Carleigh Charlton (they/she) is the Vice President, University Affairs at the Brock University Students’ Union (BUSU), a role in which she has served for two consecutive terms (2023-24 and 2024-25). In this role, Carleigh advocates for undergraduate student issues and interests at the institutional level. As VPUA, they oversee the management, creation, and delivery of BUSU services, and represent undergraduate students on the Brock University Senate.
Carleigh grew up in London, Ontario, Canada and is in her 4th year at Brock, working towards their Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. They previously served on the BUSU Board of Directors (Vice-Chair), Clubs Policy Committee, and the University Senate Academic Review Special Committee. Carleigh was also a BUSU delegate at the previous 4 OUSA General Assemblies, a Gender and Sexual Violence Peer2Peer Support team member in the Brock HRE office, and participates in Brock Model UN.
Carleigh has been a founding member of Brock University’s Open Education Working Group and a strong advocate for building institutional supports for open educational practices.
Carleigh and her colleagues also provided strong support for the inclusion of the following goal within Brock University’s Academic Plan: “Support the creation, adaptation, and adoption of open educational resources,” including speaking in support of this goal at the university Senate and its committees.
Following the formal approval of the academic plan, Carleigh and her colleagues on the BUSU executive team advocated for and received support from their board to fund the creation of an OER Creation Grant program, with $20,000 each year. This program, which was 100% funded by BUSU in its first year and is now augmented with university funding, provides encouragement and support to Brock University educators who wish to displace the cost of commercial textbooks by adopting open educational resources as required course materials. In addition to supporting this grant program (which now serves as a model to other Ontario universities and colleges),
Carleigh and her colleagues on the BUSU executive team have helped raise awareness of OER across campus, including by filming promotional videos and participating in campus-wide events during Open Education Week.
They have supported local research on OER by promoting and distributing calls for undergraduate student participation in a survey concerning students’ perceptions and experiences with course materials (including affordability).
The advocacy efforts of the BUSU team have not been limited to the university, as they have supported and participated in OER research and advocacy in partnership with student association organizations such as the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.
Carleigh and her colleagues at the Brock University Students’ Union stand out for me as exemplars of what it means to support open educational practices across multiple dimensions, including university strategic planning, policy development, research and scholarship, tangible funding, education, and advocacy.
Award Nominator
Carleigh’s leadership and advocacy for open education as a student-powered effort is a model for how open education can be advanced within a large institution.
Award Reviewer
