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 2019-2020 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: Anmarie Trimble
CRN: 44296
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 2020Spring 2020Summer 2019Summer 2020Winter 2020Winter 2021
Education Education-Youth social work tutoring Mentoring social justice native american indigenous family NAYA trauma-informed
Instructor Name: Zapoura Newton-Calvert
CRN: 44262
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 2020Spring 2020Summer 2019Summer 2020Winter 2020Winter 2021
Education social justice Education-Youth
Instructor Name: Laura Mulas
CRN: 64030
This capstone is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about Spanish culture and society by means of synchronous and asynchronous discussion group forums between American and Spanish middle and high school students. The communities of students will be from: Portland, Oregon, various schools in Washington state and Zamora, Spain. These forums will be between paired classes (one USA and one Spanish) of similar grade and language level and will be facilitated and monitored by both teachers...
Fall 2019Spring 2020Summer 2020Winter 2020
Education - Youth Global Perspectives Online or Hybrid Courses Education International Capstones International Relations social justice
Instructor Name: Joseph Wightman
CRN: 44298
Leadership Through Mentoring in K-8 Schools - The mentoring of young people takes many forms. Some young people are fortunate to grow up with a caring parent, relative or adult ally who serves as a mentor to them. Other young people do not enjoy the benefits of a strong mentor in their lives. Research shows that mentoring results in a myriad benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. For all involved, these include the development of leadership skills, increased interpersonal communication...
Fall 2019Fall 2020Spring 2020Summer 2019Summer 2020Winter 2020Winter 2021
Education-Youth Education Leadership social justice Mentoring
Instructor Name: Lukas Maurer
This Capstone partners with Centennial Park School (CPS), an alternative school for "at-risk" students in Gresham. PSU students will provide mentoring and support to CPS students to help them express themselves through creative storytelling. The course will examine issues of social justice, holistic learning, and self advocacy, and consider the power of vulnerability in a leadership position. The course will also address privilege and power in society, community and classrooms.
PSU students...
Education Education-Youth Leadership social justice mentor
Instructor Name: Susanne Steinmann
CRN: 64579
This Capstone partners with a non-profit Portland Meet Portland (www.portlandmeetportland.org) in order to meet, empower and learn from adults and youth in diverse refugee communities in Portland. The Capstone aims to strengthen cross-cultural learning, understand urban development issues and support positive pathways for refugee adjustment. Students are matched with diverse refugees and will document with text or video newcomers’ social and economic livelihoods and community maps. In...
Community Development Sustainable cities Social Sustainability community outreach social justice Leadership poverty Urban Apartheid
Instructor Name: Lindsey Schuhmacher
CRN: 44273, 44280
Welcome to EveryBody Matters: Embracing Size Diversity! This course focuses on fatness as a social and cultural construction, examining the relationship between discrimination caused by body size and gender, race, and social class. Students will use social justice and healthcare perspectives to question weight bias and explore ways in which the fat community and its supporters resist sizeism.
A 2010 study from Yale University shows that body size discrimination occurs at the same rate as...
Spring 2020Summer 2019Summer 2020Winter 2020Winter 2021
Community Health social justice Activism Gender social movements Online or Hybrid Courses Hybrid or Fully online
Instructor Name: Jenna Padbury
CRN: 44302
Meditation and mindful awareness encompass a philosophy of living with a quiet mind, open heart, and in service to others; they are our primary practices in this capstone. We will explore mindful awareness and meditation as foundations for personal, community, and global health and well being. Our meditative practices, ancient Eastern philosophy, racial equity, and social responsibility will inform how we engage in service learning. By serving with non-profit community partners we will...
Fall 2020Winter 2020Winter 2021
Community Health Homelessness trauma-informed social justice trauma-healing social justice contemplative practices interpersonal neurobiology
Instructor Name: Annie Knepler
CRN: 65127
This Capstone will partner with the Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGL), a 12-acre garden education site on Portland’s southeast side. Students work collaboratively to gather stories of community gardeners, teachers, and community partners who regularly gather at LGL to learn and farm. Capstone students will gain skills in interviewing, storytelling, and using narrative as a means for social change, in addition to learning about sustainable food systems and the impact of learning gardens.
Spring 2020
Community Health Sustainability Education social justice Ecology Garden-based learning food
Instructor Name: Julia Dancis
Description
This two-term capstone will explore a core community psychology framework--Participatory Action Research (PAR). In the spirit of learning by doing, students will partner with groups on campus to design action research projects around the course theme: Disrupting Systemic Racism at PSU. These projects will involve collecting data and using those data to inform social action. The course will culminate with group reflections on the projects and on Participatory Action Research...
Spring 2021Winter 2021
Research social justice Anti-Racism