Master’s Program
HDO Capstone Projects
Humanities-Based Solutions to Key Organizational Challenges
Taught by some of the University’s top professors, HDO Master’s students explore a diverse range of disciplines – including psychology, literature, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, and rhetoric – and apply them to key organizational issues including leadership, ethics, communication, change management, and decision-making.
Each student produces a Capstone Project that allows them to personalize HDO’s innovative multidisciplinary curriculum and apply it to an issue(s) of their choosing. These projects, which explore the applicability of the humanities and social and behavioral sciences to businesses and nonprofit organizations, serve as a culmination of all the work students have put forth in pursuit of their degree.
Designed for Widespread Applicability: Annual Public Presentation
These projects are presented to the general public, faculty members, business and nonprofit leaders, advisors, and family members at HDO’s annual Practical Applications of the Humanities for the Modern Workplace event.
At this event, students present posters that summarize the key points covered in their Capstone Project, answer your questions about their projects, and explore how their ideas may be applied to your organization.
Capstone Project Posters Archive
Click Project Title to View/Download Each Poster
Class of 2021
- Jaime Aguero: Employee Perception of Enterprise Social Media for Collaboration and Voice
- LaTosha Andrade: Teacher-Powered Schools: Leadership from the Ground Up
- Gabriel C. Granado: Leadership in Uncertainty: Strategies for Combatting Chaos
- Jennifer Lauren Hollingshead: The Development of Credibility in Job Interviews Through Storytelling
- Menaka Iyer: Enhancing Employee Belonging: A New Operating System for Today’s People-Centered Businesses
- Sandra Estefanía Lazo-Herencia: Business Sustainability Practices through Media Based Stakeholder Engagement
- Katherine M. Lummis: Environmental, Social, and Governance: A Recommendation for Small Wealth Management Firms
- Andrea Mooney: Evolution of a Digital Producer: How Traditional & Digital Journalists Interpret Collaboration in Local Newsrooms
- Jen Morgan: Shaking Hands with the Clock: Time in the American Workplace
- Raul Rivera: Are Employee Autonomy and Trust Vital for Organizational Success?
- Alexandria Root: Going Virtual: Understanding the Remote New Hire Experience
- Darlene Salazar: “Dress Appropriately:” A Reflective, Inclusive and Intersectional Approach to Workplace Attire
- Avery Thomas: Perceptions of Success: A Study About Perception of Success in Regards to Career Movement
Class of 2020
As with all things 2020, our graduation celebration was unique. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, large gatherings were not permitted to be held on campus. In light of this, HDO students, faculty, and staff held a virtual event that included Capstone project presentations and faculty greetings. You can view a recording of the virtual event and learn about the research projects that the Class of 2020 undertook.
Class of 2019
- Brian Keith Burgi: Correlating Organizational Factors & Job Satisfaction
- Lisa Jill Dalgliesh: Follower Perceptions of Leader Humility: Implications for Workplace Well-Being
- Rodney Terrell Gaither: The Military Spouse’s Unemployment Rate: Why Is It So High?
- Elena Espinoza Gearheart: Role Conflict in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases
- Sunny Nicole Hale: When is Enough…Enough? Women’s Moral Courage in the DoD Workplace
- Erika Cecilia Hernandez: Train to Retain
- Hamza Hamed Khan: The Virtual Public Square: Defining Hate Speech on Social Media Platforms
- Danielle Christina Mullings: Being Seen, Heard and Valued: The Power of Belongingness
- S. Shane Myers: Affective Awareness: Don’t Toughen Up, Open Up
- Andrea Marie Nathan: Managerial Barriers of Hotel Green Practices: A Case Study
- Jay Truett Norcross: Foreign-Born Workers and the Culture of Whistleblowing
- Noelle Meagan Parsons: Performance Evaluations: What Do Employees at the YMCA of the Rockies Want?
- John Clark Red: Managing Workplace Stress: Feasibility Study of Stress Measurement Techniques
- Nancy Rodill: Giving Circles: Inspiring Sustainability Through Group Engagement
- Kelly Lee Schaber: Reviving Fort Smith: The Unexpected Impact of Public Art
- Michael Jordan Scott: Exploring “Community” in Multi-Family Communities
- Julie Serafini: Emotional Labor in the Service Industry
- Elena G. Sixtos: How Millennial Workplace Experiences Are Impacted by Perceptions of the Millennial Generation
- Lynn Wills: Giving Everyday Resistance Voice: How Work Gets Done
- Maggie Qi Ye: The Challenges of Global Teamwork: An Autoethnography of a Global Team
Class of 2018
- Dan Ahearn: Leadership Through Athletic Coaching: Building Cohesive Teams
- Thaïs Bass-Moore: Going International With FLI: The Experiences of Black Women Abroad
- Loris Brooks: Building a Case for Communicating with Employees Throughout the M&A Process
- Kate Carroll: The Effects of Life Stage on Employee Tenure
- Cheryl Royal Corbin: Understanding Factors that Foster Volunteer Commitment in Nonprofit Organizations
- Juan De Amezaga: Boomerangs: Our Exit Reason Value System
- Lauren Duplessis: Leading Without Authority
- Andrew Elkin: Effective Team Building Games
- Kelly Hettinger: Happiness in the Workplace Promotes Productivity, Retention,Long-Term Employment, and Profitability
- Michelle Jack: Employee Commitment: Full-time vs. Temporary and Impact to Bottom Line
- Sophie Jehangir: Immigrants in the Workplace –Exclusion, Inclusion and a Framework
- Rachel Johnson: Inclusion of LGBTQ Employees
- Kandice Klumb: The What, Why and How of Building Self-Awareness in Your Workforce
- John Perez: A Learning Culture for Organizational Effectiveness
- Dani Pruitt: The Art of Relationship Marketing: Integrating Analytics and Audience
- Sam Rhodes: Teachers as Peer-Leaders: Is Training Needed?
- Julie Scheibel: Mindset Matters: An Approach To Improving Teacher Engagement
- Will Thornewell: Improving Ways to Increase Hospital Operating Room First-Case On-Time Starts
Class of 2017
- Janice Elaine Bruno: Fast Track to Health: Diabetic Community Outreach Pilot Program
- Megan Catherine Cotter: The Impact of Dual Identity Experiences on Student Development
- Brian Michael Doerr: Acceptance of Dissent in Organizations
- Jeannie Finn Flaherty: Organizational Research in Orthotics and Prosthetics
- Audra Camille French: Part-Time, Autonomous Tutors as Knowledge Workers: Motivation & Engagement
- Tina Jeanette Garza: Assessing Motivation in Blue-Collar Employees
- David Matthew Green: Identifying Traits & Values Associated with the City of Austin’s High-Performing Millennial Employees
- Vera Natasha Hinojosa: Is Meaning Coachable? Finding The Next Gear in Employee Engagement and Performance
- J.D. Holt: Confidential Incident Reporting: A Potential Pathway to More Effective Safety Systems and High Reliability in Oil and Gas
- Daniel John Ireland: Receptive Leadership: Engage, Listen, Adjust, Repeat
- Shannon Myers Johnson: How to Mitigate the Human Cost of Emotional Labor
- Sara Elena Llansa: A Framework for Visioning in Social Change Organizations
- Natalie June Marie McBurney: Women and U.S. Special Operations Barriers to the Successful Integration of Women into Special Operation Forces
- Stephanie Yoshie Maddox: Beyond the Binary: How Genderqueer Employee Identity Affects Manager Decision Making
- Susan Elizabeth Matlock: Employee Job Satisfaction: Moving Beyond Pay in the Public Sector
- Esaú Gonzales Molina: A Literature Review on Race and Identity as it Pertains to Black and Latino Professional Men
- Elizabeth Anne Moliter: Win-Win-Win: Creating a New Model for Developing Temporary Staff
- Lara Catherine Reichle: A Study of Part-time Professional Work: Case Study Analysis of the Practice in the United Kingdom and the United States
- Jill Marie Saletta: Exploring the Relationship Between Purpose and Employee Engagement
Class of 2016
- Sarah K. Burchfield: Is the Future Female? How Emotional Intelligence and Gender Affect Workplace Leadership and Success
- Lisa M. Cox: Managing Change While Creating Change: A Nonprofit Perspective
- Kathryn Keevan: Working Single: How Marital Status Affects Treatment in the Workplace
- Joshua Alan Levine: Tao of the Boostrap
- Molly Schriber-Cushing: Non-Economic Challenges Family Businesses Face
- Rosita Tran III: The Old Ball Coach: A Case Applying Four Startup Methodologies
- Janice V. Williams: Keep the Doors Open: A Case for Preserving Individual & Institutional History
- Stacey E. Winning: The Meaninglessness of Organizational Culture
- Alan J. Yancelson: Hillel San Antonio’s Search for Space
- Amanda Liming Zhu: Meaning-Based Communication for Engagement
Class of 2015
- Graham Chapman: Characteristics of Learning Organizations
- Neil Crump: Information Flow to Front-Line Employees: Leader-Member Exchange Theory
- Holly Earnest: Montessori Perspectives on Newcomer Socialization
- Cyndee Lake: Compassion Factor: The Intersection of Culture, Leadership, and Results
- Michael Larson: The Intersection of Values and Decisions in an Organization
- John O’Leary: Concepts of Leadership and Management in a Free Agent World
- Muna Mitchell: The Role of Organizations in Individual Resilience
- Patty Prado: Mindful Email: Strategies for Leaders
- Janna Rich: An Investigation of Global Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation
- Yu-Chieh Su: Different Recruitment Policies in Three Kinds of Organization Structures
- Paige F. Vurpillat: Characteristics of Successful Students in Non-Traditional Cohort Environments
- Laura Atchison Wagner: Finding Virtual Fika: An Exploration of Trust and Community in Partially Distributed Teams (PDTs)
- Heather Watson: Hiring for Culture: Exploring Small Business Selection Processes
- Vicki Zuzak: Maturing Pre-Employment Assessment Programs
Class of 2014
- Kirby Attwell: Remote Integration Program, A Plan for Alternative Mentorship
- Ximena Lucia Baez: A Humanities Approach to Improve Retention in QSR Managers
- Christine Burdell: Approaching the Human Dimensions of Team Mergers
- Amy Hammons: The Cult of Agreeableness
- Aram Kaplan: RiskFactor
- Lester Mayfield: Extra-Curricular Voluntary Academic Interventions
- Donaldo Puller: Human Dimensions Development Guide for 802d Force Support Squadron
- Encarnacion Torres: Investing in Meetings
- Del Watson: Generation Y and Leadership: How Will Leadership Be Defined by This Generation?
- Frankie Xu: Apprentice Project: A Program for Integrating Internships with Entrepreneurship Education for International Students