Developments in the University Press Community
By Niccole Leilanionapae‘aina Coggins, Gisela Concepción Fosado, Christie Henry, and Gita Manaktala
Published in USKG Insights in May 2020.
This article provides an overview of the ways in which the members of the Association of University Presses are working towards more inclusive practices in scholarly publishing. The authors consider the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship Program (now in its fourth year), the work of the Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, the Gender, Equity and Cultures of Respect Task Force and the new Equity, Justice and Inclusion Committee. They also look at press-based working groups and several ‘Toolkits for Equity’ that are currently in development. The volunteers engaged in these and other efforts are working to document how bias has shaped universities and university presses, to propose actions to disrupt this powerful force and to share what they have learned with their colleagues as well as with the larger scholarly publishing and academic communities.
Read more in UKSG Insights
Niccole Leilanionapae‘aina Coggins is editorial, design and production coordinator and assistant project editor at the University of Virginia Press and was the 2016 Mellon University Press Diversity Fellow at the University of Washington Press. She is currently a member of the Toolkits for Equity team.
Gisela Concepción Fosado is the editorial director of Duke University Press and was a member of the AUPresses Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and the AUPresses Gender, Equity and Cultures of Respect Task Force. She is currently a member of the Toolkits for Equity team.
Christie Henry is the director of Princeton University Press and chair of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) Gender, Equity and Cultures of Respect Task Force.
Gita Manaktala is the editorial director of the MIT Press and a member of the AUPresses Board of Directors. She co-chaired the AUPresses Diversity and Inclusion Task Force with Larin McLaughlin (University of Washington Press) and currently co-chairs the AUPresses Equity, Justice and Inclusion Committee with Brian Halley (University of Massachusetts Press).