Five College Faculty Convene for Collaborative Publishing Day Revival

Five College Publishing Day 2022, a collaborative publishing event for faculty members from the Pioneer Valley’s neighboring academic institutions, took place via Zoom on Tuesday, May 17. More than 90 faculty members attended this year’s Publishing Day, which marked the revival of cooperative Five College publishing-focused events last held almost 20 years ago.

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The day consisted of six remote sessions led by moderators and panelists from a wide array of publishing backgrounds from within the Five Colleges and beyond. Feedback from faculty in attendance was overwhelmingly positive, noting that they “appreciated hearing from publishing experts representing a mix of different areas of expertise” as well as the ability to “choose the sessions that seemed most relevant for my situation.” One attendee shared "I love the promise of the day and hope it can continue.”

“The planners of this year's publishing day hope to use this event to kickstart a renewed collaboration among the member campuses of the consortium,” said Raymond Rennard, director of academic programs for Five Colleges Inc. “The experience of working together will pave the way to future professional development activities for all faculty across the five campuses.”

The event was co-hosted by UMass Amherst, Five Colleges, Inc., Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. Participating presses and agencies included University of Massachusetts Press, Academy Communications, Amherst College Press, Bellevue Literary Review, The Common, The Conversation, Kaya Press, Massachusetts Review, Ohio State University Press, Sandra Dykstra Agency Inc., University of California Press, University of Michigan Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, Wayne State University Press and W. W. Norton & Company.

Collaborating institutions will meet this summer to plan for the upcoming academic year with a renewed commitment to expanding and sharing programming for all Five College faculty.