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: Heather Petzold
CRN: 44133
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 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health Education-Youth Research
Instructor Name: Molly Gray
CRN: 44147
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 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Research Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Anmarie Trimble
CRN: 44142
This class is an opportunity to explore hands-on the complexity surrounding education, equity, and empowerment, with a specific focus on collaborative peer mentoring, which often includes academic tutoring. Our community partner is the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA). At NAYA, students will have the opportunity to interact with bright youth from diverse cultures and work with them on improving their academics and future prospects. Capstones will collaborate with their Capstone...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 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 2022)
CRN: 44146
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 2020Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 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: 44134
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 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Cindy Koonz
CRN: 44164
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 2021Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2021Winter 2022
Research Disabilities Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Catherine Howells
CRN: 44148
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 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Sustainability Research Community Health Business-Engineering-Technology
Instructor Name: Conrad Schumacher
CRN: 44141
Teaching Art and Social Change The working Thesis for this class is that for Art, or indeed anything/anyone, to effect change in a society the work/ideas must be palatable to the majority, real and tangible in terms of outcomes and sustainable over time. We never get far when we try to change using hate, anger, force or such "clubs."
This course is open to anyone intrigued with the questions raised by public Art (and possibilities of Art) in our society. This capstone should be of particular...
Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health Arts
Instructor Name: Kimberly Mukobi
CRN: 44155, 44127
Grant Writing for Animals: Shelter Pets
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Approximately 2.7 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs - about one every 11 seconds - are euthanized in U.S. shelters each year. This class partners with a local no-kill animal shelter to further its goals of eliminating the unnecessary euthanasia of healthy or treatable companion animals in the community and finding them permanent, loving homes.
Students will participate in the various aspects of...
Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2019Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Animals Shelter Pets Pets Grant Writing Online or Hybrid Courses Grantwriting Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Kristin Teigen
CRN: 44138
This Capstone partners with the Urban League and the Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) to confront housing disparities and strengthen the voice and influence of communities of color in Multnomah County, Oregon. Students will learn the history of communities of color in Portland while engaging in programs with the Urban League and CAT to expand renter’s assistance programs and support those who have been newly housed.
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Anti-Racism Grantwriting Education Activism Leadership
Instructor Name: Andy Reed
CRN: 44154
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 2021Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2021Winter 2022
Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 44151
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 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education social justice Education-Youth
Instructor Name: David Osborn
CRN: 81205, 14027
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 2021Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021
social movements environmental justice Northwest history colonization social change Sustainability Ecology Activism
Instructor Name: Joseph Wightman
CRN: 44143
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 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education-Youth Education Leadership social justice Mentoring
Instructor Name: Lindsey Schuhmacher
CRN: 44167
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 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health social justice Activism Gender social movements Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online social change Sociology Disabilities
Instructor Name: Laura Mulas
CRN: 44160
Global citizenship is of utmost importance as our societies are increasingly becoming more connected through media and technology. There is a growing disparity in the American school system that allows only the privileged students to participate in meaningful and engaging cultural learning. Schools that receive funding and support are able to facilitate cultural exchanges in person for students and faculty, while the majority of students in the public system receive little financial support and...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education - Youth Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Megan Kupko
CRN: 44132
The time is ripe to be part of the growing sustainable food movement! This class addresses the current food issues that face urban citizens by holistically engaging students in the many layers of Portland's local food and farm culture. Students will critically analyze the state of our current food systems while being engaged in positive solutions to agricultural-related issues. The community partner and classroom is the Learning Gardens Lab, where students will gain hands-on farming...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Spring 2020Spring 2021Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Winter 2021Winter 2022
Education-Youth Sustainability Community Health Science