ANNUAL MEETING
The AUPresses 2025 Annual Meeting was held virtually over four days, June 9-13, with 4 blocks of sessions each day. This was the first year a one-week schedule was used; previous Virtual Annual Meetings ran over two weeks. Recordings of the sessions were available to attendees shortly after sessions ended through January 2026.
The 2025 Annual Meeting Program Committee, co-chaired by Ana Maria Jimenez-Moreno (Ohio State) and David Famiano (California), developed a robust program with 2 plenaries and 43 concurrent sessions.
Highlights of AUPresses 2025, which had 962 attendees, included an opening plenary with Dr. Eddie R. Cole, Professor of Education and History, UCLA, in conversation with Stephanie Williams, Director, Wayne State University Press and AUPresses President-Elect 2025-2026, discussing Equity, Justice, Inclusion, and Belonging; and a closing plenary panel that addressed important issues to the AUPresses community in these urgent and difficult times. The panel included Roy Kaufman, Managing Director, Business Development and Government Relations, Copyright Clearance Center, on AI and LLMs; John Donatich, Director, Yale University Press, on trade and public engagement with books; and Rebecca Seger, Vice President of Institutional Participation and Strategic Partnerships, ITHAKA, on libraries and institutional outlook; with moderator Dawn Durante, Editorial Director, University of North Carolina Press.
The AUPresses Professional Development Committee, co-chaired by Kelly Fattman (Harvard) and Alodie Larson (Oxford), paired 67 mentors and mentees through the AUPresses Mentorship Program, up from the previous year which had 64 pairings.
Five companies sponsored AUPresses 2025, and Vendor Digital Shorts were offered in place of an exhibit hall. The Vendor Digital Shorts are one-to-three minute pre-recorded presentations aired at the start of some sessions that highlighted recent vendor developments of interest to the university press community. Six spots were purchased, featuring 5 different vendors.
The popular promotion of “Buy 3 Get 1 Free” registrations was available to AUPresses members.
BUSINESS OPERATIONS MEETING
For the first time, the Association, in collaboration with the AUPresses Business Operations Committee, hosted a standalone Business Operations Meeting in Chicago, IL, at the Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown from April 23-25, with 47 attendees. The meeting brought together university press staff for focused discussions on key financial, operational, and strategic priorities. Programming opened with a review of the AUPresses annual statistics, highlighting sector-wide trends and benchmarking insights, followed by an update on the Association’s strategic plan and upcoming initiatives.
Sessions emphasized practical challenges and data-informed decision-making, including a collaborative discussion on improving the annual statistics survey, as well as presentations on print-on-demand and inventory management, and strategies for securing subventions and institutional support.
The second day of programming focused on internal operations, with sessions on strengthening internal communications and advancing accessibility, alongside a roundtable for sharing challenges and solutions related to financial sustainability, staffing, technology, and workflows.
The meeting concluded with a planning session for the 2026 Business Operations Meeting program, reinforcing its role as a forum for peer exchange, problem-solving, and continuous improvement across university press operations.
DIRECTORS SUMMIT
The Association held its second biennial in-person Directors Summit in Rosemont, IL, at the Big Ten Conference Center from October 22-24, 2025, with 49 Press Directors and Board of Directors members in attendance. The program opened with an evening dinner, followed by a day and a half of programming that brought participants together for focused discussion and strategic exchange on the evolving scholarly publishing landscape.
Programming centered on the theme “Publishing in an Unsettled Time: Three Provocations.” The first portion engaged participants in interactive debates on three key questions: the future of the monograph, the shift from sales to usage-based measures of impact, and the challenge of maintaining editorial excellence amid cost pressures, standardization, and artificial intelligence.
The second portion shifted to practical application, with workshops exploring advocacy for university presses, shared approaches to AI, and leadership in times of change. Participants developed and shared actionable strategies to take back to their presses.
The Summit concluded with a half-day scenario planning workshop on the long-term implications of artificial intelligence. Using the ARL/CNI 2035 AI Scenarios framework, attendees examined potential impacts across the publishing ecosystem and identified strategies to strengthen resilience across multiple possible futures.
The 2025 Directors Summit reinforced the value of convening press leadership for candid dialogue, collective problem-solving, and forward-looking planning in a rapidly changing environment.
WEBINARS
In 2025-2026, the following webinars were held to share information and resources. These are available to our member presses in the Webinar Library on our Resources website.
Building Global Audiences
In May 2025, the AUPresses Professional Development Committee, hosted a webinar discussing what it means to be a “global” university press and what strategies and tools can university presses can use to reach international audiences. As well as what the main challenges and opportunities associated with building global audiences are. Angelica Lopez Torres (Texas) and Suzan Kenawy (Cairo) were panelists. Steven Rodríguez (Vanderbilt), Kelly Fattman (Harvard Education), and Rebecca Carhart (Intervarsity) served as moderators. The session drew 86 registrants.
DEIA and Staff Retention—Creating a Neuro-Diverse Work Culture
Also in May 2025, the AUPresses Equity, Justice, Inclusion, and Belonging (EJIB) Committee hosted a webinar for the AUPresses community on DEIA, staff retention, and neurodiversity in the workplace. The webinar was lead by Amanda Rogers, Communications and Engagement Manager at BioOne, and member of the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee. Amanda presented on neurodiversity in the workplace, barriers to inclusivity that neurodiverse workers face, and steps that press leadership should take to avoid creating a hostile work environment and promote staff retention. Victoria-Lola Montecalvo Leon Guerrero (Guam) moderated the session. The session drew 80 registrants.
The AUPresses Annual Operating Statistics—Where Do I Begin?
In October 2025, the AUPresses Business Operation Committee offered a session that an “office hour” style session where they introduced members to the AUPresses Annual Operating Statistics Questionnaire and answered questions on how to start or complete the questionnaire. This session drew 33 registrants.
SPONSORED WEBINARS
In 2025-2026, the Association hosted a series of webinars presented by sponsors and open to the public on our Vimeo playlist.
Total Rights Clarity: From Contract to Payment
In October 2025, MetaComet’s David Marlin hosted a webinar on optimizing rights and licensing revenue for university presses. The session highlighted how MetaComet Rights provides a comprehensive view of rights portfolios, enabling presses to efficiently track, manage, and monetize licensing across formats and territories. It also emphasized tools for monitoring payments and ensuring compliance, with a focus on increasing revenue without adding administrative burden. This session drew 27 registrants.
“LET’S TALK ABOUT…” HANGOUTS
An informal and interactive way to learn more about the topics that interest our community most, the AUPresses “Let’s Talk About…” Hangout series offers lively discussions with moderated panels and plenty of opportunity for attendee Q&A. Association committees organize these sessions. They are available through our member Resources site.
This year’s “Let’s Talk About…” series featured conversations about Microaggressions, Accessible Ebook Publishing, and several sessions covering a range of AI related topics.
ART OF ACQUISITIONS HANGOUTS
Developed by the AUPresses Acquisitions Editorial Committee the Art of Acquisitions Hangouts feature lively sessions with moderated panels, active attendee Q&A. These sessions address a variety of topics of special interest to the acquisitions community. Recent sessions addressed Peer Review and Indigenous Collaborators, Contracts and Negations, and Series.
DIRECTORS HANGOUTS
Building on conversations launched in late 2024, AUPresses continued to host Directors Hangouts in 2025, with three sessions held in July, October, and November. These informal gatherings provided a confidential space for Press Directors to engage in candid, peer-to-peer discussion focused on a developing class action lawsuit and the complex decisions university presses may face in response. All sessions followed Chatham House Rule and were not recorded.
RESIDENCY PROGRAM
The AUPresses Residency Program provides opportunities for individuals at Association member presses to advance their professional knowledge, strengthen operations at their home presses, and foster professional collegiality throughout the community. Offering staff at member presses intensive, hands-on residencies of up to one week at other member presses, the program is one of the Association’s most effective professional development initiatives, benefitting both host and home presses alike.
The AUPresses Professional Development Committee which administers the program, selected the following individuals for the 2025-2026 Week-in-Residence Program:
Nihal Nour, Project Editor, American University in Cairo Press, hosted by Edinburgh University Press
Vanessa Ochavillo, Managing Editor, University of Guam Press, hosted by University of Washington Press
Jennifer Sacher, Editor, Hesperia, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, hosted by American Historical Association
Bethany Wasik, Assistant Editorial Director, Cornell University Press, hosted by University of North Carolina Press
DIRECTORS RESIDENCY PROGRAM
Modeled after the Association’s Week-in-Residence Program, this program provides travel funding to directors at smaller member presses to spend a few days visiting with and learning from another member press.
The following individuals were selected to participate in the 2025-2026 AUPresses Directors Residency Program:
Nwachukwu Egbunike, Head, Pan-Atlantic University Press, hosted by McGill-Queen’s University Press
Catherine Cocks, Director, Syracuse University Press, hosted by Michigan Publishing
Alison Carr, Managing Editor (de facto Director), Memorial University Press, hosted by McGill-Queen’s University Press
Corinne Guimont, Director, Virginia Tech Publishing & Press, hosted by University of South Carolina Press
