three-credit course, usually in your final year. Capstone courses count toward Honors course completion and often toward major coursework (such as a senior design project in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology).
Many capstones are shared publicly at a poster event, a conference or a performance. Outstanding research and performance projects may be selected for Huskie Commons, NIU's permanent repository of undergraduate scholarly and creative work.
If you’re new to research, the Research Sandbox Series offered through OSEEL is a great starting point. The series consists of several modules and can be taken at any time. Self enroll here. Questions? Email ugresearch@niu.edu.
Contact Us
University Honors Program
Peters Campus Life Building 110
DeKalb, IL 60115