Have a strong musical foundation but want more scholarly exploration? A master’s in Music will help you advance your artistry to the next level.

Our program offers a comprehensive curriculum in music literature, orchestration, conducting, and research methods, with an emphasis on music history. In this program, you will immerse yourself in the world of music and receive individualized applied lessons in primary and secondary areas of choice.

Our dedicated faculty provides mentorship to all our students and both nurtures and challenges growth from graduate students.

Whether you’re preparing to apply to a top-ranked Ph.D. program or aiming to kickstart a career in government, law, or the non-profit sector, our Master's Degree program in Political Science (MS) is designed to help you advance your future goals in the world of politics. 

The program has been intentionally and thoughtfully designed to be a safe place for students to explore graduate level political science scholarship and is customizable to meet individual interests and needs. For those pursuing the PSMS as a terminal degree, or for students who simply want to add real-world political experience to their graduate education, we have a top-notch internship program that has long-standing relationships with city, regional, state, and federal offices, as well as many local, national, and international NGOs. Our graduate students have the option of doing internships for credit during their second year—professional opportunities that often lead to full-time jobs after graduation.

For students who aspire to earn their doctorate and become political science professors, our program excels and specializes in preparing students to be admitted to and succeed in a top-ranked Ph.D. program. From day one, you will receive instruction in the discipline’s key theories and research methods, learn the realities of the academic profession, and begin developing expertise in one or several political science subdisciplines: American Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory. Because the program is relatively small, our top-notch faculty are able to give personalized attention to each graduate student, offering advice and lending insight as needed. 

We are proud to have alumni of our MS in Political Science accepted with full funding at numerous prestigious doctoral programs, including Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Emory, Cornell, and the University of Washington. In addition, our alumni have gone on to thrive in full-time jobs at Mercy Corps, the Portland City Council, the U.S. State Department, and Senator Jeff Merkley's office, just to name a few.

Even if you don’t have a perfect academic record, Portland State University’s political science master’s program is a place where you can explore, grow, and learn from top-notch faculty in a welcoming environment. Simultaneously, it’s a place for real scholarship and academic rigor. Make no mistake, this program will challenge you and hold you to a high standard, but we’ll be with you every step of the way.
 

Challenge your knowledge of the universe and collaborate with your cohort and expert faculty to form new theories with a Master’s Degree in Physics. Our tightly-knit graduate program will push you to develop robust research and experimental skills while you work closely with faculty who are leading researchers in diverse fields like biophysics, nanotechnology, atmospheric and climate science, and much more.

As a graduate student at PSU, you will acquire advanced knowledge in quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, classical mechanics, and statistical mechanics. Our seminar series and guest lecturers will enrich your classroom work and will expose you to new dimensions of thought. You’ll also have the opportunity to take your groundbreaking discoveries beyond the lab as you present your research in student symposiums and conferences.

Our combined master's and doctoral program in psychology prepares you to use science to make a meaningful impact after you graduate. We train students from all over the world in the use of applied research as a lever for understanding complex social problems and implementing social change.

Our program has a curriculum that allows you to complete a master's degree on the way to a doctoral degree. You'll learn to use innovative conceptual and methodological tools while working closely in faculty teams with community partners to understand and solve social problems.

Our faculty are clustered in five concentrations — applied developmental psychology, applied social psychology, community psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, and applied quantitative psychology — and provide you with a rich training experience in an apprenticeship model. With cohorts of 10 to 12 students each and a small faculty-to-student ratio, we will ensure that you have the support and experience you need to succeed.

Our graduates are in high demand and you’ll leave our program prepared to work in a variety of applied research and academic settings, including private and public organizations, research institutes, and universities.

Become a part of our commitment to psychological science that makes the world a better place.

Show your physics mastery and make your theories known with a Doctoral Degree in Applied Physics. On the Ph.D. track, you will build upon what you’ve learned through the master’s program and hone your original research to solve real-world problems.

With a Ph.D. in Applied Physics at PSU, you will have the time, faculty access, and research support to experiment and explore applications for your theories. You will also benefit from access to incredible support resources for professional development, including support for developing skills in classroom instruction and grant writing.

For musicians with an unconventional mindset, you’re not alone in your desire to break the mold. A master’s degree in Jazz Studies will give you endless opportunities to deepen your knowledge and advance as a leader in your musical career.

Our program offers rigorous instruction in music theory, music history, improvisation techniques, jazz arranging, music literature, research methods, and pedagogy. Students have the opportunity for hands-on experience through participation in ensembles and combos. We also offer individualized applied lessons on your instrument of choice to deepen your knowledge.

Throughout the program, you will receive mentorship and career advice from renowned faculty, as well as opportunities for leadership within your cohort. Our alumni’s skills are in-demand as professional musicians and teachers.

Unique Program Features:

• Designed for Experienced Public Service Professionals – Courses are sequenced across the academic year to even out the workload and enable degree completion within 21 months. Classes are held approximately every other Saturday and supported by dedicated staff who provide a concierge level of service that enables you to focus on meeting your learning needs.
• Cohort Learning Model – Our model brings together students, faculty, mentors, alums, and practitioners in a rigorous peer-to-peer learning experience. This model fosters community, sparks creativity, and builds leadership and collaborative skills.
• Distinguished Faculty – Learn from credentialed and accomplished faculty with extensive real-world experience in a variety of government and non-government organizations. Our professors are dedicated to meeting the individualized learning needs of each student and doing so in ways that integrate the best of academic research with practice.
• Legacy of Leadership – Central to the EMPA curriculum is a tested leadership model built on reflective practice, active learning, and relevant application. We have developed this model over a 20 year period of doing leadership development in the U.S. and abroad, including Japan, China, and Vietnam.  
• Advanced Leadership Competencies – The program is designed to be intellectually challenging and personally rewarding. Students will master specific competencies that prepare them to successfully tackle multifaceted, cross-sector leadership problems at multiple scales.
• Intensive Field Experience – Enhance your understanding of equity, justice, and governance through a transformational cross-cultural experience in domestic and international settings.

PSU's certificate in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (TJFL) prepares you to use your skills at home or abroad, teaching Japanese to speakers of other languages. This program is designed to familiarize participants with principles of instructional methods in teaching Japanese to speakers of languages whose orthography is not kanji-based. It is designed to fit into the programs of majors in a wide variety of fields, including Japanese, education, linguistics, and the social sciences. Candidates may enroll as post-baccalaureate students or while completing undergraduate degree requirements in another field.

The certificate is easily obtainable while completing degree requirements in Japanese or related language or linguistics programs.

Japanese proficiency at the ACTFL Intermediate High level is required for admission to this certificate program. Students whose proficiency is lower may be provisionally admitted; they will need to study Japanese while taking other courses in the certificate program.

Systems Science is the study of general principles governing systems of widely differing types, and the use of systems ideas and methods in research and socio-technical system design and management. Systems science draws on the natural and social sciences, mathematics, computer science, and engineering to address complex problems in the public and private sectors.

Systems ideas and methods offer valuable insights into and fundamental ways to think about a wide range of phenomena. They will help you to better understand and address problems in such diverse areas as climate change, resource use, renewable energy, and public health and biomedicine, and shed new light on the challenges and opportunities of new technologies.

The systems minor offers coursework in methods for approaching complex systems including opportunities to design conceptual models using graphical understanding, computational models to simulate system behaviors, dynamics of biological or ecological systems, the evolution of cooperation, and networks in society.

Learning systems ideas and methods will enhance the knowledge and skills you gain in any specific program, making the minor a perfect complement to any major. Our systems minor has been designed to be entirely cross-disciplinary, meaning engineering or biology majors can take systems just as comfortably as a philosophy or geography major. The classes can also help you fulfill requirements for a number of core curriculum courses.

Immerse yourself in the language and culture of ancient Rome with a minor in Classical Studies, and gain new insights into how this major world culture continues to influences modern society.

For nearly two millennia, much of European literature, scholarship, diplomacy, and even aspects of everyday life, have found expression in Latin. Minoring in classical studies will give you language and writing skills that will make learning any other language easier.

The minor pairs well with a degree in history, English, philosophy, and art history, as it gives you a foundation in understanding the writings and thoughts of creators from centuries past in their original language.