Aviation Management Capstone: An Industry Centered Academic Experience

The Aviation Management Capstone course (AMT 491) at Arizona State University East has been developed to provide students with an industry-centered educational experience during the final phase of their Bachelor of Science degree program. Students normally enroll for the Aeronautical Management Technology (AMT) Capstone course during the spring semester of their senior year. Each student is assigned as a member of a two or three-member team to work closely with an industry sponsor throughout the term. Students must coordinate their activities to address a significant and challenging issue facing the manager within the sponsor’s organization. Each sponsor commits to a mentorship role for the student team(s) assigned to the organization, while at the same time, serving as the manager who is responsible for personnel performance within his/her department and/or division. The AMT Capstone course provides each student with real-world exposure to problems and issues faced by line and staff managers across a wide variety of aviation-oriented disciplines. Recently completed capstone team projects include: evaluations of current and pending Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and procedures for the Civil Aviation Security Field Office (CASFO), training requirements analyses for Mesa Airlines, marketing strategies for Williams Gateway Airport Authority, process improvement analyses for Honeywell, alternative fuels analyses for ground transportation serving Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), and gate expansion analyses for Southwest Airlines at PHX. Since the inception of the AMT Capstone course, 38 industry-sponsored projects have been completed for 16 different industry sponsors, with 10 more projects scheduled for the Spring 2001 semester. A description of selected capstone projects, with corresponding peer and project sponsor evaluations, are included in this paper.