Open Textbook Faculty Incentive Program – 2018-2019 Awardees

Dear Colleagues,

The Office of the Provost and the University Library are proud to announce the awardees for the second year of the Open Textbook Faculty Incentive Program.  This program encourages faculty to use and develop open educational resources (OER) as alternatives to traditional textbooks for undergraduate courses.  The incentive program is part of UIC’s student success initiative and was developed in response to student concerns about the high cost of course materials.

Eight faculty members will each receive a portion of the $20,000 allocated for this initiative.  Faculty members’ plans include adopting open textbooks and other open education resources, modifying open textbooks, and creating new open access supplemental material.  Instructors will be able to use resources more pertinent to their courses and tailor exercises and quizzes to their syllabi.  Applications were received from the colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Nursing, and Architecture, Design, and the Arts. More than 900 students who enroll in the faculty awardees’ courses could potentially save approximately $150,000 by using the OER materials instead of purchasing new textbooks.  The Open Textbook Faculty Incentive Program 2018-2019 awardees are:

• Andrew Finegold, CADA, Art History; AH 110: World History of Art and the Built Environment
• Susanne Rott, LAS, Germanic Studies; GER 104: Intermediate German
• Pamela Popielarz, LAS, Sociology; SOC 244: Sociology of Work
• Theresa R. Williams, Nursing; NURS 212: Health Assessment and Communication
• Catherine A. Tredway, Nursing 385: Nursing Care of Populations
• Boris Igic, LAS, Biological Sciences; BIOS 430: Evolution
• Laura L. Anderson and Leslie N. Aldrich, LAS, Chemistry; Chem 230: Organic Chemistry of Biological Systems

The University Library will be offering workshops to awardees on copyright, fair use, and adopting and modify open education resources.  These resources will be adopted into the curriculum by Fall 2019.  For more information on the program, see researchguides.uic.edu/opentextbooks.  Watch for an announcement about the 2019-2020 funding cycle next fall.  For more information, please contact Janet Swatscheno at jswatsc2@uic.edu.

Sincerely,

Susan Poser
Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

For more information, please contact:
Janet Swatscheno
jswatsc2@uic.edu