University of Houston Libraries, supported by the UH Office of the Provost, is pleased to announce the 2022 recipient cohort of the Alternative Textbook Incentive Program (ATIP).

UH instructors applied for an award ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 that would go toward implementation of an open or alternative textbook in a future course. This program incentivizes faculty members to replace required traditional textbook(s) and other high-cost learning materials in their courses with adoption, adaptation, or creation of open educational resources (OER), or assembly of freely available or library-sponsored resources.

Awards were granted based on the number of students impacted, projected cost savings for students, the type of project proposed, and the timeline and feasibility of successful implementation.

2022 ATIP winners are:

Graduate College of Social Work

• Chiara Acquati, Aabha Brown, and Virginia Lucas – SOCW 6305: Research and Knowledge Building in Social Work Practice
• Virginia Lucas – SOCW 6308: Human Diversity and Development

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

• Olusegun Babalola – PSYC 2305: Introduction to Methods in Psychology
• Anadeli Bencomo – SPAN 3374: Spanish American Culture and Civilization
• Viola Green, Raymond Gwanwo Hounfodji, Julie Tolliver, and Céline Wilson – FREN 1501: Elementary French I and FREN 1502: Elementary French II
• Viola Green, Raymond Gwanwo Hounfodji, Julie Tolliver, and Céline Wilson – FREN 2311: Intermediate French I and FREN 2312: Intermediate French II
• Jose Angel Hernandez – HIST 2303: Historian’s Craft
• Jose Angel Hernandez – HIST 4336: History of Histories: Historiography Capstone Seminar
• Melody Yunzi Li – CHIN/WCL 3342: Tales of East Asian Cities

C.T. Bauer College of Business

• Barbara Carlin and Marina Sebastijanovic – MANA 3335: Introduction to Organizational Behavior and Management

Conrad H. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership

• Simone Doudna – HRMA 4397: Airline Services Management
• Jason Draper – HRMA 2365: Tourism
• Sadegh Kazemi – HRMA 3348: Principles of Hospitality Revenue Management
• Cristian Morosan – HRMA 1301: Hospitality Technology
• Minjung Shin – HRMA 6330: Statistical Data Analysis in the Hospitality Industry

Cullen College of Engineering

• Stacey M. Louie – CIVE 6373: Experimental Methods in Environmental Engineering

College of Education

• Saira Rab – HDFS 4315: Culture and Diversity in Human Development
• Sissy Wong – CUIN 4325/7366: Teaching Science in Grades 4-8 I and CUIN 4326/7367: Teaching Science in Grades 4-8 II

This is the fourth round of awards for ATIP, which is part of the University’s mission to provide an inclusive, accessible educational experience for UH students. The initiative to mitigate the high cost of textbooks for students was championed by Paula Myrick Short, the former senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, who led the UH initiative to join the Open Textbook Network (renamed Open Education Network) in 2017. Since then, more UH faculty have been empowered through ATIP to reduce the financial burden of UH students.

Six of this year’s awarded projects were for adopting OER or library materials, one is for authoring OER, and eleven involve a combination of adopting, adapting, and/or authoring open resources. Projected savings for students in the first year of implementing alternative textbooks in these courses is $631,655, benefiting an estimated 4,873 students.

Learn more about open educational resources at UH.

“It’s highly rewarding to see the benefit of free and immediate access to course materials realized for so many UH students,” said Athena N. Jackson, dean of UH Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell chair. “We’re committed to student success through the development of open educational resources via ATIP, and we’re pleased to continue partnering with faculty to improve the learning experience for students.”

Thanks to the members of the ATIP Review Committee: Emese Felvegi, Jaspal Subhlok, Shawn Vaillancourt, Elizabeth Irvin-Stravoski, and Ariana Santiago.