The UCD GTI Tea Textbook Initiative: Open Educational Resources & Student Engagement
Joseph T. Sorensen & Erik Fausak
Thursday, September 10th, 2026
10-10:45 am
Description
After water, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world. Compared to wine, beer, and coffee, which are developed fields of study at UC Davis, reliable literature on tea remains wanting while misinformation is profuse. The UC Davis Global Tea Institute (GTI), building on the University’s strength in Food and Beverage Science and the GTI’s holistic approach to the study of tea, has begun to develop a textbook for Tea Studies for use as part of a college-level curriculum. This presentation describes our initial attempts to leverage our talented pool of students to create a student-centered Open Educational Resource (OER) on the LibreTexts platform, with potential expansion into Press Books, to generate a textbook organized around student interests with unique, interactive learning exercises. The presentation will include how we introduce the concept of OER to students, how we provide a foundation of tea knowledge and a range of topics for them to address, and some examples of student outcomes.
About the Presenters
Joseph T. Sorensen (Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 2005) is Associate Professor of Japanese and Department Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Optical Allusions: Screens, Paintings, and Poetry in Classical Japan (Brill, 2012). His current research project on classical and medieval narrative fiction, The Untitled Book: Mumyōzōshi (ca. 1200) and the Beginnings of Literary Criticism in Japan, is nearing completion. In addition to his continuing study of waka poetry and literary criticism, he serves as Director of the Japan Children’s Home Internship Program (JCHIP), which sends undergraduates to volunteer over summer at orphanage homes throughout Japan. For over a decade, he led a Spring Quarter study-abroad program in Kyoto, which he is in the process of redesigning to focus on Japanese tea and tea culture. In parts of 2024 and 2025, he served as Acting Director of the UC Davis Global Tea Institute, organizing and tabling outreach events, developing curricula, and fostering research collaborations on all aspects of the study of tea. He continues to oversee educational initiatives and curricular development for the GTI, including an annual seminar in Global Tea Studies.
Erik Fausak is a Research Librarian in Health Sciences at UC Davis. His primary area of involvement is veterinary medicine where he has a great deal of clinical experience as a veterinary technician. He has a passion for incorporation of evidence-based practice into veterinary medicine. Erik also supports the undergraduate community in health sciences and is actively involved in the Working Anthrozoology Group and the Global Tea Institute. He teaches sessions introducing students to research methods, offers library instruction in-person and online, and is also part of the Systematic Review Service.
