Research Centers and Institutes

Center for Public Service

570 Urban Center

503-725-8261

www.pdx.edu/cps

The Center for Public Service draws on the extensive expertise of faculty and students within the College of Urban and Public Affairs with a broad mandate to connect PSU's research capabilities and public service mission with real-world challenges in the public and nonprofit sectors. As part of its effort to forge productive and sustainable relationships with leaders at the local, state, federal, and international levels, the Center offers a wide range of leadership training and applied research capabilities. Located within CPS are the Nonprofit Institute (NPI) and the Institute for Tribal Government (ITG), along with a number of discrete programs such as First Stop Portland (FSP), the Executive Seminar Program (ESP), and the Initiative for Community and Disaster Resilience (ICDR).

In the specific area of leadership development, CPS offers a wide range of education, specialized training, and research programs that serve elected officials and public and nonprofit sector leaders throughout the Oregon/SW Washington area, as well as in international venues such as Vietnam, Japan, China, Korea and Thailand. These offerings include custom-designed leadership development programs for experienced practitioners; and applied research and technical assistance across a wide range of fields including diversity and inclusion, change management, and organizational performance.

Center for Turkish Studies

670B Urban Center

503-725-8309

www.pdx.edu/center_turkish_studies

The Center for Turkish Studies (CTS) is located in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government in the College of Urban and Public Affairs. The Center's faculty covers diverse academic disciplines and comes from departments across Portland State University and other universities in the US, Europe, Turkey, and North Cyprus. Our mission is to foster collaboration between PSU and universities in Turkey, engage in academic research in social sciences and its application to policy making, organize conferences, panel discussions, and cultural activities for academic and public engagement. We are committed to providing decision-makers, academics, and the general public with innovative and objective analyses in crucial policy issues about Turkey-US and EU-Turkey relations. The CTS has expertise in a wide range of areas, including, but not limited to, Turkey-EU-U.S. relations, conducting the World Values Survey in Cyprus, and current developments in Turkey. In these venues, the Center for Turkish Studies enriches Portland State University's scholarly works and contributes to Portland State University's internationalization initiative.

National Policy Consensus Center

720 Urban Center

503-725-9077

The National Policy Consensus Center advances the use of innovative collaborative governance methods in Oregon and nationally by providing collaboration services, university courses, professional training, and research. We help people work together collaboratively to develop public policy and implement community-based solutions.  NPCC provides the following services:

Collaboration and Community Engagement Services: We help government, nonprofits, the private sector, and communities collaborate to:

• Resolve public disputes
• Seek agreement on new public policies
• Implement community solutions collaboratively to improve local economies and quality of life
• Increase public participation that has a collective impact on public issues

Education and Professional Training: We offer academic programs and customized professional training to prepare students and professionals to:

• Use consensus-seeking to resolve policy disputes
• Apply collaborative approaches in their current professions
• Work in the fields of conflict resolution and public engagement

Applied Research and Development: We have several state and national programs that work on the ground to:

• Pilot special projects to test innovative practices in collaborative governance and public engagement
• Implement investigations and case studies to document the value and unique outcomes of collaborative governance, to identify the shortcomings of the practice and strategies to overcome those
• Work with other states to advance the use of collaborative governance approaches nationwide
• Publish collaboration resource materials

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute

550 Urban Center

503-725-4014

www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/criminology-criminal-justice-research

The Criminology and Criminal Justice department houses the Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute (CJPRI), which strives to promote informed decision-making on the complex issues related to crime prevention, crime control, and the criminal justice process. Its goal is to provide policymakers and the public with research and empirical guidance that is objective, practical, rigorous, and evidence- and theory-based to advance efficient, effective, and equitable policy and practice in the field of criminal justice. Faculty from the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Portland State University comprise the core research expertise of CJPRI. CJPRI researchers employ a wide variety of methodological and statistical approaches that deliver advanced analyses of important program and policy questions.

The CJPRI webpage includes links to the Institute’s: 

Current projects (https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/current-projects);

Research faculty (https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/research-faculty); 

Research briefs and papers (https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/research-briefs-papers);

and Crime analysis and Crime prevention resources (https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/crime-analysis-and-crime-prevention-resources).

Institute for Tribal Government

570-K Urban Center

503-725-9000
http://www.pdx.edu/tribal-gov/

The Institute for Tribal Government, housed within the Center for Public Service, is a national leader in its field, providing elected tribal leaders with the information and leadership skills to work with tribal, state, local, and federal governments within a wide range of related policy issues. Tribal leaders are offered programs to meet their own unique needs either with sessions at the Hatfield School or at tribal sites. Programs are available for addressing federal Indian law, tribal government duties and responsibilities, tribal and state relations, the federal legislative process, federal judicial and administrative procedures, and effective tribal leadership strategies. Additionally, the Institute for Tribal Government offers customized consultation and training services to agencies and organizations interested in increasing their capacity for building strong collaborative relationships with tribes.

Certificate in Tribal Relations (CTR) Program:
In addition to organization-specific training, the Institute also offers a 9-month Certificate in Tribal Relations program from December-August. Registration begins in August and is open until spots are filled. This program is designed for mid-career professionals employed by local, state, federal, and regional government agencies, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and trade associations who work regularly with tribal nations and native communities, members of a tribal government, and other native communities interested in collaborative governance. Cohort members attend monthly class sessions on various relevant topics including three in the field learning experiences in Washington, DC, Salem, OR, and tribal communities in order to better understand tribal policy making at multiple levels of governance.

Nonprofit Institute

570 Urban Center

503-725-8261

http://www.pdx.edu/nonprofit-institute/

The Nonprofit Institute (NPI) operates out of the Center for Public Service in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. Its mission is to support the Oregon nonprofit sector so that it can fulfill its promise to bring people together to build a more just, inclusive and sustainable society. To support this mission, NPI:

•  Builds the sector's capacity to organize, learn and lead;

•  Strengthens and grows its networks;

•  Tells the sector's story and articulates its promise;

•  Advances vanguard issues collectively and across sectors.

These goals are accomplished through a set of integrated strategies:

• Conducts primary research and collates scholarship generated by others to create a knowledge-bank that can be used to advance the organizational design, governance, and practice of nonprofit organizations. Emphasis is placed on applied research that generates knowledge of immediate relevance to address the needs and missions of nonprofits.
• Strengthens the capacity of nonprofit organizations in Oregon to engage in culturally appropriate evidence-based evaluation and assessment practices to enhance organizational performance and increase impact.
• Advances professional development for members of nonprofit and community-based organizations.
• Offers high quality academic programs and learning opportunities that address a changing nonprofit landscape and shift in focus to community-building for both today's leaders and the next generation leaders in the nonprofit sector.
• Facilitates discussions and collaborations that build networks and bring people together to share knowledge, reflect on practice, and generate new ideas to engender greater collective impact. We believe that these goals strengthen civic life and participation, and collectively impact the pressing issues of society.