Faculty

In fall term, 2025, Don Johnson will conclude 25 years of teaching in the Honors College with his final offering of two long-standing colloquia: Leadership and Positive Psychology and Last Year Experience. Both courses prepare students for personal and career success beyond graduation. In his 50 years at Oregon State, Don has modeled this kind of success, serving in diverse roles and taking part in the university’s transformation from a “very good university of 12,000 students into a world-class research institution of over 40,000 students.

Dr. Toni Doolen will conclude her nearly 14-year tenure as Dean of the Oregon State University Honors College, returning to the College of Engineering on January 1, 2026. 

During his time as an undergraduate in the Honors College, Tyler McFadden, ’15, began exploring questions about ecology and biodiversity — questions that would shape his academic and professional path for years to come. Now an instructor and interim director of the environmental sciences undergraduate program in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, McFadden continues to pursue interdisciplinary approaches to environmental challenges. 

Story by Kate DeWeese and Olivia Oldfield | Originally published by the Oregonion

Sam Logan didn’t know much about the body horror genre when he proposed teaching a class on it within the Honors College at Oregon State University.

The Oregon State University Honors College has named Oksana Ostroverkhova, professor of physics, as the 2025 Margaret and Thomas Meehan Honors College Eminent Mentor and Courtney S. Campbell, Hundere Professor of Religion and Culture in the School of History, Philosophy and Religion and director of the Program in Medical Humanities, as the 2025 Margaret and Thomas Meehan Honors College Eminent Professor. 

For many alumni, the continued success of the Honors College is an important way of supporting the next generation of students. Membership in leadership groups, such as the Honors College Board of Regents, is one way of both staying connected and building resources for current and future honors undergraduates.   

For over fifty years, Emeritus Professor Gary Ferngren, from the School of History, Philosophy and Religion, shaped the experiences of countless honors students at Oregon State University. This year, as the Honors College celebrates its 30th anniversary, Ferngren reflects on this history, which dates back to the honors program that existed before the establishment of the college in 1995.  

Dam Proud Day 2025 was a historic one for the Honors College, as our community came together to set new records for number of donors and total dollars raised, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the Honors College and 65 years of honors education at Oregon State. Thanks to 189 individual donors, the college raised over $80,000 in support of student scholarships, far surpassing the college’s goal of 120 gifts for the day.

Twenty-eight years ago, Katherine Hubler arrived at Oregon State University as a first-generation student from a small rural town, planning to major in chemistry in the still-new Honors College. By 2001, she had earned both an H.B.A in history and an H.B.S. in philosophy. Since 2013, Hubler has brought her insight and expertise back to OSU as a senior instructor of history and as the Ecampus coordinator in the School of History, Philosophy and Religion.

This will be emeritus professor Don Zobel’s first full year of retirement after a 56-year career in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. For 27 of those years (1997-2024), he also taught in the Honors College, leading courses for almost the entirety of the college’s 30-year history and helping define, through his interdisciplinary approach, the unique value of the honors curricular experience.