Winners of the 2026 OER Champion Awards
OER Champions 2026
CU Anschutz
Ezra Heeschen, OER Program Manager, Modern Anatomy Program
Awarded for his contribution to the Modern Human Anatomy Program, namely by creating a variety of 3D printed organs. Ezra also posted these designs online where they are freely accessible and openly licensed.
“These 3D models are also accompanied by educational packets – allowing anyone to create an anatomy lesson. This incredible program has reached high school and college students from across the state, and Ezra has been a primary driver of this success.”
Nominator Ellie Svoboda, Research Informationist at the Strauss Health Sciences Library
CU Boulder
Nathan Schneider, Associate Professor, Media Studies
Awarded for: Research and publication of peer-reviewed article, OER as Dynamic Digital Commons: Toward Maintenance and Governance in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. Nathan and his co-authors tackle a critical gap in the open education movement, namely ongoing maintenance and governance.
“Nathan’s article takes up one of the most important questions facing the open education movement right now…Once an OER exists, how do we keep it current?…Nathan invites us to think of OER as living resources — as part of a dynamic digital commons that needs ongoing maintenance, thoughtful governance, and shared participation.”
Nominators Leslie J. Reynolds, Professor and Senior Associate Dean of Libraries and Caroline Sinkinson, Professor and Director of Learning and Engagement of the University Libraries
CU Denver
Denver OER Committee
Awarded for: The launch of a faculty peer-review small grant program for the 2026-2027 academic year to expand the use of OER by faculty on campus for students' benefit, including cost savings and more representative course materials.
“The program aims to create a pipeline for OER integration, while fostering evaluation practices using a peer-review rubric for faculty. A key feature of this project is a group of five stipends for faculty to peer review OER materials for repositories listed on the Auraria Library's OER website or the Colorado Higher Education OER Hub.
Project lead Ronica Rooks, Professor, Health and Behavioral Sciences
UCCS
Dan Olson, Teaching Professor, College of Public Service
Awarded for: Creating the no-cost textbook, Courts and Judicial Process eText. The eText defrays costs for required course CRJU 4044 - Courts and Judicial Process, and contains visual and annotation features that foster deeper cognitive engagement.
“Dan engaged students and peers as contributors and editors in the process. Additionally, Dan has advocated for OER in his department since 2021.”
Nominator Angie Dodson, Faculty Development Coordinator, Faculty Resource Center
Student
Laura Paciorek, Student, CU Denver
Awarded for: Developing a multi-media OER Writing III Google site for ESL Writing classes to alleviate the significant repercussions of students not purchasing the textbook or purchasing it late in the course.
“This OER site is well researched and uses an abundance of different OER materials to tailor the site to her students' learning outcomes. Laura saw a need for our students and took it upon herself to fill that need with time, effort, and an ethic of care that went above and beyond, especially when she was a student herself.”
Nominator Sara Satkowiak, Scholarly Research Services Program Lead Librarian
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely available online teaching and learning materials accessible to students, instructors and self-learners. Contained in digital media collections from around the world, including full courses, lectures, quizzes, classroom activities, teaching materials and other assets.
Each campus brings Open Educational Resources (OER) expertise, resources, and practices for awareness and adoption to the shared table, all of which are customized to meet campus needs and cultures. By working together, the campuses succeed in their common goal of increasing the reach of quality OER experience and cost savings for students.