Senior Adults Explore Oak Ridge's History, Race Relations, and Honeybees

A Diverse Range of Courses for Lifelong Learners

The Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) is offering a wide array of courses for the fall term, running from September 8 to December 5. These courses cover various topics, including geology and advanced technology, with a special focus on artificial intelligence. Designed primarily for senior adults, these classes provide an opportunity for low-cost, lifelong learning without homework, tests, or grades.

For those interested in current events, ORICL offers courses on vaccines and U.S. international trade. Another course titled "How the U.S. government works and how it doesn’t" is taught by David Akins, a former history professor at Roane State Community College. Akins was recently voted Teacher of the Year by ORICL members.

Exploring Oak Ridge's Hidden Gems

Would you like to discover places in Oak Ridge that you’ve never visited before? Consider taking a course that explores some of Oak Ridge’s 80 cemeteries and the soon-to-be-opened William J. Wilcox Jr. K-25 Interpretive Center. This center is adjacent to the K-25 Atomic History Center and provides insight into the history of the gaseous diffusion plant known as K-25. The plant played a crucial role in providing enriched uranium for the atomic bomb and nuclear power plants.

The course and tour, led by Alan Lowe, executive director of the American Museum of Science and Energy and the K-25 Atomic History Center, cost $5. It also covers the demonstration nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel production plant that will be built near the interpretive center on the old K-25 site, now called the Heritage Center.

Convenient Locations for Learning

Most ORICL courses are held in the Coffey-McNally building on the Oak Ridge Branch Campus of Roane State Community College, located at 701 Briarcliff Ave. Some lectures take place in the newer Goff building next door.

Popular Courses Across Different Topics

Among the most popular courses are those covering historical subjects such as ancient Greece, legends of Appalachia, American Indian cultures, the U.S. Civil War, NASCAR racing, and stories of the Secret City told by Oak Ridge city historian Ray Smith. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the historic Scarboro 85 desegregation of the first two public schools in Oak Ridge and the Southeast, an eight-part series will explore changes in Black-white race relations in the Oak Ridge area from the Civil War to the present.

For science enthusiasts, ORICL offers courses on important pollinators like honeybees and moths. Physics classes this term include a Great Courses video series on “The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality” and a course on the concept of the “multiverse,” taught by Soren Sorensen, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus in nuclear physics at the University of Tennessee.

Expert-Led Classes on Various Subjects

Lee Riedinger, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Tennessee, will lead a course titled “The UT–Oak Ridge Partnership Leading to Things Nuclear,” based on his 2024 book co-authored with Ray Smith and others. Keys Fillauer, a well-known civics teacher in Oak Ridge Schools and winner of the League of Women Voters’ Making Democracy Work Award, will teach a class on civics education.

For those interested in electrical power, Jack Suggs, who served the city of Oak Ridge for 35 years, will offer a course on large language AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini. ORICL literature classes include Zoom sessions for reading Shakespeare plays and dramas by Euripides. Online book groups cover classical literature, fiction, mystery novels, nonfiction, and speculative fiction.

Music, Religions, and How-To Classes

Music classes will feature great piano works and the history of blues. Other classes explore the variety of religions practiced in the United States. How-to courses include learning languages like Russian or Ukrainian, cultivating lovingkindness, writing poems, recognizing financial scams, protecting against identity theft, maximizing Social Security benefits, using digitalization equipment at the Oak Ridge Public Library, making soap, and cooking for one or two.

Art classes offered for a fee include diamond painting, creating holiday vases, and making dichroic glass pendants. The holiday vase pottery class is available at the Oak Ridge Art Center.

Cost and Registration Details

The registration fee for three terms (fall, winter-spring, and summer) is $190. By paying online or by check included with a mailed paper form, you become an ORICL member for a year. Mail your form and check to ORICL, RSCC, 701 Briarcliff Ave., Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For more information, contact the ORICL office at 865-481-8222.

Online registration starts on August 5. The fall catalog, registration form, and calendar are posted on ORICL’s website, www.oricl@roanestate.edu. Paper registration forms and printed catalogs can be picked up from the ORICL office in F-111 in the Coffey-McNally building between 9 a.m. and noon, Monday through Thursday.