Events

SPRING BROWN BAG SERIES
Wednesdays, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Pebble Hill, 101 S. Debardeleben Street, Auburn
Free and open to the public

March 26, 2025
Slinging Mud: Pottery and Politics in 19th Century Alabama
Joey Brackner

Joey Brackner, a native of Fairfield, Alabama, is a recently retired state folklorist serving as such at the Alabama State Council on the Arts from 1985 to 2022. He is the author of Alabama Folk Pottery (UA Press 2006) and host of the Alabama Public Television series Journey Proud from 2013 to 2019. Brackner is a native of Fairfield, Alabama, with degrees in Anthropology from UAB and the University of Texas (1981).

April 2, 2025
Cuba: Small Country, Big Impact
Lawrence Grinter

Just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, and first discovered by Columbus in 1492, Cuba’s impact over the years, particularly in 1898 and then during the 1962 nuclear weapons showdown between Khrushchev and Kennedy, has been extraordinary. The island's importance continues in global affairs.

Dr. Lawrence E. Grinter is Professor Emeritus, Air War College. He was previously on the faculty at the National War College. He has been an adjunct instructor at UNC/Chapel Hill, George Washington University, and Auburn University. He also gives talks on cruise ships.

April 9, 2025
Avian Influenza Could Become a Human Pandemic. How Are Countries Preparing?
Joseph Giambrone

Joseph Giambrone is a professor emeritus in Auburn University’s Department of Poultry Science with a joint appointment in the Department of Pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. During his graduate research career at the University of Delaware, he was part of a research group that developed the first vaccine against an antigenic variant of an avian coronavirus. During his research career as a molecular virologist, immunologist and epidemiologist, he has made critical advancements in understanding the ecology of viral pathogens, led efforts to improve detection and surveillance of viral diseases and developed new and effective vaccines and vaccine strategies to protect commercially reared chickens as well as pathogens, such as avian influenza viruses, which have spilled over into human populations.

April 16, 2025
Good News Through Rapid Re-Housing and Fighting Hunger
Joe Davis

The Good News Center at Auburn UMC is a place for whole-life compassionate care with the Lee County community. A new ministry to secure housing for homeless individuals and families will soon be added to its weekly food pantry and clothes closet ministries.

Joe Davis is the Director of Mission and Outreach Ministries at Auburn United Methodist Church where he oversees ministries of compassion, service, and justice-seeking. Joe earned a Bachelors in Wireless Engineering from Auburn University and was introduced to the justice-seeking stream of Christian tradition through his leadership with the Auburn Wesley Foundation. He completed a Master of Divinity at Palmer Theological Seminary and Master of Arts in International Development at Eastern University.

April 23, 2025
The Story She Left Behind: A Conversation
Patti Callahan Henry

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. Years later, Clara is compelled to cross the Atlantic with her own daughter to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times, Globe and Mail, and USA Today bestselling author of seventeen novels, including her newest, The Story She Left Behind. She’s also a podcast host of original content for her novels, Surviving Savannah and Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages. She is the recipient of The Christy Award “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

Patti attended Auburn University for her undergraduate work and Georgia State University for her graduate degree. Once a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, she now writes full-time.

April 30, 2025
Community-Centered Health: Auburn University's Rural Initiative
Hollie Cost

University Outreach and Alabama Cooperative Extension System are taking meaningful action to address disparities in the availability and quality of healthcare in rural communities. In partnership with Auburn University Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, Human Sciences, Education, and the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences program as well as community leaders in five Alabama counties, the Rural Health Initiative is already making a difference in the lives of people across the state through innovative technology.

Hollie Cost is a three-time Auburn graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, an M.Ed. in Special Education, and a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation and Special Education - Behavioral Disorders. She was a professor of Special Education at the University of Montevallo where she was responsible for program coordination, assessment and accreditation activities in the department. She also launched the university’s service-learning program and developed two major civic engagement initiatives connecting students to community non-profits and local public schools.

Cost served for more than 16 years as an elected Montevallo city council member and Mayor. Among her many notable scholarly and public recognitions, Cost was named a Kettering Foundation Research Fellow, the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Humanitarian of the Year, the Alabama Main Street Hero Award, and a Women Who Shape the State 2023 honoree.

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OLLI Presents
"The Cracker Man" Film Screening
Wednesday, February 19, 5 p.m.
Sunny Slope Annex, 1031 S College St, Auburn

"For nine years, Gloria Turner has nurtured and loved what she has inherited: her family’s farm, a truck, and her great grandfather. On her great grandfather’s 100th birthday, she hires the “Cracker Man” to set off fireworks. His presence on the farm brings more than paper and powder, smoke and noise. The Cracker Man, a classic Southern drama, explores the emotions and actions of three characters whose lives are interwoven through celebration and tragedy in 1940s rural Alabama. Their lives are changed forever by the incendiary bursts of color that shoot through the sky." - ITVS.org

Filmmakers Bruce Kuerten and John DiJulio join us for a screening of their award-winning film. Syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson called Kuerten and DiJulio’s dramatic film, The Cracker Man "eloquently simple" and "nearly perfect." The film received the "Best Feature Film" award at Birmingham’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, and the "Crystal Heart" along with a $10,000.00 prize at the Heartland Film Festival. Broadcast on PBS, The Cracker Man aired in all major markets, and reached an audience in excess of 67 million households. DiJulio and Kuerten have each been awarded Fellowships in Screenwriting by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and a few years ago their feature screenplay, The Kris, earned them admission to Producers Workshop at The Sundance Institute.

This event is free and open to the public.

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WINTER BROWN BAG SERIES
Wednesdays, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Pebble Hill, 101 S. Debardeleben Street, Auburn
Free and open to the public

January 15, 2025
D-Day: June 6, 1944 – A Battle That Shaped Our World
Frank Broz

Step back into one of the most pivotal days in modern history as we explore the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. This presentation delves into the strategic planning, heroic sacrifices, and lasting impact of D-Day, a daring operation that marked the turning point in the fight against tyranny and reshaped global history. Frank Broz holds a BA in history from Loyola University Chicago and has taught several courses for OLLI.

January 29, 2025
How Will They Remember Me? Tomb Reuse in Renaissance Florence
Anne Leader

In 1384 a marble slab carrying an effigy was installed at the foot of the stairs before the high altar of the Badia Fiorentina, the oldest monastery in the city of Florence, Italy. The portrait showed the silk merchant and magistrate Filippo di Ser Giovanni Pandolfini. Perhaps contradicting his portrait, the inscription around the perimeter of the slab indicated that the grave was not only for Filippo but also for his descendants. Both women and men were buried under their forbear’s slab from 1384 through 1663 when the church floor was redone. The singularity of the tomb’s portrait effigy masks the repeated use of this gravesite and raises interesting questions about what it meant to be a tomb honoree in the Renaissance, who was remembered, and how. Anne Leader is Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) at UVA. She received her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Archaeology, with a specialization in Italian Renaissance Art, from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Her research and publications explore a range of topics in Italian Renaissance art, architecture, urbanism, and religious tradition, including: Michelangelo’s final project for the Sistine chapel, Benedictine monasticism and artistic patronage, Renaissance workshop practices and artistic authorship, and, most recently, burial practices and tomb monuments including articles on the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci's father. She is especially interested in sacred art and architecture, specifically in how images and buildings were used by individuals and institutions for devotional practice, doctrinal instruction, and propaganda.

February 5, 2025
Dramatic Monologue: Henrietta Lacks
Rosalyn Thomas

Step into the extraordinary, untold story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cells changed the course of science without her knowledge. In this powerful dramatic monologue, journey through Henrietta’s life, her struggles, and the profound ethical questions surrounding her immortal HeLa cells.

Rosalyn Thomas is an Auburn native who completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Auburn University. A retired educator, Thomas is a talented storyteller who brings her characters to life helping audiences gain a fuller understanding of history.

February 12, 2025
Girls’ Education: The Magic Bullet to Solving World Hunger, Poverty and Population Growth
Douglas Coutts

This presentation examines how empowering girls through education can break cycles of poverty, reduce hunger, and stabilize population growth. Explore the ripple effects of investing in girls’ futures—a solution that benefits not just individuals, but entire communities. Douglas Casson Coutts, a retired United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) veteran, introduced and taught Auburn's inaugural undergraduate course on "World Hunger: Causes, Consequences, and Responses" during his sabbatical from 2008 to 2012. With 30 years of experience in the United Nations system, he now serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor Emeritus in the AU Office of International Programs, where he occasionally shares his expertise as a guest lecturer and speaker.

February 19, 2025
“The Cracker Man” filmmakers
John Dijulio and Bruce Kuerten

DiJulio has over 22 years experience in all aspects of film and television production. He has produced several long-form documentaries for national PBS including First Frontier; Ain't Nothin' but the Blues; From Fields of Promise; and an original drama, the Cracker Man. Along with producing partner Bruce Kuerten, DiJulio has received a CINE Golden Eagle, a Gold Medal from the New York Festivals, a Golden Apple from the National Educational Film Festival, recognition from the Directors' Guild of America, a 'Best Feature Film' Award from the Sidewalk Film Festival and the prestigious Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival. He has received a Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and been invited to participate in the Producer's Conference at Sundance Institute.

Bruce Kuerten (with John DiJulio) has written, produced, and directed award winning documentary films, which have been shown at the Chicago, Venice, and New York festivals and broadcast on PBS, the Turner Networks, and the Discovery Networks. He has been recognized for "Directorial Achievement" by the Directors Guild of America. His dramatic credits include The Cracker Man, which reached 67 million households, nationwide and a feature screenplay, and The Kris, which earned him admission to The Sundance Institute's Producers' Workshop. Kuerten has designed innovative educational technologies for Auburn's Executive MBA programs and built in-class programming for Auburn's Colleges of Liberal Arts, Nursing, and Science and Mathematics. Surveying and Layout—an interactive digital textbook created for building science, which is now in its second printing by Wiley and Sons—is available on Amazon and is currently distributed internationally.

February 26, 2025
Growing Community: The Muscogee Nation Community Garden Project
Courtney Natseway

The southeastern United States is the ancestral homelands of the Mvskoke people. Europeans referred to them as Creek Indians, and before contact Mvskoke people were hunters, foragers, and agriculturists. Courtney Natseway will discuss traditional farming practices such as land preparation, soil fertility, traditional and non-traditional crops, and the roles of men and women in food and medicine production.

Natseway’s work as Extension Educator at the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) includes a community garden utilizing Mvskoke traditions, modern agricultural techniques, and traditional farming practices from other tribal nations that help students learn to grow food successfully and sustainably.

Courtney Natseway is originally from Tulsa, OK and a proud citizen of the Mvskoke nation. She is also Yakama and Laguna Pueblo, and wotkvlke (raccoon clan). Natseway earned an associate’s degree in Tribal Services from the College of the Muscogee Nation. She studied horticulture at New Mexico State University and Oklahoma State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Horticulture.

RESCHEDULED - March 5, 2025
Searching for Camp Watts
Meghan Buchanan

Meghan Buchanan is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology specializing in archaeology. Dr. Buchanan earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, her Master of Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and her PhD at Indiana University. She has taken part in archaeological projects throughout the Midwestern (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas) and Southeastern (Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky) United States and Mexico. She has directed archaeological projects in Missouri, Indiana, and Alabama. Her research explores the intersections between warfare, sociopolitical transformation, and daily activities among the indigenous towns and communities of the Southeastern United States during and after the Mississippian Period (ca. AD 1000-1600). Her current research analyzes archaeological collections housed at Auburn University, looking at the material practices of indigenous communities along the Tallapoosa River in east Alabama, as people negotiated social, political, and economic practices during a period of great upheaval.

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ARTS & LETTERS LECTURE SERIES
Thursdays, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Sunny Slope Annex, 1031 South College Street, Auburn
Free and open to the public

January 16, 2025
The Poetry of Memory: A Reading and Discussion with Jeanie Thompson

Jeanie Thompson is the author of eight books of poetry including The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller, The Seasons Bear Us, White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems, Witness, Litany for a Vanishing Landscape, How to Enter the River, and Lotus and Psalm. Her poems have been published in The Southern Poetry Anthology Volume X: Alabama, Whatever Remembers Us, High Horse, Working the Dirt, and The Best of Crazyhorse, among others. Jeanie has been a poetry faculty member in the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing since 2002. She was founding executive editor of Black Warrior Review, literary journal. She is executive director emerita of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, a statewide literary arts service organization. In Spring 2024 Jeanie received the Albert B. Head Legacy Award for her work as a literary arts advocate and poet. https://www.jeaniethompson.net/about-me

January 30, 2025
Stitching Stories: A Dialogue with Yvonne Wells and Gail Andrews

Gail Andrews and Yvonne Wells discuss the historical and cultural significance of Southern folk art.

Yvonne Wells is an internationally renowned quilter who lives in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 1985 she made her first appearance at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts in Northport, Alabama, where she won her first of six Best in Show awards. Wells’s work has been exhibited in Japan, France, and Italy, as well as displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and the American Museum of Folk Art in New York City. Six of her quilts are held in the permanent collection of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Nebraska, and she has garnered numerous awards for her work. The University of Alabama Press Faculty Editorial Board awarded Wells and Professor Stacy Morgan the 2021 Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize, given for a work “Most Deserving in Alabama or Southern History or Culture,” for their forthcoming book The Story Quilts of Yvonne Wells.

After an NEH internship at Colonial Williamsburg, Gail Andrews joined the Birmingham Museum of Art in 1976 as assistant curator of decorative arts, subsequently serving as assistant director and ultimately as director of the museum for twenty years. An acknowledged authority on folk art and textiles, she has written numerous articles and catalogues including Black Belt to Hill Country: Alabama Made Quilts, Southern Quilts: A New View, quilt and needlework chapters for Made in Alabama: A State Legacy. In 2017 she received the Jonnie Dee Riley Little Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alabama State Arts Council.

February 6, 2025
Home Sewn: Alabama’s Quilting Traditions with Ryan Blocker

Ryan Blocker has been with the Alabama Department of Archives and History for the past thirteen years. She currently serves as the Museum Collections Coordinator, where she is responsible for the care and preservation of a diverse collection of artifacts. Ryan also oversees the work of the NAGPRA and the Museum Services programs. She is a past President of the Alabama Museums Association and was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Board of the Governor's Mansion Authority in Montgomery. Ryan is a graduate of Auburn University at Montgomery, where she received a B.A. in History, and the International Preservation Studies Center, where she received certification in Collections Care, focusing on Textile Conservation and Preservation.

February 13, 2025
Southern Fiction and Storytelling: A Conversation with Marian Carcache

Marian Carcache grew up in Jernigan, a small community in rural Russell County, Alabama. She lives in Auburn, Alabama and has been teaching English at the university level for over twenty years. Marian's short stories have appeared in Shenandoah, Chattahoochee Review, and other journals. Her work has been anthologized in Due South, Belles' Letters, Crossroads: Stories of the Southern Literary Fantastic, Climbing Mt. Cheaha: Emerging Alabama Writers, and Chinaberries and Crows. Her first book, The Moon and the Stars: New and Collected Stories, was published in 2013 by Solomon & George Publishers. Under the Arbor, an opera made from her short story and libretto, appeared on PBS stations nationwide, was nominated for a regional Emmy, and was a finalist in the New York Festivals. She has a weekly column in The Citizen of East Alabama.

February 20, 2025, 6:30 p.m., Pebble Hill
Third Thursday Poetry Series - Cindy Juyoung Ok

Visit aub.ie/thirdthursday for more information.

February 27, 2025
The Daily Practice of Drawing with Zdenko Krtić

The Croatian American artist Zdenko Krtić is best known for his drawings, collages, photographs, paintings and installations. In his talk the artist will discuss his studio practice involving variety of mediums and approaches. A particular attention will be given to importance of using a sketchbook/notebook - considered a significant and valuable part of any creative process.

Zdenko Krtić, an artist and a retired professor of painting from Auburn, holds a BFA in painting form University of Zagreb (Croatia) and an MFA in Drawing/Painting from University of Cincinnati. Croatian American artist Zdenko Krtić is known for his work consisting of drawings, installations, photographs and paintings. Artist’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in US and in Europe. His most recent solo exhibition was held in Palermo, Sicily (2024). Zdenko Krtić was named 2024 Visual Arts Fellow awarded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

RESCHEDULED - March 6, 2025
Film as Poetic Expression: A Talk with Todd Boss

Todd Boss has influenced millions as an independent American producer, writer, installation artist, and innovator who has contributed to Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated projects. He has created AR/VR installations and building projections, published four books of poetry with W. W. Norton and a children's book with Simon & Schuster's Beach Lane imprint, written lyrics that have premiered at Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, produced more than 150 short films that have screened around the world, patented consumer product innovations and brought them to market, conceived and executed nationwide activations, and launched an award-winning podcast.

His motto is "Wake to the wonder of the world." A farm kid from Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley, he sold all his possessions in 2018 and circled the globe in a series of 40+ house-sits. In 2024 he settled in Austin with his life-partner, multi-Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann. He has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Alaska-Anchorage. His practice of writing poems on private commission evolved into an award-winning podcast called There's a Poem in That, in which he helps strangers discover the poetry in their most intimate stories — now available on all platforms. The podcast has spun off a mobile pop-up Poetry Therapy Clinic and the world's first poetry commissioning agency.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Third Thursday Poetry Series. *

*The Third Thursday Poetry Series & Other Literary Events are sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, Department of English, and Southern Humanities Review in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University; and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Refreshments will be available at 6 p.m.; the reading will begin at 6:30 p.m. Book sales are provided by Auburn Oil Co. Booksellers.