The Association of American University Presses is proud to announce that Susan Schott, Assistant Director and Marketing Manager, University Press of Kansas, is the recipient of the 2005 AAUP Constituency Award. The award was established in 1991 to honor staff at member presses who have demonstrated active leadership and service to the Association and the university press community.
Schott’s nomination was supported by a wide cross section of her colleagues in the AAUP community, all of whom not only mentioned her extensive formal service to the association but also stressed Schott’s generosity in sharing her experience, knowledge, and ideas with colleagues across the scholarly publishing community.
While her support of colleagues through such informal service is difficult to quantify, her official AAUP volunteerism since 1985—when she helped to organize a Western Presses regional meeting and chaired a marketing workshop there—is a matter of record. Schott has served three terms on the AAUP Marketing committee; three terms on the Nominating committee; twice on an Exhibits Task Force; once each on the Professional Development and Annual Meeting committees. She has hosted a Week-in-Residence grantee; conducted an external marketing department review for a fellow AAUP member; co-led a Southern Presses customer service workshop; and served twice as treasurer of Women in Scholarly Publishing. Schott also served on the AAUP Board of Directors from 1998-2001, sitting on a strategic planning task force and, notably, helping to craft “The Value of University Presses”—a document still in wide use today.
The award was announced in Philadelphia at the recent 2005 AAUP Annual Meeting. In introducing the honoree, Alex Holzman, director of Temple University Press and AAUP board member, shared Schott’s predictably generous reaction when she learned of her nomination: “‘Give it to somebody who deserves it,’ she declared in no uncertain terms.” Holzman replied in Philadelphia, “Well, Susan, we did.”
Susan Schott has been with the University Press of Kansas for more than 30 years, and has contributed much to the prestigious national profile of the Press. She began her career there as a copywriter in 1970, became the Press’s promotion manager in 1975 and marketing manager in 1982. Schott was promoted to Assistant Director in 1993. Schott is a graduate of Ohio’s Denison University and pursued graduate study at the University of Kansas.
Read more about the history of the Constituency Award and see its complete Honor Roll.