Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

Dr. Kari Clase Receives the 2023 Leadership in Open Access Award

November 6th, 2023

Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies is pleased to recognize Kari Clase, Ph.D., with the 2023 Leadership in Open Access Award. Dr. Clase is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and serves as the director of the Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Science (BIRS) Center. 

The mission of the BIRS Center is to educate and train students to become global leaders and innovators to advance discovery and development, especially in areas related to biotechnology, and to meet global health needs with an initial focus on Africa. Their Sustainable Medicines in Africa Program is working to ensure continuous availability of quality medicines to patients, by enabling African pharmaceutical manufacturing and National Drug Regulators, developing new knowledge that improves human health care in African sub-regions, and establishing global and local/regional partnerships to build sustainable solutions to provide access to quality medicine. This is accomplished by providing needed capacity building with innovative educational programs, research, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The BIRS Center brings together experts in molecular biology (academia), manufacturing and industry, as well as governmental and regulatory agencies, all working toward this same goal. Open Access forms of publication are the best way to deliver scholarly outputs of the Center to this wide variety of stakeholders.

Since 2018, Dr. Clase has sought ways to increase publishing experiences for graduate students in the BIRS program. She has collaborated with Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies to increase access to knowledge and resources through our open access initiatives, including the most recent journal publication, The Proceedings of the BIRS Community. 

To foster a more robust learning experience, the BIRS Center is using an Open Pedagogy approach. Open Pedagogy is a form of experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation, becoming the creators of information rather than simply consumers of it. Although student work explores most of the research cycle, it often fails to address the dissemination aspect of scholarship. Open Pedagogy allows students to participate in the dissemination process, experiencing the entire research cycle. To ensure compliance with grant funders, and access to scholarship for external stakeholders and regulatory agencies, they have guaranteed an Open Access publishing venue for the BIRS Center research outputs. 

The Leadership in Open Access award is given annually in recognition of exceptional commitment to broadening the reach of scholarship by making Purdue research freely accessible online. This award is granted to nominees who have worked in collaboration with one or more repositories supported by Purdue Libraries, such as Purdue e-Pubs, Purdue University Research Repository (PURR), or Purdue e-Archives.

“At Purdue, our Libraries advocate for open access and open science by a) supporting open repositories, b) prioritizing the licensing of journal subscriptions from publishers willing to offer more equitable, sustainable, and open licenses, and c) collaborating with Purdue University Press to promote open monographs. We firmly believe that sharing knowledge is a crucial responsibility for land-grant universities, and that everyone should have access to the knowledge created by our Boilermakers. Dr. Clase embodies the spirit of our Leadership in Open Access Award,” said Beth McNeil, dean of Libraries and School of Information Studies. 

Dr. Clase joins the growing list of previous recipients of the Leadership in Open Access Award.