Expensive textbooks and classroom materials have always been a barrier for many students in higher education. In a 2018 survey, over 80% of students at USF reported that they did not purchase a textbook because its cost was prohibitive. The pandemic has urgently increased the need to lower costs and increase access for students.

Gleeson Library is addressing this barrier to educational equity through our Open Education Resources (OER) Fund. The grant seeks to encourage USF faculty to investigate possible solutions to the prohibitive cost of educational materials.

Please join us for a panel of the 2019 faculty grant recipients as they discuss their experience with using and creating OERs. This event is co-sponsored by USF's Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE).

REGISTER  HERE 

Panel Speakers:
Kimberly Rae Connor is Professor of Ethics in the School of Management and Faculty Chair for Mission Integration in the Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition.

Dr. Monika Hudson is an associate professor at the University of San Francisco and teaches entrepreneurship, family business, organizational behavior and public administration on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She directs USF’s Gellert Family Business Center, which promotes and supports family firms in the Bay Area. She is also the Area Coordinator for USF’s undergraduate international business program. Dr. Hudson’s research interests include entrepreneurship, identity and behavior and the strategic implementation of the same within the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

Allison Thorson is an associate professor in the communication studies department. Her research focuses on interpersonal and family communication with an emphasis on how individuals and families communicatively manage and maintain individual and relational well-being in the context of (often deemed taboo) unexpected, hurtful, or non-normative events and underexplored relationship types. Her work has been published in outlets such as Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and The Journal of Marriage and Family.

The call for proposals for this year's OER fund is now open through the end of October. The application form can be found at https://forms.gle/svv51Nn2Qz59KZoE8. For any questions about the panel event or this year's fund, contact Gleeson's Scholarly Communications Librarian Charlotte Roh at croh2@usfca.edu.