Rutgers University Press
Eighteen full-time staff members run Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit publishing house operating under the authority of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. That is a small team for an operation with a long publishing record. How did a press this size come to exist, and what has it chosen to publish along the way? This documentary traces the founding of Rutgers University Press and the partnerships it built with other university presses. It follows the press's role in a global open-access effort and a handful of the book series carrying its name today.
On the 26th of March 1936, Rutgers University Press was founded, with Civil War history and European history among its earliest specialties. Those two subjects anchored the young press's list, before its scope widened over the decades that followed.
Sociology, anthropology, and health policy now sit alongside history of medicine, human rights, and urban studies on the press's current list. Jewish studies, American studies, film and media studies, and environmental subjects round out that list, alongside books about New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic region.
That widening list of subjects would eventually reach beyond the press's own catalog, into formal partnerships with other university presses.
In 2018, Rutgers University Press entered into a partnership with Bucknell University Press. Three years later, in 2021, the press partnered with the University of Delaware Press as well.
Those two partnerships placed Rutgers alongside other university presses just as a separate, worldwide effort around free access to scholarly books was taking shape.
Thirteen publishers took part in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, and Rutgers University Press was one of them. Knowledge Unlatched works as a global library consortium, pooling funding from libraries around the world to make books freely available.
That same commitment to shared funding runs parallel to a different kind of growth, the many themed series the press has built over time.
Rutgers University Press has built more than eighty series of books, past and current, and two of them anchor very different shelves. The American Campus, edited by Harold S. Wechsler, tracks public policy issues in United States higher education. Its topics range from access and affordability to tenure and academic freedom.
The series also covers drop-out rates, campus labor, and the growth of administrative jobs and salaries. Other volumes address the crisis facing the humanities and the arts, the rise of corporate and for-profit colleges, and online education. Further entries take on controversies in college sports programs, along with gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and class dynamics on campus.
Comics Culture, edited by Corey K. Creekmur, Craig Fischer, Jeet Heer, and Ana Merino, looks at newspaper comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels. Some volumes in the series focus on a single title, character, writer, or artist, while others examine broader themes, genres, and traditions in comics studies.
Three more named series round out the press's list, each edited by scholars working in race, Jewish studies, and environmental sociology.
Global Media & Race, edited by Frederick Luis Aldama, takes a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to race and intersectionality in media. Its books trace that subject from script to production and policy.
Key Words in Jewish Studies is edited by Deborah Dash Moore, MacDonald Moore, and Andrew Bush. The series examines Jewish studies through the history of terms currently used in the field, and its place in broader cultural studies.
Nature, Society, and Culture, edited by Scott Frickel, publishes sociological analyses of the environment. Its topics include environmental inequality and risk, along with the science and politics of climate change and serial disaster. The series also traces the environmental causes and consequences of urbanization and war-making.
That full name, Rutgers University Press, is also known simply by its own abbreviation: RUP.
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Common questions
When was Rutgers University Press founded?
Rutgers University Press was founded on the 26th of March 1936, operating as a nonprofit publishing house under Rutgers University.
What subjects does Rutgers University Press specialize in?
Rutgers University Press specializes in sociology, anthropology, health policy, history of medicine, human rights, urban studies, Jewish studies, American studies, film and media studies, the environment, and books about New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic region. Its original specialties at founding were Civil War history and European history.
How many people work at Rutgers University Press?
Rutgers University Press employs 18 full-time staff members.
Which university presses has Rutgers University Press partnered with?
Rutgers University Press partnered with Bucknell University Press in 2018 and with the University of Delaware Press in 2021.
Does Rutgers University Press support open access publishing?
Rutgers University Press is one of thirteen publishers taking part in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium that funds open access books.
What are some notable book series published by Rutgers University Press?
Rutgers University Press publishes more than eighty series, including The American Campus, edited by Harold S. Wechsler, Comics Culture, edited by Corey K. Creekmur, Craig Fischer, Jeet Heer, and Ana Merino, Global Media & Race, edited by Frederick Luis Aldama, Key Words in Jewish Studies, edited by Deborah Dash Moore, MacDonald Moore, and Andrew Bush, and Nature, Society, and Culture, edited by Scott Frickel.
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13 references cited across the entry
- 4Small Press Profile: Rutgers University Press12 February 2020
- 5NewsAnnouncing a New University Press PartnershipSara Henning-Stout — 10 June 2017
- 8Browse Series2021-08-09