I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a quote that John Sherer highlighted during his University Press Redux presentation earlier this spring:
“Never in the history of publishing has the technology moved so swiftly or held greater potential benefits for the art of communication.”
In case you missed it, that appeared in Scholarly Publishing: A Journal for Authors & Publishers. In October 1969!
Photo by Sarah Maughan
In my own presentation at Redux, I mentioned Peter Berkerey’s 2015 presentation, “The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing at 40,” in which he argued (in part) that change, often described as “crisis” in the higher education literature as far back as the early 1970s, is a feature, not a bug, of our endeavors. And I revealed that between the Association’s Annual Meeting taking place in Madison, Wisconsin in 1970 and the presidency of then-University of Wisconsin Press Director Thompson Webb Jr. in 1974, the University of Wisconsin, like many other university presses at the time, was a victim of a severe economic recession, leading to a 25% reduction in funding, a 50% drop in the total number of books published, and the loss of nearly half the staff. And yet, we’re still here—publishing insightful, solid, fascinating books and journals that contribute significantly to the formation and preservation of knowledge. Just like all of you.
There can be no doubt that the challenges we face are real—and at times feel existential. We struggle with the implications of AI; we’re still seeking a financially sustainable model for OA; we grapple with changing workflows regarding accessibility. Yet if we take in a broad enough perspective we’ll realize that we actually live in precedented times. The details are different, but our drive, our perseverance, and our enthusiasm for the work we do provide a solid foundation.
That has been apparent to me at nearly every turn, over the past year of my presidency. We’re about to gather in Seattle, in a venue originally chosen to host the 2020 Annual Meeting, to belatedly celebrate the centennial of the University of Washington Press, on the eve of the Association’s 90th anniversary. Jason Fikes (Abilene Christian) and Antonia Pop (Toronto) have co-chaired an amazing Program Committee that has put together a stellar series of panels, presentation, and plenaries. I am very much looking forward to learning from them and all of you over what promises to be an exciting weekend.
In many ways, the committees are the life blood of the Association, as one can tell by reading the many other sections of this annual report. We have been fortunate not only in the work of the many chairs and co-chairs, but all the many volunteers for committee work as well. In fact, following last summer’s Virtual Annual Meeting we received a near-record number of volunteers—more than sixty, which was more than the available open slots on all committees combined. (Would that it were so easy to find qualified peer reviewers!)
I am so impressed by the work undertaken by everyone this year, and very grateful to the committee chairs and co-chairs. Stephanye Hunter (Florida) and Alison Syring Bassford (Illinois) led the Acquisitions Editorial Committee in completing the revisions to last year’s Editorial Board survey, and scheduled numerous hangouts throughout the year. The Faculty Outreach Committee was co-chaired by Rebecca Colesworthy (SUNY) and Alec Loganbill (Kansas); in addition to maintaining the Ask UP blog, they also organized panels for the Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series coordinated and hosted by the Rutgers Center for Minority-Serving Institutions.
Shalini Nanayakkara (British Columbia) chaired the Equity, Justice, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee as that group not only coordinated with the activities of all other committees and task forces, but hosted a town hall and a well-received hangout on microaggressions in the workplace. The Professional Development Committee was led by Erik Beranek (Princeton) and Kelly Fattman (Harvard Education), and maintained four subcommittees that focused on everything from virtual networks to career development, managing the mentorship and residency programs for the entire Association.
Paul Aschenfelter (Notre Dame) led the Investment Committee during a period in which they oversaw record grown of the Association’s quasi-endowment. Alice Ennis (Illinois) led the Business Operations Committee in its second year; much of their work this year was devoted to planning a pre-meeting workshop in Seattle (the program looks amazing). Elizabeth Adams (Georgia) and Taylor Sumereau (Princeton) co-chaired the Intellectual Property & Copyright Committee; among other tasks they undertook a refresh of the Permissions FAQ on the Association’s website.
The Library Relations Committee was chaired by Jessica Thomson (Harvard Education); their efforts led to presentations at the Charleston Conference, and will ensure an Association presence at the upcoming Library Publishing Forum, taking place in Seattle just a few days after our conference ends. Phillip Hearn (Johns Hopkins) and Stacy Lavin (UNC) co-chaired the Open Access Committee, whose make up may be among the most international of all AUPresses’ committees, has made great progress this year in the creation of a new HTML-based resource library.
The Journals Committee has been led by Sally Hoffmann (Cambridge) and Tara Saunders (Purdue); they have been active in proposing panels for the annual meeting, organizing a pre-meeting Journals Assembly, producing an updated survey, and finalizing an Editor Onboarding Toolkit. The Marketing Committee, chaired by Jamie Jones (Michigan), continues to update and expand the Association’s Marketing Handbook, with new sections on the use of AI in marketing and planning resources for significant anniversary years. They have also coordinated with the Editorial, Design, and Production Committee led by Jenn Bennett (SUNY), on a metadata survey focused on PIDs—a project that continues to grow in size and complexity as everyone involved very carefully works on next steps in our constantly-evolving environment.
Every year the Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Committee, co-chaired this year by Alison Cobra (Calgary) and Corey Parson (North Georgia), is faced with a gargantuan task, and every year the results are stunning. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the selected titles on display in Seattle.
Even with all this creativity and energy, we also rely on special task forces for tasks that are short-term or, as with the University Press Week Task Force require efforts that fall outside the normal constraints of the program year. In 2025 the theme was Team UP, and Gigi Lamm (Indiana) led efforts that generated an amazing number of articles, blogs, interviews, and much more. For 2026, our fifteenth year celebrating our efforts, Kevin Worrall (Edinburgh) will chair and the week’s theme will be PowerUP.
The Global Partnership Task Force co-chaired by Michael Duckworth (Hong Kong) and Andrew Joseph (WITS), is wrapping up its work after doing a tremendous job of helping to map the university press landscape in the Global South, and identifying and facilitating relationships between the Association and presses located in these areas. They also managed to recruit a significant number of new members, adding (in a happy way) to the workload of the Admissions and Standards Committee, chaired by Lara Speicher (UCL).
This year saw the creation of not one, but two new tasks forces, and I have been in awe of the work they have done. Allison Belan (Duke) has led the Dues Structure Task Force. Charged with conducting a comprehensive review of the Association’s current dues structure, they have picked up from where the 2016 Structure Task Force and 2017 Association Brand Strategy report left off and drawn on lessons learned by the Global Partnership Task Force. Barbara Kline Pope (Johns Hopkins) has chaired the Generative Artificial Intelligence Task Force, seeking to benchmark AI use in the university press community; consider ethical, cultural, legal, environmental, and values-based issues; advise on strategy; and more.
But none of these committees or task forces could function without the amazing support provided by the Central Office staff. One of the delightful benefits of serving as president is getting to observe up close the dedication, professionalism, intelligence, creativity, and humor of Alexis Fagan, Kate Kolendo, Brenna McLaughlin, Kim Miller, McKenzi Thi Murphy, Annette Windhorn, and, arriving just this past January, Dylan Fritz. And of course, the indefatigable and unsinkable Peter Berkery.
It has also been an absolute joy to work with my colleagues on the board. It is with some melancholy that I note the conclusion of their terms for Tara Cyphers (Ohio State, chair of this year’s Audit Committee), John Sherer (UNC), and Past-President Anthony Cond (Liverpool), at whose side I learned so much last year. I look forward to continuing to work with Walter Biggins (Pennsylvania), Doug Hildebrand (British Columbia), Alisa Plant (LSU), Erich van Rijn (California), and this year’s Treasurer, Hilary Claggett (Georgetown). I am excited to again serve alongside Catherine Cocks (Syracuse), Angelica Lopez-Torres (Texas), incoming Treasurer Brent Oberlin (MIT), and our next President Stephanie Williams (Wayne State).
Finally, a thank you to Jane Bunker who chaired this year’s Nominating Committee I speak for everyone mentioned in the previous two paragraphs when I say we’re looking forward to this year’s slate of nominees joining us on the board: Davida Breier (Johns Hopkins), Treasurer-Elect Katie Hannah (Tennessee), and President-Elect Mary Francis (Pennsylvania).
In my first president’s report to the board last summer, I shared a quote from Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation: “People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.” Thanks to everyone whose name I’ve listed in this report, everyone on the University of Wisconsin Press staff, and so many more friends and colleagues throughout the community, it’s been a fantastic year. Thank you.
