open house 2008

aturday, March 29 was the date of the long anticipated A-Day game for Auburn University. With so many alumni in town, it was an opportune time to hold an important event for The Harrison School of Pharmacy: The 2008 HSOP Open House. The weather was great and the halls of the Walker Building and the Education and Clinic Wing were filled with many visitors. These visitors were treated to an inside look at the working of the School, with individual stations set up throughout the building. Faculty, student pharmacists and staff members pitched in to assist.

Several events were going on between 9 and 11 am, including a meeting with the Dean, a compounding lab, a session on advising prospective students, and building tours. This allowed groups of visitors to rotate from event to event. Most people people attended all of them.

Dean Lee Evans held several sessions with prospective parents, answering any of their questions and giving a perspective on what the future holds for HSOP and its future pharmacists.

Tarik Bou Akar (P4), and Mark Popwell, Ph.D. candidate in Pharmacal Sciences, conducted a compounding lab demonstration. These two had the tough challenge of being ready for any question on any aspect of Compounding in Pharmacy. They were able to hold their audiences spellbound with their relaxed personalities and their level of competence. They made flavored lollypops, which were really children's aspirin disguised as candy for better compliance. They also made other forms of tablets with different flavors like kiwi or grape. They demonstrated how to make rubbing compounds that contain medicines. And they were able to answer all questions with confidence. Tarik has a certificate in compounding. Mark is pursuing duel degrees: A Pharm.D. and a Ph.D.

Charles Woosley, Director of Recruiting, and Paul Jungnickel, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, held down one of the most active sections of the Open House. It seems that many prospective pharmacy students took the opportunity to drop in for some specialized advice from these two experts.

The students took charge of tours of the building. Matt Jenkins (P4), past president of the Student Council was the point person. Other students involved were Meagan Widener (P3), Molly Adkins (P2) current treasurer of the Student Council, and Jessica Gresham (P2), current president of the Student Council. There was a lot of interest from visitors in seeing the facilities of the new Education and Clinic wing, so this was a busy group.

Health Fair
The staff of the Auburn University Pharmacy Care Center, which occupies a suite in the Education and Clinic wing, along with the in-house pharmacy, hosted a health fair for all our visitors. One could have evaluations of bone mass, blood glucose, blood pressure, and weight management for free, along with a thorough medication review.

Barry McConatha, Manager of Information Technology and Don Davino, IT Specialist, gave a slide presentation and talk about how HSOP student pharmacists use computers in their classes, as well as how video-conferencing is accomplished between the Mobile and the Auburn campuses.

Video Conferencing, which is lifeline between AUHSOP and the Mobile Campus, was the means by which the Mobile site shared the Open House event with HSOP. Individual rooms were set up, much like regular classes, so that visitors could choose which segments they would watch. Large screens, and even some laptop computers at the Auburn site showed the Mobile visitors and vice versa. The Mobile visitors had the opportunity of asking questions just like the Auburn group. This was the first big event since the Grand Opening where video conferencing played such an important role in the success of joint ventures outside of the classrooms, and everyone declared it a success.

Kimberly Braxton Lloyd, member of APA Board of Trustees; chair of the APA Professional Education Committee & Director of AU Pharmaceutical Care Center

Emily Mann, Operations Director of AUPCC. Mann coordinated all health fair activities.

Bernie Olin, Director of the HSOP Drug Information Center.
Daniel Parsons, Professor and Chair of the Pharmacal Sciences Department

Mitch Robinson P3	Megan Widener P3
Lance Miller P4	Shineka Weeks P2
Nicholas Beyda P3	Emile Bordelon P3
Matthew Jenkins P3	Jonathan Bunn P3
Britt White P4	Jessica Gresham P2
Greg Peden P4	Gabrielle Solek-Tefft P2
Jacob Clopton P4	Jigar Trivedi P3
Emily McLain P2	Marquita Bradshaw P2
Joshua White P4	Brittany Autry P2
Ziad Bouakar P3	Tarik Bouakar P3
Ashley Getting P2	Amy Sponsler P2
Jana Wheeler P3	Marie Aldridge P2
Erin Willis P4	Sarah Waldrop P2
Katie Brezenger P4	Megan Burgess P3
Ashley McIntyre P3	Mandy Hancock P3

We wish to thank these sponsors: ACPI, Walgreens, Fred's Pharmacy, Health Med, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis. We also wish to express appreciation to the Harrison School of Pharmacy and the Auburn University Pharmaceutical Care Center for their support of this event.