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MOMENTUM
A Web Letter from the Office of the Provost - November 2021

By Mary Jane Chew

Kristina Bross Receives the 2022 Leadership in Open Access Award

Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies is pleased to announce that Kristina Bross, associate dean for research and creative endeavors in the Honors College and professor of English, is the recipient of the 2022 Leadership in Open Access Award. Bross is a staunch supporter of scholarly dissemination and open access, as demonstrated by her many projects completed in collaboration with Libraries. 

As a member of the faculty advisory board for the Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research (JPUR), Bross is strongly invested in the journal’s success as an open access platform for undergraduate research endeavors. In collaboration with Purdue University Press and Archives and Special Collections, she edited a special collection of essays by Purdue undergraduates. The resulting book, More Than a Memory: Exploring Purdue University’s History Through Objects, was published by Purdue University Press in 2017, and is openly available to all.

During the summer of 2020, in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, professor Bross again collaborated with Libraries to develop new engagement opportunities for students in remote learning environments. The result is the IDEAS Magazine: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series.

“The inaugural issue of Ideas Magazine was created as a way to open up the Visiting Scholars series to more people — to offer contextual material about our visitors and their work and provide links to the recorded interviews,” said Bross. “The pieces included in the issues of the magazine were created by students — members of the Visiting Scholars seminar and a talented team of student editors. Volume one is an experiment. A draft. A collaborative pilot project. A pandemic-driven pivot from in-person forms of learning to online, asynchronous learning. We built the plane while we were flying it. No doubt we’ll have to open up the engine again to tinker with it to get it really soaring. But it’s off the ground!”

Libraries is honored to recognize professor Bross for her creativity, leadership and ongoing commitment to open access projects like these, and is proud to be a collaborative partner in her remarkable story of student engagement, opportunity, and success.