Each year, the Cleveland State University (CSU) Student Government Association works with the Michael Schwartz Library to select a winner of the Textbook Hero Award. The award names only one faculty member across the University who put forth significant effort to replace a traditional textbook with a low-cost or open alternative, and whose efforts had a high impact on textbook costs, classroom engagement, and student achievement. While the library helps to market the award, the CSU Student Government Association chooses the winner. 

This year, Dr. Ramune Braziunaite, a professor in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education’s School of Communication was selected as the 2023 Textbook Hero. As an Assistant College Lecturer at the School of Communication since Fall 2016, Dr. Braziunaite teaches organizational communication, health communication, gender, and race. Her commitment to open pedagogy resulted in annual student savings of approximately $4,200.

Her nominator had many good things to mention about her. 

“Dr. Braziunaite went out of her way to provide our class with two free textbooks resources to learn about interracial communication, its theories, and silent racism. … It positively impacted my educational experience in the course. The textbooks provided all the information necessary to understand the course context without worrying about any book costs and their availability. The books were available online as a PDF form and being able to download them made it very easy to access.”