Acknowledgements

As Chief Editor of the collection, I owe a great deal of thanks and gratitude to several people.  First, to all of the contributors and co-authors, a huge thank you for your hard work and dedication to seeing this project to fruition.  The genesis of this book lies in a long series of conversations that I’ve had with numerous colleagues through the years at APSA Teaching and Learning Conferences, amongst the members of the APSA Status Committee on Community Colleges, and within the editorial team at the Journal of Political Science Education.  It’s an idea that I’d had for years, but without nudging from Victor Asal (SUNY-Albany), Joseph Roberts (Roger Williams University), Erin Richards (Cascadia College), and Julie Mueller (Southern Maine Community College), I wouldn’t have had the courage to try and put this together.   But, even then, it was still only an idea.   The authors of each chapter did the real work, and this volume wouldn’t exist without that commitment and spirit of collaboration.  So, if you’re reading one of these chapters, and find something particularly inspiring and compelling, I hope you’ll consider looking up that author’s contact info (there’s a brief bio at the beginning of each chapter) and dropping them a quick note.

A special thanks is also due to Dino Bozonelos (Victor Valley College) and Josh Franco (Cuyamaca College), the lead authors of the original OER textbook in Comparative Politics (introcp.com).  It takes a special kind of grace to be open to the suggestion that somebody else would like to write a supplemental text that’s intended to complement your already-existing work.  Dino and Josh were more than welcoming to the idea, and provided logistical advice and technical assistance.  Finally, there are two people within the Minnesota State Colleges and University system who deserve recognition.  Gary Hunter, the Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property within the System Office, provided some needed legal advice on how to manage a crowd-sourced OER project that brought in authors from so many different institutions.   Karen Pikula, Psychology Instructor at Central Lakes College, is the long-time statewide trainer and coordinator for OER projects across the MinnState System.  She’s been a great mentor to me, as well as just about every other OER author in the state.

The collection of this material was supported by a grant through Minnesota State Community and Technical College (Moorhead, Minnesota).  Pressbooks hosting is provided by the Minnesota State Colleges and University system (MinnState).  The authorship of some chapters was supported by additional grants from the author’s home institution or system.  Those grants, where applicable, are acknowledged in the “About the Author” inset boxes at the beginning of each chapter.