Introduction to the project

Abstract

The essays in this symposium were produced by undergraduate stu- dents enrolled in Portland State University's "capstone" program. A capstone is a senior-year course for community-based learning, scholarship, and service that is part of PSU's University Studies curriculum. This capstone was designed to help the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Greater Portland celebrate its centennial in 2001. Students engaged in archival research, conducted oral history interviews, and hosted annual public forums and historical exhibits over a six-year period. This course was among the pilot cohort of PSU's capstones, begun in 1996. The production of original scholarship in a classroom and community-based format entailed significant innovation in teaching for me as the capstone facilitator. This introduction describes some of those innovations and then introduces the essays that follow.