Courses from two University of Iowa departments - the Department of Theatre Arts and the School of Planning & Public Affairs - merged to explore the role of arts & culture in community and economic development, with a focus on supporting the launch and visioning for the Wonderful Westside Neighborhood Association in Iowa City.   

Students in a capstone class in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications will work with Pathfinders RC&D to develop strategic communication campaigns and management. Working in teams and individually, students will:

Students in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program will redesign a brownfield into a park with water access. This capstone project will provide designs, pricing, and a timeline for a multi-phase project.

The City of Burlington seeks designs for a new building to house its Parks and Recreation division. The building needs to include offices, public meeting areas, storage, and locker rooms. For their capstone project, students in Civil and Environmental Engineering will provide designs, pricing, and a timeline for the project.

There are several existing buildings in Burlington, including the former Dial Soap building that is nearly 127,000 square-feet, that the city hopes to rehabilitate and adapt for new uses. As part of their capstone work, students in Civil and Environmental Engineering will assess the buildings and create designs for adaptive reuse.

Plans for a new subdivision to be located in New Sharon will be designed by students in Civil and Environmental Engineering as part of their capstone. 

Students in Civil and Environmental Engineering will provide designs for combining two existing buildings into one, multi-use structure. 

For a capstone project, students in Civil and Environmental students will review the structural integrity of an amphitheater and create designs for rehabilitation.

As part of their Senior Design capstone project, a team of civil & environmental engineering students will provide designs, preliminary engineering reports, and cost estimates for a variety of improvements to county parks in Jefferson County. 

Students from the School of Library and Information Science will assist Pathfinders RC&D staff in managing, archiving, and exhibiting the vast collection of the organization's records, helping tell the story of Pathfinder's impact across the region since its formation in the 1970s. 

Students in the course Policy and Persuasion worked with staff from Pathfinders RC&D and the South Central Iowa Local Workforce Development Board to develop policy directions for issues related to five focus areas: rural development hubs, innovation, resource guides, workforce development, mental health, and community capacity.

A team of law students who are enrolled in the the Community Empowerment Law Project (CELP) will assist Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development (Pathfinders), together with the South Central Iowa Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) to navigate the complex web of federal and state laws governing youth employment and child labor. The project is driven by the organizations’ shared belief that empowering young people is key to the sustainability of rural communities in Iowa.

MFA visual arts candidate Marian Tejada will design and lead workshops for youth in Ottumwa that encourage self-expression, community building, and empowerment. 

Students from Public Affairs and from a GIS student organization will help Pathfinders RC&D develop a statewide database and map of accessibility features in Iowa's parks, natural areas, and cultural spaces.  

A new statewide initiative from Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) aims to help individuals with disabilities and their caregivers better navigate opportunities to enjoy Iowa’s parks and cultural spaces. 

For their capstone projects, students in Civic and Environmental Engineering created designs, alternatives, scheduling, and costs to update a community center. Their work focused on several aspects of the building:  the parking lot, the building's entryway, layout and partition of the mainfloor, and connectivity of upstairs meeting room to entryway. 

For their final capstone project, students in Civil and Environmental Engineering designed a site plan for a subdivision on a currently vacant property in West Burlington. The plans maximize the number of single-family homes that can be developed and includes a pocket park and trail.

For their capstone project, Civil and Environmental Engineering students provided analysis, recommendations, designs, and costs to address flooding in West Burlington's Luers Park. 

Roughly 80% of West Burlington's stormwater drains into Luer’s Park, which in turn flows into Izaak Walton Lake to the north. The lake is experiencing severe erosion and sedimentation build-up. Its current outflow structure is unable to discharge an adequate volume of water. 

For their capstone project, students in Civil and Environmental Engineering designed a 10-foot wide trail that includes pedestrian cross improvements at several intersections. The trail will improve pedestrian safety and mobility for people traveling to and from essential shopping areas, schools, a medical center, senior housing, and recreation spaces. 

For their capstone project, graduate students in the School of Planning and Public Affairs will create the first comprehensive arts and cultural plan for West Burlington and Burlington, communities that share a border and strong sense of collaboration while maintaining distinct identities.