NEWS Publishing Day
Academics

Office of Faculty Development to Host Inaugural Five College Publishing Day on May 17

The Office of Faculty Development (OFD) will host Five College Publishing Day, a collaborative publishing event for neighboring academic institutions, via Zoom on Tuesday, May 17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free and open to all Five College faculty and aims to foster connections among attending editors and authors.

According to UMass Director of Faculty Development Wendy Varner, the event serves both to mentor faculty in academic book publishing and to highlight the “abundance of new opportunities” available to faculty considering the rapidly changing field of publishing.

The day’s program will begin with a roundtable discussion with editors, agents, and authors who will share their perspectives on the world of publishing today. From there, participants will have the opportunity to choose from multiple morning and afternoon sessions on different areas of publishing and writing.

The scheduled moderators and panelists possess a wide array of publishing backgrounds from within the Five Colleges and beyond. “We have a wealth of experience and expertise here in the Five Colleges, and I am excited to learn from our neighbors and from our invited guests,” says Director of UMass Press Mary Dougherty

Publishing Day 2022 marks a revival of cooperative Five College events focused on the publishing industry. “I am delighted to see the return of Five College Publishing Day,” says Raymond Rennard, director of academic programs for the Five College Consortium. “It's been almost twenty years since the last one, and the publishing industry has changed a lot for academics since then. This kick-off event has something for everyone, from publishing a first monograph to exploring alternative scholarly formats.”

This event is co-hosted by Amherst College, Five Colleges, Inc., Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in collaboration with Amherst College Press, The Common, the Massachusetts Review, and the University of Massachusetts Press. It is free and open to all Five College faculty.

Program of Events:

Welcome: Five College Publishing Day 2022

  • Michelle Budig, senior vice provost for faculty affairs, UMass Amherst
  • Ray Rennard, director of academic programs, Five Colleges Inc.

Roundtable

  • The State of Publishing 2022
    Moderators:
    Mary Dougherty, director, University of Massachusetts Press
    Jim Hicks, editor, Massachusetts Review; senior lecturer, UMass Amherst

Morning Sessions

  • The First Book: Where to Begin?
    Moderator:
    Hélène Visentin, Smith College, associate dean of the faculty, dean for academic development, professor of French studies
  • The Second Book: What Should I Consider?
    Moderators:
    Pawan Dhingra, Amherst College, associate provost and associate dean, professor of American studies
    Beth Bouloukos, director, Amherst College Press

Afternoon Sessions

Closing Discussion

  • Moderator: Brian Halley, executive editor, University of Massachusetts Press, UMass Boston

Register for Five College Publishing Day