Graduate sustainability programs continue to innovate to ensure graduates master the competencies needed to address complex sustainability challenges. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and assess a multi-semester, theme-based Sustainability Capstone Innovation (SCI) implemented by a leading US sustainability graduate program as an alternative to its traditional capstone requirement.
The SCI is structured as a three-semester course in which multiple interdisciplinary teams work with clients on applied sustainability projects within a unifying theme. Its design was informed by sustainability education scholarship and higher education trends, and implementation is supported by a faculty community of practice that sustains instructional quality and scalability. Outcomes were assessed through a survey of 101 students (85% response rate) across six cohorts, triangulated with client feedback.
Students reported substantial improvements in competencies, especially systems thinking, adaptive project management and self-awareness. Limited variation in outcomes across cohorts supports the robustness of the innovation. Students attributed outcomes to SCI features such as just-in-time learning, cross-team collaboration and the three-semester structure. Client assessments corroborated these findings and affirmed student preparedness. Importantly, results demonstrate reciprocal impacts: students advanced job readiness while organizations reported strengthened capacity, an underexplored dimension of capstone research.
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper contributes one of the first systematic, multi-source analyses of a graduate-level, multi-semester experiential capstone. By documenting less-studied competencies, reciprocal student–organization benefits and the role of a faculty community of practice in scaling, the SCI offers a distinctive and transferable model for graduate sustainability education.
