Meet with an Honors Ambassador and attend a class

Mia is a junior double majoring in Psychology and Communication Studies.  She started at PSU as a freshman and has gone through most of the Honors College curriculum. Mia has multiple on campus jobs, including assisting international students and is a research assistant in a psychology research lab as well. In her free time she loves to play her instruments, grab a coffee with friends and to travel all over the US!

Chantell is a junior double majoring in Black Studies and Social Science.  She is an active community advocate and has been awarded the Millner-Rutherford-Harris Excellence in Black Studies Book Award through Portland State University for her advocacy and agency in the Black community in Portland. A transfer from Portland Community College and full-time mom, Chantell has found a community on campus through the Honors College, cultivating safe spaces with like-minded individuals navigating college life of the unconventional and underrepresented. Fun Fact: Chantell is most excited about the opportunity to develop a thesis influenced by lived experience and a passion for uplifting her community.

Meet Suzie! She's a driven sophomore here at  PSU, double majoring in Marketing and Finance with a minor in International Global and Studies. She’s been a student at the Honors College since day one! Suzie serves as the Secretary and Sergeant-at-Arms for Kappa Delta Chi, a Latina-founded multicultural sorority dedicated to academics and service. And here’s a fun fact—she absolutely loves cows! 

Meet Kasiet! She is soon to be a senior at PSU, majoring in Finance.  Kasiet started at PSU and Honors as a transfer student.  She started working on her thesis earlier this year, while earning research credit through the Honors program.  She currently works as an Honors Ambassadors Program and also at the Office of the President for PSU. Kasiet also has experience in accounting through an internship abroad. Fun fact about Kasiet is that she loves board games and is actively working on creating one with her team!

Grace is in her final year at PSU, studying Psychology with a minor in Child, Youth & Family Studies. Currently working on her Honors Thesis, Grace also completed an internship for credit through the college. She began her journey as a community college student from out of state, and found the transfer-specific Honors courses to be essential for her easy transition. Grace enjoys the 5th Avenue Theater, PSU’s student run movie theater that is free for students!

Rory Price is a sophomore majoring in Environmental Engineering and minoring in Fine Art studies. Rory interns in an Ecohydrology lab on campus and researches foliar water uptake in broadleaf deciduous trees. She is also the president of Portland State’s chapter of Engineers without Borders which is a non profit volunteer organization. She is also a member of PSU’s American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions team. Rory is an Honors Ambassador as well as an MCECS (Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science) Ambassador. Outside of academics Rory enjoys reading, hiking around the PNW looking for spiders and fungi, and any creative pursuit. 

Lauren Yanase is a Bachelor’s and Master’s student of History at Portland State University, where she studies Asian diasporas in the American West, especially early-twentieth-century Japanese American history. She is in her final year at the Honors College and presented her History Honors thesis at PSU this past December and at a national history conference in Washington, D.C., this past January. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Anthós, the Honors College’s student-run, faculty-reviewed, open-source academic journal. In 2024, she received an Oregon Heritage Fellowship from the Oregon Parks Service for her research on the history of the Portland Assembly Center during World War II. Beyond her historical and academic interests, Lauren enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her rescue dog, Patsy Mink.