Search Courses
You may search for a Senior Capstone course by selecting a THEME or TERM from the menu at the left. You may also search by entering a part of the title or the instructors name in the box below. For concise listings of all 2016-2017 Capstone offerings, review our Capstone Capsule. If you need assistance, contact the Capstone Office/University Studies at 503.725.5890.
Please refer to the PSU Class Schedule regarding the days, hours, and meeting location. For information about when the new class schedule is available or when you can register for the new term, follow this link: When to Register.
NOTE: Due to the intensive nature of Capstones, students must receive permission from the course instructor prior to the first day of class if they are going to miss the first class session. For on-line Capstones, students must demonstrate active participation during the first week of the term. All Capstone courses factor in student attendance and participation into the final grade which is deeply impacted by missing the first week of the term.
NOTE: "Sustainability" tagged courses will NOT automatically count toward the Sustainability Minor. Students must seek approval from Joseph Maser, Ph.D. in the Environmental Science & Management department to count any Capstone toward that specific minor.
SEARCH BY Title or Instructor: Enter a single word from the title of a Capstone, "gardens", "justice", "literacy", etc., the Course Registration Number (CRN), or a professor's first or last name in the box below.
Instructor Name:
This Capstone project brings together PSU students, international community development specialists and community members in rural Nicaragua to learn how to implement some of these examples of appropriate technology. Please contact John Reuter, rueterj@pdx.edu, for more information.
Part I: On Campus Coursework: In the first phase of the course, conducted on campus at PSU, students will address small-scale development of sustainable power that is environmentally “friendly” while also supporting...
Global Perspectives Sustainability
Instructor Name:
As Portland's regional government, Metro's role includes promoting transportation choices and protecting natural areas. Working with Metro as the community partner, students will explore Metro's role in promoting regional travel options and nature in neighborhoods through a hands-on project with the Travel Options and Nature in Neighborhood Programs, incorporating concepts of sustainable behavior and social marketing.
Sustainability
Instructor Name: Yoko Sakurauchi
CRN: 64574, 43875
This Capstone takes place over the winter and spring terms. Over two terms, Winter and Spring, Capstone students will work with elementary school programs in the Portland area by assisting the classroom teachers. They will also engage in activities to promote foreign language education for young children. The class addresses various issues concerning language learning and teaching, learning styles, language policies, Japanese/Chinese culture and diversity. Completion of JPN/CHN201 is...
Spring 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017Winter 2016Spring 2016Spring 2017
Global Perspectives Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Sergio Palleroni
Cities harbor significant natural systems, though they are often culturally miscast as the antithesis of nature. The trend in city building over the last couple of millennia has increasingly focused on making our cities more efficient machines to support human habitation. New trends and a study of alternative historical models show us, though, that cities have the potential to contribute to the planet's capacity to support humans as well as other species. To promote a greener city, we must...
Sustainability Education-Youth Community Health
Instructor Name: Kate Sackett Kerrigan
CRN: 43874
(Note: This is a two term Capstone (winter and spring), and is three credits per term.
This course focuses on applications of basic psychological knowledge and methods to community problems. Students join a work team providing consultation to a community organization or agency. Students have an opportunity to choose from a number of field projects in cooperation with community agencies engaged in social service in the fields of health, education, corrections, welfare, and others. Projects...
Spring 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017
Homelessness Mental Health Disabilities Community Health
Instructor Name: Carol Holdt
CRN: 64058
The transition from childhood to adolescence is challenging, to say the least. How can we help Portland-area kids stay in school and focused on their futures? In this spring-term capstone course we will work with students and staff at the "I Have a Dream" Foundation - Oregon. The foundation provides supportive services and enrichment programs for "Dreamers" to help them graduate from high school and pursue either college or vocational education. Please visit http://www.ihaveadreamoregon.org...
Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Sabina Haque
CRN: 64123
Scott SUN and Portland State University (PSU) coordinate the "Art & Community Mapping" after-school program. PSU Fine Arts professor Sabina Haque leads the class of 20 Scott students (gr. 4-8) and 20 volunteers from her PSU capstone class. PSU and Scott students are matched for individual mentorship. PSU students will learn about local and national issues in Arts education, and the role of community based Art to support child and youth achievement.The class meets once a week at the school...
Research Education-Youth Arts
Instructor Name: Celine Fitzmaurice
CRN: 14173, 14641
Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice. (Hamm and Bellows, 2003) This course will explore the concept of food security with a particular focus on youth. In addition, we will discuss ways to build a sustainable food system which takes into account the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of food...
Fall 2018
Business-Engineering-Technology Community Health
Instructor Name:
This Capstone is about the role of a small business consultant and how small business really works. It will combine lectures, guest speakers, class discussions, and an in-depth consulting project with a small business in North or Northeast Portland.
Course Learning Objectives:
Students will learn how to analyze a small business.
Students will learn how to form an action plan to assist a small business.
Students will learn how to research an industry at both micro and macro levels.
Students...
Business-Engineering-Technology Research
Instructor Name: Michelle Culley
CRN: 64599, 81706, 14643, 43880
Click Here for Winter Tutoring Times and Locations.
If an opportunity fits your schedule, add your name and then email the instructor at mculley@pdx.edu for Department Approval.
Capstone students will work with adult English as Second Language learners for 2.5 to three hours a week at local community colleges (locations and times vary). Capstone students must be proficient speakers of English but are not required to be native English speakers.
Coursework involves strategies for tutoring...
Fall 2016Fall 2017Fall 2018Spring 2018Summer 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017Winter 2016Spring 2016Spring 2017Summer 2016Summer 2017Fall 2015Summer 2015Spring 2015
Education- Adult
Instructor Name: Sarah Loose
CRN: 64582, 43885
Learn about local queer history from the folks who paved the way and help preserve their stories. Our community partner is the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN). Help GLAPN save our history by doing an oral history/interview of an elder member of the community. GLAPN selects the folks students will interview. Students will work in pairs for the interview. Before the interview, students will learn about local queer history including anti-gay ballot initiatives,...
Spring 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017Winter 2016Spring 2016Spring 2017Spring 2015
Education-Youth
Instructor Name: M. Khalil Zonoozy
CRN: 64600, 14649, 43881
A comprehensive and engaging examination of contemporary multicultural and cross-cultural imperatives, this capstone explores the barriers to justice for ethnic and racial minorities. Special attention will be given to the U.S. institutional structure and the justice system. Utilizing a progressive and proactive approach, students will acquire a deeper understanding, awareness and appreciation of the root causes of the existing disparities. Their learning outcome will be enhanced through...
Fall 2017Fall 2018Spring 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017Spring 2016Spring 2017Spring 2015
Community Health Criminal and Juvenile Justice
Instructor Name: Erik Bodegom
CRN: 64575, 43876
This Capstone takes place over the winter and spring terms. Students enrolled in Research Experience for Science Majors will develop an understanding and appreciation for scientific, societal, economic, political, and ethical dimensions of physics. This will be accomplished through the initial weekly readings and subsequent discussions of overarching publications on the subject of the role of science.
Scientific dimension: we will address the science needed to address the community partner’s...
Spring 2018Winter 2018Winter 2019Winter 2017Winter 2016Spring 2016Spring 2017
Business-Engineering-Technology Research Science
Instructor Name: Mitch Cruzan
The objectives of Research and Society are: Community service with an emphasis on the sciences and your research interests; Learning to communicate scientific material in various media to professional and lay audiences; Higher level thinking about questions about scientific processes & ethics—synthesizing knowledge; and, Preparation to complete undergrad work and enter grad school and the workforce.
Summer 2015
Business-Engineering-Technology Community Health Research Science
Instructor Name: Richard Clucas
CRN: 65134, 44219
Students who are interested in taking the course, or simply want to know more about it, are encouraged to email the instructor as early as possible to be added to an email list that provides more information.
This Capstone takes place over the winter and spring term, and is only offered every other year, when the Oregon Legislature has a full session. One of the most pressing problems in American politics today is that the public feels increasingly distant from elected leaders. To many...
Winter 2019Winter 2017Spring 2017Spring 2015
Community Health Political Science
Instructor Name:
“Historical questions seek answers that will help fulfill three purposes: description of the past, measurement of change over time, and analysis of cause and consequence.” (Kyvig and Marty 2000:17).“To analyze material evidence is to write an object’s biography. Each object has a story to tell, a story shaped by human use.” (Waugh 2004:3).Objects provide historical context that differs from written history, illuminating the experiences of all members of a community. The course gives students...
Research Education-Youth Community Health Arts
Instructor Name:
The Disability and Justice Capstone will focus on Disability and human rights of people with disabilities. Understanding Disability from a social justice model, rather than a medical or deficits model, reframes Disability as an interaction between people and their environment. Students’ volunteer service will be with community partners who serve people with disabilities, and include co-facilitation of educational groups, assistance with professional conferences focused on empowerment and...
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Disabilities
Instructor Name: Harold Briggs
Eliminating Stigmatization in African American Communities This Capstone offers PSU students training and experience in learning an Afrocentric approach to accesses mental health and primary health care. Course participants will learn about cultural, social, and political taboos regarding mental illness and mental health treatment among African Americans, and will work with community agencies on a stigma reduction campaign. Through this experience PSU students will learn about the structural...
Global Perspectives Criminal and Juvenile Justice Disabilities Community Health
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Henry Dosch was a German immigrant who came to Oregon after fighting in the Civil War. After a life in business, he actively helped Oregon forge international relations—especially with Japan—through turn-of-the-century World’s Fairs. Trunks containing his family’s letters and interesting period ephemera have been transferred to the John Wilson Special Collections (JWSC) of the Multnomah County Library and previous capstones have begun the work of sorting the collection. This Capstone will have...
Research Arts
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Capstone students will develop a network of citizen scientists who will participate in long-term monitoring of the impact of climate on Portland trees. Increase public awareness and help collect baseline data that can be used to reduce Portland’s carbon footprint.Capstone objectives:Learn background information on climate change, phenology, tree growth and carbon sequestration, and citizen science.Develop educational presentations for community outreach....
Sustainability Research