Category Archives: Annual Meetings

Building Professional Support Networks across Publishing Careers

By Christian Pizarro Winting and Bethany Wasik

Christian Pizarro Winting is Associate Editor at Columbia University Press, acquiring titles in economics, anthropology, and African-American studies. He is a member of the AUPresses Professional Development Committee.

Bethany Wasik is Acquisitions Editor at Cornell University Press, acquiring titles in archaeology, classics, European history, and military history. She currently serves as co-chair of the AUPresses Professional Development Committee.

At the 2022 AUPresses Annual Meeting, the Association’s Professional Development Committee (PDC) hosted a collaboration lab that invited members of the Association to discuss challenges, strategies, and opportunities in building professional networks. The aim of this session was to generate resources for those new to the profession, staff at smaller publishers, and all colleagues looking to develop tools and skills to build professional networks and solve common problems across the industry. Below, we detail the results of the thoughtful and constructive conversations that took place.

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Travel Grant Recipients Reflect on AUPresses 2022 Annual Meeting, Part 3

Observations from Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Grant Recipients

The Association of University Presses was pleased to award a number of grants to support attendance at its Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, this summer. Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (EJI) Grants, covering meeting registration fees as well as up to $1,000 in travel expenses, were awarded to seven attendees who each identify as a member of an underrepresented group within the Association.

Grant recipients Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, Cindy Lim, Wren Morgan Myers, and Khelee Williams offered the following brief descriptions of their experiences.

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Travel Grant Recipients Reflect on AUPresses 2022 Annual Meeting, Part 2

Observations from Next Step Grant Recipients

The Association of University Presses was pleased to award a number of grants to support attendance at its Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, this summer. Generously funded by Ingram Content Group and covering full meeting registration fees, Next Step Grants were awarded to four mid-career individuals attending their first in-person Annual Meeting.

Grant recipients Laura Ansley, Daniel Bean, Traci Cothran, and Holly Mitchell offered the following brief descriptions of their experiences.

Continue reading Travel Grant Recipients Reflect on AUPresses 2022 Annual Meeting, Part 2

Travel Grant Recipients Reflect on AUPresses 2022 Annual Meeting, Part 1

Observations from Early Career Grant Recipients

The Association of University Presses was pleased to award a number of grants to support attendance at its Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, this summer. Generously funded by Ingram Content Group, and covering meeting registration fees as well as up to $1,000 in travel expenses, Early Career Grants were awarded to five first-time meeting attendees with more than six months but less than three years of experience in scholarly publishing.

Grant recipients Jessica Abraham, Laura Fish, Candice Lawrence, and Lily Stephens offered the following brief descriptions of their experiences.

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Selected Readings on Race and Publishing

from Anjali Vats

Anjali Vats presented the closing plenary, “Publishing for Racial Justice: A Meditation on Copyright Equity in Academic Publishing,” at the AUPresses 2022 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Her thesis: “Copyright law is a central modality through which inequity persists in the publishing industry specifically and academia generally due to 1) opaque contracts negotiated with large publishing firms, 2) regulated rights of distribution and circulation, with restrictive notions of copyright infringement and fair use, and 3) long periods of copyright protection that is historically and empirically structured in favor of white cishet males.” She challenged scholarly publishers to consider how these inequities operate in university press and academic journal settings as well as to find approaches to dismantle oppressive copyright practices.

Below she suggests resources on race and publishing for further reading/viewing.

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2021 Cross-Pollination Reports: Maia Desjardins

The AUPresses/Library Publishing Coalition Cross-Pollination program provides registration waivers at both organizations’ annual conferences for members of the other to attend, in order to foster cross-professional knowledge sharing. In 2021, Hannah Brooks-Motl and Maia Desjardins received registration waiver grants to attend the virtual Library Publishing Forum; Robert Browder and Sarah Wipperman received registration waiver grants to attend the virtual AUPresses 2021.

Maia Desjardins, Digital Projects Coordinator, Wilfrid Laurier University Press

I had been working in libraries for over a decade before making the move to Academic Publishing in the already tumultuous year of 2020. I was eager to learn about new standards and workflow of the publishing world whilst still pulling from my knowledge of Library Sciences. When the Cross-Pollination Program was brought to my attention, I leapt at the opportunity to explore this intersection of libraries and publishing armed with my varying experience in both fields. I am glad that I did as it proved a great way to stay in touch with contemporary library issues and provided insight for my current role.

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