Good evening. My name is Christine Monnier, professor of sociology at COD, and newly elected Vice-President of the COD Faculty Association. I have worked at the college for 19 years and occupied many institutional functions in faculty leadership. I will spare you the details of that long list. Just know that all these years at the college have been very professionally fulfilling for me.

Tonight on your agenda is a topic that is of great importance to me: Open Educational Resources. You will receive a presentation from Library Professor Denise Cote, who has been the heart and soul of OER initiatives at the college for many years. Unfortunately, for most of those years, Denise has worked without much institutional support. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. Provost Mark Curtiz-Chavez is now providing the much needed institutional “muscle” needed to propel OER at the college to the next level. We now have a working steering committee for OER, that provides both leadership and resources from across the college, to foster the adoption and development of OER.

I do not have to tell you how important this initiative is. We know that many students do not purchase course materials whose cost is prohibitive. We also know that a lack of course materials leads to poorer outcomes. On the OER steering committee, we see availability of open materials as central to student success.

I urge you to give Dr Cote’s presentation the attention it deserves, I hope that you will be as supportive of this initiative as our provost and the CODFA leadership.

Thank you.