Joseph J. Foy, Ph.D. President | Benedictine University

Benedictine University has been awarded the Illinois State Library Open Educational Resources Grant, facilitated by the Illinois State Library and the Illinois Office of the Secretary of State. The grant is funded through general revenue funds allocated to the Secretary of State/Illinois State Library specifically for Open Education Resources.

Governor J.B. Pritzker allocated approximately $3 million to the Illinois State Library, enabling members of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), including Benedictine University Library, to benefit from these resources. Benedictine University Library received $132,716 in grant funds to support five faculty course projects aimed at converting, revising, or creating open-sourced textbooks and ancillary materials for general education 1000 courses. These courses include College Algebra, Writing 1101, World History before 1600, Islamic Literature, and Introduction to Business.

The initiative seeks to alleviate students' financial burden associated with course materials. According to the grant stipulations, these courses must implement the new materials by Spring 2026 and continue using them for an additional three years.

Joy Matteson, University Librarian and Academic Support Center Director at Benedictine University stated: “The Benedictine University Library is very pleased to be awarded this Illinois State Library grant that is being administered through our library partner, CARLI. We hope that by 2026, the cost of a textbook is one less barrier to academic success for our incoming students. I’m grateful for the hard work of the faculty in the College of Science and Health, the College of Business, and the College of Liberal Arts who are dedicated to using quality open sourced materials for our courses.”