Capstone Handbook

Capstone courses are designed by PSU's faculty as community-engaged learning experiences that engage students in dynamic projects throughout the Portland metropolitan region and beyond. 

In these 6-credit courses, students bring the knowledge, skills, and interests developed through all aspects of their education to work for mutual benefit with their community partner, collaborating within multidisciplinary teams alongside their faculty and community partners to imagine and co-create a just world.  

There are over 100 course offerings to choose from every year covering a broad range of topics.  The choice is ultimately up to you.  Some students choose a course that aligns with their major, others choose a course that will provide them with a new experience to expand their education.  You may wish to meet with an academic advisor or a staff member in University Studies to explore your choices.  

For a summary of courses and when they are offered, please check out the Capstone Capsule.

1. 1. The Senior Capstone course represents a PSU undergraduate’s final step in their University Studies journey. The course is intended to draw upon a blend of each student’s prior educational and life experiences to address a real world issue.

   2. Education research shows positive correlations between college student participation in community-engaged learning (CEL) and a wide variety of academic and community outcomes. 

• Your syllabus will give you the best course-specific information about the capstone you have chosen.

• PSU’s Student Community Engagement Center’s Community Engagement Toolkit provides a variety of videos, reflection prompts and other resources to prepare you for your community-engagement projects

The following PSU guidelines related to the Senior Capstone detail policies and procedures designed by Portland State University to ensure a safe and generative capstone experience for all parties involved. This includes students, community partner entities, community partner constituents, and faculty members. Please contact the University Studies office at 503-725-5890 with any questions or concerns related to these policies and procedures. 

Student Testimonials

"This class has caused me to shift my previous perceptions more times than any other class that I have taken."

“I learned about topics and social issues that I never knew or thought about before. I was able to reflect on my actions and the role I played in these topics. I was given a new perspective on things.”

“Being able to relate what I do in my capstone either with my career interest or my major.”

Community partners play a critical role in the Capstone Program. Together with faculty and students, community partners co-create a mutually beneficial capstone partnership to advance student learning and address important issues in the world.

In addition to other roles, community partners:

• Orient students and University representatives to the community partner and Capstone project, and provide information regarding the community partner’s administrative and operating policies, procedures, rules,  and regulations. 

• Specify what duties and responsibilities students are expected to perform. 

• Provide students with on-going supervision and support as appropriate to the Capstone project and the students’ needs. 

• Offer feedback to faculty and students regarding the students’ performance and effectiveness in meeting the needs of the community partner. 

• Ensure that the work is conducted in accordance with required safety precautions and procedures. 

• Make appropriate written arrangements with students and University, signed by the parties involved, for use of work products resulting for the Capstone project, with regard to acknowledgment of authorship, rights to ownership, and use and sharing of proceeds, in particular if the work results in patentable or similar products.

The following PSU guidelines related to the Senior Capstone detail policies and procedures designed by Portland State University to ensure a safe and generative capstone experience for all parties involved. This includes students, community partner entities, community partner constituents, and faculty members. Please contact the University Studies office at 503-725-5890 with any questions or concerns related to these policies and procedures. 

Community Partner Testimonials

“By partnering with PSU's Capstones, we have been able to provide more one-on-one mentoring and positive role models for our students.”

“Far more people with disabilities can be served due to our partnership with PSU. We treasure it. And thousands of PSU students have had a deep, transformational life experience in acting as a one-on-one counselor with a child or adult with I/DD.”

“PSU CAPSTONE students ...treat each immigrant and refugee student in my class with respect, honor, patience, kindness, and love.”

Capstone courses use community engaged learning as a vehicle for students to reach their academic goals by integrating course objectives with community needs. To facilitate this connection, faculty should provide structured opportunities for students to reflect critically on their community engaged experience through writing, reading, group discussion, and classroom activities. Faculty should also integrate the four University Studies goals into their course offering. 

Here is a syllabus template which includes the goal language and offers additional guidance for designing a successful capstone course.

Understanding the process for submitting a Senior Capstone Proposal:

1. 1. 1. Please contact the Capstone Program Director for course proposal materials and instructions.

The following PSU guidelines related to the Senior Capstone detail policies and procedures designed by Portland State University to ensure a safe and generative capstone experience for all parties involved. This includes students, community partner entities, community partner constituents, and faculty members. Please contact the University Studies office at 503-725-5890 with any questions or concerns related to these policies and procedures. 

Faculty Testimonials

As an Instructor, Capstones allow the opportunity to bridge students to a praxis of justice. It creates a possibility to transform classroom knowledge into community action. Most of my students are joined to communities that they are already part of or passionate about in some way, and together we work to build sustained relationships and solidarity with the organizations we work alongside–whether that is in doing mutual aid with unhoused LGBTQ youth, archiving marginalized trans oral histories, or combatting the isolation of LGBTQ older adults. These often transform into lifelong practices, continued connections, motivation for graduate education and employment opportunities. Capstones are a catalyst. — Molly Gray

Capstones are more than a requirement—they connect faculty passions with real-world impact, fostering collaboration, equity, and shared growth. This reciprocal engagement strengthens PSU’s role as an urban-serving, minority-serving institution while creating lasting benefits for students and the broader community. — Cynthia Carmina Gomez

1. 1. The National Campus Compact Website provides a variety of free resources for students, faculty, community partners and others.

   2. Academic Journals in the field of Community Engaged Learning:

• Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 

• Journal of Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement

1. 3. Books:

• Learning Through Serving: a resource for faculty and staff facilitating community engaged learning.

• Faculty Service-Learning Guidebook: a resource for students participating in community engaged learning courses and programs.

• Community Partner Guide to Campus Collaboration: a resource for community organizationsto develop mutually beneficial community engaged learning partnerships with higher ed institutions.

1. 4. Articles:

• This 2008 article from Tania Mitchell compares the distinguishing elements of traditional and critical approaches to “service-learning” through a comprehensive literature review. Faculty members proposing a new capstone are encouraged to read this before submitting their proposal to familiarize themselves with the field.

1. 5. PSU Resources:

• PSU’s Student Community Engagement Center’s Community Engagement Toolkit provides a variety of videos, reflection prompts and other resources to prepare students for community-engagement projects. 

• Office of Academic Innovation Resource: OAI's Resource for Difficult Classroom Interactions