Overview
This monthly webinar series offered by Auburn University’s Office of Professional and Continuing Education at no cost to participants.
The series features experts from a variety of sectors including education, business, industry, public service, finance, and presents information and skills essential for navigating today’s ever-changing world.
Upcoming Webinars
February 18, 2025 | 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Central Time
Personalized Prescriptions: The Role of Pharmacogenomics in Modern Medicine
Courtney Alexander
In this session, you’ll discover how pharmacogenomics—the study of how genes influence medication responses—is transforming healthcare. Dr. Alexander will explain how pharmacogenetic testing can guide medication selection, improving efficacy and reducing the risk of adverse effects.

Courtney Watts Alexander, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCOP, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacogenomics in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy. Her clinical practice site is the Auburn University Pharmaceutical Care Center (AUPCC) where she focuses on integrating pharmacogenomics into clinical practice.
Dr. Alexander completed a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Alabama in 2008 and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy in 2013. After earning her Pharm.D., she completed a PGY1 pharmacy residency at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and a PGY2 oncology residency at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2023, Dr. Alexander earned a Master of Science in Pharmacy with a concentration in Personalized Medicine from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Alexander is certified by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) in both pharmacotherapy (BCPS) and oncology (BCOP). Dr. Alexander is an active member of the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC), the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Alabama Pharmacy Association (APA). Her clinical and research interests include pediatric and adult oncology and pharmacogenomics.
March 18, 2025 | 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Central Time
90 by 5: The Importance of the First Five Years
Jan Hume
The first five years of a child’s life are the most important years in developing and shaping their development. Parents and caregivers are often on information overload about what to do and how to support growth of young children’s brain development. This session will share high impact policies, tools, and resources to help form the most important functions in early childhood development and education.

Jan Hume currently serves as the Acting Secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE). She has been with the ADECE since 2011 and has served in the various leadership roles including Director of the Office of School Readiness, Senior Director, and Director of Research and Analytics. Prior to joining the department, Jan worked in the non-profit sector for the Alabama School Readiness Alliance and Leadership Alabama.
Dr. Hume received her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Policy from Auburn University in December 2021 with fields of specialization in applied research and public administration and a graduate certificate in Business Analytics. Her dissertation compared the administration and policies of state pre-k programs across the country over a 15-year period. She is a member of Cohort 13 of the Strategic Data Project fellowship, a project of the Center for Education Policy Research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jan and her husband David live in Auburn and have three grown children and one beautiful granddaughter.
April 15, 2025 | 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Central Time
The Invisible Medal: Leading with a Higher Purpose
Chris Richie
Be prepared to learn what it takes to be the leader you are called to be. The Invisible Medal is the realization that the success we enable in others is greater than any personal accolade. Invisible medals will be earned if we focus on people and relationships, view life as a stewardship, and recognize that everyone has potential.

After graduating from Auburn in 1992, Colonel Richie (USMC-retired) embarked on a 30-year military career commanding in every rank he served. Chris deployed multiple times in support combat and humanitarian operations to include Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and as the Marine Commander of Operation Continuing Promise in 2010. From 2012-2014, Chris was a diplomatic member of the U.S. Embassy Country Team in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He served in 20 countries and 10 States, leading thousands of people around the globe in times of peace and war. Chris has earned the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the CIA Medallion (Organization under his command).
Chris is currently the Director for Auburn University Human Resource Development and a leadership instructor for the College of Business. He also serves as a mentor for Harbert Connects (College of Business), a member of the NROTC Alumni Board of Directors, Vice President of the East Alabama Military Officers Association of America, and Supervisory committee member for the Auburn Credit Union. A two-time Amazon best seller and regular keynote speaker, his latest book, The Invisible Medal: Leading with a Higher Purpose, was published in April 2024.
May 20, 2025 | 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Central Time
The Value of Traditional Crafting: A Journey of Learning, Expression, and Connection
Dr. Christine Schnittka
These days, we go shopping to get the stuff we want or need, but our ancestors used their hands to turn natural materials into what they needed for safety and comfort. Today we use computers and televisions to learn and disseminate knowledge. But our ancestors used their hands to engineer technologies for learning and disseminating information. They made paper and string from shrubs and grasses. They wove this string into fabric for protective garments and sewed up the paper into books. They used soot to make ink, and reeds to make pens. Our ancestors possessed keen material intelligence, creativity, and engineering skills. Traditional crafts like weaving, bookbinding, and making ink are an art form infused with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concepts, and they are engaging, motivating, and tangibly related to everyday life. Making things also helps us feel in control, express ourselves, and it can give us a sense of purpose. Making things encourages us to think, helps us process emotions, and can even lower our heart and breathing rates. Scientists figured out 75 years ago that a very large part of your neocortex, that thin, most recently evolved outer layer of your brain, is devoted to your hands. What do you use your hands for nowadays? What do your children and grandchildren do with their hands all day?
In this presentation, Dr. Christine Schnittka, the author of Teaching STEAM Through Hands-On Crafts: Real-World Maker Lessons for Grades 3-8, will talk about how easy it is to use everyday materials to make useful things, and how teaching kids to make useful things with their hands can provide them with essential skills, help them with creative and critical thinking, and infuse them with the sense of self-reliance, while helping them use science and math to engineer useful technologies.
Get inspired to learn a new craft, experience the affective and educational benefits of crafting, and share your new skill with the young people in your life.

Christine Schnittka is the Emily R. and Gerald S. Leischuck Professor for Critical Needs in Education at Auburn University, the author of Teaching STEAM Through Hands-On Crafts: Real-World Maker Lessons for Grades 3-8 and has spent the last 20 years preparing future science teachers to teach with creative enthusiasm. As a former engineer and middle school science teacher, Schnittka develops design-based curricula for elementary and middle school youth by targeting science concepts through a maker lens. She likes to spend her free time knitting, 3D printing, bookbinding, and making functional pottery.
Past webinars are available on demand through Canvas Catalog.
Last Updated: February 11, 2025