For nearly a decade, Dr. Ken Williams, professor in the School of Management at Kettering University, has guided senior business majors through a capstone experience that goes far beyond the classroom.
Rather than completing simulated cases or hypothetical business plans, students in Kettering’s Business Capstone course step into the role of consultants, partnering directly with nonprofit organizations across the Flint community to address real operational challenges. The work is hands-on, sustained, and rooted in service, with measurable impact for both students and the organizations they support.
A capstone built around real work, not theory
The required senior-level Business Capstone is a project- and problem-based course designed to help students integrate and synthesize what they have learned across their undergraduate business education.
Students apply classroom knowledge alongside professional experience gained through their Co-op employment, bringing practical insight into budgeting, operations, supply chains, pricing, and organizational strategy. Each student team partners with a local nonprofit organization to collaboratively diagnose challenges, develop recommendations, and deliver actionable solutions.
Over the years, student consulting projects have addressed needs such as:
Website development
Volunteer recruitment and retention strategies
Funding opportunities, including grants and revenue diversification
Inventory and supply chain management
Pricing strategy and operational planning
Long-term impact for students and the Flint community
The Business Consulting Project was formally added to the curriculum in 2016, and its impact has grown steadily since then. To date, students have contributed nearly 5,700 hours of consulting support, benefiting 20 nonprofit organizations through these partnerships.
For students, the experience provides tangible consulting credentials and a deeper understanding of how business decisions affect organizations and communities. For nonprofit partners, the projects offer capacity-building support, fresh perspectives, and solutions that strengthen long-term operations.
Sharing results beyond campus
Dr. Williams has also examined the educational and community impact of the capstone through formal research. In April 2024, he presented findings on the course at the Small Business Institute Conference, where his work was recognized with the Best Pedagogical Paper award. The paper, Community Engagement in Business Education: Addressing Sustainability Issues Through Student-Team Consulting, was subsequently published in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice.
That recognition underscores the course’s value not only as a student learning experience but as a replicable model for integrating business education, professional practice, and community engagement.
In practice, that value shows up in the nonprofit organizations strengthened through student consulting and in graduates who leave Kettering having applied their education to real challenges with real consequences.
