12th GW Ethics in Publishing Conference
Conference Schedule 2022
Friday, October 14th, 2022
9:00 am to 5:15 pm EST
Hybrid Format—In-Person and Online Presenters and Attendees
In-person conference location:
National Churchill Leadership Center
Gelman Library, George Washington University
2130 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
HOSTED BY:
Master of Professional Studies in Publishing program at the George Washington University
SPONSORED BY:
- The Association of University Presses (AUPresses)
- The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP)
- Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Schedule subject to change; all times listed EST
ABBREVIATED SCHEDULE (see full schedule with bios and abstracts below)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022 | 9:00 am - 5:15 pm
9:00 am – Welcome and Opening Remarks
Puja Telikicherla, Licensing and Subsidiary Rights Manager, American Psychiatric Association
John W. Warren, Director and Associate Professor, Publishing, George Washington University
9:15 am – Plenary
Equity in Action: From Corporate Initiatives to Team Practices
Kimberly Ayers Shariff, Executive Vice President, Strategy for Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Penguin Random House
Moderator: Tina Donnelly, MPS, Managing Editorial Assistant, Penguin Random House
10:15 am – Representation and Editorial Boards
Building an Open Editorial Board
Anand Balasubramani, Journal Development Editor, American Society for Microbiology
Adrianna Borgia, Managing Editor, American Society for Microbiology
Not Checking a Box: Establishing DEI as a Foundation of the American Urological Association's Flagship Journal
Jennifer Regala, Director of Publications/Executive Editor, American Urological Association
11:00 am – Access and Open Monographs
A “Third Way” to Sustainable Open Access Publishing
John Sherer, Director, University of North Carolina Press
Sharla Lair, Senior Strategist, Open Access and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, LYRASIS
John Lenahan, Associate Vice President, Published Content, ITHAKA
Lisa Croucher, Executive Director of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN)
11:50 am-12:50 pm – Lunch Break
12:50 pm – Afternoon Welcome/Remarks
Liesl Riddle, Ph.D., Dean, College of Professional Studies, George Washington University
1:00 pm – Action in Accessibility
Publishing Accessibility Support Systems
Isabella Greene, MPS (expected June 2023), Project Manager, Pubvendo
An Intersectional look at Disability in the U.S. Publishing Industry Workplace
Rachel Done Cubillas, MA Book Publishing, Portland State University
Accessibility and the Idea of Belonging
John G. Samuel, Co-Founder and CEO, Ablr
2:15 pm – Gatekeeping and DEIA
Taking Action to Interrupt Racism in the Scholarly Publishing Industry (C4DISC)
Martha A. Anderson, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Head of Digital Services, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Libraries
Alejandra Mejía, Assistant Acquisitions Editor, Duke University Press
Ethical Mentorship: Bringing Early-Career to the Table (Paths in Publishing)
Rachael Levay, Editor-in-Chief, University Press of Colorado
Allegra Martschenko, Acquisitions Editor, University Press of Colorado
Brian Halley, Executive Editor, University of Massachusetts Press
3:15 pm – Peer Review and Preservation
Journal Preservation: What Should be Included?
Johanna Meetz, Publishing and Repository Services Librarian, Ohio State University
Reducing Bias in Peer Review Through Automated Authorship Checks
Mary Uhlmansiek, MA, Director of Business Operations, Ripeta, part of Digital Science
4:15 pm – Gatekeeping and Trade Publishing
Systemic Barriers That Exclude BIPOC Authors From Literary Awards and the Proposed Solutions to Evoke Change
Devyn Yan Radke, MA, Communications Manager, WildBlue Press
Gatekeeping in Publishing
Tina Donnelly, MPS, Managing Editorial Assistant, Penguin Random House
FULL SCHEDULE with abstracts and presenter bios
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022 | 9:00 am - 5:15 pm
9:00 am – Welcome and Opening Remarks
Puja Telikicherla, Licensing and Subsidiary Rights Manager, American Psychiatric Association
John W. Warren, Director and Associate Professor, Publishing, George Washington University
9:15 am – Plenary
Equity in Action: From Corporate Initiatives to Team Practices
Kimberly Ayers Shariff, Executive Vice President, Strategy for Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Penguin Random House
Moderator: Tina Donnelly, MPS, Managing Editorial Assistant, Penguin Random House
Efforts to address issues of racism and representation in publishing must include actions at the global and local level, and include authors and other contributors, editors, management, staff, and other stakeholders. Kim Shariff, Executive Vice President, Director of Strategy for Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Penguin Random House, will discuss “inclusion first” efforts to provide members of the PRH community with access to tools, resources, and support to thrive, in a safe, equitable environment where they matter and belong. She will discuss efforts to develop PRH’s 2022-2024 DEI Strategic plan; to introduce a company-wide, multi module DEI training effort; and to provide tools for managers and others to move toward equity, in order to acquire, support, develop, market, and sell content that is wholly representative, accessible, and appealing to a continuously expanding audience of readers.
Kimberly Ayers Shariff (@ayersshariff) was appointed Executive Vice President, Strategy for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Penguin Random House U.S. in May 2021, when she also became a member of the Penguin Random House U.S. Board. In this role, Kimberly leads Penguin Random House’s implementation of its company-wide DEI Strategic plan. Kimberly spent more than half her career in the non-profit sector as Chief Administrative Officer at American Ballet Theatre and Deputy General Counsel at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Kim began her career at Black Entertainment Television. Kimberly attended Georgetown University where she earned a B.A. in Sociology as well as a Certificate of African Studies from the School of Foreign Service. She also holds a law degree from Tulane University School of Law. Kimberly lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.
Tina Donnelly, MPS, is a Managing Editorial Assistant at Penguin Random House, where she assists department heads with all aspects of audiobook production and record keeping, as well as supports the Managing Editorial team on audio projects and metadata maintenance. She is a 2022 graduate of the MPS in Publishing program at George Washington University.
10:15 am – Representation and Editorial Boards
Building an Open Editorial Board
Adrianna Borgia, Managing Editor, American Society for Microbiology
Anand Balasubramani, Journal Development Editor, American Society for Microbiology
The American Society for Microbiology instituted and built an Open Editorial Board for their newest journal, Microbiology Spectrum (Spectrum). An Open Board means that any microbiologist from across the globe can fill out a form to apply to join the Editorial board. Traditionally, Editorial Boards are built by the journal’s leadership reaching out to their network of colleagues to join the Board, however, this invariably results in biases, from regionalism to difficulty in fostering scientific diversity. An Open Board is welcoming and naturally builds diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). It also encourages individuals who are genuinely interested in contributing to the journal. ASM partnered with the Editorial Leadership of Spectrum in building an Open Board, and has collectively reviewed more than 2000 applications. Spectrum’s Board of almost 400 Editors run laboratories based in 49 different countries; the Board is close to being gender-balanced and includes representation from historically underrepresented minorities. As ASM struggled to get reasonable applicants from certain parts of the world, they launched a mentoring program to help scientists from these regions develop the skills needed to become Editors at Spectrum.
Adrianna Borgia is the Managing Editor of Microbiology Spectrum and Microbiology Resource Announcements at the American Society for Microbiology where she oversees the development and daily operations of the journals. Prior to that, she was a Production Team Manager at Elsevier, working with society-owned titles in the health & medical sciences fields. She also serves on the Advancement Committee for SSP and is Co-chair, North American Planning Committee for ISMTE. Outside of publishing, Adrianna loves running, embroidery, and watching the Phillies (even if they’re losing).
Anand Balasubramani (@anandb4) is the Journal Development Editor for Microbiology Spectrum and Microbiology Resource Announcements at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). An immunologist by training, Anand Balasubramani has contributed to the development of journals at Cell Press and Science. At the ASM, he led the launch of their sound science journal, Microbiology Spectrum. Currently, he oversees a portfolio of open access journals at ASM and is interested in how publishers can promote diversity, equity and inclusion in their editorial and peer review processes.
Not Checking a Box: Establishing DEI as a Foundation of the American Urological Association's Flagship Journal
Jennifer Regala, Director of Publications/Executive Editor, American Urological Association
The Journal of Urology, as the flagship journal of the American Urological Association, is a leader in the publication of global research to advance urological health. In 2022, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, with the support of the Editorial Board, launched the HEAD (Health Equity and Diversity) Table. This group, which included a smaller subset of the full Ed Board, was charged with looking at DEI from two different perspectives: health disparities and inequities in research and how to improve DEI in urological leadership and Editorial Board representation. Priorities include examining Editorial Board diversity, utilizing peer review experts with expertise in DEI and health disparities, collecting peer review data and reporting on it frequently, programmatic and ongoing DEI training for the Editorial Board and Editorial Office, using social media as an ongoing tool to engage discussion on DEI and JU, and reassessment of the aims and scope of the journal. The team's to-do list is ongoing and ambitious, and at no point will the work be considered done. This presentation will look at how this effort came together, its progress, and how it will be an important and permanent part of the fabric of the journal.
Jennifer Regala (@JenniferARegala) is the Director of Publications/Executive Editor at the American Urological Association, where she oversees the scholarly publications program, which includes two peer-reviewed journals, the organization’s newsletter/membership digital ecosystem, annual meeting-related publications, and a CME product. Currently, Jennifer is managing the launch of JU Open Plus, a new Gold Open Access journal that will begin publication in January 2023, and overseeing the implementation of open peer review for The Journal of Urology®, the AUA’s flagship journal. She serves as Co-Chair of SSP’s Marketing and Communications Committee and the SSP-DC Regional Subcommittee. She has worked in scholarly publication for more than 20 years at Cadmus, Sheridan, and the American Society of Plant Biologists. Jennifer’s personal motto is: “It’s free to be nice and to comb your hair.”
11:00 am – Access and Open Monographs
A “Third Way” to Sustainable Open Access Publishing
John Sherer, Director, University of North Carolina Press
Sharla Lair, Senior Strategist, Open Access and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, LYRASIS
John Lenahan, Associate Vice President, Published Content, ITHAKA
Lisa Croucher, Executive Director of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN)
For over a year, a working group of university press (UP) leaders have engaged in a modeling exercise with key stakeholders about developing a Third Way to make humanities and social science monographs more accessible. They have operated on the premise that neither the traditional cost-recovery model of publishing nor grant-funded pilots to make books open access (OA) have resulted in a system-wide shift in opening UP monographs. In this new model, UPs would contribute most of their new frontlist monographs to a platform where digital access requires a paid subscription for three years. Presses would be guaranteed a flat fee per book for participation and would be allowed to sell print and consumer eBooks, but they’d also make a commitment to make the book OA after three years. Libraries would be the primary subscription base and they would receive full access to the collection right away, while indirectly supporting the ultimate opening of the book to readers everywhere. The sustainability challenges in publishing, acquiring, and accessing Open Access monographs in the humanities are complex and felt by their authors, publishers, librarians, and readers alike. In this session, a diverse panel will review and facilitate a discussion of the challenges and benefits of such a potential model.
John Sherer is Director of the University of North Carolina Press. He has served as chair of the Association of University Presses Open Access committee and has been the primary investigator for two major grants of $1 million each from the Mellon Foundation exploring scaled infrastructure requirements for university presses.
Sharla Lair serves as a Senior Strategist of Open Access and Scholarly Communication Initiatives at LYRASIS. In this role, she develops new strategies for sustainable scholarly publishing by way of building new open access revenue models, connecting multiple stakeholders, revealing common goals, and facilitating collaboration. Sharla serves on the MIT Press Library Advisory Board, the Open Access eBooks Network OPERAS Specialty Interest Group, and serves as chair of the Open Access eBook Usage Data Trust Board of Trustees.
John Lenahan, Associate Vice President, Published Content, ITHAKA, collaborates with publishers and libraries to develop products and programs that support their organizational needs and missions. He works with the more than 2,000 publishers partnered with ITHAKA to make their content available on the JSTOR platform. He also works closely with libraries to develop growth strategies for the journals and books programs to ensure we meet their research, teaching, and preservation needs.
Lisa Croucher is the Executive Director of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN), a consortium of libraries at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. TRLN libraries have been engaged with open access activities in various forms for many years, including the IMLS-funded Library Copyright Institute and the Mellon-funded Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute.
11:50 am-12:50 pm – Lunch Break
12:50 pm – Afternoon Welcome/Remarks
Liesl Riddle, Ph.D., Dean, College of Professional Studies, George Washington University
Liesl Riddle, Ph.D., is the Dean of George Washington University's College of Professional Studies (CPS) and an Associate Professor of international business and international affairs. As dean of CPS, she oversees bachelor's completion, master’s and executive programs designed to empower students to make an impact in specific industries. She also leads several innovative schools and centers, including the Graduate School of Political Management, the Center for Excellence in Public Leadership and the Cyber Academy. Dr. Riddle also serves as a member of the Penn West Equity & Innovation District Advisory Committee, developing linkages between the College and greater University with this upcoming engine of growth in the D.C. economy. Before coming to CPS, Dr. Riddle served as Vice Dean for Strategy and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in the GW School of Business (GWSB). As a scholar, Dr. Riddle has published numerous books and articles in top academic journals examining diasporas' roles in economic development, international entrepreneurship and trade and investment promotion. She has received numerous teaching awards, including the prestigious university George Washington Award and the GW School of Business Teaching Excellence Award. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology, M.B.A. in marketing/international business, M.A. in Middle Eastern studies, and a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies from University of Texas at Austin.
1:00 pm – Action in Accessibility
Publishing Accessibility Support Systems
Isabella Greene, MPS (expected June 2023), Project Manager, Pubvendo
After enduring years of discrimination from employers and discriminatory company policies surrounding invisible illness, and after hearing the same stories from members of her cohort and support group, Isabella decided to focus her capstone on accessibility and inclusion within the Publishing industry. She began her project by interviewing members of HR departments about their accessibility practices, policies, and resources. During these interviews, Isabella discovered a trend of a number of training deficits within HR teams on State and Federal accessibility requirements as well as how their company uses documented medical/disability information. However, since many larger companies use a third party system for accommodations that require medical documentation, she created an Accessibility Consulting Service that team leaders throughout the publishing industry can use to identify accommodation trends among their team, assess deficits in their company’s training and transparency regarding the accommodations process and resources, and most importantly, to provide their employees with an alternative, more comfortable way to express their needs.
Isabella Greene is in her second year of the MPS program in Publishing at George Washington University while working as a Project Manager at Pubvendo. She earned her BA in English from Boston College, where she served as an Associate Editor for a literary food journal, Gusto. In her free time, she runs a mobile bookstore and is mom to two Australian Shepherds- Miles and August. She recently founded an Accessibility Consulting Service, AbiliTEAM Consulting LLC., after witnessing the need for improved transparency and advocacy for chronic and invisible illness in the publishing industry.
An Intersectional look at Disability in the U.S. Publishing Industry Workplace
Rachel Done Cubillas, MA Book Publishing, Portland State University
This paper focuses on looking at what barriers exist for people with disabilities working in publishing, as well as the opportunities (or disadvantages) that COVID has brought to disabled publishing employees. Critical and intersectional factors such as race, gender, and more are also considered. Overall, it was found that embracing more hybrid and remote work situations, a decentralization of the industry away from locations like New York, better employee conditions (such as higher pay and more PTO), and real workplace centered efforts to destigmatize disability would help eliminate barriers to disabled employees in the publishing industry.
Rachel Done Cubillas (@RachelDC06) is currently a freelance publishing professional, focusing on DEI, writing, data management, marketing, and project management. She has a MA in Book Publishing and Comics Studies Certificate from Portland State University (2022). She loves exploring new topics and skills, as well as meeting new people through her work.
Accessibility and the Idea of Belonging
John G. Samuel, Co-Founder and CEO, Ablr
Diversity, equity and inclusion mean much more than race and gender. In this inspirational, eye-opening talk, entrepreneur and author John Samuel shares why everyone must broaden their idea of what it means to be truly inclusive. An Award-winning business leader and TEDx speaker, John shares his incredible journey as a blind entrepreneur who's creating digital accessibility for all in a world tethered to technology. Learn why you must remove barriers that limit people with and without disabilities and open a world of possibilities for all.
When he was in college, John Samuel was diagnosed with a degenerating eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), told he was going blind, and that there was no hope for a cure. For 17 years, he hid this from friends, professors, and employers, and left his hometown of Cary, North Carolina, because he didn’t think anyone who was blind could ever live there. This search for a career and love would take him around the globe, including Bangalore, New York, Douala, Kampala, and Washington, and would eventually bring him home to embrace his disability and finally find a sense of belonging. He is author of the forthcoming book Don’t Ask the Blind Guy for Directions. He launched a successful African venture, Aster Cameroon and is co-founder and CEO of Ablr.
2:15 pm – Gatekeeping and DEIA
Taking Action to Interrupt Racism in the Scholarly Publishing Industry (C4DISC)
Alejandra Mejía, Assistant Acquisitions Editor, Duke University Press
Martha A. Anderson, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Head of Digital Services, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Libraries
Navigating academic publishing as a racialized person, be it Black, Indigenous, or from another racialized group, can be a very challenging experience. In 2018 the Scholarly Kitchen published a series of articles that showcased brave, personal testimonies from Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) across different organizations. The Toolkits for Equity project emerged as one such mechanism to work toward a more equitable, affirming, and just industry. In the larger scope of an increasingly unequal world where racialized people suffer in many different ways, this particular toolkit, the Antiracism Toolkit for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), is a small yet specific contribution, and one that we hope will be meaningful and useful to BIPOC-identifying individuals navigating an industry that can be wonderful, but also hostile. In this panel we would like to share our experiences in creating, writing, and editing this toolkit, as well as how we intend for it to be used by our colleagues in scholarly publishing. We discuss the hindrances to understanding and having access to the industry, tools for creating community for BIPOC people beyond our individual workplaces, strategies for practicing self-care, and even practical advice for when to consider leaving your job or the industry altogether.
Martha Anderson is the current Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Head of Digital Services at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Libraries. Her professional and research interests include DEI, developing cohesive organizational cultures, digitization, and digital preservation. She is a former ACE (Academic and Cultural Enrichment) Scholar at UNC-Greensboro, 2009-2011, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the UNCG-LIS department, and a former fellow in the 2020-2022 Association of Research Libraries Leadership and Career Development Program.
Alejandra Mejía (@paranoidreader) is an Assistant Editor at Duke University Press where she acquires books in Latinx history and manages the Book Acquisitions student worker program. She has been involved in various Equity and Inclusion initiatives in academic publishing, including as a contributing writer for the Antiracism Toolkit for Allies and as the co-lead of the Antiracism Toolkit for BIPOC, both hosted by the Coalition for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC). She is also Chief Editor and contributing writer for Migrant Roots Media, an independent media platform that seeks to unearth the root causes of global migration.
Ethical Mentorship: Bringing Early-Career to the Table (Paths in Publishing)
Rachael Levay, Editor-in-Chief, University Press of Colorado
Allegra Martschenko, Acquisitions Editor, University Press of Colorado
Brian Halley, Executive Editor, University of Massachusetts Press
As scholarly publishing further develops its investment in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), we broadly understand that a major challenge is an ongoing and persistent need to retain staff beyond entry-level positions. Mentorship is a crucial method of retention and advancement at all levels, but for many early-career folks in scholarly publishing, finding and developing a relationship with a mentor can be a challenge–and if one’s mentor is their supervisor, it can be even harder to get support when considering a job move. Paths in Publishing, a new free mentorship program, shares ways for those in early career positions (applying into or out of entry level work) to get feedback on cover letters, resumes, and interviewing but also engage with the ideas that are central to landing a job in this field: understanding terminology, navigating and negotiating pay, and exploring conceptual ideas about scholarly publishing via reading groups and webinars. More pressingly, too, we see the need for a larger conversation about what it means to create space for meaningful relationships across scholarly publishing that can support the challenging, unequal, and sometimes discriminatory obstacles faced by early-career workers, especially those who are BIPOC/LGTBQ/disabled. The panelists will share their experiences as mentees and mentors, as those who have applied to jobs and also hired for positions, and share ways to demonstrate a commitment to ethical workplace relationships both within their own workplaces and beyond.
Rachael Levay (she/her) is a PIP cofounder, Editor-in-Chief at the University Press of Colorado, and acquires for the Utah State University Press imprint. She’s been an acquisitions editor for nearly five years and was the Marketing and Sales Director at the University of Washington Press for 11 years. She is currently a member of the Association of University Presses Board of Directors and, with experience mentoring several generations of incredible university press staff, is interested in finding new ways to create equitable opportunities in scholarly publishing.
Allegra Martschenko (she/they) (@AllegraMartsch) is a PIP cofounder and an acquisitions editor at the University Press of Colorado, acquiring in anthropology, archeology, and environmental justice for the Colorado imprint. They started in publishing as a Sales intern at Princeton University Press, did a brief stint in children’s trade publishing, and spent a year at Cornell University Press as a 2020-2021 Mellon Diversity Fellow before joining UPC in 2021. As a fiction writer they’ve mentored several marginalized authors through the trade publishing industry and now turn their attention to helping foster equity and inclusion in scholarly publishing.
Brian Halley (he/him) started his career assisting literary agent Rachel Calder of the Sayle Agency in London before working his way up to Editor at Beacon Press. He is now Executive Editor at the University of Massachusetts Press, where he has worked since 2009. He has served on the Association of University Presses Board of Directors and currently serves on the AUP Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Committee, which he previously co-chaired. He is based in Boston.
3:15 pm – Peer Review and Preservation
Journal Preservation: What Should be Included?
Johanna Meetz, Publishing and Repository Services Librarian, Ohio State University
While preservation of journal content and its metadata is considered an integral part of publishing ethics, the preservation of other ancillary material is not often considered. My short presentation will discuss how a recent server hack brought to light the importance of these ancillary materials–in particular, our journal’s policies, and made me reconsider what materials I include when I think about preservation for our journal publishing program. It will also include a set of best practices I plan to implement moving forward for preserving not only our journals’ content and metadata, but also information found on journal websites, including policies, author guidelines, and announcements.
Johanna Meetz is the Publishing and Repository Services Librarian at Ohio State University, where she oversees the institutional repository and publishing programs. She holds an MA in Library and Information Science as well as a Graduate Certificate in Book Arts and Book Studies from The University of Iowa. She also holds an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Missouri.
Reducing Bias in Peer Review Through Automated Authorship Checks
Mary Uhlmansiek, MA, Director of Business Operations, Ripeta, part of Digital Science
Despite publisher and editor best efforts, the peer review workflow is still fraught with biases. Lee (2012) identified over 15 different ways in which bias is introduced through the peer review process. Those biases that deal with authorship are some of the most fraught given the gatekeeping that occurs and locks out diverse voices. While the work and effort to increase representation is ongoing, there are some new tools and applications that are advancing in our community to assess authorship in an unbiased manner. This presentation will highlight the historical and ongoing issues with bias in authorship and provide an overview of some of these tools.
Mary Uhlmansiek has a Masters in Clinical and Experimental Psychology and currently oversees business operations at Ripeta (@RipetaReview), part of Digital Science. She has over twenty-five years of experience in academic research, including: supporting initiatives related to data-sharing and research reproducibility; overseeing repositories and developing data use policies; implementing software solutions for research operations and data management; conducting regulatory review of research; and coordinating a sensitive research program for survivors of interpersonal violence and PTSD.
4:15 pm – Gatekeeping and Trade Publishing
Systemic Barriers That Exclude BIPOC Authors From Literary Awards and the Proposed Solutions to Evoke Change
Devyn Yan Radke, MA, Communications Manager, WildBlue Press
This research aims to 1) provide an in-depth analysis of the National Book Award (NBA), with a focus on Lisa Lucas, her commitment to diversity, and how it has impacted the awards, 2) identify the systemic barriers BIPOC authors may experience that are setbacks from being recognized in literary awards, and 3) the importance of diversity in book publishing professional executive positions.
Devyn Yan Radke is a book publishing professional in the Portland, OR area. In 2019, she earned a BA in Literature and Writing from Portland State University. She returned to the same university to pursue an MA in Book Publishing and graduated in June of 2022. Devyn is currently the Communications Manager at WildBlue Press.
Gatekeeping in Publishing
Tina Donnelly, MPS, Managing Editorial Assistant, Penguin Random House
This presentation explores the practice of gatekeeping in the publishing industry and the various parameters currently in place that prevent the field from being more diverse. An expanded edition of my capstone project for the Ethics in Publishing course, it includes notes from an interview with Kim Shariff, the Director of Strategy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Penguin Random House, who is working on dismantling the roadblocks that keep the company from having a more diverse workforce. This presentation examines not only the current gatekeeping practices but also their effect on the industry and the literary scene, as well as what we can do as publishing professionals to rectify these outcomes.
Tina Donnelly, MPS, is a Managing Editorial Assistant at Penguin Random House, where she assists department heads with all aspects of audiobook production and record keeping, as well as supports the Managing Editorial team on audio projects and metadata maintenance. She is a 2022 graduate of the MPS in Publishing program at George Washington University
Conference Co-Organizers
Puja Telikicherla, Licensing and Subsidiary Rights Manager, American Psychiatric Association
John W. Warren, Director and Associate Professor, Publishing, George Washington University
Puja Telikicherla (@dammitPuja) is Licensing & Subsidiary Rights Manager for American Psychiatric Association Publishing. She has worked in scholarly book publishing for over 15 years and is a publishing professional with primary responsibilities in rights, Intellectual Property, and digital and print content licensing. Puja has contributed to events and webinars offered by the Association of American Publishers, the Book Industry Study Group, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and the Association of University Presses, where she recently served on both the Intellectual Property & Copyright and Annual Meeting Program committees. She holds two degrees from NYU and is a Washington D.C. area native.
John W. Warren (@john_w_warren) is Director and Associate Professor in the Master of Professional Studies in Publishing program at The George Washington University. He formerly held the positions of Director, George Mason University Press; Marketing and Sales Director, Georgetown University Press; Director of Marketing, Publications, RAND Corporation; and Marketing Manager at Sage Publications and Fondo de Cultura Económica. He has a master’s degree in international management from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, a frequent speaker at international publishing conferences, and author of several articles about the evolution of eBooks. He is a classical guitarist and composer, and a contributor to Classical Guitar and Acoustic Guitar magazines.
CONFERENCE CO-ORGANIZERS:
- Puja Telikicherla, American Psychiatric Association Publishing and George Washington University
- John W. Warren, George Washington University
HOSTED BY:
Master of Professional Studies in Publishing program at the George Washington University
SPONSORED BY:
- The Association of University Presses (AUPresses)
- The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP)
- Association of American Publishers (AAP)
CONFERENCE CO-ORGANIZERS:
- Puja Telikicherla, American Psychiatric Association Publishing and George Washington University
- John W. Warren, George Washington University