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: Yoko Sakurauchi
CRN: 43649, 63505
Japanese & Chinese Language Program for Youth
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...
Spring 2023Spring 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024Winter 2020
Global Perspectives Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Kofi Agorsah, agorsahe@pdx.edu
Experiencing African Culture in Ghana Accra the capital city, and Cape Coast in the Central Region, will be the main rendezvous sites. Participants will spend much of their time interacting with communities in other cities, towns and villages in at least three other regions with over sixty ethnic, language and dialect groups. There will also be opportunities to observe Ghana’s vibrant agricultural system, and local and small-scale textile, basket, woodcarving, pottery and leather industries...
Global Perspectives International Capstones
Instructor Name: Nariyo Kono
CRN: 43669
Grant Writing for Indigenous Sustainability In the online Capstone course Indigenous Grant Writing, students work collaboratively in teams to research and write grants, and to understand the issues of Indigenous communities. Students gain an understanding of collaborative work and the importance of equal participation from every team member. Students examine the role of non-profit organizations in addressing social, ethical, and political issues. They also consider the role of funding and...
Fall 2021Spring 2021Winter 2023Winter 2024Fall 2019Fall 2020Winter 2020
Sustainability Grantwriting Global Perspectives Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Michael Chamberlain
Organizing and Defending Immigrant Workers Explore the contentious issues surrounding immigration and the growth of an immigrant workforce. Partner with a local immigrant rights organization to explore ways to defend immigrant rights and to improve the working conditions of immigrants.Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Critically analyze important social and political questions related to immigration.
Participate in a constructive and respectful...
Global Perspectives Community Health
Instructor Name: Jack Corbet
Following three campus class sessions in July and August, students will spend two weeks in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This international capstone explores sustainability and environmental activism in Oaxaca, Mexico. Given the increasing interconnectedness between Mexico and the United States we want to understand how Mexican families and communities demonstrate environmental awareness and ultimately begin to make behavioral choices by opting for sustainable approaches to everyday...
Sustainability Global Perspectives Community Health International Capstones Retired-course
Instructor Name: Julie Porter
With meditation as our framework, we will explore the concept of personal healing and awareness as a foundation for global healing. Meditation is a practice that encompasses a philosophy of living with a quiet mind, open heart, and in service to others. This capstone provides an opportunity to explore ancient Chinese philosophy, personal healing, and social responsibility within the context of a mindfulness practice. Working with a community partner gives you the chance to be of service to...
Global Perspectives Community Health
Instructor Name: Jenna Padbury
This course will be offered Summer 2019. Rolling Deadline Application apply early to guarantee a spot. Final Deadline March1st During a 18-day international service-learning experience in Turrialba, Costa Rica you will learn about and be immersed in Costa Rica’s culture. In Turrialba, you will serve daily in a community-based setting such as a school, national park, or social service organization. Late afternoons will be spent studying Spanish and participating in critical reflection....
International Capstones Global Perspectives Education-Youth Gardens
Instructor Name: Jack Corbet
Increasingly, migrant workers in Oregon and other western states are arriving from southern Mexico, especially from the indigenous communities in the southern state of Oaxaca. Migration impacts the health of this population in complex ways, and challenges health care systems on both sides of the border. This Capstone course takes students to Oaxaca, Mexico to study the cultural, economic and social forces that impact health in both sending and receiving communities. We focus particular...
Education-Youth Community Health Research Global Perspectives International Capstones
Instructor Name: Sam Gioia
Course Description:
Middle School Equity & Inclusion is a hybridized capstone offered each Summer. Through text and community engagement PSU students will observe and reflect on race, language, and class privilege as they are encountered by immigrant children and their families.
Online reading and discussion will orient students to the context of language, culture, and English language learning and migrant education. The classroom discussion will explore the role of race in each of our...
Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024
Global Perspectives Education-Youth Community Health
Instructor Name: Sam Gioia
CRN: 44199
Through community experience and classroom, education capstone students will learn about the academic needs and cultural adjustment of African refugee youth. Students will either support the children in a classroom setting 3-4 hours per week, or lead an after school homework club from 3-5:15 either Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays starting the second week of class. PSU classroom education will address the historical and cultural dynamics of African refugees, contemporary...
Global Perspectives Education-Youth Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Laurel Singer
CRN: 81699
Convening Diverse Groups to Resolve Community Issues Creating sustainable solutions to the most critical and pressing issues confronting our communities is only possible when diverse stakeholders are able to come to together to collaborate. This course is designed to give students an opportunity to gain essential knowledge and skills to work effectively in collaboration with others, and to understand how that same collaborative process is successfully being used to solve our most pressing...
Sustainability Global Perspectives Community Health Education Youth
Instructor Name: Colleen Kaleda
Refugee Support and Education: Paving the way to Citizenship This course will delve into the modern refugee experience through direct contact with refugees served by two Portland nonprofits: Refugee and Immigrant Support and Education (RISE) and the Immigrant Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). Students will work as volunteer teaching assistants in a classroom setting in Portland and Vancouver, WA community centers where refugees attend RISE pre-citizenship classes; students will also work...
Global Perspectives Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Patrice Morris Ball
CRN: 43671, 63544
Design and Edit Organ Donation Outreach Materials
Students will work with the nonprofit agency Donate Life Northwest (DLNW) while learning about their mission to save/enhance lives through the promotion of organ, eye, and tissue donation. Students will design/edit promotional documents (digital, video, electronic or for print), while integrating knowledge from their own field of study, familiarity with today's popular culture, and the community partner’s mission to increase registration of...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Research Global Perspectives Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Education-Youth Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Jenna Padbury
An Exploration of Leadership Through Service in MexicoFirst offering summer, 2013Students will learn, serve, and live together in Mexico for 2 weeks. Through pre-trip classes, direct service in Mexican communities, interactive sessions with grass-roots leaders, and reflection students will explore the following: leadership, community development, and the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. Service projects may include any of the following: serving meals, building housing, painting,...
Global Perspectives Community Health International Capstones
Instructor Name: Anna Alsufieva
CRN: 43667, 43666
Effecting Change: Russian International Capstone requires a 3 term committment (2 credits fall, 2 credits winter and 2 credits spring term). This Capstone is restricted to RUSSIAN FLAGSHIP PROGRAM. Only students who are enrolled in PSU Russian Flagship program can take this course; and the course is conducted totally in Russian.
Intercultural competence is an important skill that one needs to acquire to be a successful and contributing member of modern global society. This course is the...
Fall 2023Spring 2023Winter 2023Winter 2024
Global Perspectives International Capstones Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Leopoldo Rodriguez
Rural communities in NW Argentina are among the poorest in the country. Lacking the rich soils of the Pampas, facing more extreme climatic conditions, and subject to a heavily concentrated land tenure system, agricultural production, the mainstay of the region’s economy, has failed to raise the standard of living of the bulk of the population. The northward expansion of soybean production into marginal lands, while providing new economic opportunities for large landowners, threatens small rural...
Sustainability Global Perspectives International Capstones Retired-course
Instructor Name: Dr. Margaret B. Neal
For more information, contact Iris Wernher (Assistant Program Coordinator): Wernher@pdx.edu
The program connects classroom learning on the topics of gerontology, community development, cross-cultural communication, and public health with collaborative community service in Nicaragua. The spring-term course builds on student knowledge and skills in order to prepare teams of students to successfully complete projects in the field while traveling in Nicaragua. Students will work with each other...
Research Disabilities Community Health Global Perspectives International Capstones
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: Kimberly Mukobi
CRN: 43673, 63536
The Animal Empathy Project: Creating Compassion Through Art
Digital art can help us reach wider, more inclusive audiences to tell stories, capture emotions, and grapple with the issues of our time. This fully online Capstone examines the ways humans live with, utilize, and treat nonhuman animals in their everyday lives. Students will reflect on their identities and skills in a collaborative setting to research and create digital art that our community partner can use to advance its wildlife...
Spring 2024Winter 2024
Animals Arts Empathy Education - Youth Education Online Course Online or Hybrid Courses Online or Hybri Courses Global Perspectives Activism