Seven faculty projects have been selected for VCU's inaugural Affordable Course Content Awards. This funding stream allows recipients to author open textbooks or other course content to replace more costly texts in their classes.

Award recipients:

• A group of foreign language faculty in the School of World Studies will author open learning modules for Intermediate II Foreign Language courses, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish. The faculty group members are Kathryn Murphy-Judy, Ph.D., associate professor, Salwa Sheibany, term instructor, Yan Gao, Ph.D., adjunct instructor, Lionel Mathieu, Ph.D., term instructor, Patricia Cummins, Ph.D., professor, Vera Abbate, Ph.D., term instructor, Natalia Boykova, Ph.D., term instructor and Maria de Panbehchi, Ph.D., term instructor.

• Jeffrey Ledford, Ph.D., instructor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, will author an open textbook for Differential Equations (MATH 301).

• Robert Godwin-Jones, Ph.D., professor in the School of World Studies, in collaboration with Mayda Topoushian, Ph.D., term instructor in the School of World Studies, Jill Blondin, Ph.D., director of VCU Globe and Aradhna Malik, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, will author an open textbook for Communicating Across Cultures (WRLD 302).

• Brendan Dwyer, Ph.D., director of research and distance learning in the Center for Sport Leadership, will author a textbook for Sport Business (SPTL 632).

• Faculty members from the Department of Focused Inquiry’s Textbook Committee will author open course content for Focused Inquiry I and II (UNIV 111 and 112) and Inquiry and the Craft of Argument (UNIV 200).

• Stacie Giles, adjunct instructor in the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, will author an open textbook for The Intelligence Community and Process (HSEP 320).

• Joseph H. Porter, Ph.D., professor, and Victoria A. Shivy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, in collaboration with Harry Whitaker, Ph.D., professor, and Mitchell D. Klett, Ph.D., associate professor at Northern Michigan University, will author an open textbook for Experimental Methods (PSYC 317).

The Affordable Course Content Awards program is a partnership of the Office of the Provost, VCU Libraries, the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, and the ALT Lab. Academic Technologies, Online @ VCU, the Office of Disability Support Services and the VCU Bookstore have also committed to serve as resources for award recipients.

The faculty recipients will be working on their projects throughout the 2017-18 academic year, with implementation expected by fall 2018. To learn more about affordable course content and to keep up with the progress of faculty projects, visit go.vcu.edu/textbooksavings.