Postmarked: London Reunion, Celebrating 30 Years of Study-Abroad Program
When Amy Tritle ’11 was considering colleges, one important prerequisite was that the school offered opportunities to study abroad. She learned about the London Program at the Sigmund Weis School of Business and knew 体育买球官网 was the perfect choice for her.
“The fact that 体育买球官网 had a study-abroad program integrated into a major where you could travel with your classmates and a professor while staying on course — nothing like that was offered in any other university [I looked at],” she says. “I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do that program.”
Unlike Tritle, her classmate Kyle Robertson ’11 initially didn’t think about studying abroad in college as he was pursuing a double major in business and music and had a fully packed schedule. But once he learned he could continue earning credits with no interruption to his four-year plan, he jumped at the opportunity to study in London.
Tritle and Robertson agree that their time abroad in the spring of 2010 was nothing short of exceptional and transformative. In fact, the two, who started dating their sophomore year, are now married and have been living and working in the United Kingdom for the past 10 years.
“My whole mindset, and what I envisioned myself doing after graduation, shifted,” Robertson says. “When I came back from London, I told my parents I was going to move to New York City, and when I entered senior year and started to network, I focused on multinational companies with the intention of someday working abroad.”
Before he graduated, Robertson secured a position with JPMorgan — a connection made possible with the support of two alumni, Jameson Troutman ’02 and Joseph Shannon ’08 — and ultimately relocated to New York. Meanwhile, Tritle pursued a management training program at Fulton Bank in Lancaster and moved on to a position in human resources — a perfect match for her business management major and psychology minor. She later accepted an HR position at WTW in New York. Then, when Robertson was presented the opportunity to do a two-year tour in JPMorgan’s London office, the couple decided to make the move.
Tritle transferred to WTW’s London office, where she remains nearly a decade later as the global head of performance and career management. After 11 years at JPMorgan, Robertson decided to make a career pivot and pursued a master’s in global strategy and sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. Today, he is senior global impact manager at Hain Celestial, the international food and beverage company best known for such brands as Celestial Seasonings tea and Garden Veggie snacks.
Both credit the SWSB London Program for inspiring their journey. “It was always in the back of my mind that I might be interested in working abroad,” Robertson says, “but without having done the London Program, there is zero chance we’d be living here today.”
Reuniting and Reminiscing with Friends, Old and New
In September 2025, Tritle and Robertson joined more than 60 alumni and friends from the U.S. and London, faculty and administrators — including 体育买球官网 President Jonathan Green, Provost Dave Ramsaran and Dean Matthew Rousu — to celebrate the program’s 30-year milestone at a reunion in London. In addition, the 11 students participating in the study-abroad program that semester joined them.
The opening dinner, held at the historic Dicken’s Inn, kicked off the five-day event, offering attendees the chance to rekindle friendships, reminisce about past adventures and connect with current students.
“The dinner was a way for everyone to reconnect, or meet for the first time, and share their stories,” says Kristie Buriak ’99 Anderson, Sigmund Weis School of Business programs coordinator who organized the reunion. “I enjoyed seeing how the students and alumni interacted, sharing in their stories, sharing advice and talking about their futures.”
“I had so many once-in-a-lifetime moments and adventures that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
Kelsey Burrows ’27
Heather Litzebauer ’05 reconnected with Kelsey Burrows ’27, who was visiting London for the first time as a student in the program. The two met a year before when they were paired in the business school’s Professional Mentorship Program and have kept in touch ever since.
In fact, Burrows credits Litzebauer for influencing her decision to travel abroad after the two talked at length about her time in the program in 2003. “Heather told me that she came back a different person because she gained this new sense of independence,” Burrows recalls. “She realized that it is possible to do hard things.”
After spending a semester in London, Burrows agrees that the experience is like no other. Coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, Burrows — like many students and alumni who have ventured to London through the study-abroad program — discovered how much she enjoys city life.
“It was a bit of a culture shock, but I loved it there,” she says. “I had so many once-in-a-lifetime moments and adventures that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. There’s so much to see and do.”
She and her London classmates took advantage of long weekends to explore Europe. In just one semester, Burrows’ passport was stamped in France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Scotland, making countless memories with her travel partners.
In addition to reconnecting with Burrows and spending time together at various activities throughout the five-day reunion — including walking tours of London and Oxford University, a football match at Lane Hayes Stadium, a boat ride on the Thames and a theater performance of the popular musical Six — Litzebauer enjoyed reuniting with friends she hadn’t seen in 20 years.
“It was a blast from the past,” she says. “It was great to see everyone and talk and laugh about some of the things that happened in London because it was life-changing for everyone.”
When she graduated, the New Jersey native moved to Jersey City where she has lived and worked for two decades. In addition to influencing where she settled, Litzebauer, who is a principal at NW Financial, says the program helped her break out of her comfort zone, expand her cultural perspective and be open to new people and ideas — attributes she uses every day in both her personal and professional life.
Tapping into a Global Business Hub
From its early years to today, the London Program has offered students in the Sigmund Weis School of Business the chance to earn a semester’s worth of 18 college credits, immerse themselves in different cultures and gain new perspectives on the global business world.
Courses such as Data Insight and Visualization and Seminar in European Business build students’ business knowledge and technical skills. British Theater and British History pair classroom instruction with weekly performances in the London theater district and sightseeing tours.
Other experiential learning opportunities are woven into the program, too. For example, prior to 2017, students worked on a semester-long consulting project that culminated in a formal presentation before business leaders in Prague. They also toured businesses and organizations both in and outside of London, including a BMW factory in Germany, Lloyd’s of London and the London Stock Exchange.
“I think something 体育买球官网 does well is supporting students to be able to have these growth opportunities.”
Alysha Fauci ’21
“We needed to incorporate cross-cultural immersion experiences,” says Jerrell Habegger, associate professor emeritus of accounting and former director of the SWSB London Program. “For many years, we did that with the consulting project,” he says, until he had another idea.
In place of the consulting project, Habegger proposed adding formal internships to the program, placing students in various London businesses.
“I think that has really improved the experience,” he adds. “They now participate in British business life. They also find out the workforce is multinational in London, so they automatically learn how to work with a variety of different people.”
Alysha Fauci ’21 says her 2019 internship at International Alert in the U.K. exposed her to the human resources field, in which she now works. What’s more, the position helped her develop skills she has been using in her role as a recruiter at the global trading and technology firm 体育买球官网 International Group. Her time abroad also shaped her into a seasoned traveler who can easily plan her own itineraries and pivot the unexpected with ease — a skill that is useful as her job requires a lot of travel.
“Before I studied abroad, I had a passport but had never really ventured out, aside from family vacations,” she says. “I had never gone to Europe. The London Program allowed me to build the confidence to travel while having a community of students and faculty around me. I think something 体育买球官网 does well is supporting students to be able to have these growth opportunities.”
An Experience Like No Other
Throughout their semester abroad, students write reflections and share them with their professors each week. Habegger, who accompanied students to London for at least seven semesters, including fall 2025, affirms, “One thing is clear every year: students tell me what they learned and did throughout the week, and invariably, there are things that go wrong — they miss a train or get lost returning to their flat. But they figure out how to deal with it and gain a sense of independence as a result.”
Certainly, anecdotes about their travels and such conundrums made for lively conversations among the alumni, students, faculty and staff who attended the 30th reunion. All agree that in addition to the obvious advantages of studying in London, which are building cultural awareness and global business knowledge, developing the confidence and ability to successfully overcome challenges is the program’s most invaluable takeaway — one that pays countless dividends throughout life.
