Suzan Kenawy, Marketing Manager at the American University in Cairo Press, reports on visiting University of Toronto Press

Rationale for visit

I was honored to be selected for the 2025 AUPresses Week in Residence Program, and I purposefully selected the University of Toronto Press (UTP) to learn from one of North America’s leading university presses. UTP’s integrated model with their publishing, distribution, and retail divisions offered a comprehensive view into areas highly relevant to my role at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press. I’m deeply grateful to everyone at UTP for their warm welcome and generous willingness to share their knowledge. My sincere thanks go to Jennifer DiDomenico, Editorial Director, for thoughtfully organizing an outstanding program of meetings and visits throughout my stay, and to Jessica Mosher, Publisher and CEO, and Antonia Pop, VP Publishing Division, and Vesna Micic, Marketing Director, for making this invaluable experience possible.

Patrick Samuel, Operations Coordinator at Vanderbilt University Press, reports on visiting the Rutgers University Press

Rationale for visit

As Vanderbilt University Press (VUP) prepares to switch our distribution to Chicago Distribution Center (CDC), the AUPresses Week-in-Residence program offered the perfect opportunity for me to gain a better sense of CDC processes from a peer press, Rutgers University Press, who had recently undergone the same transition. I aimed to preview CDC systems and get a better sense of the workflows afforded by its platforms and royalty reporting modules, I was also curious to learn how departments at another press collaborate with each other and how they approach and conceive of their budgets—managing stakeholder input, modeling for different financial environments, and forecasting based on actual results.

Brittany Nicolaysen, Marketing Operations Lead at Harvard Education Press, reports on visiting Duke University Press

Rationale for visit

The announcement of the Week in Residence arrived in my inbox at the perfect time. In my daily work, I had accumulated a number of specific questions I wished I could discuss with others in the publishing industry to get their insights. The residency was a unique opportunity to connect directly with another press, allowing me to explore different perspectives and ideas.

For seven years, I’ve had the privilege of working at Harvard Education Press (HEP), where I’ve spent the majority of my career. Being part of a small yet dynamic team, I have many opportunities to learn new parts of the business and explore my curiosities. My focus often involves enhancing systems and innovating our processes. However, with HEP as my sole reference point for university press operations, I’ve increasingly sought external resources and support. It was clear to me that the residency would be an ideal occasion to talk through a wide range of questions, and to observe how another press addresses challenges similar to our own.