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: 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: 63789
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022
Community Health Education-Youth Research
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: 63808
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2018Spring 2019Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2018Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
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: 63786
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Summer 2019Summer 2020Summer 2021Summer 2022Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Sustainability Research Community Health Business-Engineering-Technology
Instructor Name: Patrice Morris Ball
CRN: 63816
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 2021Fall 2022Spring 2020Spring 2021Spring 2022Spring 2023Winter 2020Winter 2021Winter 2022Winter 2023
Research Global Perspectives Community Health Hybrid or Fully online Education-Youth Online or Hybrid Courses
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: Annie Knepler
CRN: 64111
This course will partner with Portland’s Community Cycling Center, helping them increase their capacity by developing grants for specific projects. The Community Cycling Center works to broaden access to bicycling and the benefits of cycling. Their vision is to build a vibrant community where people of all backgrounds use bicycles to stay healthy and connected. In order to write a successful grant proposal, one must gather up as much knowledge about the topic and the organization as possible....
Grantwriting Sustainability Transportation Community Health Research Retired-course
Instructor Name: Alissa Leavitt
CRN: 64816, 63951, 44038
Pathways to Health Equity (Formerly called Health Professionals as Agents of Change)
Influences such as income, living conditions, education, infrastructure, healthcare, social capital, public policy, stress, gender, and race are widely recognized to effect health outcomes. However, the connection between research and practice is sometimes not as well developed or fully articulated.
Students will have the opportunity to work with practitioners to engage the community, including...
Winter 2023
Community Health Population-based health healthcare health equity behavioral health trauma-informed care environmental health community engagement Disabilities Education security; hunger; sustainability; food justice; food equity LGBTQ social work Poverty Awareness Anti-Racism Child and Family Age-friendly Communities College campus Research Refugees physical activity social determinants of health public health social change counseling school-based health maternal & child health oral health community organizing social connections community outreach social isolation faith-based health care