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: Joseph Wightman
CRN: 63778
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Education-Youth Education Leadership social justice Mentoring
Instructor Name: Lindsey Schuhmacher
CRN: 63769
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 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
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: 63809
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Education - Youth Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: George Haley
CRN: 63795
Note: Summer term taught by Andrew Reed, areed@pdx.edu. Fall and SpringTerm taught by Andrew Haley, andrewhaley@pdx.edu)
According to Communities of Color in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, “In total, people of color in 2008 (by traditional Census Bureau counts) comprise 26.3% of the population of the county. When we add the Slavic community to these data, […] the size of the community totals over 200,000 residents." A large number of these residents are immigrants and refugees....
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Immigration Refugees
Instructor Name: Megan Kupko
CRN: 63762
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Education-Youth Sustainability Community Health Science
Instructor Name: Deborah Rutt
CRN: 63801
Drawing on poetry, political theory, sociological texts, film, and personal narratives, this course offers an introduction to prison and its critiques, as well as the power of education to transform individuals and societies. This hybrid course meets once a week at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF); Capstone students will study together with women enrolled in higher education at the women’s prison, about 20 minutes south of PSU in Wilsonville. Successful background clearances are...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Criminal & Juvenile Justice
Instructor Name: Julie Boyles
CRN: 14669, 14670
While the term "food insecurity" has become known and understood, the implications and wide-ranging aspects of it have not. There are physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, health-related, as well as other manifestations that we explore. We look at how food insecurity impacts college students while struggling to remain enrolled; we look at the Portland area and Oregon as a whole; and we look at the national picture of food security in our country. We not only look at the challenges that...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022
food; food insecurity; hunger; sustainability; food justice; food equity
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 63810
The Black Lives Matter at School week of action and call to anti-racist curriculum year round was initiated by Seattle educators in 2016 in response to bomb threats by white supremacists toward students and teachers wearing Black Lives Matter/We Stand Together t-shirts at John Muir Elementary School. Inequity in curriculum, curricular violence, bias in textbooks, lack of access to diverse authors and representation in school libraries all contribute to the “achievement gaps” that both federal...
Fall 2020Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022
Instructor Name: Deborah Burke
CRN: 63776
This Capstone course introduces oral history as a method for documenting, preserving, and amplifying the diverse histories and voices of Portland’s LGBTQ+ communities. Our community partner for this course is the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN).
Through listening to interviews with queer elders and exploring related primary source materials, we will learn about local queer history. Topics will include political activism of the 1970s, the anti-gay backlash and ballot...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
LGBTQ
Instructor Name: Amie Riley, Liv Parks
CRN: 13932
Nearly half of all PSU students have experienced food insecurity and over 15% have experienced homelessness. This Capstone considers the challenges of housing insecurity and homelessness, faced by our country and here on our campus, through a critical systems-thinking approach to complex social issues. The course is guided by our collaborators at The PSU Landing at FUMC: A new PSU community resource sheltering students through housing crisis and transitions. Capstone student projects will work...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2021Spring 2022Winter 2022
Hunger Homelessness Food security; Food insecurity; University students; College campus;