Retired ASU professors are continuing to use their skills at Tempe Connections, a public program available to the community that started Tuesday.

The Tempe Public Library- affiliated program offers classes that range in subject from the politics of art to discussions about the brain. The classes last for four sessions and cost $35 to enroll.

Rebecca Bond, executive director of Tempe Connections, said the classes available now are only the first string of courses that will be provided throughout the semester.

She said the courses are “for the love of learning.”

“We advertised these courses as learning with no homework and no grades,” Bond said.

The classes are provided through a partnership with the Tempe Public Library and ASU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Tempe Connections is a smaller program within the public library, where the courses are held. The Osher Institute connects the program with former ASU professors.

Bond said the course fees and the Osher Institute help to compensate the professors.

The classes are open to the general public, though Tempe Connections targets residents over the age of 50 for enrollment.

“Even though we target that age group, sometimes we get younger students. We tend to not have as many during the day though,” Bond said.

Every class has a minimum of 10 students and a maximum of 22 for registration.

Emeritus Professor Donald Sharpes will be teaching a class called Islam and the West. The class will be based on the research for his unpublished book “The Education of Allah’s Warriors.”

“My writings are also an extension of my teaching,” Sharpes said.

The class will focus on the historical perspective of Muslim militants, he said, and it will analyze the effect of “Allah’s warriors” on Afghanistan and Iraq, and will also look at the psychology of Islamic suicide bombers.

This class starts Sept. 16 and will take place every Wednesday morning until Oct. 7.

Sharpes, who used to teach educational leadership at ASU, has been retired for 10 years, but said he still feels an “obligation to serve.”

Sharpes is part of the Emeritus College, which is comprised of 400 retired professors who hold honorary titles.

Former ASU professor Louis Weschler, who is also a part of the emeritus college, will be teaching a class called Politics in Art, which will examine the political content in visual and fine arts.

Weschler said he was asked to teach a class for the program.

“One of my ex-students (who works with Tempe Connections) got in touch with Osher,” he said.

The 17 people registered for his class will learn by Power Point presentations and lectures.

Reach the reporter at rachel.jimenez@asu.edu.