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: Andy Reed
CRN: 81178
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 43670
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 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education social justice Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Lisa Jo Frech
CRN: 43679
Environmentalism is a philosophy and social movement (some call it a revolution) involving both protection and improvement of the health of our natural environment. Environmentalism is an attempt to achieve sustainability so that both humans and the Earth thrive without compromising future generations. The movement in this country is credited as starting with Rachel Carson and her extremely popular book Silent Spring published in 1962, when it fact it was spawned in 1945 with the return of...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2024
Grantwriting Ecology Online or Hybrid Courses Sustainability Ecology or Sustainability Advocacy Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: David Osborn
CRN: 81189, 13675
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023
social movements environmental justice Northwest history colonization social change Sustainability Ecology Activism
Instructor Name: Joseph Wightman
CRN: 43656
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 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education-Youth Education Leadership social justice Mentoring
Instructor Name: Lindsey Schuhmacher
CRN: 81214, 43681
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 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 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: Laura Mulas
CRN: 43677
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education - Youth Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Megan Kupko
CRN: 43653
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Education-Youth Sustainability Community Health Science
Instructor Name: Deborah Rutt
CRN: 43662
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
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: Suzanne Savaria
CRN: 81184, 81203
One of the most powerful learning opportunities for a student is studying abroad. The impactful, sensory experience of being far away ultimately brings us closer to ourselves, naturally offering a platform to examine how we identify and relate to the world around us.
In this course, we’ll delve into the idea of identity of people and place, both abroad and at home. Using musical and cultural experiences as a lens, we’ll explore the powerful concept of identity. In a rapidly shrinking world...
Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023
International Capstones Education - Youth Arts Identity Music
Instructor Name: Deborah Rutt
CRN: 81179
This course will explore sustainability, food security and personal connection to the environment through community engagement at the Oregon Food Bank and Wombyn’s Wellness Garden. Students will examine community-based learning through the lens of sustainability leadership, and engage with alternative and critical perspectives on sustainability. Class time will focus on hands-on activities in the learning gardens, group discussion and community engagement projects in support of the Oregon Food...
Summer 2020Summer 2021
Learning Gardens Garden-based learning
Instructor Name: Neera Malhotra
CRN: 81601
Trauma often leads to contemplative dissociation- a detachment from the body and the mind. Through a social justice framework, together we will explore trauma and healing using Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB). IPNB is relational neuroscience that offers kinder, broader wisdom to understand how we are hurt and how we heal within relationships (including the relationship with the self). In this class, you will learn about trauma, including internalized oppression, grief, and suffering; healing...
Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Summer 2021Summer 2022
trauma-healing; contemplative practices; interpersonal neurobiology; social justice
Instructor Name: Megan Schneider
CRN: 64572
Cultural Ecology in the Urban Forest at Tryon Creek
This course is designed to inspire and question the ways we educate both ourselves and our next seven generations as global stewards. Through remote discussions and exercises, readings and media, nature journaling, and personal reflection, students will gain a deeper appreciation of the authentic cultural ecology of the area. Students will have the opportunity to collaboratively apply their learning to a community outreach project that helps...
Fall 2020Fall 2021Fall 2022Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2020Summer 2021
Education - Youth
Instructor Name: Deborah Burke
CRN: 81572
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 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
LGBTQ
Instructor Name: Megan Schneider, Lukas Maurer
CRN: 81265
This course will focus on how we can create sustainable and just change in our food system and beyond. Students will explore the concepts of sustainability, sustainability leadership, food justice, and food sovereignty through community-based learning with the PSU Learning Gardens Lab (LGL). This course will focus on community building, group discussions and activities, and will work on projects that connect LGL with on-campus food security efforts. For Spring Term 2022, this course will...
Spring 2022Summer 2021Summer 2022
Learning Gardens Food Justice