Photo by Jim Tate Dr. Joan Gittens is emerita professor of history at Southwest Minnesota State University and was active in Gold College.

Dr. Joan Gittens, emerita professor of history at Southwest Minnesota State University, officially retired in 2016. But in her case, “retired” is a relative term.

Gittens has been active in GOLD College at SMSU since 2015, serving on the board, teaching courses, and assisting with course development.

GOLD is an acronym for Growth, Opportunity, Learning and Development. GOLD College offers non-credit classes featuring a variety of topics. Each class is held one day per week for two hours, and each session lasts six weeks. There are no tests or terraces, and it is for people of all ages and educational levels.

Courses are delivered in person, and a number are also available via Zoom, as well.

GOLD College was formerly called Senior College, but the name was changed to better reflect its mission and to include life-long learners of all ages, not just seniors.

“It’s tremendous outreach by the university to the region,” said Gittens.

She is teaching “Vintage Videos” during the spring session, a series of documentaries from the ’80s. Gittens is also coordinating a course called “Unsung Heroes,” a series of six presentations by SMSU faculty.

“I started an ensemble class like that in 2016, and it was really popular. If someone misses a week, it’s not like they are behind or anything, because each class and each lecture is different.”

Other ensemble classes she’s organized include My Favorite Lecture and Great Trials.

Organizers try to offer courses that span a broad spectrum of interests, said Angela Lee, director of Alumni Relations and Outreach, the GOLD College coordinator who began her duties this academic year.

“We want to offer a wide variety of classes,” she said. “There’s a number of options available, and we find that GOLD College attracts participants from the region, and as far away as other states. The Zoom option offered in some classes is popular with those who may want to participate but who don’t live in the immediate area.”

Lee had praise for Gittens’ involvement. “She is a big supporter and advocate of GOLD College, is very committed, and wants to see GOLD College grow,” said Lee.

The number of GOLD College participants varies each session — fall and spring — said Lee.

“Right now we are over 100,” she said. Attendance dropped during COVID, and is starting to trend upward, she feels.

“GOLD College started 24 years ago. It has survived into its second generation, and that just shows how much people enjoy the courses, the generosity of the instructors and the opportunity to keep learning,” said Gittens.

Organizers from the beginning felt offering a course in a number of subject areas was the way to approach GOLD College. History has been popular, for instance. There are typically some creative and artistic offerings like woodworking, ceramics and painting, as well as classes that explore aspects of southwest Minnesota, a writing course, literature, and some sort of physical activity and health-related class.

In this spring session, there’s Memoir Writing, the U.S. Constitution, Six Musical Compositions That Changed the World, Adventures on the Prairie, Vintage Videos, Tai Chi, Unsung Heroes, The Pacific War, How Did They Do That? (art history), Crime and Me, Drawing for Fun, and Exploring Heroism Through Literature.

GOLD College has its regular participants, and Gittens noted some new faces at the recent kick-off event in late February. It’s a trend she’d like to see continue.

“It’s a real education value,” she said of the $110 fee, which allows participants to take up to four courses. Each additional course is just $10.

“The instructors are really the ones who make GOLD College. Each brings expertise to their respective areas,” said Gittens, who keeps an “admittedly incomplete” list of SMSU faculty and staff who have taught courses, and others instructors from the area. Her list includes roughly 27 faculty/staff members at SMSU, and about 17 from the area.

“The participants have been generous in recognizing the amount of work and energy by the instructors that goes into each course,” she said, “especially those who are working full time already, like the faculty, who teach four full classes. People love teaching in GOLD College and are happy to come back for other sessions, because the participants are so bright and inquisitive and appreciative that it really is a joy to work with them.”

Gittens has also been an adjunct instructor at SMSU and said “I love the students here. They are smart and very honest.” On occasion she’ll forget her purse. “I left it in the Student Center once and nothing was bothered, it wasn’t touched.”

“I’ve really enjoyed my years of teaching at SMSU,” added Gittens, a LaCrescent native who received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Marquette, and her doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Gittens takes every opportunity to spread the word about GOLD College, and feels it is an affordable, unique learning experience.

She finds the entire experience very rewarding.

“In the evaluations, I’ll sometimes run across a comment by a participant saying they never had an opportunity to go to college. That is the most meaningful thing to me,” she said.