It’s a big news day for UC Press. In addition to the new scholarly publishing initiative we launched with JSTOR, UC Press has announced the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. Publishing veterans Michael Morgan and Stephen Rhind-Tutt will support the Press in its mission to push the boundaries of traditional publishing through digital products and initiatives that were simply not possible in a print world. Read more about Morgan and Rhind-Tutt in the press release below, or download a PDF version.


New Board Members Bolster UC Press’s Digital Publishing Initiatives

BERKELEY, Calif. — March 24, 2011 — University of California Press is pleased to welcome two new volunteers to its Board of Directors. As the not-for-profit publisher of a world-class public university, UC Press is dedicated to nurturing the best work from the best scholars, and disseminating this for global impact. Publishing veterans Michael Morgan and Stephen Rhind-Tutt bring deep experience in both scholarly and electronic publishing as well as entrepreneurial leadership to advance this mission.

Alison Mudditt, who became Director of UC Press in January, has identified several key areas of growth for UC Press over the next several years: aligning more closely with the strengths and priorities of the University of California, connecting knowledge and research on significant contemporary problems with genuine solutions, and embracing new types of products that were simply not possible in a print world.

“I hope to continue to reflect the mission and standards of excellence of the UC system at the same time as pushing the boundaries of traditional publishing. At a time when technology is driving seismic shifts in how we seek and consume information,” Mudditt notes, “it’s critical that we build the Board strategically to support our vision for the future. I am very much looking forward to the benefit of Mike and Stephen’s perspectives as we navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Michael Morgan is CEO of Morgan & Claypool, a digital science and technology publisher that he co-founded in 2003. Morgan & Claypool is best known for its Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science, which is used by over 300 universities and corporate and government labs worldwide and which was named Reference Product of the Year in 2008 by the American Society for Engineering Education. Morgan began his career as a computer science publisher at Addison Wesley in 1977 and co-founded computer science book publisher Morgan Kaufmann in 1984. In 1998 he merged Morgan Kaufmann with Academic Press, a global scientific book and journal publisher, where he served as Vice President, Director of Book Publishing until 2002.

Stephen Rhind-Tutt is President of Alexander Street Press, an electronic publisher of award-winning online collections in the humanities and social sciences, and has worked in electronic publishing for libraries for more than 20 years. Before co-founding Alexander Street Press in 2000, he was President of Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., a scholarly electronic and microfilm publisher, and held a number of roles at Gale and SilverPlatter. Rhind-Tutt has been responsible for the creation or development of more than 400 different products serving a wide range of libraries. A Board member of the Council on Library and Information Resources, he is a frequent speaker at conferences such as The Charleston Conference and the Society of Scholarly Publishers.

“The University and UC Press have ambitious plans to create new models for disseminating research and information to broad and diverse audiences, and thus to fuel growth and progress in California and beyond,” says Lawrence H. Pitts, UC Provost and Chair of the UC Press Board of Directors. “I’m excited to have a strong group of Board members to help guide our next phase of innovation.”

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