Dr. Emily Que
Department of Chemistry
As the 2023-2024 academic year comes to a close, the Senate of College Councils and UT Libraries partnered to solicit nominations from students across campus to recognize instructors who increased access and equity by selecting free or low cost course materials for their classes.
Affordable Education Champions are instructors who assign free or low cost resources — like textbooks, websites, films, and more — for their courses. (Because the “low cost” definition can vary by discipline, we invited students to determine what that means for them.) Sometimes they author their own materials, and sometimes they’re able to reuse free or low cost work created by others. We share gratitude and appreciation for their commitment to fostering access to high quality education at the lowest possible cost barrier for their students.
Today, we congratulate and thank Dr. Emily Que, who was nominated by her students in her Inorganic Chemistry courses within the Department of Chemistry.
Prof. Que is originally from Minnesota and received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 2004. She completed a PhD in Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley and began her teaching journey as a TA for general chemistry lab and an undergraduate inorganic chemistry lecture course. After post-doctoral studies at Northwestern University, Prof. Que moved to Texas in 2014 to start a tenure-track position in the Chemistry Department. Prof. Que’s bioinorganic research lab develops imaging agents as biochemical tools and diagnostic agents. Since starting at UT, Prof. Que’s teaching focus has been in the inorganic area, teaching both the core inorganic chemistry lecture and laboratory course as well as an advanced inorganic chemistry lab. More recently, her teaching efforts have expanded to include teaching the professional development course for undergraduate chemistry majors as well as serving as the advisor and instructor for the chemistry capstone course, which provides students an opportunity to gain practical experience in independent inquiry and collaborative science as part of their chemistry degree.
When asked what led her to select free or low cost resources for her required course materials, Dr. Que told us:
I was privileged as an undergraduate in many ways including having a scholarship that specifically supported my textbook purchases. Thus, every semester, I had next to no barrier to getting the latest edition of all of my required textbooks, as long as I made my way to the campus bookstore. Now as a professor, I recognize that most of the students I teach likely do not have this same privilege. This is at the core of why I select free/affordable course materials for my students.
First, I did not want the ability to access course materials to be a barrier to student success. Second, textbooks have become quite expensive, and it seems wasteful and unnecessary to require that my students purchase them. Third, no single textbook is the exact right fit for my course, so I tend to assign reading material from multiple sources. There is no way I could force students to buy multiple textbooks! Fourth, I recognize that students are most comfortable with web-based resources these days, and resources such as archive.org allow my students to have access to textbooks free of charge.
Generally speaking, I strive to design my class in a way that allows all students to access course materials equally (textbooks, lectures and lecture slides, practice problems, etc.). Each and every one of my 80 students leads their own complicated life and I feel this is the best way to ensure that they have access to the information they need regardless of what life is throwing at them. I know the students appreciate the free access to materials based on comments I get in my course evaluations.
Join us in thanking Dr. Que for her contribution to making UT an inclusive and equitable environment where students can succeed without high course materials costs!
If you know of an instructor who is dedicated to making their courses as affordable as possible by selecting free or low cost course materials, let us know by contacting Heather Walter, Tocker Open Education Librarian (heather.walter@austin.utexas.edu)
