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: M. Khalil Zonoozy
CRN: 44137
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 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health Criminal & Juvenile Justice
Instructor Name: Rick Hugo
CRN: 14628
Your course project will be to create a Virtual Field Environment (VFE) which will be used by K-12 classroom teachers and community educators to "visit" local field sites with their students. You can find a list of our VFEs here. Our challenge is to take a VFE beyond the typical virtual tour and create a rich, engaging learning environment that facilitates student-centered inquiry. You must also strive to engage learners from different cultural backgrounds and with different learning...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022
Education-Youth Science Outdoors Ecology Sustainability Education
Instructor Name: Heather Petzold
CRN: 81263
Being an Effective Change Agent in Portland This course is for students interested in being effective change agents for the public good. Each student (individually or with others) will take the initiative before the Capstone begins to arrange a project with a community organization. This project may be an existing relationship or one sought for the purpose of this class. A minimum of three working hours per week with the organization is required. During the course, students will be supported ...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health Education-Youth Research
Instructor Name: Molly Gray
CRN: 81250
It is estimated that 1 in 10 individuals identify as a sexual minority. Often an already challenging stage in identity development, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & questioning (LGBTQ) youth face a set of issues unique to their daily lives. We examine the paths sexual and gender minority youth navigate in society, exploring such questions as: What challenges do LGBTQ youth encounter? How do they cope, survive, find understanding & celebrate themselves amidst homophobia and...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Research Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Anmarie Trimble
CRN: 81268
This class is an opportunity to support hands-on the culturally and trauma-informed mission of the Native American Family Center (NAYA). This course usually focuses exclusively on peer mentoring, but due to the extraordinary circumstances of Covid 19, and the disproportionate impact on the indigenous community, NAYA (pronounced Nay-Ya) has adapted volunteering options to best support their safety and immediate needs. Despite these changed service options, this course continues its commitment to...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education Education-Youth social work tutoring Mentoring social justice native american indigenous family NAYA trauma-informed
Instructor Name: Deborah Arthur, Matthew Ross (Winter, Spring 2022)
CRN: 81262
This Capstone partners with the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice, Juvenile Services Division. Students work together to facilitate a writing/art workshop in juvenile detention. Through your work in the detention facility, as well as through supportive academic activities, you will have the opportunity to deeply explore current issues in juvenile justice. Successful background checks and Department approval are required for participation in this Capstone; prior to...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2018Spring 2019Spring 2020Spring 2022Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education-Youth Criminal & Juvenile Justice Community Health
Instructor Name: Gabe Sheoships
CRN: 81166, 14129
Students will participate in interpretive programs facilitated within the Tryon Creek State Natural Area.
It is important to ground ourselves and acknowledge the people whose land we are utilizing; the
Clackamas Chinook, the Wasco-Wishram, the Willamette Tumwater, the Multnomah, and other
Chinookan peoples, as well as the Tualatin Kalapuya, the Cayuse, the Molalla and other tribes and bands
of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. It is important to acknowledge the original inhabitants of the...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Spring 2020Summer 2019Summer 2020
Education-Youth Sustainability Community Health Science Culture
Instructor Name: Sally Eck
CRN: 81247
Women’s Oral Narratives In this course, we will be working with our community partner, the local non-profit organization; the IPRC, Independent Publishing Resource Center. Our project is to coordinate a series of *rap sessions* with local teen girls about current issues in their lives. We will use these group conversations to encourage the girls to become a part of our ZINE project - where they will write, edit, and publish a grassroots, mini-magazine with our class. In preparation for this...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Cindy Koonz
CRN: 81235
Linking the Generations, Communication, Aging and Society Students will engage with older adults to complete a variety of life history projects. Students will address their assumptions and stereotypes toward the aging population and will reflect upon personal barriers and successes in the intergenerational communication process. Communication issues will be addressed in the areas of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intercultural communication. In addition to the community work, the course...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2018Spring 2019Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022
Research Disabilities Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Catherine Howells
CRN: 81254
Portland's Water: History and Challenges. This course is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about tap water and create community outreach products for the Portland Water Bureau. Our community partner for this class is the Portland Water Bureau. This class will focus on the Bull Run watershed (the source of Portland's drinking water) and the work of the Portland Water Bureau -- how they deliver our water to our taps. We will learn about the history of the water system, the...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Sustainability Research Community Health Business-Engineering-Technology
Instructor Name: Patrice Morris Ball
CRN: 63978
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 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Research Global Perspectives Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Education-Youth Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Anna Alsufieva
CRN: 63962, 63924
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 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Global Perspectives International Capstones Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Amy Minato
CRN: 81266
In light of looming environmental crises, what can individuals do to change direction? In this course we collectively examine our society to determine which cultural and personal values support, and which inhibit, sustainability. This course includes study, research, reflective writing and class discussion on the first book in the Ecochallenge series, Choices For Sustainable Living. Students participate in weekly minor “green" activities at home and report their accomplishments online at ...
Fall 2019Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Instructor Name: Kristin Teigen
CRN: 81257
This Capstone partners with the Community Alliance of Tenants, Taking Ownership PDX and the Urban League. Students will learn the history of BIPOC communities in Oregon while working with our partners to fight racism, white supremacy and to create a different future for Oregon. Students in this course will learn how to write grants, work directly with organizations centering BIPOC homeowners and tenants and, if they choose, use their own skills and talents to support these organizations. All of...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Anti-Racism Grantwriting Education Activism Leadership
Instructor Name: Molly Gray
CRN: 63975
Older Americans have been witness to great social and political changes in the lives and acceptance of LGBT people in American society. As the Stonewall generation of boomers near their later life, is estimated that as many as 7 million older adults will identify as LGBT by 2030. These seniors face unique challenges in accessing the care and rights that enable them to age with dignity and stability. For many LGBT seniors, recent research has marked a disconcerting trend of going "back into the...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022
Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Andy Reed
CRN: 81239
The class will work alongside The Water Project, a non-profit that is focused on providing clean water to communities in Africa. Students will address needs affecting the field of water scarcity. Students may participate in the following forms of service-learning, which depends solely on the priorities of the non-profit in any given term:
• Research cultural practices and country dynamics to assist NGOs transition into new markets;
• Provide critical feedback to...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2018Spring 2019Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022
Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 81238
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 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education social justice Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Celine Fitzmaurice
CRN: 63938
Nationally, approximately 1 in 6 children live in food insecure households. Recent reporting suggests that food insecurity rates for households with children have tripled since the onset of the pandemic. In this course, we will examine the impact of food insecurity and our current food system on youth. We will also consider a variety of solutions to food-related challenges facing youth in the US. As a student in this course, you will participate in weekly Community-based Learning activities (...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022
Farm-based learning Education - Youth
Instructor Name: Glorie Gary
CRN: 63976
This fully online course is for students who are interested in creating and facilitating a community event. This Capstone partners with Portland Parks & Recreation Adaptive Inclusion Program. Each term, students will plan and facilitate a community event that has already been arranged with the community partner prior to the start of each term. You can expect the event to be during the last 2 weeks of the term (event date and time will be announced in the first week of classes, and is a...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Events Planning Event Social Services developmental disabilities multnomah county community community outreach Event Management Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: David Osborn
CRN: 81251
Celilo Falls: Decolonization, Dams and Salmon in the Pacific NW
The Columbia river flows through our region in physical and metaphorical ways. Present in the story of the river and the salmon that navigate it are social issues, history and conflict that continue to impact NW communities. Through a place-based, experiential approach we will engage this content. Over the course of the term we will spend the majority of our class time outside of the classroom near the river and at sites of...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2018Spring 2019Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022
social movements environmental justice Northwest history colonization social change Sustainability Ecology Activism