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Course Description

What is Osher Online?  

  • This program is offered in collaboration with Northwestern University. It’s an online initiative we’re participating in, along with a select group of other OLLIs

  • Northwestern University will handle your orientation and create your account. This is also where you’ll access the Zoom links for the courses you select. Osher CSUSM will not have this information.

  • Osher membership required

  • No Annual or Lifetime membership discounts apply

  • Classes will NOT be recorded

COURSE OFFERINGS

Discovering Portugal

Explore how tiny Portugal played an outsized role in world history. We will examine its fifteenth and sixteenth century maritime expansion and its central role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people...Click OOL.07072026 Portugal on right for full description.

Canals and the Making of the Modern World

When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it revolutionized American travel and transportation, but it was inspired by Europe’s earlier canal networks...Click OOL.07072026 Canals on right for full description.

Revolutionary Echoes in Washington DC 

The Declaration of Independence shaped Americans long after the Revolution. This course will examine how people in Washington, D.C. invoked the Declaration and its ideas after independence...Click OOL.07092026 Revolutionary on right for full description.

How Signs Tell America’s Story

Explore 100 years of American history through objects often taken for granted in everyday life: signs...Click OOL.07242026 Signs on right for full description.

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Enroll Now - Select a section to enroll in

Section Title
Discovering Portugal
Type
Lecture
Days
T
Time
10:00AM to 11:30AM
Dates
Jul 07, 2026 to Aug 11, 2026
Schedule and Location
View Details
Contact Hours
9.0
Location
  • OLLI Online
Delivery Options
Online  
Course Fee(s)
Class Fee non-credit $80.00

Section Notes

In this course, we will explore how a tiny nation – Portugal – played an outsized role in world history. We will examine Portugal’s fifteenth and sixteenth century maritime expansion (once called the “Discoveries”), as well as its central role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. We will trace how Portugal, once a fringe region of the Roman Empire, emerged as the only independent kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula as Castile grew into Spain. We will follow Portugal’s rise as a global power, with outposts stretching from Brazil to Japan, and then its decline as rival empires overtook it – culminating in twentieth century poverty under Europe’s longest dictatorship. Finally, we will consider how this past continues to shape Portuguese identity and culture in the decades since a revolution ushered in democracy. As we survey Portugal’s landscapes, art and architecture, and food, we will see why record numbers of Americans are now visiting the country.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Alison Roberts Alison Roberts is a journalist with nearly four decades of experience, reporting in her native UK and later internationally for Englishlanguage outlets including the BBC, NPR, and Bloomberg News. Her work has covered politics, finance, sports, and the arts. She has edited or contributed to a dozen guidebooks and provided online updates for Fodor’s, Time Out, and other publishers. Now based in Portugal, she is writing a history of the country and has explored it extensively from north to south. TUESDAYS, JULY 7 THROUGH AUGUST 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section Title
Canals and the Making of the Modern World
Type
Lecture
Days
W
Time
8:00AM to 9:30AM
Dates
Jul 08, 2026 to Aug 12, 2026
Schedule and Location
View Details
Contact Hours
9.0
Location
  • OLLI Online
Delivery Options
Online  
Course Fee(s)
Class Fee non-credit $80.00

Section Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section Title
Revolutionary Echoes in Washington D.C.
Type
Lecture
Days
Th
Time
10:00AM to 11:30AM
Dates
Jul 09, 2026 to Aug 13, 2026
Schedule and Location
View Details
Contact Hours
9.0
Location
  • OLLI Online
Delivery Options
Online  
Course Fee(s)
Class Fee non-credit $80.00

Section Notes

The Declaration of Independence shaped Americans long after the Revolution. This course will examine how people in Washington, D.C. invoked the Declaration and its ideas after independence - from city planners shaping the capital to Union soldiers defending it during the Civil War. We will explore how the Declaration was used to advance causes and define the nation’s civic identity. Featuring museum artifacts from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, this course will trace D.C.’s early history through.

Kasey Sease, PhD, is Curator of the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection at The George Washington University Museum and The
Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. Beyond developing exhibitions and activating the collection, she programs the Albert H. Small
Center for National Capital Area Studies. A former Managing Editor of Washington History, Kasey holds degrees from the College of Williamand Mary (PhD, MA,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section Title
History of Signs: How Signs Tell Americas Story
Type
Lecture
Days
F
Time
8:00AM to 9:30AM
Dates
Jul 24, 2026 to Aug 28, 2026
Schedule and Location
View Details
Contact Hours
9.0
Location
  • OLLI Online
Delivery Options
Online  
Course Fee(s)
Class Fee non-credit $80.00

Section Notes

Explore 100 years of American history through objects often taken for granted in everyday life: signs. Led by the American Sign Museum (ASM) staff, this course introduces the Museum’s origins and features a conversation with ASM’s founder about why signs matter. We will examine how signs have evolved due to trends in commerce and technology. We will also explore case studies of three major food companies who used signage to shape their brands. In the final session, we will take a virtual visit to ASM’s neon shop to see how a neon sign is made.

The American Sign Museum (Cincinnati, Ohio) covers more than 100 years of American sign history and displays more than 800
signs and artifacts, making it the most comprehensive museum of its kind. With a mission to educate the community about the
history of the sign industry and its significant contribution to commerce and the American landscape, the Museum is
organized to preserve, archive and display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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