The Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice’s campus-based Master of Science degree program provides students with a unique opportunity to study crime and the criminal justice system in a vibrant urban setting. Working closely with CCJ’s core faculty, students develop a tailored program to meet their individual academic needs and career goals. The degree is optimized for students to complete in six academic quarters (two years), but the program is flexible enough to allow for a longer timeline if needed. Through coursework, collaboration with faculty, peer interactions, and community-based learning experiences, students graduating from the program are prepared to assist criminal justice agencies, problem-solve, and give informed solutions to crime and justice issues.

It's time for you to start thinking bigger and more broadly about communication. Our two-year graduate program can make that happen. Earn your Master’s in Communication and become a competent professional and interpersonal communicator.

In the Communication program, you will work one-on-one with faculty mentors who are experts in social science research. You’ll be guided as you develop your own communication and research skills to create positive future change and influence global dialogue. As an MS student at Portland State, you can tailor your Communication degree to help you achieve your next goal.

With millions of students nationwide receiving special education services, there is a demand for highly educated teachers who can work with students at all skill levels.  Portland State’s innovative special education program offers a flexible option to complete a master’s degree independently or in conjunction with a teacher licensure program.

Most of our students obtain their master’s degrees by completing one of the following licensure programs:

• Special Education K-12 Licensure
• Visually Impaired Learner
• Orientation and Mobility for Children, Youth and Adults
• Early Intervention Special Education

In these programs, you will develop the skills to help students with a wide range of learning, mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Further develop your skills adapting general education, and teaching reading, writing, and math to students across a continuum from those with mild and moderate disabilities to those with complex needs. 

In today's increasingly divided world, understanding the root causes of conflict and how to peacefully resolve it are sought-after skills in many fields. Portland State's graduate certificate in applied conflict resolution can help you develop the skill-set you need to effectively approach, manage, and resolve conflict between individuals, families, and groups, organizations, even nations.

You can use the certificate as a stepping stone in your profession, or as a distinctive credential that can help you advance in your career, whether you work in education, business, government, counseling, social work, or human resources.

We combine theory and research with practical, hands-on experience, ensuring you leave the program ready to tackle conflict resolution in the real world.

The Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics (QTEC), a STEM-designated major, provides intensive training for jobs that require both quantitative and qualitative skills. The major should be selected by students wishing to pursue employment in fields such as data analytics, as well as graduate studies in economics.

Make your literary mark with PSU’s master’s in Creative Writing. Our two-year, flexible program offers both full-time and part-time options for earning your MFA. You will graduate with a manuscript, your thesis, in your genre (fiction, poetry, or nonfiction).

We will also guide you into your literary life by teaching you the critical reading and analytical skills you will need as a teacher, editor, publisher, literary agent, journalist, or arts administrator, and the list goes on.

The MFA is a terminal degree in the field of creative writing, which qualifies our graduates to apply for tenure-track teaching jobs at the university level. The program's strengths include distinguished faculty who bring their real-life experience and expertise as published authors into the classroom, faculty mentorship, a thesis project experience, and small class sizes with a supportive community of peers that extends beyond the classroom.

Our creative writing program also hosts an annual reading series that brings writers of national and international reputation to campus and gives students the opportunity to edit, design, and market the literary journal Portland Review.

PSU Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science

This program significantly enhances the capabilities of engineers and managers who are involved in researching, defining, designing, or developing new products, processes, hardware, software, or services. Students tend to hold technical or managerial positions in product marketing engineering, technology marketing engineering, advanced R&D management, engineering management, software engineering, design engineering, or project management.

Objective: The objective of the program is to prepare engineers and other technical personnel for working in the various areas of new product development.

Learning Outcomes: This program significantly enhances the capabilities of engineers and managers who are involved in researching, defining, designing, or developing new products, processes, hardware, software, or services.

About the Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science

The Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science includes five departments, 84 full-time faculty and more than 3,000 students. We offer academic programs that provide transformative opportunities within the classroom and beyond. If you join our college, you'll be connected to Portland's leading tech companies providing opportunities for internships, mentoring, networking, and long term careers. Our faculty offer research opportunities that allow for collaborative or individual study, culturing creativity and innovation. If you want to push what’s possible, in Portland and far beyond, accelerate your career with a graduate degree from the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science.

How can institutions better protect and prepare citizens for geographical hazards like climate change, fires, floods, and water scarcity? PSU’s master’s degree in Geography digs into difficult, complex problems and prepares students to engage, confront, and resolve contemporary geographical issues using geographical skills and knowledge.

PSU’s Geography Department offers several advanced degrees: the Master’s programs discussed below; a Ph.D. in Earth, Environment, and Society delivered through the Geography Department’s partnership in the School of the Environment; and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems. Students may pursue either the Master of Arts (M.A.) or the Master of Science (M.S.) to prepare for careers in the private or public sector, or as a step to a Ph.D. program.

The program requirements are flexible, and students work closely with their advisors to design a course of study tailored to their interests. Many incoming graduate students enter the program with a degree in a field other than geography; we welcome applications from students regardless of major. Faculty research and teaching interests encompass a wide range of subjects, approaches, and regions, including climate change, water resources, forest and fire ecology, community resilience, spatial cognition, geovisualization, and GIS to name a few.

Our small, tightly-knit cohorts are mostly fully funded and receive stipend and tuition remission as well as a faculty advisor who weighs in on their academic path. We are committed to making sure our graduate students are prepared to enter the field and their work as research assistants or teaching assistants is a key part of preparing them professionally. In addition to tuition remission and a stipend, we are also proud to offer our graduate students, several merit-based fellowships, grants, and scholarships.

Our students choose a diverse range of research topics as the basis for their master’s degrees. We teach and conduct research across a broad range of subjects, with particular strengths in the study of water, climate, the urban-rural interface, mountains, environment-society studies, and Geographic Information Science.

Prospective students are encouraged to contact individual faculty to discuss their interests and research opportunities in the process of identifying a prospective advisor.

The Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) educates planning professionals, able to make plans and also to become leaders in the field. Our students engage in practice from the moment they join us, and we use the real planning issues and processes of our region, state, and bioregion as the basis for much of our teaching and research. Experiential learning is an integral component of the program, which requires an internship and a workshop project that is client‐focused, community‐based, and culminates in a professional product to serves as a capstone to the program.

The MURP is a two‐year, 72 credit professional degree program designed for those interested in working as professional planners. Our core curriculum focuses on the history and theory of planning as a field, plan implementation, analytical methods, and the dynamics of metropolitan development. MURP students have the opportunity to customize their education to meet particular scholastic and professional objectives. Each student also chooses a pathway that allows them to specialize in fields such as Community Development, Economic Development, Environment, Land Use, and Transportation.

PSU Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Take the next step and advance your career by becoming a more effective math teacher with a master's degree in Mathematics for Teachers from Portland State.

Our master's degree provides advanced training for math teachers who already hold an initial teaching license as well as those who are interested in teaching dual-credit courses to high schoolers, teaching at community colleges, or pursuing a doctorate in mathematics education.

We'll help you strengthen your understanding of mathematics through coursework in geometry, algebra, analysis and calculus, history of mathematics, probability, statistics, discrete mathematics, and the use of technology in the classroom. You'll learn how to enrich your teaching — and your students' learning — and graduate ready to burst into the teaching field.

About the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics is dedicated to excellence in research and teaching in mathematics, statistics, and mathematics education. Guided by the mission of Portland State University and by the principles of disciplinary excellence and cross-disciplinary engagement, we are particularly committed to building expertise and providing leadership in such areas as applied and computational mathematics and statistics and mathematics education.