Jenna Miley, who is associate professor of computer science at Bainbridge College (BC), decided to do something about the high costs of textbooks to help students with the Computer Fundamentals course required of all degree students.

She wrote her own “ebook.” Then she used proceeds from its sales to establish a BC scholarship. For her work to benefit BC students, she received the Customer Service Award during the spring semester.

Miley spent 400 hours writing the text, more than 20 hours working out the details for its delivery, additional time diligently shopping for the best price on CDs for delivery of the electronic book, and several hours copying it to CDs for distribution and sale at BC’s Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Her due diligence brought the price to $31.25 for the bookstore, compared to the previous printed text that cost more than $100.

With the escalating cost of textbooks, the economical ebook helps students save money and gives some the ability to buy the book instead of trying to pass the course without it.

“But Dr. Miley didn’t stop there to help reduce the cost of education for BC students,” said BC Customer Service Champion Tonya Strickland. “Dr. Miley chose to give every penny of sales from her ebook to a scholarship at BC.”

The first Jenna Miley Scholarship was presented at Honors Night 2010 to Meghan Vickers of Bainbridge.

“With funds already at $7,000, the scholarship from the interest will benefit BC students for years to come, clearly demonstrating how much BC faculty care about their students’ success,” Strickland said.

Miley’s ebook premiered on CD for the fall semester 2009.

For the spring semester, she edited the text (an additional 24 hours) to make it match better an additional computer course for certificate students so that they, too, could benefit. She put the text on USB drive instead of CD so that BC students had the book and a storage device for only $31.25. It is also available online.