Portland State University

"As National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month comes to a close, I am proud to highlight an inspiring student-led initiative celebrating Pacific Islanders in Oregon and the vibrant communities they have built across the state. Designed and initiated by Portland State University’s first Pacific Island Studies professor, Dr. Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, the Oceania in Oregon Capstone course challenged students to document and uplift the stories, organizations, businesses, leaders and cultural spaces shaping Pacific Islander life in Oregon today.

The result of this work is the upcoming Oceania Storytelling Exhibit, a community-centered showcase on June 3 highlighting the diversity, resilience, and cultural richness of Pacific Islander communities across Oregon through storytelling, photography, and community engagement. I hope you can join us in this celebration."

Learn more in the President's blog (down in the comments)

On a recent sunny afternoon, Mt. Tabor was filled with Portlanders picnicking, pushing strollers, playing with pups and gathering for a May Day march. And taking it all in was a group of Portland State students.

For their history course, Parks & Portland, the scenic park was their classroom for the day. With an iPad loaded with archival photos and a portable microphone, professor Catherine McNeur transported students back 120 years, tracing the park's evolution from a cow pasture to the public space it is today — one shaped by themes of real estate, advocacy and access.

McNeur says park goers can pass by the blooming Rhodendrons or the Dawn redwoods without a second thought, but the class helps "bring things that we take for granted alive, so that suddenly you see history everywhere."

Learn more about Catherine McNeur and her class:

https://www.pdx.edu/news/exploring-portlands-parks-one-class-time