Employee capstone teams share successes, struggles

April 22, 2026

Author: Jeff Budlong

The members of the 2025-26 Emerging Leaders Academy (ELA) class gathered April 17 to share outcomes of their four capstone projects. They also reflected on what they learned about teamwork, navigating a large university to accomplish goals and how leadership works best among a whole team of leaders.

While providing an opportunity to practice leadership, ELA team capstone projects also are selected for their capacity to support the university's strategic plan. Here's a short summary of the four teams.

Regalia Legacy Award

Working with the First Scholars office (FSO), the team helped set up communications for an annual effort:

Nomination form for deserving first-generation undergraduate and one Ph.D. student
Selection process for one Ph.D. student to receive donated graduation regalia. A donated set includes a gown, higher education hood, honor cords and caps. The set belonged to Lyn Ann Broderson Cochran, who earned her doctorate in higher education leadership from Iowa State in 2008 and died in 2021.

The team helped raise $3,050, working with the Iowa State University Foundation on a giving opportunity through FundISU and Forever True Day donations. The inaugural recipient will be recognized during a ceremony on April 30. The FSO has another larger project -- The Cap and Gown Legacy Program -- to collect donated graduation regalia for students who may not otherwise be able to afford it. All funds raised will be used to expand these programs.

First-generation students celebration

The team had a pair of focuses: Help the FSO team plan and execute its first-generation students celebration the week of Nov. 3 -- a national time for first-generation college celebrations -- and help the office develop a sustainable recognition event. The team created an evaluation form for the FSO to gather student and college staffs' feedback on events it held. Results showed many graduate and undergraduate students were unaware of the office and didn't know how to determine if they were first generation college students. Students suggested providing more information about the office during orientation and in 1000-level courses. The colleges supported the office's work but wanted a stronger relationship with it and better planning of events so colleges could prepare to help financially. Overall, the team determined that sharing the FSO story will help educate campus and may lead to greater participation in its events.

Student Innovation Center and innovation

The team explored several aspects of the Student Innovation Center through a survey sent to faculty and staff. The team was tasked to help center leaders determine how to:

Evaluate how faculty and staff use it
Increase its visibility
Broaden its impact
Identify opportunities for collaboration

The team received 209 responses, and 91% had visited the center, 76% were aware of makerspaces and 44% had hosted an event there. Challenges to increasing the center's use included:

Perception that it's for students.
The building is hard to navigate.
The building lacks close-in parking.

Many respondents like the teaching options available at the center but wanted to find a way to get more classes to meet there. Others were unaware of the training needed to use many of the spaces in the building. The team recommended scheduling more general education courses in the building, increasing outreach to the campus community -- for example, activities that earn faculty and staff Adventure2 points -- and bringing industry leaders to the center.

Alumni engagement and tracking enhancement

The team was charged with investigating and strengthening alumni tracking and engagement practices for the ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. The center collects data on alumni who studied entrepreneurship, participated in an experiential program or pursued an entrepreneurial profession up to 10 years after graduation for the Princeton Review's university entrepreneurship rankings. The team determined better utilization of professional platforms like LinkedIn and being more proactive with students prior to graduation about what and why certain information is collected could lead to stronger results. Using student interns to help track alumni would add another layer when multiple approaches are necessary. Through its research, the team discovered nearly all universities are struggling to find effective ways to reach their alumni.

Sought: Future projects for ELA teams

The provost's office launched ELA in 2009 to develop faculty and professional and scientific staff who either serve in leadership roles at Iowa State or aspire to them. In fall 2017, new leaders for the program introduced team capstone projects, replacing a mentor component with an ISU leader for each class member.

Currently, ELA's administrative director is Katharine Hensley, office of the senior vice president and provost, and the faculty director is music and theatre department chair Brad Dell.