PSU's Center for Executive and Professional Education

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PSU's Center for Executive and Professional Education

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Portland State's Center for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) is a leading provider of university-level courses, certificates, and programs designed to increase leadership skills, deliver process management tools, and foster creative thinking. The Center for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) is part of Portland State University and serves as the primary provider of business training in the area. You can select public courses in a variety of programs in Management and Leadership, Business Skills, and Technology & Design, or bring training directly to your organization.

10/23/2026

An unrealistic deadline isn't improved by everyone quietly agreeing to it.

The trick is not to respond with, "Nope."

Nor with, "Absolutely!" followed by three days of panic, cancelled plans, and a deeply personal relationship with Slack.

Instead, turn the deadline into a decision and try, "We can deliver the full scope Tuesday. But if Friday is fixed, we can prioritize A and B and move C to next week. Which option works better?"

Now you're not simply pushing back. You're showing the tradeoff.

If the deadline can't move, something else probably has to.

We are not bending time today, Chad.

10/21/2026

At some point, "keep your head down and work hard" becomes spectacularly incomplete career advice.

Early in your career, saying yes to everything can help you build experience.

Later? Experience probably isn't the thing you're short on.

Now the questions are different:

-What do you want to be known for?
-What skills do you need next?
-Which opportunities actually move you there?
-What are you still doing because it made sense 10 years ago?

There's no magic switch at 35. But mid-career often requires moving from proving you can do the work to being deliberate about where your work takes you.

09/30/2026

Meet CEPE instructor Carolyn Niehaus.

Carolyn is a senior leadership and organizational development consultant with MetaSkills Consulting Group, where she helps leaders navigate complexity, lead transformational change, and strengthen organizational effectiveness. Her background includes developing leadership and experiential education programs, contributing to The New Systems Thinker, and integrating systems thinking into practical organizational development work.

In BO213: Systems Thinking, Carolyn helps participants understand the interconnected systems that shape organizational performance. Through real-world applications, learners build the skills to analyze complex challenges, identify meaningful leverage points, and develop solutions that create lasting impact.

Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Rochester, an MBA from Portland State University, and a certificate in Computer Modeling in System Dynamics from Portland State
University.

Meet Carolyn: https://www.pdx.edu/professional-education/profile/carolyn-niehaus

09/24/2026

An emergency plan shouldn't begin with someone searching the shared drive for a document last updated by an employee no one remembers.

Prepared organizations know:
-Who has decision-making authority
-How information will be verified
-Which audiences need to hear from them
-How operations will continue
-Where supply chains are vulnerable
-How employees and communities may be affected
-What happens when the original plan stops working

Preparedness doesn't mean predicting every possible emergency. It means building the awareness, relationships, systems, and judgment needed to respond when reality ignores the plan.

CEPE's Emergency Management and Community Resilience program helps professionals prepare organizations and communities to respond with greater awareness, effectiveness, and resilience.

Learn more: https://www.pdx.edu/professional-education/certificate-programs

09/22/2026

Quick fixes are appealing because they create the feeling of progress. But when the same problem keeps returning, the issue may be larger than one person, one decision, or one broken process.

Systems thinking helps you look at relationships, patterns, incentives, and unintended consequences. It shifts the conversation from assigning blame to understanding what is creating the outcome.

Better questions can reveal better solutions.

Learn about our Organizational Development Course: https://www.pdx.edu/professional-education/certificate-programs

09/16/2026

Before adding another goal to your career plan, take stock of what is already there.

A skill audit can help you identify the strengths you should keep using, the gaps worth addressing, and the habits that no longer belong in the next version of your career.

You don't need to rebuild everything. You need to invest in the right things.

Save this for your next career planning session.

09/14/2026

You may be more ready to lead than you think.

Leadership doesn't begin when your title changes. It shows up in how you make decisions, support others, communicate expectations, and respond when things get difficult.

The skills can be learned, practiced, and strengthened over time.

Save this post for the next time imposter syndrome starts making management decisions on your behalf.

09/10/2026

Five-year plans are tidy. Careers rarely are.

Your next move doesn't have to answer every question about your future. It just needs to move you closer to work that challenges you, interests you, or gives you more options.

That next step might be:
-Building a skill your current role requires
-Preparing for a promotion
-Exploring a different career path
-Becoming more confident in an area you've been avoiding
-Taking one course before committing to a full certificate

You don't need to map your entire career, just start with the next useful step.

Explore professional development programs: https://www.pdx.edu/professional-education/certificate-programs

09/08/2026

Meet CEPE instructor Sara Weith.

Sara Weith brings a uniquely grounded perspective to leadership, shaped by her BSN from Northern Illinois University and a career spanning emergency medicine and surgical oncology nursing. With over 16 years of experience in change management and project leadership across healthcare and consulting, she now serves as a subject matter expert at ASW, where she leads presentations and roundtable discussions on navigating complex organizational change.

In BO210: Change Management, she helps participants apply proven frameworks to real-world transitions, drawing on her own leadership experience, including serving as Lead Nurse Navigator for the Oregon Convention Center mass vaccination clinic and volunteering with Portland Street Medicine.

By bridging hands-on healthcare work with organizational leadership, Sara illustrates how effective change management and project leadership are essential to driving meaningful, lasting impact.

Meet Sara: https://www.pdx.edu/syndication/profile/sara-weith

09/04/2026

Career growth can mean moving into leadership.

It can also mean becoming more skilled, changing specialties, gaining influence, taking on better projects, or finding work that fits you better.

There is no single correct direction.

CEPE helps working professionals build practical skills for the direction they choose, whether that means advancing in their current field or exploring a new one.

Your career does not have to look like a ladder.

Honestly, most careers look more like a transit map drawn during construction.

Address

1600 SW 4th Avenue
Portland, OR
97201

Website

https://www.pdx.edu/professional-education/

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