Open Access in Action: ETD Award Winning Dissertation is Agent of Change

There is a very interesting news story in the Huffington Post regarding yesterday's peaceful protest against mountain top removal (MTR) mining practices in West Virginia.  The headline reads “Goldman Prize Winner Attacked by Massey Supporter, 94-Year-Old Hechler, Hannah, Hansen Arrested at Coal River”. 

Because of ETD award winner Shirley Stewart Burns' open access dissertation, which exposes the devastation of MTR, her ETD has received over 100,000 downloads since graduation, she has published a subsequent book on MTR with the West Virginia University Press and she is consulting editor for a forthcoming film documentary.  Burns has created and contributed to public awareness about the environmental destruction and health hazards produced by MTR practices in the Mountain State, Appalachia and throughout the world and the contentious issue is finally receiving national attention.  This is open access in action.  We applaud the efforts of Shirley and her belief in the open access vision. 

View videos of Shirley’s ETD award acceptance speech and hear her sing her song “Leave those mountains down” at the ETD2009 Conference awards ceremony held June 11th during the conference dinner banquet at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.