MEMBER UPDATES
Each month, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) recognizes the achievements, promotions, career moves, and retirements of members of the community through the Member UPdates section of the bulletin.
RETIRING PRESS DIRECTORS
Patrick Alexander retired from his position as Director of Penn State University Press in January 2024. Alexander joined the Press in 2007 as Associate Director and Editor-in-Chief, and also served as the Co-Director of the Penn State University Libraries’ Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing. He was promoted to Press Director in 2009. Alexander also served on the AUPresses Board of Directors from 2015 to 2018. Read the announcement.
Director of the University of Oklahoma Press Dale Bennie retired in June 2023. Bennie had served as Director since 2020, after serving as Associate Director since 2004.
Scot Danforth, Director of University of Tennessee Press, retired in March 2024. Danforth spent nearly sixteen years as the Press’s Director and thirty years at the Press overall. Prior to joining the team at Tennessee, Danforth spent five years at the University of Arkansas Press. Read the announcement.
NEW PRESS DIRECTORS
In 2023-2024, AUPresses saw the appointment of several new Press Directors:
In October 2023, Michigan State University Press welcomed Elizabeth Demers as its new Director. Demers has been in the university press world for many years, most recently serving as Editorial Director at the University of Michigan Press and previously serving at Johns Hopkins University Press. Read the announcement.
Anne Engedal was appointed the Director of Aarhus University Press in December 2023. Engedal was the founding Director of Videnslyd, the Press’s subsidiary sound production company, and she previously served as Editor of Philosophy and Religion at The Danish University Extension Aarhus. Read more.
Katie Hannah was appointed Director of University of Tennessee Press in April 2024. Hannah, who was the Press’s Marketing Manager in the early 2000s, returned to the Press from a position at W. W. Norton. Read the announcement.
Melbourne University Publishing announced the appointment of Foong Ling Kong as its new Publisher in December 2023. Kong has two decades of experience as a publisher both of academic and trade books, including periods at Penguin, Hardie Grant and Allen & Unwin. The appointment also represents her return to the Press, where she was Executive Publisher from 2006-2010.
Alison Mero was named Director at Clemson University Press. Mero had been named interim Director in February 2023, and after five months in that position, she was named Director following a national search to fill the role. Mero previously served as Executive Managing Editor for the Press since 2017. Read more. Read the announcement.
Sinéad Neville has been appointed Head of Publishing for Cork University Press. Prior to joining the Press in February 2024, Neville was the Communications and Marketing Manager at The Everyman Theatre. Read the announcement.
Timothy Paulson was appointed Director of the University Press of Kansas in August 2023. Paulson came to the Press from Brentwood Studios, a media production company based in Nashville, TN, where he served as General Manager. Paulson succeeded Interim Directors Mike Haddock, who served from July 2022 to May 2023, and Kelly Chrisman Jacques, who held the position through July 2023. Read the announcement.
Lisa Quinn was appointed Executive Director of McGill-Queen’s University Press. Quinn had served as the Director at Wilfrid Laurier University Press, since 2016. Prior to directorship, she was Associate Director and Acquisitions Editor at WLUP, where she began her career in publishing in 2006. In July 2023, Quinn replaced Philip Cercone, who retired from the MQUP after nearly forty years. Read the announcement.
The University of California Press appointed Erich van Rijn as the Director in July 2023. For the past year, van Rijn has served as Interim Executive Director and CFO at the Press. Prior to joining the Press in 1997, Erich held positions at Oxford University Press and HarperCollins Publishers. Read the announcement.
IN MEMORIAM
The AUPresses community has lost a number of valued members this year.
Suzette Griffith passed away in December 2023. Griffith was a member of the University of Alabama Press team from 1991 until her retirement in 2009. She began her career at the Press as Assistant Editor in 1991 and ended her tenure as Managing Editor. Read her obituary.
Kate Mertes, an indexer who worked for a number of our member presses in a freelance capacity, passed away in December 2023. Mertes worked for decades with presses in our community including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, Stanford, and Cornell. She also worked in-house for Oxford University Press in the UK. Read this remembrance of Mertes and watch an interview with Mertes on C-SPAN.
Beth Motherwell, former University of Alabama Press Senior Acquisitions Editor and Marketing Manager, passed away in March 2024. Motherwell got her start in scholarly publishing at the University of Arkansas Press, and came to the University of Alabama Press as Marketing Manager in 2000. She served in that position until 2008 when she became an acquisitions editor. Read this tribute.