A richly historic language that spans the entire globe, contemporary Spanish is the culmination of centuries of literature, art, music and culture.

In your Spanish degree from Portland State University, you’ll study a language with over 50 million native speakers in the U.S. and another 400 million abroad, making it the second most popular native-spoken language in the United States and the world.

Whether you want to study the Spanish language and culture to get in touch with your family's history, immerse yourself in Hispanic culture, or prepare for an international career, a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Portland State will help you expand your knowledge and build your fluency.

The Spanish major is a degree focusing on language, culture, and history. You'll take courses in language, linguistics, literature, film, and life in Spanish-speaking countries and communities. You will join a diverse community of students, some learning Spanish as a new language and others who are native or heritage speakers broadening their skills, all bringing unique perspectives and a wide range of skills to the classroom.

In the Spanish program at PSU, students explore the relationships between language, history, and art using an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates perspectives from across the humanities, sciences, and professions.

Communication is a flexible major that prepares students for the social, political, and economic challenges of the 21st century. Our courses relate to students' everyday experiences of interpersonal and mediated communication, but offer a depth of knowledge and inquiry necessary to better understand complex communication subjects like the relationship between social media use and mental health and how campaigns persuade people. 

Students gain a foundation in communication theory, research, and methods and then have the opportunity to pursue electives across different communication areas including the:

• Effects of mass (e.g., television) and digital media (e.g., Facebook)
• How communication can create social change 
• How communication influences who votes and who wins elections
• Ways to interact with health care providers to improve care 

Students graduate with a well-rounded understanding of human behavior and communications, giving them the skills to go on to careers or further study in the health professions, education, psychology, marketing, business, public affairs, public policy, and journalism.

Discover the limitless possibilities of science and its real-world applications with a bachelor's degree in Science from Portland State University. The flexible major can be tailored to fit your goals and will provide a basic mastery of multiple scientific fields.

We believe that even the world’s most destructive conflicts can be resolved to create a more peaceful future. With a bachelor’s degree in conflict resolution from Portland State University, you will be able to participate and contribute to this important work locally and globally.

As a conflict resolution major, you will learn to analyze conflict, uncovering the underpinnings of conflict dynamics in a wide variety of settings and scales. You will develop perspectives and gain skills to defuse and deescalate destructive conflicts that arise among individuals, groups and countries.

The courses in the program encompass the practical and theoretical bases of mediation, negotiation and an array of peace-enhancing perspectives and strategies. The program includes research, theory, and competency-based education focusing on building the necessary personal, social and institutional conditions necessary for positive peace, conflict transformation (from destructive to constructive), and universal respect for context-sensitive human rights. Students are encouraged to pursue their own particular interests in the study of conflict resolution.

PSU’s Elementary Education bachelor’s degree offers you a direct path to become a teacher in Oregon — and gives you the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of children and their families.

In our immersive program, you’ll learn to work with youth and discover how to take an anti-racist approach to teaching. You’ll develop specialized expertise in social emotional learning, the science of reading, and working with multilingual learners. As you gain the skills and knowledge to enter the education field, you’ll learn to lead in the classroom.

You’ll also:

• Get hands-on experience working with students through a year-long student teaching placement and additional opportunities to observe and help in classrooms.
• Receive valuable instruction and mentorship from faculty who are also experienced elementary school teachers.
• Learn how to design and implement lesson plans that encourage creativity, build community, and help students make meaningful progress toward learning goals.
• Discover practices to build partnerships with families and community members.
• Engage in a teaching style that honors the strengths, culture, and background of your students and their families.

Whether you’re a returning student seeking a career change or a high school student exploring your options, our elementary education program will give you the opportunity to do meaningful work, and stand out in a high-demand field. It will also prepare you to earn your Oregon Teaching License when you receive your undergraduate degree, helping you begin a meaningful career as soon as you graduate.

Our elementary education program is one of many ways you can become a teacher at PSU. The elementary education minor will benefit you if you plan to enter human service careers or are interested in understanding education systems.

Learn how you can become a teacher and view other teacher pathway programs at PSU.

In addition to being admitted to PSU, you must also apply separately to the Bachelor's in Elementary Education program. The Elementary Education program only admits students once a year for fall term. We encourage you to start planning your application to the program in your sophomore year. Review the admissions information for more details.

 If you have already earned a bachelor’s degree, your path to becoming an elementary teacher is through PSU's Master’s in Elementary Education.

Social science helps us understand how we relate to others in an increasingly diverse, polarized, and multicultural society. A bachelor's degree in social science from Portland State challenges you to be informed about what's going on in the world, to think about how it could be better, and the role you play.

As a social science major, you'll develop a broad knowledge-base about the world around you and gain valuable skills that will equip you to make an impact in a wide range of careers, including writing and presentation and public speaking skills, critical reasoning, social and environmental consciousness, research and analysis, and creative problem-solving.

Online Social Science Bachelor’s Degree Option

Earn a social science degree online and build skills you can use your whole life in any career. Designed for students who have completed the first two years of a bachelor's degree, our online program offers a flexible academic structure that you can modify to fit your own interests, schedule, and goals. You will:

• Work closely with outstanding faculty. You'll take your online courses from the same instructors who teach on our campus.
• Connect with other students. PSU's easy-to-use online course platform encourages direct interaction among classmates.
• Take award-winning courses. Our online bachelor’s degree includes core coursework in PSU’s nationally recognized University Studies program.
• Plug into Portland. No matter where you live, our online programs let you in on Portland's energetic and innovative spirit.

Finish your degree online and develop adaptable skills that employers value in every field. The social science program offers particularly good preparation for careers (and graduate school) in teaching, social work, and counseling.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in creative writing is your first step toward a career in writing, editing, publishing, journalism, teaching, arts administration, advertising, and other creative fields. It will also prepare you to apply to graduate programs in creative writing.

The degree provides you with a comprehensive and intensive curriculum of classes and workshops in craft and technique, exposure to the work of established writers, and opportunities for you to work closely with peers and published writers as they develop and hone their creative work and critical skills.

You get the opportunity to learn from distinguished faculty who bring their real-life experience and expertise as published authors into the classroom. Faculty are deeply engaged with creative writing students and act as mentors and advisors. Students in the program enjoy small class sizes, access to internship opportunities in a vibrant literary city, and a supportive community of peers. Students complete a final portfolio project that they can use alongside a resume. There are active creative writing student groups and writing events, including an annual reading series that brings writers of national and international reputation to campus. The B.F.A. requirements are designed to provide introductory-level experience writing in the three customary genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This is followed by intensive work in one of those genres.

The creative writing major is highly flexible with an elective structure that allows you to pursue your interests in literature, literary theory, film, screenwriting, and publishing. The department also offers an undergraduate degree or minor in English, a minor in film studies, and a certificate in comics studies.

Discover how the planet functions from the core to the atmosphere with a bachelor's degree in earth science from PSU.

As an earth sciences major, you'll gain foundational knowledge about the Earth's materials, evolution, resources, and sustainability. Our program grounds you in the geologic framework of inquiry and problem solving while encouraging you to explore the link between the geologic perspective of earth systems and concepts of sustainability.

You'll graduate with a well-rounded education in the earth, space, physical, and life sciences, preparing you for a range of educational and professional jobs.

The earth science degree is a flexible but focused program, allowing you to take courses in biology and sustainability-related topics that will give you a competitive advantage in today's job market. This background will give you a competitive advantage for careers in education as teachers in elementary and high schools and at the college level; as well as careers in governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, and in the private sector such as with engineering, architecture and planning firms or in the construction, mining, and petroleum industries.

The coursework also meets the requirements to receive an integrated science endorsement for teaching science in middle and high schools. The inquiry approach used in the geology field and lab courses at the core of our program model the inquiry approach used in middle and high school classrooms.

Climate change is one of the most critical issues facing the world today. Become better informed and engaged on this pressing issue with PSU's Climate Change Science and Adaptation minor.

You'll gain a broad understanding of the physical science underlying human-caused climate change, what those changes mean for society and the environment, and how society can best manage these changes.

You'll graduate with a strong foundation in an important and relevant topic, and give yourself a competitive edge in the job market where employers are increasingly looking for employees with knowledge of the impacts of climate change.

Develop as a highly reflective and responsive early childhood educator or social service professional who has a deep understanding of the role of development, diversity, and culture in the lives of young children and their families.

The Master's in Early Childhood: Inclusive Education is a fully online, interdisciplinary program focused on education for young children, birth through age 8, and their families and teachers. Engage in early childhood courses reflecting an inquiry-based, social constructivist approach to teaching and learning, framed by the pursuit of equity.

Graduates understand how to implement an inclusive approach with children and adults, guided by a commitment to anti-bias education. This non-licensure program allows you to complete at your own pace, typically in two years, with a focus on one of the following specializations: Infant Toddler Mental Health, Constructivism (Inquiry-Focused Education), Early Childhood Special Education, or a Distributed Pathway.

Program Values 

All of our classes are aligned with NAEYC Early Childhood Higher Education Standards and include the following core values as threads throughout the curriculum, including our pedagogy, content, and our ways of working together.

Respect ~ Honoring our diversity, welcoming multiple perspectives, affirming equity
Participation ~ Engaging all members of the community
Constructing knowledge ~ Inquiring, experimenting, theory building
Listening ~ Paying close attention
Reflection ~ Thinking deeply, inviting transformation
Representation ~ Making learning visible in many possible languages
Collaboration ~ Having wonderful ideas together
Change ~ Leading and engaging together with children, families and communities.