Announcing 2026 Open Education Incentive Program Award Winners
University of Houston Libraries is pleased to announce the 2026 recipient cohort of the UH Open Education Incentive (OPEN) Program.
The OPEN Program supports instructors in adopting open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices in their courses. The program’s flexibility provides a variety of options for faculty to remove costs associated with commercial textbooks, employ innovative and creative teaching methods in their courses, and share openly licensed learning materials that other instructors may reuse and adapt for their own courses. By promoting affordability of course materials and introducing experiential learning opportunities to enrich student learning, the program supports the university’s strategic goal of providing a top-tier and inclusive educational experience to all UH students.
Instructors awarded the Textbook Affordability Incentive will adopt, adapt, or create OER, or use a combination of freely available or library-licensed resources, to replace required commercial textbook(s) in a course.
Instructors awarded the Open Educational Practices Incentive will create and share an OER learning object (including assignments, quizzes, lecture slides, lesson plans, videos, or other teaching resources), which benefits both students and other educators who can reuse and repurpose it. This incentive also supports instructors in replacing a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment, implementing what is commonly called open pedagogy, or engaging students in co-creating course content that can be openly licensed and shared.
2026 OPEN Program winners are:
Textbook Affordability:
- Brandon Duke – LAW 5382: Administrative Law – UH Law Center
- Polina Kharmats – POLS 3311: Introduction to Comparative Politics – College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
- Julio Cesar Lopez Otero – SPAN 2307: Spanish for Heritage Learners I – College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
- Jovita Nsoh – CIS 6358: Secure Software Design – Cullen College of Engineering
Estimated textbook costs removed for students in the first year of implementing no-cost materials in these courses is $70,000, benefiting an estimated 400 students. Awards were granted based on the number of students impacted, cost of the textbook being replaced, the type of project and type of resources being adopted, and the feasibility of successful implementation.
Open Educational Practices:
- Carrie S. Cutler – CUIN 6341: Teaching Problem Solving in Mathematics – College of Education
- Kathrine Ginapp, Liliana Soto (Graduate Student), & Daniel Casanova – GHL 3420 & GHL 3197: Foodservice Operations & Introduction to Baking and Pastry – Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership
- Elena Farah – INTB 3355: Global Environment of Business – C.T. Bauer College of Business
- Khirul Basar Mim – GRET 6336: Global Retail Analysis of World Regions – Cullen College of Engineering
These Open Educational Practices proposals will impact approximately 350 students. Awards were granted based on project goals, feasibility of successful implementation, and anticipated enhancement to student learning.
“We are proud to continue growing the impact of the Open Education Incentive Program by expanding access to high-quality, no-cost learning materials,” said Ariana Santiago, associate dean for research and student engagement. “Through their commitment to student success, instructors are reducing barriers, fostering greater engagement, and creating meaningful learning experiences that empower students to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.”
Learn more about open educational resources at UH.
Special thanks to the members of the 2026 OPEN Program Review Committee: Kate McNally Carter, Wenli Gao, Dr. Marédil León Cedeño, Dr. Nathan Shepley, and Imani Spence.