University Press Week is Nov. 11-15, 2024
For the Public Good: Reimagining Arts Graduate Programs in Canadian Universities has been included in the Association of University Press’s 2024 list of the best publications that #StepUP.
For the Public Good by Loleen Berdahl, Jonathan Malloy, and Lisa Young, gives a vision for reforming arts graduate education to deliver many of Canada’s public good needs. The authors are among Canada’s foremost experts on postgraduate career planning and professional development. They have a related Substack, Reimagining Graduate Education, that we encourage you to read.
For The Public Good “is the kind of quietly good book we need to see more of…. This book provides a very solid description of the process of defining and developing excellent, sustainable arts programs that serve students rather than academics. And not only is it dead-on in terms of its recommendations about how to design and evaluate programs, it has a lot of helpful matrices and worksheets to help those who are put in positions requiring them to do exactly that….
More like this, please.”
—Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates
For the Public Good is one of 123 books, journals, and projects or initiatives chosen by the Association of University Presses’ members because it embodies the “Step UP” theme of this year’s University Press Week.
Each publication was submitted by a different member of the Association, an organization of 160 mission-driven publishers around the world, many of which are associated with a university, who seek to publish works of scholarly or artistic importance.
The #StepUP reading list ranges widely in subject matter, from politics and current events, business, environment, and education, to Black studies, history, gender studies, Indigenous studies, poetry and fiction, and more. See the complete list here.
“Every day, university presses worldwide step up to educate and enlighten, motivate and inspire, support and act,” says AUPresses executive director Peter Berkery. “University Press Week 2024 offers the opportunity to explore the myriad ways that university publications and projects give context to current issues and events, offer solutions to global challenges, and present diverse voices in a broad range of disciplines.”
This year’s featured works come from 96 publishers across the United States, nine in Canada, seven in the United Kingdom, as well as university presses in Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies.
In addition to highlighting these specific publications, University Press Week, now in its 13th year, will also celebrate the many ways in which university presses are stepping up by presenting these works in an online gallery, featuring a selection of blog entries, and presenting author events at bookstores around the country. Full information here: https://upweek.up.hcommons.org/celebrate/university-press-week-2024/
“A majority of university presses have a primary focus in the humanities, the disciplines that drive critical thinking, justice, democracy, and our understanding of what really matters,” says AUPresses president Anthony Cond, director of Liverpool University Press. “We hope readers will take this opportunity to read some of the innovative and thought-provoking books on this list, which can open their eyes to new ideas and perspectives on history, culture, and the wider world.”
