Faculty book a finalist for national award

Fitchburg State University Professor Kisha Tracy’s book Heritages of Change: Curatorial Activism and First-Year Writing was recently a finalist for a national award recognizing excellence in open educational resources.

Tracy, a member of Fitchburg State’s English Studies Department, was one of four finalists for the 2024 Open Education Global Award for Excellence in the category of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. While her book did not win first place, Tracy is proud to have the work recognized, along with illustrating Fitchburg State’s commitment to open educational resources (OER).

“I am honored to have Heritages of Change named one of the top four open education resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the world,” Tracy said. “It means so much to have both my ideas and my students' work validated in such a way."

Open Education Global is a non-profit organization supporting the development and use of free educational resources with a vision of expanding access to education and improving student success.

Tracy’s book, which can be downloaded for free, was created for first-year writing students. The volume came about in response to the sensation that writers practice and research in a vacuum, when writing is essentially about communication. Heritages of Change: Curatorial Activism and First-Year Writing was conceived as a method for students to think about the social changes that were prevalent during the COVID years and remain important in their wake. Heritages of Change is a lens for thinking and writing about these ideas. 

“Students have so much to say about the world around them,” Tracy said. “Thinking, researching, and writing about those ideas is not only significant for them, but also important for others to hear and read.”

Fitchburg State is one of six Massachusetts institutions participating in the Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens (ROTEL) grant through the Department of Education. This project provides stipends for faculty to remix and/or develop accessible, intentionally inclusive open textbooks and other OER that reflect students’ local and lived experiences.