Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente has charged a new committee comprising authors, faculty and university leaders to make strategic recommendations for Vanderbilt University Press.
“This is a critical moment for university presses. Dramatic changes in publishing, technology and the academy present both challenges and opportunities,” Wente said. “I’ve charged this committee with identifying opportunities for the press that align with the university’s academic and strategic priorities and the university’s position as a national and global leader in education and research. I’m grateful for the committee members’ leadership and service and look forward to their recommendations.”
This summer John Geer, vice provost for academic and strategic affairs, asked the press to develop a strategic roadmap. “They have done so,” noted Geer, “and their ideas and plans will be an important part of this committee’s conversations as they undertake this review.”
The committee will begin meeting this semester and will make its recommendations by the end of the 2017-18 academic year in May. The recommendations will provide the basis for the new strategic direction of the press.
Members of the Vanderbilt University Press Review Committee are:
- Dan Sharfstein, chair, Tarkington Professor of Teaching Excellence
- Steve Ertel, vice chancellor for communications
- Valerie Hotchkiss, university librarian
- Christopher Loss, associate professor of public policy and higher education
- Andrew Maraniss, author of Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South and entrepreneur in residence at the Wond’ry
- Dana Nelson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English
- Edward Wright Rios, professor of history
- Douglas Shadle, assistant professor of musicology
Vanderbilt University Press was established in 1940. It currently focuses on scholarly publishing, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. It also publishes general interest and regional books. The press publishes, markets and sells approximately 25 new titles each year.