While Honors College courses frequently center global perspectives and experiential learning, HC faculty members take these components of an honors education one step — or rather, 5,025 miles — further each summer by transporting their classrooms from Corvallis to London. The Honors College London Experience allows students — including incoming first year students — to earn six credits toward their honors degree over the course of three weeks while immersed in a world-class city rich in culture and history.
In summer 2025, all students in the program participated in Katherine Hubler’s honors history course, Modern Confrontations: Origins of ‘the West’ III. Students also enrolled in one of two offered seminars: Crossing Oceans with Wires and Waves, taught by Matthew Johnston, or Crime and Punishment in the UK with Michelle Inderbitzin. East London was the group’s home base, where students lived within walking distance of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the Thames, “as well as really vibrant parts of the city like Brick Lane Market and Whitechapel,” says Katherine, a senior instructor of history. Classes were held every weekday morning, usually followed by an excursion in the afternoon or evening. Students were free to explore the city or even neighboring countries over the weekends.
“The mix of structured activities and free time provided the perfect balance to explore a new city,” says Evelyn Warren, a third-year honors student who participated in the 2025 program. “Everyone on the trip had one thing in common that they wanted to check out in London, which provided a great starting place for building relationships. I met a great group of people on this trip who I still hang out with regularly.”
The HC London program is unique at Oregon State in being open to incoming first-year students who would normally begin their undergraduate experience in fall term.
As one of these new students, Brooklyn Nickerson enjoyed the opportunity to build community and connection during the experience. “When I moved onto campus in the fall, I already had friends in the Honors College. It made the transition easier since I already had a support group.”
In addition to fostering connection within the HC community, the London program creates unique opportunities for student learning. Katherine and Matthew, who, along with Michelle, have led the program multiple times, both suggest that taking their respective courses abroad helps students to meaningfully integrate course concepts into their worldviews as global citizens.
For example, Katherine’s Modern Confrontations course examines wars, revolutions and the evolution of political and human rights. In London, the histories and lasting impacts of the World Wars are particularly salient. “Students encountered individual stories and material evidence of these wars at the Imperial War Museum and in the Churchill War Rooms, but there is something especially powerful about physically inhabiting a city that still carries the memories and lived experience of conflict. These wars can seem so far away to students in the US, but learning about them in London reminds us that they were palpably real and devastating.”
Matthew, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, echoes this. He developed his seminar, Crossing Oceans with Wires and Waves, specifically for the London program, aiming to take advantage of experiential learning opportunities afforded by two features of the city. “One is the breadth and quality of museums here,” he says. Matthew’s course focuses on the development of transatlantic communication, a theme reflected in collections at the Science Museum and in places such as Bletchley Park. “We can learn about an invention and then go look at it in person.” A second feature of London that enriches student learning is simply “how close together everyone was. Scientists and engineers worked almost next door to each other during these periods of rapid innovation, and now we can walk through back-to-back sites of world-changing discoveries.”
While visits to museums and historical sites are integral to the London program, some of the most memorable experiences reported by students and faculty in the 2025 cohort occurred outside the realm of traditional sight-seeing. One afternoon, for example, the group dined at The Clink Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant located in Brixton Prison. Here, the chef, kitchen staff and waiters are inmates who participate in the prison’s culinary training program. “Students get to chat with the wait staff about their experiences of incarceration and the criminal justice system in the UK,” Katherine says. These conversations add a unique human perspective to sociology Professor Michelle Inderbitzin’s Crime and Punishment seminar. “It’s the kind of interaction that you couldn’t have anywhere else.”
Another unique interaction occurred between students and actors in a performance of Twelfth Night at the Globe Theater, where the group watched as ‘groundlings’: “We stood in the ‘yard’ in front of the stage,” Katherine says. “At various times during the play, students had papers thrown on them and water poured on them. Matthew, Michelle and I were standing a ways back from the students and had a great side view of the joyous smiles on their faces. It is a real privilege to witness students reveling in these experiences and making core memories.”
“Any opportunity to study abroad is worth it,” says Matthew. Beyond allowing vivid, tangible interactions with global course concepts, international experiences let students “see how other countries work and look at cultural differences,” which Matthew argues is the most valuable takeaway from the London Experience.
Current students interested in visiting London with the Honors College in summer 2026 can apply today, through March 15, 2026. Incoming students will have until May 10, 2026 to apply. 2026 London course offerings will include a medieval and early modern European history course taught by Katherine (HST 102H), as well as an updated iteration of Crossing Oceans with Wires and Waves, where Matthew plans to incorporate a focus on data and AI. More information about this program as well as the HC France study abroad program are available on the Honors College website under Learning Abroad. Students seeking financial assistance for an Honors College international opportunity may apply for an Experiential Learning Scholarship.
