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 2021-2022 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: Anmarie Trimble
CRN: 63520, 80931
In this Capstone we partner with the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) through hands-on community-based service. Capstone students participate in mentoring programs in NAYA's Learning Center or their College and Career Center, or support NAYA's food sovereignty community garden. There is some possibility that Capstones may also have the opportunity for other service at NAYA, such as advocating for state-wide school adoption of Oregon's new indigenous-created curriculum "Tribal...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education Education-Youth social work tutoring Mentoring social justice native american indigenous family NAYA trauma-informed trauma garden healing
Instructor Name: Alissa Leavitt
CRN: 43643, 63494
Course Description: Students will work alongside the Family Preservation Project to examine pregnancy, birth, and postpartum support while incarcerated. Students will discuss perspectives, resources and policies that impact the physical and emotional experience of parenthood while in custody. Additionally, support services available to families, and children of incarcerated parents will be explored.
Our community partner will be the Family Preservation Project as we work to address prenatal...
Spring 2023Spring 2024Winter 2024
Community Health Advocacy Child and Family family education and social justice social justice public health incarceration Birth Pregnancy Postpartum lactation breastfeeding
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 63538, 80903
The “achievement gap” has been at the forefront of discussions about the U.S. education system since the implementation of NCLB in 2001. The public has been tuned into this so-called “achievement gap” alongside high dropout rates, lack of access to equitable early childhood education, public disinvestment in the education system, disparities in access to higher education, and more. According to the Children’s Defense Fund’s State of America’s Children Report, the gaps (more accurately and...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education social justice Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Laura Mulas
CRN: 63539
This capstone is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about Spanish culture and society by means of synchronous and asynchronous discussion group forums between American and Spanish middle and high school students. The communities of students will be from: Portland, Oregon, various schools in Washington state and Zamora, Spain. These forums will be between paired classes (one USA and one Spanish) of similar grade and language level and will be facilitated and monitored by both teachers...
Spring 2022Spring 2024Fall 2019Summer 2020Winter 2020Spring 2020
Education - Youth Global Perspectives Online or Hybrid Courses Education International Capstones International Relations social justice
Instructor Name: Joseph Wightman
CRN: 63514, 80924
Leadership Through Mentoring in K-5 Schools - The mentoring of young people takes many forms. Some young people grow up with a sibling, relative or another adult ally who serves as a mentor to them. Some benefit from formal mentoring programs in schools or from community organizations. Not everyone enjoys access to regular mentoring, yet research shows that mentoring has tremendous benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. These benefits include the development of leadership skills,...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education-Youth Education Leadership social justice Mentoring
Instructor Name: Susanne Steinmann
CRN: 64579
This Capstone partners with a non-profit Portland Meet Portland (www.portlandmeetportland.org) in order to meet, empower and learn from adults and youth in diverse refugee communities in Portland. The Capstone aims to strengthen cross-cultural learning, understand urban development issues and support positive pathways for refugee adjustment. Students are matched with diverse refugees and will document with text or video newcomers’ social and economic livelihoods and community maps. In...
Community Development Sustainable cities Social Sustainability community outreach social justice Leadership poverty Urban Apartheid
Instructor Name: Lindsey Schuhmacher
CRN: 63503, 80926, 80928
Welcome to "Embracing Size Diversity!" This course focuses on weight stigma as a social and cultural construction, examining the relationship between discrimination caused by body size and gender, race, ability, and social class. Students use social justice and healthcare perspectives to question weight bias and explore ways in which we can resist sizeism individually and collectively. Emphasis is placed on the Health at Every Size™ (HAES) approach to wellness as well as advocating for size...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Community Health social justice Activism Gender social movements Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online social change Sociology Disabilities
Instructor Name: Jenna Padbury
CRN: 43658, 63516
We will practice and grow in our understanding of mindful meditation and awareness as a foundation for personal and global healing. Meditation is a practice that encompasses a philosophy of living with a quiet mind, open heart, and in service to others. Learners will cultivate their own mindful meditation practice 6 days a week for 15-20 minutes a day. Together we will explore the connections between ancient Eastern philosophy, personal healing, and social responsibility. Service-learning...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2023Spring 2024Winter 2023Winter 2024
meditation mindfulness Community Health trauma-informed social justice contemplative practices interpersonal neurobiology
Instructor Name: Annie Knepler
CRN: 63518
This Capstone will partner with the Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGL), a 12-acre garden education site on Portland’s southeast side. Students work collaboratively to gather stories of community gardeners, teachers, and community partners who regularly gather at LGL to learn and farm. Capstone students will gain skills in interviewing, storytelling, and using narrative as a means for social change, in addition to learning about sustainable food systems and the impact of learning gardens.
Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Spring 2020
Community Health Sustainability Education social justice Ecology Garden-based learning food
Instructor Name: Julia Dancis
CRN: 64010
Description
This two-term capstone will explore a core community psychology framework--Participatory Action Research (PAR). In the spirit of learning by doing, students will partner with groups on campus to design action research projects around the course theme: Disrupting Systemic Racism at PSU. These projects will involve collecting data and using those data to inform social action. The course will culminate with group reflections on the projects and on Participatory Action Research...
Spring 2021Winter 2021
Research social justice Anti-Racism