The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has enabled university presses to join forces to expand the University Press Diversity Fellowship Program with a $1,205,000 grant.
Grant To Expand U Presses’ Diversity
Program Offers Apprenticeships In Acquisitions Departments
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has enabled The University of Washington Press, the MIT Press, Cornell University Press, the Ohio State University Press, University of Chicago Press, Northwestern University Press, and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) to join forces to expand the University Press Diversity Fellowship Program with a $1,205,000 grant. This four-year grant will continue the development and expansion of the program that was designed to diversify academic publishing by offering apprenticeships in acquisitions departments. The new grant provides three annual cycles of editorial fellows at the six university presses. It builds on the successful first of its kind grant from Mellon to address the lack of diversity in the academic publishing industry. Together the grants provide 30 fellows in six years that wouldn’t be possible without this type of program.
The 2016 grant also served as a catalyst for broader changes at the partner presses and within the AUPresses as a larger organization. “Diversity is one of AUPresses’ core values. As such, we are proud to partner in the expansion of this significant program,” says AUPresses Executive Director Peter Berkery. “Our participation in the original initiative over the last three years has led, not only to more inclusive programming choices at our annual conferences and webinars, but also to the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, which will evolve into a Standing Committee to help us sustain momentum in this area of vital importance to our community, higher education, and the entire publishing industry.”
This new grant offers opportunities for more sustained engagement with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion among the new partner presses and the university press community more broadly. “Continuing the fellowship program will enable us to focus on longer-term issues of retention and leadership development among the program’s participants,” says Larin McLaughlin, Editor in Chief of the University of Washington Press and principal investigator on the grant. “With this new grant, we want to provide the opportunity for new presses to participate in the program while benefitting from the experience of the original partner presses.”
Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director of the MIT Press, comments, “The fellows have inspired a strong sense of responsibility among partner presses, which have demonstrated this in several ways: by developing more inclusive press environments, by opening processes to welcome the fellows’ perspectives and input into the daily work of acquisitions, and by providing fellows with focused career advice for job placement and professional development.”
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Washington Mark Richards says, “At the University of Washington, we value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives and prioritize promoting access, opportunity, and justice for all. I’m excited about the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s investment in diversity and inclusion in transforming academic publishing, and delighted that UW Press is a leader in this area.”
Betsy Wilson, Vice Provost for Digital Initiatives and Dean of University Libraries, to whom the UW Press reports, says, “UW Libraries actively supports the university in sustaining diversity, creating inclusive experiences for the UW community, and confronting institutional bias and structural racism. This new grant augments our existing commitments and programs to equity and social justice as a world-class research university.”
Read more at https://uwpressblog.com/2019/01/23/1205000-mellon-grant-to-expand-the-university-press-diversity-fellowship-program/?platform=hootsuite
Somebody’s Children, School Library January 2019 https://www.hispanicoutlook.com/articles/somebodys-children-school-library-january-2019
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