The Leadership for Sustainability Education (LSE) program specialization leads to a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy. This program fosters skills in sustainability education and collaborative, emergent leadership. Learn to envision, design, and implement sustainable solutions in a variety of settings including schools, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and businesses.

Sustainability leadership and education encompass ways to facilitate and teach in ways that are inclusive, collaborative, holistic, and critical of injustice and oppression. In LSE we learn how to work effectively and emergently with others to challenge dominant systems to create just and regenerative communities and ecosystems. We believe this requires a shift in our ways of being and knowing, rooted in a deep acknowledgement of our inherent interconnectedness. This also requires a deep, ethical understanding of living within the limits of the earth’s natural systems, as well as personal and communal shifts in behaviors to create healthy and balanced solutions to the interconnected problems that face our bioregions. Sustainability education and leadership involve shifting to holistic, systemic, ecological, relational, and spiritual ways of teaching and leading.

We believe that sustainability education should be embodied in all of our classes and activities. In LSE, students and instructors take on the roles of both teachers and learners, and we strive to model education that is inclusive, participatory, experiential, thematic, critically questioning, place-based, and transformative.

The LSE program provides opportunities to address real sustainability issues through a theory-to-practice curriculum that includes ongoing community-based learning. You’ll create a network of relationships with your program colleagues and mentors, faculty, and community leaders, and will have the opportunity to apply your learning through numerous individual and group projects.

Working closely with a faculty advisor, LSE students develop a program of study that is tailored to their personal and professional goals. Some examples of ways to focus your study include: garden-based education, non-profit leadership, service-learning, entrepreneurial pursuits, sustainability education in higher education, community or governmental organizations, or school- based endeavors.

About LSE Graduate Program

LSE mission and guiding principles

Mission
LSE prepares graduates for careers as leaders and educators through the study of sustainability leadership and pedagogy that emphasizes interconnectedness, social and ecological justice, relationship-building, and skills for sustainable change.

The following values guide the LSE program: Justice, Interconnectedness, Compassion, Integrity, Community, and Love.

We strive to enact these values by:

• Upholding a strong commitment to inclusion, equity, and social, ecological, and economic justice
• Fostering interbeing and earth-connection
• Developing wise and compassionate leaders
• Empowering collaborative leaders and educators
• Facilitating holistic, participatory, inclusive, and transformative learning
• Integrating embodied and spiritual learning
• Centering indigenous and intuitive knowledge
• Practicing whole systems design
• Facilitating and promoting applied, experiential, and community-based learning
• Integrating theory, research, and practice
• Developing reflective practitioners and critical thinkers with strong communication skills
• Honoring multiple and non-dominant perspectives including multicultural, interdisciplinary, intergenerational, indigenous, and local perspectives
• Fostering critical hope and resiliency through networks and relationships

What’s unique about the Leadership for Sustainability Education program? In LSE you will:

• Be part of the movement to address climate change and systemic injustice
• Engage in community-based learning in every course
• Discover hands-on learning opportunities in leadership, garden-based education, and sustainable food systems at our 3-acre Learning Gardens Laboratory
• Build strong connections with peers in your learning community and cohort
• Connect to an ever growing community of committed alumni
• Explore interconnectedness, social and ecological justice, relationship-building, and skills for sustainable change
• Tailor this flexible academic program to meet your personal and professional goals

What kind of leader do you want to be?

As a student in the program, your learning will focus on the following 4 LSE Key Learning Areas, designed for you to:

• Gain a stronger awareness of yourself, including your own ecological identity and inherent inter-relatedness with the earth; articulate who you are and what is important to you as an educator and leader.
• Cultivate an understanding of sustainability issues as interconnected, holistic, and relational; develop stronger systems thinking; and elevate marginalized and under-heard perspectives
• Create strategies for working with diverse groups to create change; understand how power, privilege and (in)justice impact relationships; develop networks and partnerships
• Develop a toolkit for enacting sustainable change, including skills for whole system design and analysis, participatory facilitation, and collaborative leadership.

Professionals in Student Affairs assist students in two and four-year colleges with their initial academic entry experiences (admissions and financial aid), in meeting their academic goals (advising and new student orientation), in gaining leadership experiences (residence life, athletics, student governance, community engagement), and in defining their future career path (career counseling). The Student Affairs in Higher Education Graduate Certificate is designed for professionals from any work background. If you want to advocate for students and support them through personal, academic, and professional growth, this certificate program will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and experiences for career success.

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health is an innovative structure, in which we bring the best of two universities to you. Our design is a product of our innovative spirit and values: we bring that approach to you, working to chart your path into clinical, educational, policy, and direct-service health careers.

In the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Applied Health and Fitness, you will explore and apply the most current research and science in the field of exercise, physical activity, and health. With three specialized focus areas (Fitness and Exercise, Health Coaching, and Fitness for Special Populations), we provide you with a core foundation in public health and specialized skills in exercise science that positions you to excel in the career path you seek.

We offer:

• Tailored, individualized advising and mentorship
• Expert faculty with extensive research and real-world experience
• Innovative curricula – we bring the community to you through guest speakers, applied learning activities, and a focus on current issues – all focusing on developing solutions to real-world problems
• Experiential learning -we bring you to the community through a mentored internship
• Faculty and career development opportunities from both universities

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health: A great place to make a world of difference.

Be an empowered educator and personnel trainer! Leading equity-centered educational and workplace change in schools, colleges, business, government agencies, and non-profit organizations requires continued professional development and life-long learning of knowledge and skills. This 18 credit (about one year) program emphasizes a theory-to-practice (praxis) curricular focus of contemporary research, evidence-based practices, and culturally-contextualized expertise and experiences.

• Learn epistemological theories, motivational teaching strategies, and equity-centered practices for facilitating adult learning and professional skill-building
• Understand strategies for designing responsive training programs that integrate individual learning styles, cultural and experiential backgrounds, and organizational goals.
• Apply contemporary learning theory to support teaching, training, and educational programming in formal (traditional classrooms), non-formal (workshops), and alternative (on-line) pedagogical forms including experiential and community-based learning.

Immerse yourself in the creativity, technical knowledge, cultural history, and design experience you will need to succeed in the field of architecture. Our bachelor's degree in Architecture is a four-year pre-professional undergraduate program that prepares students for the two-year Master of Architecture degree or for design positions in architecture firms.

Our students are schooled in the broad tools and skills needed to work in the field, as well as the architect’s ethical responsibility to address critical environmental and social challenges in the urban setting.

The program is structured around a four-year sequence of required, thematic design studios, from freshman drawing classes to senior architectural interventions in the city. These studio experiences form the heart of the architecture degree, with rigorous hands-on instruction in drawing and making skills, design principles, and project-based learning, often in collaboration with community nonprofits and other organizations. Students' design studio coursework is enriched by required and elective lectures and seminars in architectural history, humanities, and tectonics. These seminars introduce, analyze, and discuss the complexities of the cultural and technological influences upon the making of architecture.

Our undergraduate program provides a clear path toward becoming a professional architect. Through our four-year undergraduate program, followed by our two-year Master of Architecture degree (also known as the “4 + 2 model”), you can launch your architecture career and go on to earn your professional license. Even better: our IPAL program allows you to jump ahead of your peers by starting your AXP (internship) credits while you are still an undergraduate.

The Training and Development Graduate Certificate  prepares professionals who teach, train, manage, and/or consult in the area of workforce (employee and volunteer) development.  Students will apply current theory as they plan, create, deliver, and evaluate high quality training programs for their organizations.

The Certificate in Human Lactation offers comprehensive lactation training for:

• Non-health professionals who want to become certified as International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC)
• Health professionals want to become certified as International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC)
• Students wishing to seek a bachelor’s degree in Public Health Studies with a focus on Human Lactation
• Students interested in politics, policy, and research from the perspective of improving maternal and infant health outcomes

Our Human Lactation program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).

Our school is accredited by the Council for Education In Public Health (CEPH). CEPH is the nationally recognized accrediting body for schools of public health. Its work ensures that schools and programs are meeting the highest standards for education in public health disciplines.

The Postsecondary Adult and Continuing Education (PACE) Program at Portland State University advances students’ knowledge and professional skills for a wide variety of careers in higher education, community and non-profit organizations, and training and development sectors across private businesses and public agencies. The 45 credit master’s degree can be completed in 18-24 months with Hybrid and Fully On-Line (synchronous or asynchronous) course/degree options. As such, the PACE learning community includes students not only from all parts of Oregon, but from across North America, allowing for collaborative learning and shared professional experiences with diverse individual expertise, organizations, and communities.

Students can begin the program any academic term with part-time or full-time enrollment. The CORE classes (16 credits) provide foundational research, conceptual frames, and content knowledge in adult learning and organizational understanding based on educational values of responsive leadership, equitable capacity-building, and social justice advocacy. Students select from one or more THEMATIC SPECIALIZATIONS (25 credits) that are aligned and cross-counted with optional graduate certificates: Student Affairs in Higher Education; Teaching Adult Learners; Training and Development. Students, in advisement with faculty, can also create their own thematic specialization and enroll in Independent Study and/or Practicum/Internship credit. A final capstone course, PACE Comprehensive Project (4 credits), is a culminating theory-to-praxis experience demonstrating learning, leadership, and advocacy for educational and equity-centered change.

The OHSU-PSU collaborative School of Public Health is an innovative structure, in which we bring the best of two universities to you. Our design is a product of our innovative spirit and values: we bring that approach to you, working to chart your path into clinical, educational, policy, and direct-service health careers.

With five specialized Health Studies concentrations and two minors, we provide you with specialty training and a core foundation in public health that positions you to excel in the career path you seek.

Our Pre-Clinical Health Sciences concentration prepares you for continued clinical study in one of the many licensed health professions. You will gain a foundation in public health while also completing prerequisites for your chosen clinical path, including medicine, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, dentistry, dental hygienics, ophthalmology, and others.

We offer:

• Tailored, individualized advising and mentorship
• Expert faculty with extensive research and real-world experience
• Innovative curricula – we bring the community to you through guest speakers, applied learning activities, and a focus on current issues – all focusing on developing solutions to real-world problems
• Experiential learning -we bring you to the community through a mentored internship
• Faculty and career development opportunities from both universities'

Our school is accredited by the Council for Education In Public Health (CEPH). CEPH is the nationally recognized accrediting body for schools of public health. Its work ensures that schools and programs are meeting the highest standards for education in public health disciplines.

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health: A great place to make a world of difference.

Graphic design is the art of creating visual content to communicate messages using images and typography. We see it all around us in the form of printed materials, but designers also make digital content, design user experience (known as UX), as well as wayfinding or environmental design.

Our bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design is a dynamic program that prepares you to conquer design challenges with an array of technical and creative skills. Through exploratory, experimental, and collaborative approaches, we prepare designers to thrive in today’s professional world. We nurture your independent development and offer endless opportunities to engage with design professionals both inside and outside the classroom.

We are proud to be consistently ranked among the top public graphic design programs in the country:

• #1 in Oregon
• #9 Nationally among Public Schools and Colleges
• #27 Nationally

GDUSA Magazine, a source of news and information for graphic designers for 60+ years, named PSU's Graphic Design program in their 2022, 2023, and 2024 lists of top design schools.

We offer:

• Opportunities for professional internships
• Summer study abroad experiences
• Professional portfolio development
• An active peer mentorship program
• A strong sense of community through student groups