2 JMU Faculty Awarded Grants to Create Open Textbooks 

Posted February 18, 2025 in JMU Libraries News, Open Education News

Two JMU faculty members were recently selected as recipients for the statewide Open Course Grants program: 

• Dr. Sri Upadhyay, professor of psychology, is part of a team that was awarded $48,977 to create “A Perfectly Imperfect Mind: Using Cognitive Psychology to Explain Human Experience,” an open online textbook. The team estimates that 3,725 students will use this resource per year, with a potential 5-year cost avoidance totaling $321,646. 

• Dr. Chris Johnson, professor of computer science, was awarded $6,750 to create Dear Computer, an interactive programming languages textbook. He estimates that 900 students will use this resource per year, with a potential 5-year cost avoidance totaling $67,500. 

Here’s what Dr. Johnson had to say: “‘I wrote Dear Computer for many reasons. To save students money, to clarify and organize my own understanding of the material, to perfectly align the readings with lectures and labs, and to gain the power to improve the book semester after semester. I feel agency over the course again, and my students feel considered.”  

Open Course Grants help make higher education more accessible to Virginia students by eliminating textbook costs. Offered through VIVA, Virginia’s Academic Library Consortium, the grants are open to faculty at any Virginia higher education institution.  

More information: Visit our Grants & Stipends for Open Education page to learn about other funding to support faculty using open and affordable textbooks.