This year, LSU Libraries established a new initiative designed to increase the awareness and usage of Open Educational Resources (OER) across LSU’s campus. The OER Advancement Fellowship awards stipends to faculty members who are committed to reviewing or incorporating OER materials into their curricula, thereby reducing the reliance on costly commercial textbooks.

During the 18-month project period, the fellows will participate in a series of workshops and consultations that will equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully implement OER in their courses. By embracing these resources, the fellows will play a crucial role in advancing educational equity at LSU, ensuring that students have greater access to free, high-quality learning materials.

The fellowship offers three levels of engagement with OER:

• Creation: Participants will develop original OER to replace commercial textbooks and materials for courses where no suitable OER currently exists.
• Adaptation: Faculty will adapt and update existing OER, possibly combining multiple resources and creating supplementary materials to enhance instruction.
• Adoption: Fellows will adopt existing OER with minimal modifications to replace commercial textbooks in their courses.

The following faculty have been accepted into the OER Advancement Fellowship.

Creation Awardees

• Fabio Capra-Ribeiro, College of Art & Design
• Tonya Gauna, College of Science 
• Liliana Naranjo, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
• Tracy Norton, LSU Law
• Kate Pettrey, College of Engineering
• Anna Priddy, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
• Vinit Sehgal, College of Agriculture

Adaptation Awardees

• Naomi Bennett, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
• Narcissa Haskins & Jazzlynn Boyd, LSU Libraries
• Yong-Ha Kim, College of the Coast & Environment
• Andrea Morris, College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Adoption Awardees

• Janice Lee, Manship School of Mass Communication