Clemson University Press celebrates 25 years of publishing

Clemson Libraries

The turn of the millennium. George W. Bush was the newly elected president. Gas cost around $1.56 per gallon, and a gallon of milk cost $2.75. “American Beauty” won Best Picture at the 72^nd Academy Awards, and Beyonce was still singing with Destiny’s Child. In the halls of Strode Tower on the Clemson University campus, a group of English faculty started a small publishing operation that would become Clemson University Press.

The Press will celebrate its 25^th anniversary with a reception on Thursday, October 2, at 5 p.m. in the Cooper Library Byrnes Room (401). Click here to register to attend.

“This is an exciting moment for Clemson University Press. So much has changed since I first started here in 2017,” said Clemson University Press Director Alison Mero. “We’ve more than doubled in size and productivity, and I don’t see our growth stopping anytime soon. At a time when lots of presses are struggling, we’re thriving. Our staff and student workers are amazing and are the #1 reason we can do as much as we can. I’m honored I get to work with such outstanding publishing professionals.”

The Press has grown steadily since its founding, going from publishing to two to three books per year to 25 to 30 books and journals per year. The Press publishes prize-winning scholarship on modernist literature, 18^th-century literature, and music history, and its backlist of more than 100 titles includes poetry, history and children’s literature.

“It is actually a colossal feat achieved by the faculty, staff and students of Clemson University in the past quarter-century — the creation of a well-defined university press that has exceeded the expectations of its founders as an internationally respected academic publishing house,” said Professor Emeritus Wayne Chapman, founding director of Clemson University Press.

“Through its regionally rooted yet globally relevant publications and the career training that it provides students, Clemson University Press helps fulfill the institution’s academic and public missions in ways that transcend campus,” said former Press director John Morgenstern, copyright and scholarly communications librarian at Emory University. “During my tenure, the Press grew in terms of staffing and output to meet the high standards of regular membership in the Association of University Presses. I look forward to its future expansion in directions that will even better serve Clemson’s campus, the state, and the region.”

The Press has also expanded to include two imprints. Clemson Extension Publishing publishes research-led books, practical guides, and manuals in subject areas such as entomology, horticulture, agriculture, food science, nutrition, gardening, forestry, water, and wildlife. The Extension imprint also publishes academic journals related to Clemson’s land-grant mission, such as The Journal of South Carolina Water Resources. The SCALE (South Carolina Affordable Learning) Imprint is a collaboration with PASCAL (Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries) to publish Open Educational Resources (OER) written by authors from any of PASCAL’s 56 member institutions. The SCALE imprint’s first textbook, titled “Foundational Robotics” will be published this October.

Other notable milestones for the Press include: