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: Sabina Haque
CRN: 64123
Scott SUN and Portland State University (PSU) coordinate the "Art & Community Mapping" after-school program. PSU Fine Arts professor Sabina Haque leads the class of 20 Scott students (gr. 4-8) and 20 volunteers from her PSU capstone class. PSU and Scott students are matched for individual mentorship. PSU students will learn about local and national issues in Arts education, and the role of community based Art to support child and youth achievement.The class meets once a week at the school...
Research Education-Youth Arts
Instructor Name: Erik Bodegom, Drake Mitchell (Winter 2022)
CRN: 64794
IMPORTANT: This Capstone course will not be available for the 2020-2021 academic year.
This Capstone takes place over the winter and spring terms. Students enrolled in Research Experience for Science Majors will develop an understanding and appreciation for scientific, societal, economic, political, and ethical dimensions of science. This will be accomplished through group work, where a selection of readings will be the springboard for presentations and discussions. Further work is...
Spring 2020Spring 2022Winter 2020Winter 2022
Business-Engineering-Technology Research Science
Instructor Name: Mitch Cruzan
CRN: 81160, 81210
The objectives of Research and Society are: Community service with an emphasis on the sciences and your research interests; Learning to communicate scientific material in various media to professional and lay audiences; Higher level thinking about questions about scientific processes & ethics—synthesizing knowledge; and, Preparation to complete undergrad work and enter grad school and the workforce.
Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021
Business-Engineering-Technology Community Health Research Science
Instructor Name:
Asset mapping methods combined with geographic information systems (GIS) technology have proven to be effective ways to help citizens and organizations identify, analyze, describe, and mobilize around assets and issues of concern to them.The Community Geography Project of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies has a history of training PSU students, community groups, and middle and high school students in asset mapping and GIS technology to enable them to ask new questions and better...
Business-Engineering-Technology Education-Youth Community Health Research
Instructor Name: Heather Petzold
CRN: 63550
Already volunteering and want to get credit? Have an internship and want to combine that with your capstone? Curious about what is possible? This course is designed for students to to develop their own community projects and work in partnership with them to effect change. This project may be an existing relationship or one sought for the purposes of this class. A minimum of 30 working hours with the organization or project is required and can be flexibly designed by you and your community...
Spring 2024
Community Health Education-Youth Research
Instructor Name: Molly Gray
CRN: 63549, 80911
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Research Education-Youth
Instructor Name:
Social marketing adopts the same marketing principles that are used to sell products to consumers to "sell" ideas, attitudes and behaviors. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors to benefit the target audience and the general community. Like commercial marketing, the primary focus is on the consumer--on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we are producing. Rather than dictating the way that information is to be conveyed to the...
Research Business-Engineering-Technology
Instructor Name: Mary Ann Schmidt
CRN: 81658
Students will work in partnership with the Clackamas River Basin Council to monitor over twenty stream sites both public and private. Local land owners will provide access to their stream side properties in order for students to collect and analyze water samples. Students will provide creek side landowners with information on the quality of their local surface water, and also report their river basin wide project results to the Clackamas River Basin Council.
This course involves field and lab...
Sustainability Research Education Science Retired-course
Instructor Name: Celine Fitzmaurice
Grant writing skills are critical to the survival of many non-profit environmental organizations. In this course you will learn grant writing skills by developing real proposals for a local environmental non-profit organization. The rich history of citizen-based environmental advocacy in the US will play a central role in class discussions, presentations and reflective writing assignments throughout the term.
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:...
Sustainability Research Grantwriting
Instructor Name: Heather Petzold
CRN: 63513, 80914
This course focuses on the importance of community-based learning. As a class, we will have the opportunity to discover, evaluate, and reflect on the needs of our community by creating and facilitating educational workshops, mentoring, and exploring fundraising opportunities for the Boys and Girls Club. Students will promote teamwork, leadership and problem-solving skills. Community issues to be addressed include: compassionate communication, trauma informed care, engaged listening, leadership...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Research Education-Youth
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: Cindy Koonz
CRN: 63528, 80901
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 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2022Summer 2023Summer 2024Winter 2022Winter 2023Winter 2024
Research Disabilities Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Online or Hybrid Courses
Instructor Name: Barry Messer
CRN: 81663
This course addresses the health of cities with respect to the community stewardship of its watersheds. Students are challenged in a learning and community development process of discovery and direct involvement. The essential elements of the Capstone focus on the factors that can contribute to the health of Portland's watersheds. Students work with the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and a neighborhood group on projects that may include "hands on" activities and/or community outreach...
Research Community Health Sustainability Retired-course
Instructor Name: Catherine Howells
CRN: 63523
Portland's Water: History and Challenges. Water is life. Imagine, just for a moment, a world without your tap water. Picture Portland after seven days of empty taps and dry fountains—households struggling, communities in crisis, and daily life at a standstill.
The Portland Water Bureau (PWB) ensures this does not happen by providing safe, clean water to all of our taps 24/7. Join our class for an exclusive tour of the pristine Bull Run watershed and learn from PWB's water infrastructure experts...
Fall 2021Fall 2022Fall 2023Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Spring 2024Summer 2021Summer 2022Summer 2023Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Sustainability Research Community Health Business-Engineering-Technology
Instructor Name: James Hillegas
Documenting Sustainability in the Pacific Northwest In 1989, the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "[development that] meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations." As the 21st century progresses, the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability have become increasingly complex. Partnering with Northwest History Network, this class will explore the idea of sustainability by looking at its...
Sustainability Research Retired-course
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: DeEtte Beghtol Waleed
CRN: 14659
“I learned that I can no longer just turn my head and walk away.”
We are surrounded by violence in many areas of our lives – crime, TV, wars, domestic violence and much more. The class seeks to understand why our culture is violent. We will interview leaders working to overcome violence in the US and other countries to learn how change is possible. Structural violence and the interconnections between violence and poverty will be explored and analyzed in order to learn new strategies to...
Conflict Resolution Conflict International International Relations History Political Science Research Psychology Education Sociology Criminal Justice
Instructor Name: Eden Isenstein
CRN: 82122
Students in this class will work with the Portland State University Women's Resource Center and their community partners to work towards ending sexual assault. The class will work in teams on projects such as, research, awareness raising/prevention, and fundraising. By the end of the term students will be able to articulate the definitions and dynamics of sexual violence as well as current issues in the field. Students will also have gained experience and understanding in what it takes to...
Education-Youth Research Community Health
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: Janice Dilg
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UNST 421 506 Tuesday-Thursday: 10:00 -11:50 a.m. 6 Credits
Monumental Women Senior Capstone students explore and document the ways that women are memorialized and remembered for their contributions to the cultural, educational, economic, and civic development of the city of Portland. Encompassing the entire history of Portland, students have the opportunity to research and write about a historical or contemporary woman, women's organization...
Research Writing Activism History Women's Studies