"The team delivered an outstanding presentation which was appreciated by nearly 100 local government practitioners from all over Africa."
"We are so pleased with the results. The team of students that we worked with conducted a feasibility assessment on the creation of a MOUSE Alumni Network. Our team made their final presentation to the MOUSE staff and we were all 'blown away' by the thoroughness of their work, quality of the report and the comprehensiveness of their recommendations."
"The students created sets of maps for hundreds of our directly administered, affiliated and sponsored agencies and sites, and then further mapped these site locations onto various NYS boundaries. The Capstone Team was phenomenal. They presented their final work to our agency's Senior Management, and we were blown away. We have been trying to do this project for years, and the students were able to facilitate the process in a few months. Kudos and thanks to the Capstone management and to the Wagner School."
"Public policy schools have increasingly sought to provide students a 'real world' consultative experience by building external research projects into the curriculum. This experience, often referred to as a 'capstone' project, provides students a chance to work with a public or private organization in need of policy research through a formal contractual agreement. Such research partnerships between academic institutions and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) have proven extremely successful in recent years, providing public policy students with invaluable experience, exposure to working with a federal government agency and to potential employment opportunities, while at the same time generating high quality research that will benefit Congress through the work that CRS performs. Top schools with programs of particular interest have been identified based on these efforts. These include Columbia University, New York University, Princeton, Syracuse, The University of Texas, Texas A&M, George Washington University, Georgetown, and Carnegie-Mellon. These programs are well-established, are of sufficient length for students to accomplish substantive research and analysis on a significant project, are based on a team concept, are guided by hands-on faculty with expertise in the subject areas, and have the full support of the school administration."
"This has been an unusually rewarding experience, in that it never seemed like a 'student project' and we felt that we benefited from our engagement with the team more than they did. Their contributions to our projects are very substantial: they moved us forward and refined our approach, and were always gracious, collegial and thoughtful. We will be adopting all of their recommendations and templates."
"In our process of envisioning new opportunities for knowledge sharing that could help to strengthen the school reform community in New York City and nationally, our Capstone team's research was an invaluable resource. They listened carefully to our needs, were flexible in creating the project design, and delivered a professional product. We will be incorporating the team's insights into our planning. "
"Our team was terrific and the work first-rate. As part of the Association of Junior Leagues International annual awards, the New York Junior League was recognized for its 2003-2004 work with the NYU Wagner Capstone Team for developing a formal methodology to quantify the impact of the League's community work."
"Palladia has been a Capstone client for five years. The highly professional teams of students have produced products of incredible significance and importance in furthering Palladia's work on policy and practice issues affecting some of New York's most vulnerable families. As a large nonprofit agency challenged to meet an increased demand for human services with stagnant and often declining government funding, the Capstone program plays an important role in helping to identify and analyze complex issues and problems. "
