HCOM Capstone Archive

HCOM 475-01: Being Human in an AI Driven World

Students explore how artificial intelligence is enhancing, challenging, and redefining what it means to be human. Through critical analysis of AI in writing, medicine, art, relationships, and spiritual life, the course examines how emerging technologies shape creativity, identity, ethics, and human connection. Grounded in humanistic inquiry, students produce original research or creative work that contributes to the evolving conversation about humanity in an AI driven world.

HCOM 475-02: Food for Thought

Students use humanistic inquiry to examine how communication technologies transform identity, community, and everyday life in an era of constant connectivity. The course explores virtual identities, digital activism, and mobile culture while critically engaging AI threats, digital divides, online abuse, and algorithmic misinformation. Through research or creative work, students consider how these forces shape attention, empathy, civic participation, and the health of our democracy.

HCOM 475-90: Power, Privilege, Place

Students examine how power shapes identity and opportunity through race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and place. Through critical dialogue and research or creative work, the course explores the relationship between power, privilege, and education as foundations for democratic participation and change making activism.

Grounded in the Mayan concept of In Lak’Ech “you are my other me” the seminar fosters a decolonial learning environment rooted in critical consciousness and social justice.

Spring 2026 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations (link coming soon!)

Spring 2026 HCOM Capstone Festival Digital Program (link coming soon!)

HCOM 475-01: Examining Our Digital Lives

Students examine virtual identities, digital activism, and mobile culture while critically analyzing AI threats, digital divides, online abuse, and misinformation. The course explores how these issues shape personal growth, civic participation, and the health of our democracy.

HCOM 475-90: Power, Privilege, Place

Students explore how race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and place influence systems of power, privilege, and access. The course encourages critical engagement with these structures as a foundation for meaningful dialogue, democratic participation, and change-making activism. Grounded in the Mayan concept of In Lak’Ech—“you are my other me”—the class also seeks to create a decolonial learning environment that supports critical consciousness, healing, and social justice.

Fall 2025 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

Fall 2025 HCOM Capstone Festival Digital Program

HCOM 475-01: Media, Pop Culture & Identity

HCOM 475-02: Our Digital Lives

HCOM 475-90: Environmental Justice

Spring 2025 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

Spring 2025 HCOM Capstone Festival Digital Program

HCOM 475-01: Examining Our Digital Lives

HCOM 475-90: Food for Thought: Food Ethics and Capitalism

EGS 475: Senior Capstone

Spring 2024 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

HCOM 475-01: Food, Ethics, and Capitalism

Food is central to our identity and human experience. It is a vital ingredient in our daily lives in so much as it affects our bodies and emotions, defines our cultures, reflects social inequalities, presents us with ethical dilemmas, connects us in chains of production, distribution, and consumption, inspires artistic celebration, and creates political and social conflict. This course asks students to investigate the relationship between food, ethics, and capitalism and engage each other on topics related to food sovereignty, sustainability and justice. 

HCOM 475-90: Culture & Ideology

The course explores how public narratives create and divide communities through a variety of media and cultural practices: K-12 education, museums, statues, television, films, music, visual art, and sport. Ultimately, we assess how stories about the past, present, and future inspire and shape public life.  

Fall 2023 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

HCOM 475-01: Democracy in Crisis: Past, Present, Future

HCOM 475-02: Hidden Histories: The Stories That Shape Us

HCOM 475-90: Food, Ethics, and Capitalism

Spring 2023 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

HCOM 475-01: Food for Thought: Engaging Food Politics and Ethics

HCOM 475-02: Culture and Ideology

2020 Grads: Congratulations from HCOM Faculty

HCOM 475-01: Social Justice: What's Love Got to Do With It?

HCOM 475-02: Diaspora

HCOM 475-03: Social Identities, Politics and Change

HCOM 475-04: Hidden Histories

Congratulations to the Class of 2020 video from HCOM Faculty

HCOM 475-01: Trauma and Healing

HCOM 475-02: Crisis and Opportunity, Culture and Community

Fall 2019 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

HCOM 475-01: Social Identity, Politics and the Way Forward

HCOM 475-02: Diaspora

HCOM 475-03: Power, Privilege, Place

HCOM 475-04: Critical Legal Studies and Critiques of Justice

Spring 2019 HCOM Capstone Festival Presentations

HCOM 475-01: Ways of Knowing Humanity

This capstone course will engage you in study, discussion, and development of projects regarding the numerous ways we come to recognize, comprehend, and make meaning of humanity. We will ask, "How is perception related to reality and truth?" "If multiple realities exist, how then do we love and live together?" "How do memories, dreams, and imagination help us to know ourselves?" "What roles do faith and belief play in understanding the world around us and the potential hereafters?" And, "Why do we rely on language to affirm, validate, and share that we exist?" Throughout the course, we will analyze various texts and develop capstone projects related to the ways we come to know and understand ourselves and each other.

HCOM 475-02: Food for Thought: How the Humanities Can Engage the Politics of Food

Food is a vital ingredient in our daily lives. It affects our bodies and emotions, defines our cultures, reflects social inequalities, presents us with ethical dilemmas, connects us in chains of production, distribution, and consumption, inspires artistic celebration, and creates social conflict. In our capstone seminar, we will be using the tools of the humanistic disciplines, including communication, philosophy, literature, journalism, history, ethnic studies, legal studies, and creative writing to understand how human experiences are shaped by the politics and ethics of food choices. Students will have the opportunity to define, investigate, and impact their own chosen topic within the general theme of food politics. Student projects can engage the theme at the individual, communal, cultural, organizational, national, or global levels. Our overall goal is to use our expertise as humanities scholars to grow more informed and critical in how we view, talk about, and ultimately make choices about food, both individually and collectively.

HCOM 475-01: Story: The Heart of the Humanities and Communication

Stories are everywhere; they’re important to all academic disciplines and discourses. Storytelling is a best practice in business, politics, law, the STEM fields, and, of course, in the arts and humanities. In Minds Made for Stories (2014), literacy scholar Thomas Newark argues that narrative is the primary way we understand ourselves and our world, observing that “as humans, we must tell stories.”

HCOM students are particularly well prepared to investigate the impact of stories on our ways of knowing and being. Our interdisciplinary major includes the fields of literature, philosophy, journalism, history, ethnic studies, pre-law, communication, and creative writing and social action—fields all characterized by storytelling. In this Senior Capstone Seminar, we’ll examine digital stories, narrative as rhetoric, storytelling in the workplace, narrative and literacy, narrative and argument, and media filters that influence our access and response to stories. Drawing on Newark's scholarship, students will explore this uniquely human and compelling capacity from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and socio-cultural contexts on their way to telling their own research, creative, or project-based story.

HCOM 475-02: Rhetoric and Justice

Haitian scholar Michel-Rolph Trouillot once wrote: “When reality does not coincide with deeply held beliefs, human beings tend to phrase interpretations that force reality within the scope of these beliefs.” This course explores the interface of rhetoric and ideology, and assesses the implications for social transformation. We take three steps. First, we track the rhetorical creation of inclusion/exclusion. Second, we explore theories and practices of public memory. Third, we evaluate narratives circulated through diverse media and cultural practices (e.g., museums, film, digital campaigns, journalism, visual art, religion, sport). Ultimately, we assess how stories about the past, present, and future fortify and/or transform society. Throughout, we learn to better: 1) interpret the communication around us, and 2) advocate for change in the world.

HCOM 475-03: Leadership

Nearly twenty years ago, an HCOM major asked her classmates, “How will you live it?” She wanted to know how other students would apply what they had learned about interracial communication to their everyday lives. What will you do with what you have learned in HCOM? We will study the art of leadership to help you take the next steps in your life and to make ethical and effective decisions amidst the rapid changes of the 21st century. Each capstone project will include an applied leadership section, with specific steps on how to enact your values, visions or goals.

HCOM 475-01: Trauma & Healing

Pain and suffering are unavoidable elements of the human experience. Over the course of a lifetime, everyone experiences injury, illness, isolation, disappointment, and loss. At the macro level, war; geographic displacement and forced migration; institutional discrimination, racism, injustice, and oppression; poverty; and environmental catastrophes create cultural trauma and suffering. In this Capstone Seminar, we will explore the ways in which the areas of study encompassed by the Division of Humanities and Communication provide a means both to understand human trauma and suffering and equipment to alleviate or even heal from our individual and collective traumas and suffering. We will consider, among other topics, the ways in which literature and the arts may be medicine, the role of communication in creating or easing suffering, the relationship of our identities to suffering, justice and restorative justice, philosophical insights into the causes and cures for human suffering, and the role of creative expression in alleviating suffering.

HCOM 475-02: Border Crossing, Cultural Negotiations and the Search for Identity

This Senior Capstone Seminar is designed to encourage students to place the study of self and society in cultural, historical, political, and/or economic contextualization. The School of New Criticism, for instance, posits that "the complexity of literature lies in its use irony and paradox." Thanks to the development of some of the contemporary theories such as post-modernism and new historicism, we start to look at how culture, history, politics, and economic stratification not only inform but also help define literary representations of society. Or in British culturalist Raymond Williams's words, to avoid reducing the concept of "typicality" to "art as the typification (representation, illustration) not of the dynamic process but of its (known) laws" is to define "typicality" as "a constitutive and constituting process of social and historical reality" "specifically expressed in some particular 'type.'" This seminar will explore and address some of the critical issues in literary and cultural studies such as: how is human experience represented and/or (mis)re-presented in literature? How is border crossing defined in literary studies? Why are cultural negotiations critical in understanding today's society? Is the reader response tradition in literary criticism valid? How do we define our relationship with some of the great literary works? How does that understanding help us find our own identity toward the eventual goal of the achievement of self-actualization?

HCOM 475-01: Humanity and Technology

“Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean?” So writes Michael Harris in his book, The End of Absence. This capstone seminar takes up Harris’ challenge and more. Drawing on a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities and communication studies, we will explore how changes in technology--broadly defined--have challenged the fundamental question of what it means to be human. In a time where many of us are hyper-connected through social media, have access to more information than ever in human history, and are the subject of untoward efforts to collect data about our every move, we will explore how all of these changes and others have shaped our sense of meaning, of place, of identity, of connection. Moreover, we will address these questions with close sensitivity to the digital divide--examining how access to such technologies can highlight deeper questions about equity, economics, politics, law, ethics, and global citizenship.

HCOM 475-02: Soul Searching

This Capstone considers Soul as a way of being among people from the Global South. We will consider “Where or who is the Global South?” and learn why Soul is inextricably tied to the struggle for social justice. Instructor Umi Vaughan will use examples from his experience as a researcher, percussionist, and dancer in Oakland, Cuba, Brazil and elsewhere to examine concepts such as improvisation, collective memory/action, redemption/healing, and cultural counter attack in relation to Soul.

HCOM 475-03: The Year 2050

In the year 2050 there will be more than 9 billion people on earth. People around the world will be faced with famine, drought, severe climate change, over-crowding and a poor economy. Since the 1950s we have increasing looked to science and technology to solve our problems. Recently however, leaders in the science and tech fields have been speaking out and saying they can’t solve these problems alone. Humanists, philosophers, educators, communicators, journalists, etc. all must to be apart of the process to ensure needs are met in a socially just way. How will HCOM grads use what they have learned at California State University, Monterey Bay to meet the needs of the year 2050? We will look at the myriad challenges and predictions for the year 2050, paying close attention to how race, gender, economic class and geographic location impact our perspectives on these issues. We also will explore various theories related to the construct of time and how the past, present and future are represented in our mediated world.

HCOM 475-04: Race, Class, Gender and Social Justice

This Capstone class considers the theme of social justice and injustice through a feminist lens. In particular, we'll be considering the ways in which we ourselves are privileged within our societies and the ways in which we're less privileged. We'll be using current discussions as well as historical documents which illustrate the problems that social injustice can lead to.

HCOM 475-01: Youth, Culture and Change

“Generation Y,” “millennium generation,” “digital natives,” and other labels try to grasp the meaning of being young today. Youth is synonymous of freshness and high expectations, but also it represents a time of deep transformations, of finding one’s identity and voice. In our capstone seminar we will engage in analysis and criticism about what to be young means globally and locally, particularly in times when the promise for a better future --at least in economic terms-- seems elusive.

The seminar will wrestle with questions such as: How do young people find their voice and create their identities? How do they build meaningful connections and a sense of belonging? How do they define their roles as learners, citizens, consumers, users and producers of media technologies? How do youth become agents of social change in their local and global communities? Students enrolled in this course will engage in research and/or creative projects that demonstrate the articulation of the HCOM’s MLOs to the theme in a significant manner.

HCOM 475-02: Criminalization and Punishment

In a March 2014 report, the Prison Policy Initiative, a criminal justice research and advocacy group, reported that there are over 2 million incarcerated individuals around the country. The reasons people are incarcerated are complex and multiple. The same report included findings that showed that “The number of federal laws has risen from 3,000 in the early 1980s to over 4,450 by 2008.” (“America’s Prison Population: Who, what, where and why,” _The Economist_). Moreover, incarcerated juveniles are often subject to being locked up for infractions that are not considered crimes for adults “such as running away, truancy, and incorrigibility.”

Immigration Detention Facilities also detain people for violations of immigration policies and “public safety,” and the United States military has been detaining prisoners said to be “military threats” in a Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility since the early 2000s. Furthermore, a recent federal Department of Justice investigation about the police in Ferguson, Missouri has brought into the national spotlight the way in which people of color, in general, and African Americans, in particular, have been systematically discriminated against by the police and are disproportionately affected by police policies and practices.

What is a crime and who are considered criminals? How do federal, state, and local governments define criminality and punish crime? How do race, nationality, class, gender and/or sexuality impact who and what is criminalized? This Capstone seminar will explore these and related questions, using theoretical, historical, social, political, and cultural frames of reference.

HCOM 475-01: Social and Economic Justice

This Senior Capstone Seminar is designed to encourage reflective and critical examination of social and economic justice at the local, national and global levels. For example, while some people maintain that governmental domestic welfare programs are unjust because the government has no right to tax those who are relatively well off in order to provide funds for those in need, others argue that it is unjust not to provide government aid to those who lack adequate food, clothing, and shelter. This seminar will explore these kinds of issues. How should a just society address poverty or access to health care, education, and social services? At the international level, what are the moral obligations of individuals and nations to less affluent nations? What should affluent nations do to prevent and alleviate devastating hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in developing countries? What ethical standards should individuals in affluent nations use when deciding whether to buy goods produced in international sweatshops?

HCOM 475-02: Diaspora

The seminar component of this course explores the concept of "diaspora" from various disciplinary and cultural perspectives. Originally the term came from the Greek word meaning "to scatter." Diaspora is the diverse unity of a people spread far and wide. Beginning in the late 19th century, it was used for decades almost exclusively in reference to Jews who were scattered throughout Europe, North and South America. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, the "African Diaspora" came to mean all those communities around the world with close genetic and cultural ties to Africa. Most recently diaspora refers to various groups that have developed transnational and intercultural identities in which a common thread links an infinitely wide range of manifestations.

The Senior Capstone project component of the course is an opportunity for you to design, produce, and present an interdisciplinary project that arouses your curiosity and creativity. It needs to somehow address the theme of diaspora, be grounded in your Concentration, and highlight the learning you have experienced in your undergraduate studies.

HCOM 475-03: Social Justice

Students will learn about the contested meanings and struggles for social justice, democracy and freedom — past and present. It is an open-ended story in which structures of inequality and injustice still define who we are as a nation. Economic, cultural, social and political rights continue to be fought for on numerous fronts. Students will be able to use the knowledge gained from readings and discussions to frame their Senior Project.

HCOM 475-01: Collective Identity

The section examines the narrative creation of community, ideology, and varying ideals of nationhood, particularly in light of post–WW II rhetorics of inclusive democracy and cultural pluralism. It further introduces ways to understand public memory – we analyze the communicative art of remembrance practices, and explore how varied cultures re-imagine historical phenomena. Through multiple case studies, we evaluate public stories circulated through diverse media (e.g., museums, television, documentary films, web campaigns, editorials, political deliberations). Ultimately, we assess how narratives about the past, present, and future challenge, transform and fortify contemporary public life. Throughout, we develop two key proficiencies: how to better interpret the communication that surrounds us, and how to become effective and reflective advocates for change in the world.

HCOM 475-02: The Language of 9/11: Othering, Terror and Nation

This capstone seminar will explore the literature and film that engages with the events of 9/11 and their after effects. We'll read, view, discuss, and research journalistic, fictional, documentary, and political texts that reveal various perspectives not only on the events of 9/11, themselves, but also on the subsequent domestic and global othering that has occurred as a result of feeling (or being influenced to feel) terrorized and under siege. This topic promises to inspire numerous types of Capstone projects in that it allows us to ask broad, interdisciplinary questions about how the U.S. ha changed--culturally, legally, socially, globally, creatively, religiously, and more--post 9/11.

HCOM 475-01: Border Crossing, Cultural Negotiations and the Search or Identity

This Senior Capstone Seminar is designed to encourage students to place the study of self and society in cultural, historical, political, and/or economic contextualization. The School of New Criticism, for instance, posits that "the complexity of literature lies in its use irony and paradox." Thanks to the development of some of the contemporary theories such as post-modernism and new historicism, we start to look at how culture, history, politics, and economic stratification not only inform but also help define literary representations of society. Or in British culturalist Raymond Williams's words, to avoid reducing the concept of "typicality" to "art as the typification (representation, illustration) not of the dynamic process but of its (known) laws" is to define "typicality" as "a constitutive and constituting process of social and historical reality" "specifically expressed in some particular 'type.'" This seminar will explore and address some of the critical issues in literary and cultural studies such as: how is human experience represented and/or (mis)re-presented in literature? How is border crossing defined in literary studies? Why is cultural negotiations critical in understanding today's society? Is the reader response tradition in literary criticism valid? How do we define our relationship with some of the great literary works? How does that understanding help us find our own identity toward the eventual goal of the achievement of self-actualization?

HCOM 475-02: Social and Economic Justice

This Senior Capstone Seminar is designed to encourage reflective and critical examination of social and economic justice at the local, national and global levels. For example, while some people maintain that governmental domestic welfare programs are unjust because the government has no right to tax those who are relatively well off in order to provide funds for those in need, others argue that it is unjust not to provide government aid to those who lack adequate food, clothing, and shelter. This seminar will explore these kinds of issues. How should a just society address poverty or access to health care, education, and social services? At the international level, what are the moral obligations of individuals and nations to less affluent nations? What should affluent nations do to prevent and alleviate devastating hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in developing countries? What ethical standards should individuals in affluent nations use when deciding whether to buy goods produced in international sweatshops?

HCOM 475-03: Homes and Families

Few words have stronger resonance for us than "home" or "family." Expressions such as "treated like family," "blood is thicker than water," "home truths," "at home," "home is where the heart is," and "feeling homesick" convey the emotional power these words hold for us. Both concepts--home and family--are weighted with ideological, social, political, material, historical, and personal meaning. Our imaginative literature is rich with fantasies of ideal homes, nightmares of their opposites, and the intense longings of the displaced, dispossessed, and bereaved. In The Poetics of Space (1958), twentieth-century philosopher Gaston Bachelard proposes the word "topoanalysis" to describe "the systematic psychological study of the sites of our intimate lives." This interdisciplinary Senior Capstone Seminar will offer a topoanalysis of how notions of space--both public and private, gendered and ungendered, bordered and boundless--shape our understanding of what it means to have a home or be a member of a family. What, for instance, do travelers' tales, diaspora studies, domestic fiction, and migration narratives tell us about the appeal and portability of these concepts? What do they tell us about ourselves? And what do issues such as marriage equality and homelessness contribute to our understanding of this topic? Shared readings will include literary, historical, philosophical, and legal texts.

HCOM 475-01: Gender, Sexuality and Equality

While most, but not all, people are born biologically male or female, cultures shape what it means to be "man" or a "woman" in a given society. This Capstone seminar will examine and critique the ways in which the meanings of gender are constructed historically, philosophically, legally, and aesthetically in the United States and in select global contexts. We will give careful attention to the ways in which gender assignments convey social, economic, and political value and power. We will consider cultural responses to transgressions of gender norms. Analysis of sexuality and sexual norms will be considered as central to an understanding of gender roles. The following are among the questions we can anticipate exploring in this seminar: How are we taught what it means to be a woman or a man? What might a gender equitable society look like? What obstacles remain to be overcome on the path to a more gender equitable society? Why do transgressions of gender and sexual "norms" frequently provoke strong reactions? What are the consequences of rigid gender and sexual norms for men and women?

HCOM 475-02: Youth, Culture and Change

"Generation Y," "millennium generation," "digital natives," and other labels try to grasp the meaning of being young today. We see young faces leading protests, inventing new trends, seeking to be understood, and finding expression with music, art, in social networks, and using technology as their second nature. Youth is synonymous of freshness and high expectations, but also it is a time in life of deep transformations, of finding one selves. In our capstone seminar we will engage in analysis and criticism about what to be young means in this country and in this region, particularly in times when the promise for a better future --at least in economic terms-- seems elusive. The seminar will wrestle with questions such as: How do young people find their voice and create their identities? How do they build meaningful connections and a sense of belonging? How do they define their roles as learners, citizens, consumers, users, and producers of media? How do youth become agents of social change in their local and global communities?

HCOM 475-01: Social and Economic Justice

This Senior Capstone Seminar is designed to encourage reflective and critical examination of social and economic justice at the local, national and global levels. For example, while some people maintain that governmental domestic welfare programs are unjust because the government has no right to tax those who are relatively well off in order to provide funds for those in need, others argue that it is unjust not to provide government aid to those who lack adequate food, clothing, and shelter. This seminar will explore these kinds of issues. How should a just society address poverty or access to health care, education, and social services? At the international level, what are the moral obligations of individuals and nations to less affluent nations? What should affluent nations do to prevent and alleviate devastating hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in developing countries? What ethical standards should individuals in affluent nations use when deciding whether to buy goods produced in international sweatshops?

HCOM 475-02: Migration and Belonging

Contemporary popular media depicts “illegal” immigration as a current social problem while at the same time, it is often said that the United States is a “nation of immigrants.” Yet the phenomenon of migration is neither uniquely contemporary, nor uniquely American. Whether forced or voluntary, migrations have been ubiquitous in world history, and form an important part of what we might call the human experience. This Capstone seminar will explore theories and concepts related to migration, and will ask participants to apply these ideas to historical and cultural issues related to migration; discussions of contemporary immigration issues in the United States; and to personal, familial, and community migration stories. We will consider a variety of related questions including: How are the experiences of migration informed by nationalisms, ethnic and racial constructs, gender, and/or class? How are communities shaped by migrations, and how do migrations contribute to social transformations? What are the stories that emerge from migratory experiences? In light of these discussions, we will also consider the issue of “belonging,” examining how families and communities constitute themselves and reconstitute themselves in different places and across time.

HCOM 475-03: Democracy and Freedom

In this Senior Capstone Seminar students learn about the history, philosophies, contested meanings, and practices of democracy and freedom — past and present. It is an open-ended story in which democracy and freedom have been used to define a promised land, but also have become battlegrounds in which struggles over citizenship, civil and human rights have been fought on numerous fronts. The seminar’s theme will be looked at from various perspectives and students will be able to use the knowledge gained from readings and discussions to frame their Capstone project in accordance with the major’s concentrations. While the seminar’s focus will be on the United States, Capstone projects are not limited to the United States.

HCOM 475-04: Human Rights

In 1948, the United Nations created a Universal Declaration of Human Rights which has provided a framework many have used for thinking about the issue since. Yet, where did the idea for “human rights” come from? What does it actually mean in practice? Are these rights universal? How has the meaning of such rights changed over time? How have race, class, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, nationality and other social categories impacted those changing meanings? This seminar will explore these and other fundamental questions drawing on historical, political, social, economic, philosophical, cultural and creative perspectives and in various contexts—from the local to the global.

HCOM 475-01: Love

In this section of HCOM 475, we will explore the meaning of love. It will include, but not be limited to the study of love poetry, love literature, love in cinema, and the history of love and loving in the U.S. and around the globe. We will also explore who has the "right" to love in different places and in different times. The course will address the legalities of love as well as taboo love and illegal love. We'll study romantic love as well as the love of animals, family, siblings, and children. Science has also addressed and has theories of love worth examining. We'll conduct readings across the disciplines in HCOM as well as in a few disciplines outside of HCOM such as psychology, social sciences, art, and the sciences.

HCOM 475-02: Environmental Justice

The theme for this section of HCOM 475 will be Environmental Justice. We'll examine how environmental justice is depicted in history, literature, film and popular culture, both in the U.S. and around the world. Areas of study include the history of environmental politics and legislation in the U.S. since the 1960s; an examination of how modern and contemporary literature addresses the topic; readings on environmental justice dealing with class, race, and gender; the environmental impact of war on local populations in other countries; the history of water politics in California and on the Monterey Peninsula; how federal and state legislation and court decisions on pesticide and fertilizer use affect farm workers and their families; water/air quality, especially in lower income neighborhoods; and the ethics of low-income high-density housing and the resultant lack of recreational areas and green space for inner city families.

HCOM 475-01: Communication and Community

"The quality of our communication affects the quality of our communities." I have long considered this statement to be the "bumper sticker slogan" for communication ethics. Its author, communication ethicist James A. Mackin Jr., asserted further that "We cannot act together with common purpose unless we can communicate with each other." This capstone seminar will explore how our communicative choices affect our communities, whether the latter is understood as an interpersonal relationship or as an international alliance. Students who want to explore the power of communication to unite or divide communities--especially across differences and disagreements--are most welcome.

HCOM 475-02: Youth and Future

Besides being a stage of human development that represents physical, mental and emotional transformations, youth brings images of freshness, everything current, torrents of energy, idealism, time for discovery, and promises for a better future. We see young faces creating art, leading protests, asking hard questions, seeking to be understood, and finding expression with music, graffiti or Facebook updates. HCOM students from all concentrations are welcome to participate in this capstone seminar in which we will explore questions related to youth and their roles as students, workers, creators, participants in politics, consumers, users and producers of media and technology, and agents of change in their local and global communities.

HCOM 475-03: Diaspora

This seminar explores the concept of “diaspora” from various disciplinary and cultural perspectives. Originally the term came from the Greek word meaning “to scatter.” Diaspora is the diverse unity of a people spread far and wide. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, it was used for decades almost exclusively in reference to Jews who were scattered throughout Europe, North and South America. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, the “African Diaspora” came to mean all those communities around the world with close genetic and cultural ties to Africa. Most recently diaspora refers to various groups that have developed transnational and intercultural identities in which a common thread links an infinitely wide range of manifestations.

HCOM 475-01: Human Flourishing in a Globally Interdependent World

This semester’s theme will be Human Flourishing in a Globally Interdependent World. We will share common instructional resources, and explore diverse areas of inquiry related to the theme, including relationships of human flourishing to communication ethics, education, environmental issues, scientific inquiry, the arts, pursuits of justice, and human rights, among others.

This was the pilot class for the thematic Capstone model, which HCOM later adopted.

Senior projects - Human Rights

• Lauren Bates-Rodriguez (Practical and Professional Ethics), "The Untitled Identity Podcast"
• Sean Chase (Pre-Law), "Title IX" A Web Portal
• Erin Clancy, "Seaside High School: An Internship"
• Darrell Collins (Pre-Law), "Examining the Recruitment Industry and Its Relationship to Migrant Workers Rights"
• Cameron Fuller (Journalism and Media Studies: "Technologia Politica: A Critique on Politics"
• Andrew Hines (Journalism and Media Studies), "Military Veterans and Their Rights: How the Government and American Society Treats Those Who Serve"
• Riana Howard (Pre-Law), "An Ongoing Cycle That May Never End"
• Demesha Kennedy (Women's Studies), "Women's Rights--A Web Portal"
• Christy Khoshaba (Journalism and Media Studies), "Learning the Trade: A Journalism Journey"
• Nicole Marquez (Creative Writing and Social Action), "Developing My Voice"
• Amanda Monteiro (Pre-Law) "Davita Dialysis: An Internship"
• Christopher Rankin (Pre-Law), "ACLU: An Internship"
• Matisse Reischl (Peace Studies), "WE: Women Empowerment Through the Eyes of Global Triumph"
• Andrew Stillman (Creative Writing and Social Action), "Sucker Punch"
• Natalie Strunk (Journalism and Media Studies), Robyn Smith (Pre-Law), and Michael Sylvia (History, Oral History & New Media), "Monterey Women's Connection"
• Priscilla Tran (English Subject Matter Preparation) "Censorship in the Subtext: Literary Censorship with an Emphasis on Banned Books"
• Maayan Vahl, Max Hoularis and Nicole Lavell (Practical and Professional Ethics), "Human Rights Now" Web Portal
• Renee Vincent, (Literature and Film Studies, Writing and Rhetoric), "Banned Books"
• Ryan West (Creative Writing and Social Action), "American Military Aid During Reagan Administration and Its Contribution to Human Rights Violations in El Salvador: Creative Retorts"

Older Capstone Model (No Theme)

• • David Almanzar (Journalism and Media Studies) "Print Media: Helping Affect the Course of U.S. History"
  • Vanessa Anderson (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Sex: What's Your Position?"
  • Ivy Bader (Writing and Rhetoric) "But What About Sexual Assault? Amendments to the Sexual Harassment Behavior Code of CSUMB"
  • Rebecca Barron (Pre-Law) "Analysis of Implementation of Legal Philosophies on Juvenile Offenders"
  • Kelsey Beall (Journalism and Media Studies) "A Growing Idea in Education: The Farm-to-School Movement"
  • Rick Begin (Pre-Law) "An Introduction into a Multicultural Society: Multicultural Education and Conflict Resolution Methods in Middle School Education Systems"
  • Gina Billeci (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Application of Ethical Frameworks to the Effectiveness of Coercing Individuals When Entering Drug-Rehabilitation"
  • Allison Bostwick (History, Oral History and New Media) "The National Parks: A History of Preservation, Profit, and Pleasure"
  • Ryan Cascarano (Journalism and Media Studies) "Damage Control in the Media An Overview of the Reporting Process in Times of Disaster"
  • Deanna Chedsey (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Ethical Reasoning for Banning Plastic Water Bottles"
  • Peter Coleman (Writing and Rhetoric) "The Rhetoric of Heartbreak: Social Constructions of Love, Loss, and Cultural Evolution"
  • Melissa Cooperman (Practical and Professional Ethics) "The Blue and Gold Image: Evaluating the Public's Perspective on the United States Police Agency"
  • Natasha Deniston (Literary and Film Studies) "The Lost Generation of the Twentieth Century"
  • Laura Dietrich-Smith (English Subject Matter Preparation) "Exciting Writing: Incorporating Sentence Syntax and Style Devices in Eleventh and Twelfth Grade Writing Pedagogies"
  • Elizabeth Dixon (Practical and Professional Ethics) "The Historic Tension Surrounding the CBS Television Coverage of the Vietnam and Iraq Wars"
  • José Garcia (English Subject Matter Preparation) "Finding the Stories of Post-Modern Adolescent Learners in the Aftermath of Modernity"
  • Adienne Graham (History, Oral History and New Media) "The Effect of Media, Religious and Cultural Beliefs on Organ Donation"
  • Adam Greene (History, Oral History and New Media) "Diminishing Discrimination in Golf"
  • Keosha Griffiths (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Fairy Tales Don't Exist for Black Girls"
  • Sarah Gussenhoven (Creative Writing and Social Action) "Waste In America: The Environmental & Societal Effects of Human Carelessness"
  • Martin Hardenberger (Journalism and Media Studies) "The Cultural Suicide by the YouTube Generation; An Examination of YouTube's Impact on the Music Industry"
  • Erin Herlihy (History, Oral History and New Media) "Justice for All: Constitutional Rights in the Juvenile Justice System"
  • Matt Jones (Pre-Law) "Proactive Efforts to Assist Handicapped & Disabled in the Child Dependency System"
  • Laura Krajcar (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Vacancy/No Vacancy: The Ethics Behind Killing for Capacity in Animal Shelters"
  • Laura Lark (English Subject Matter Preparation Program) "Teaching Huck Finn: Preparing for and Reviewing Racial Issues in the Classroom"
  • Kristin Leal (Journalism and Media Studies) "The Messages Within"
  • Karissa Lessard (Creative Writing and Social Action) "Single Women in America: Writing for Our Lives"
  • Marcella Levario (Women's Studies) "Positively Fat: Fighting Back Against Fat Stigma and Standing Up For Every Body"
  • Bonnie Lockhart (Peace Studies) "Retracing Pomo: Facing the Soul Wound"
  • Lindsay McDermott (Journalism and Media Studies) "Cosmopolitan Magazine: How It Affects Its Readers"
  • Julius Mills-Denti (Practical and Professional Ethics) "What's Love Got To Do With It? A Philosophical Exploration of Romantic Love and Autonomy"
  • Harrison Milne (Creative Writing and Social Action) "Democracy Sleeps at Night"
  • Hannah Morrow (Journalism and Media Studies) "Are Sororities Beneficial?"
  • Brian Remas (Peace Studies) "Conflict in Israel The Role of Dialogue in Effective Mediation"
  • Nelson Rivera (Pre-Law) "Undocumented Immigrants and U.S. Families"
  • Joel Ruiter (Creative Writing and Social Action) "Horror and Allegory: Looking Inward"
  • Therese Scott (Creative Writing and Social Action) "Morphing the Mainstream: A Call to Deconstruct Gender Normative Socialization"
  • Jennifer Sepulveda Magos (History, Oral History and New Media) "What's in a Name? A Genealogical Perspective on the Mexican-American Experience"
  • Gary Shurtz (Practical and Professional Ethics) "Social Consequences of an American Food Industry Driven by Capitalism"
  • Ashley Simmons (Women's Studies) "True Selves: The Transgender Life and the Gender Dichotomy"
  • Britt Triplett (Journalism and Media Studies) "Eliminating Food Waste and Promoting Sustainability and Distribution in Our Communities"
  • Jessica Turner Hernandez (English Subject Matter Preparation) "Bridging the Gap Between Cultures through Language Education"
  • Esther Vargas (Literary and Film Studies) "Knock on Wood…Hollywood: The Portrayals of Christianity in Film"
  • Jordan Walsh (Journalism and Media Studies) "Food Waste: The Effects It Has On Our Environment and a Solution Which Could Strengthen Our Community"
  • Brittany Weber (Journalism and Media Studies) "Mixed Signals: Race, Gender, and "Reality" in Music Videos"
  • Caitlin Wells (Literary and Film Studies) "From Identifiers to Identities"
  • Makayla Whitney (Peace Studies) "Spirit Injury and Invisibility: Bosnia Herzegovina's Rape Warfare, Women, and War Orphans"
  • Paul Zuber (History, Oral History and New Media) "The Future Privacy of Vehicles"