CRETE, Neb. (KOLN) – After originally launching its Cannabis Certificate program in November, Doane University will be unveiling seven new cannabis courses offered on-ground and online to residential and non-residential students.

The three-credit courses, which will begin to be offered this fall through the School of Integrative Learning, include:

• History of Cannabis – Dr. Mark Orsag
• The Cannabis Industry – Dr. Andrea Holmes
• Agronomy of Hemp – Dr. Blake Colclasure
• The Biology of Hemp – Dr. Tessa Durham Brooks
• Medicinal Cannabis – Dr. Amanda McKinney and Prof. Andrea Holmes
• Cannabis Processing – Dr. Andrea Holmes
• Cannabis Testing Methods – Dr. Arin Sutlief and Dr. Andrea Holmes

These courses are instructor-led and contain more academic content than the self-paced, entry-level online certificate courses on DoaneX. Experienced Doane faculty, with PhDs in chemistry, biology, agricultural education, and history, along with physicians who are certified in cannabis medicine, have built these eight-week courses, which will provide cutting-edge education in an industry that continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Dr. Andrea Holmes has been appointed as the Director of Cannabis Studies, School of Integrative Learning, to oversee the development of these courses. Dr. Holmes becomes Doane’s first faculty member to have a joint appointment as she is also Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“I am very excited about this joint appointment because it opens up new opportunities for us to develop new initiatives in cannabis education. In my new position, I am also creating new partnerships with other colleges and universities who are adding our cannabis courses to their curriculum as part of their own cannabis studies degrees or as electives,” Holmes said.

“The School of Integrative Learning was created to provide innovative and interdisciplinary education that is flexible, adaptive, and practical, and the cannabis courses are one example of that,” added Andrea Butler, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Online Operations, and Dean of the School of Integrative Learning. “We encourage our faculty to engage our students through exploration, discovery, and real-world application of knowledge, which in turn, provides practical skills to our students. Our cannabis courses have been designed in this way. Students who take these courses will have a solid framework of the knowledge and skills needed to enter the cannabis workforce.”

Dr. Holmes, who is also a co-founder of Precision Plant Molecules, a premier specialty cannabinoid isolation company based in Denver, Colorado, has been widely recognized as a national and international expert in cannabis chemistry, testing, and processing. Dr. Holmes has given local, national, and international lectures, appeared on podcasts and webinars on the topic, and has published a number of articles covering the cannabis industry, including terpenes, major and minor cannabinoids, extraction methods, and CBD for pets.

With Dr. Holmes leading the effort, Doane became the first institution in Nebraska to offer a Professional Cannabis Certificate program last November. The program, titled “Cannabis Science and Industry: Seeds to Needs,” is a series of three self-paced, online courses designed by leading experts in the cannabis industry and academia with PhD and MD credentials. To date, over 12,000 learners have enrolled in the courses from 166 countries across the globe.

“Doane University is poised to be one of the leading institutions in modern cannabis education, not only in the Midwest but in the U.S. and even the world,” Holmes said. “The curriculum for the highly interdisciplinary courses is novel and unique. This is exemplified by the fact that Doane faculty couldn’t find appropriate textbooks on the subjects to use for their courses. Therefore, our faculty will become co-authors of and are piloting an intra and interdisciplinary e-textbook to use in their respective courses.”

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