Heroes
Seth Daugherty
Seth Daugherty is a member of MCC’s OER Committee, the district’s MOER Steering Team, and serves as an admin for the MOER website. His advocacy for OER materials helped to transform the MCC Math department away from being almost completely dependent on publisher materials. Now, nearly 70% of math faculty at MCC use OER, along with members of the Physics and Economics departments. He trains new full-time and adjunct math faculty in using MOER both at MCC and across the district. Students greatly benefit from his leadership and work.
Tim Minger
Tim authored a cohesive, narrative-driven textbook aligned directly with CHM130 course competencies and the official course outline. Rather than compiling existing materials, he developed carefully structured instructional content that guides students through chemistry concepts in a logical, scaffolded progression. The book features a clean, intuitive layout with integrated images and figures, along with a detailed Table of Contents that mirrors course concepts and supports ease of navigation for both students and faculty.
To enhance learning, Tim incorporated select multimedia resources, including videos, and developed additional original materials to ensure clarity and depth. He recently sought faculty feedback to expand the number of application-based problems, demonstrating a collaborative approach and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Planned and developed in partnership with eLearning, with instructional design support contributing to its organization and usability, this project reflects thoughtful collaboration and intentional course alignment. By creating a high-quality, zero-cost textbook tailored specifically to CHM130, Tim has significantly improved equitable access for students while maintaining strong academic standards.
Tim’s work exemplifies innovation, collaboration, and a student-centered approach to course design. His CHM130 OER stands as a model for how faculty expertise and purposeful development can meaningfully enhance both teaching and learning. (Access the textbook)
Mark Somers
Professor Mark Somers first approached MOER expert, Seth Daugherty, in the Fall of 2021 with a clear and student-centered goal: to reduce costs for his Physics students by exploring MOER. What began as an effort to save students money quickly evolved into sustained leadership in open educational resources. After reviewing initial Physics content in MOER that had been developed by the department at the College of Alameda, Professor Somers thoughtfully incorporated and adapted applicable materials for his own courses. From there, he dove headfirst into developing a substantial body of original Physics problems within MOER.
Through his initiative and advocacy, Professor Somers became a knowledgeable MOER practitioner and champion, ultimately inspiring his entire department to transition from traditional publisher materials—long considered the norm—to free, open educational resources. This department-wide shift would not have occurred without his credibility, persistence, and leadership. His efforts have significantly expanded the breadth and depth of Physics problem sets available in MOER, creating a lasting resource that will benefit his department for years to come.
This accomplishment strongly aligns with key competencies of leadership, innovation, collaboration, and student-centered commitment. Professor Somers demonstrated leadership by guiding departmental change, collaboration by building upon and contributing to shared inter-institutional resources, innovation through the creation and adaptation of high-quality open materials, and a deep commitment to student success by prioritizing affordability and access. His work has had a meaningful academic and financial impact, and he is highly deserving of this recognition.
