Why You Should Work at a University Press

A Dispatch from the 2024 AUPresses meeting in Montréal

Jun 20, 2024

Brian O’Leary, Executive Director of the Book Industry Study Group, discusses environmental sustainability in the book industry.

Last week, hundreds of university press employees gathered in Montréal for the annual meeting of the Association of University Presses. Topics discussed included artificial intelligence, accessibility, marketing in a post-Twitter world, open access, eco-friendly printing practices, promoting diversity, the future of scholarly publishing in Ukraine, and much more.

Like most industries, the university press world is undergoing significant changes. The theme of open access— finding ways to broaden entry points into scholarly work— is a top priority. In academia, it is easy for scholars and disciplines to become siloed from the rest of the world. University presses are the de facto gatekeepers when it comes to supporting knowledge dissemination from academia. When they can open the gates, more people can participate. It is encouraging to see the concerns and new ideas so many conference attendees raised to promote public scholarship.

The future of university presses depends on a consistent flow of bright and thoughtful people into the industry. Many college students and graduates aren’t even aware of the significant role university presses play in the broader academic ecosystem. If you’re looking for a career in an industry that prioritizes creating and spreading knowledge, consider applying to work at one of the many university presses located across North America and elsewhere. The Association of University Presses maintains a regularly updated job board here.

Work at a University Press!

Below, we’ve assembled some quotes from a range of university press employees, including directors, editors, marketers, and production specialists. We asked them the question: What do you love most about working at a university press?

“I love working at a university press because— as an intellectual and mission-driven environment— it’s full of smart people who value collaboration and creativity as the way that they want to make a difference.”
–Diem Bloom, Director of Book Publishing Operations at Johns Hopkins University Press
“I’m a romantic about working in the book world. I suppose I believe it’s a sort of calling for many. Having said that, there is something a little extra special about connecting readers throughout the world with scholarly work.”
—Gianna LaMorte, Assistant Director and Marketing and Sales Manager at the University of Texas Press
“I absolutely love the unique intersection of academic rigor and business acumen that lies at the heart of academic publishing. Work at a university press is missional, cerebral, and absolutely essential to an economy of expertise trading on the currency of scholarly output. What a place to be!”
–David Aycock, Incoming Executive Director at Penn State University Press
“The reason I work at a university press is because I am passionate about the publication of anti-racist scholarship. Also, I believe that university presses are places where publishing goals are aligned with the public role that the university plays as a locus of knowledge creation. For me, that means the elevation of literature and knowledge that advances public thought and that furthers the goal of living in an open society, or at least of anti-oppression as a project more generally.”
–Carah Naseem, Associate Editor at Rutgers University Press
“One of my favorite things about working at a university press, in a UP marketing department specifically, is the variety of subjects and the depth of research that I engage with on a daily basis. It's exciting when readers discover cutting-edge new work in their fields of study or new stories and histories important to their local communities. It's rewarding to work with authors to help their books find their audiences.”
—Rachel Doll, Marketing Manager at the University Press of Florida
“I’ve found many people in the UP world to be incredibly interesting, super smart, mission-driven, and generous with their time and talents.”
—Tanja Eise, Director of Marketing and Sales at SUNY Press
“What I love about working at a university press is the fact that I get to work with such intelligent and thoughtful individuals. They care about books they publish and are a delight to work with.”
–James Chan, Sales Specialist at the University of Nebraska Press

Wikipedia in the University Classroom?

New Books Network host David-James Gonzales recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the Wiki Education Foundation’s Wikipedia Student Program—an initiative that helps college professors teach students how to effectively write and contribute to Wikipedia articles. Started in 2010 by the Wikimedia Foundation, the program has already seen widespread success, with over 125,000 student participants and 110 million words written.

The program does much more than just teach students how to contribute to Wikipedia. It provides them with an educational experience fundamentally different from what is normally found in college classes. Instead of writing for a specialized audience or a single professor, students are faced with the task of writing for the general public. The assignment is an excellent primer in jargon-free, accessible communication; one participant describes it as writing for a smart middle-school audience.

This kind of writing comes with its challenges, of course. Students must be rigorous with their citations rather than cherry-picking sources for an argument. And, perhaps hardest of all, they must find something that hasn’t been covered on Wikipedia. While Wikipedia is undeniably an informational behemoth, the program demonstrates that it remains filled with holes and missing information. This helps teach students about how history is both recorded and forgotten and the roles they can play filling the gaps.

Above all, looking for topics to write about encourages students to pursue their own niche interests. Participants gave examples of students researching scholarly debates, writing histories of local monuments, or researching indigenous medicinal practices. The program has also revealed what some called the “underbelly” of Wikipedia as a virtual battleground in the information wars. One student writing about antisemitism in Poland had a university press source dismissed by some Wikipedia editors as propaganda. Her professor investigated the rejection, revealing that certain anonymous editors were systematically inserting misinformation in Holocaust history articles. The subsequently published article has since gone viral.

What we love most about the Wikipedia Student Program is its effort to make online information more accessible, fact-based, and engaging. Student participation in knowledge creation empowers them to engage on the internet in an active and intellectual way. Make sure to watch to learn about how Professor Gonzales and others are contributing to public scholarship.

One Great Interview

Host Priyam Sinha speaks with Budhaditya Chattopadhyay about the history of sound in Indian film. Budhaditya’s encyclopedic work, Sound in Indian Film and Audiovisual Media: History, Practices and Production is a groundbreaking contribution to film and media studies. A must-listen for film buffs.

The Ideas Letter Substack

Check out The Ideas Letter, featuring thought-provoking articles on today’s most-pressing issues. The last installment’s theme is on those funny people we call intellectuals.