By day, Kendra Albers is a research engineer for a lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. But in her spare time, she indulges her interest in less technical areas such as music and foreign languages — thanks to the Tech OPTIONS program.  

“I chose to take OPTIONS classes because I graduated last May from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and it was weird to not take classes last fall,” said Albers, who works in the Electro-Optical Systems Lab at GTRI. “These classes offer a relaxing environment where you get to learn the things you have always been interested in but never got to take in college because you were too busy studying for your major.” 

Albers has taken both piano and Italian language classes through OPTIONS. However, the program offers courses that change each semester in subjects including dance, religion, art and life skills. 

Tech began offering the noncredit courses about 20 years ago as a way to provide classes for students that were low-stress and “fun,” said Tasha Myers, who oversees OPTIONS. 

Most classes are held in the Student Center or elsewhere on campus. Anyone, including people from outside of the Tech community, may take the classes. The cost varies, with the fee structure being least expensive for students and then faculty and staff members.

Anyone may also propose and teach a course — as long as the person has experience or qualifications in the course area. The primary criteria for a class to be offered is whether it is of interest to students and whether they will pay the proposed price. Proposals may be submitted at any time online at the OPTIONS website, with the deadline for fall courses being June 30.

Instructors have creative freedom when it comes to designing the course and setting the price. They receive 80 percent of each registration fee paid, Myers added. 

“I’ve done ad design and photography for a few years and was helping the Student Center Programs Council (SCPC) with some promotional material in the Adobe suite,” said Stephen Lester, an IT support professional in the School of Physics. “That was when Tasha said that I should teach a class on Photoshop. Working with the SCPC was fun, and they made the process easy.”

Giorgio Calanni is a postdoctoral fellow in aerospace engineering and began teaching Italian language classes for OPTIONS in 2005. 

“A lot of the bureaucratic work is taken care of by the OPTIONS staff, while space and equipment are easily available,” he said. “From that point of view, working with this program has always been a smooth and pleasant experience — the staff makes such an exciting and rewarding experience effortless.”

The course schedule for the summer session, which will run from May 16 to July 22, will be posted on the OPTIONS website by May 6. 

For more information about taking or teaching a class, email Myers.