Join Open Oregon State Effort

To: OSU Faculty and Staff

From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President

March 9, 2018

Dear Colleagues,

At Oregon State University, we strive to deliver high-quality education via a model that deeply integrates research, teaching and engagement, and we do so while prioritizing access and affordability. We are proud that last year 43 percent of undergraduates graduated with no debt, while the median debt for OSU students who took out loans was 82 percent of the national median.

Achieving such results requires a continual search for ways to control the cost of attendance. One of those ways is Open Oregon State.

Open Oregon State works in partnership with the faculty, OSU Libraries & Press, and the OSU Beaver Store to create no-cost course materials to be used on-campus and online. Faculty members who adopted, adapted and/or authored textbooks and other course materials that are freely available helped save OSU students more than $1.5 million last year alone.

The following are examples of departments and programs active in the Open Oregon State initiative:

  • Environmental Sciences Graduate Program – All core environmental sciences graduate courses use no-cost course materials.
  • School of Public Policy – Five new open textbooks are in use, in political science, sociology and public policy.
  • Integrative biology, human anatomy and physiology – A joint project is ongoing with faculty in other universities and community colleges to develop open course materials.
  • College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences – An interdisciplinary open textbook on climate change is now in use.
  • College of Agricultural Sciences – New open textbooks have been implemented in horticulture, animal science and crop sciences.

Please join your colleagues in the programs above in participating in the Open Oregon State effort. Take the first step by contacting Open Oregon State director Dianna Fisher ([email protected]) to find out if no-cost or low-cost materials already exist for your course or subject area. You will also find more information at open.oregonstate.edu.

Sincerely,

Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President