| Susie P. Gonzalez | 210-999-8406 | susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu |
Foundation Gift Helps Revive Trinity University Press |
July 31, 2002 — The Trinity University Press is back in business after being inactive for 13 years. A $2.9 million gift from the Ewing Halsell Foundation of San Antonio is underwriting the operation that will annually print six to eight book titles with regional and Southwestern, environmental, or literary themes. Michael Fischer, Trinity's vice president of academic affairs, said the Press will spotlight the “serious academic work” that Trinity has always valued. “The Press is a wonderful way to spread Trinity's excellent academic reputation,” he says, adding that the published books will be written by both Trinity faculty members as well as authors from other colleges and universities. Barbara Ras, former assistant director and executive editor of the University of Georgia Press and an award-winning poet and published author, will serve as director of the Press. She began her duties at Trinity in mid-July. Her first book of poems, Bite Every Sorrow (Louisiana State University Press,) received the 1997 Walt Whitman Award, and she subsequently won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award for poetry. Her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies. Ms. Ras is working with administrators to create a mission statement for the Press and to get the Press up and running. She agrees with Dr. Fischer's assessment of the Press as a vehicle for sharing Trinitys story. “Because of the ways books are disseminated, the Press will extend the reach of the University into new channels of expression and exchange — to readers, scholars, booksellers, librarians, and reviewers. Trinity is particularly well situated to build on its strengths, and via the Press, the University can expand its significant contributions to the intellectual and cultural discourse in the region and beyond,” Ms. Ras says. Char Miller, professor and chair of the history department and also a published author, chaired the search committee that recommended the hiring of Ms. Ras. “We believe her to be a remarkable editor and shrewd publisher,” Professor Miller says. “As she has demonstrated throughout her career, she has an uncanny eye for picking authors whose work is of considerable importance.” For two years running, books published by Ms. Ras were nominated for the National Book Critics' Circle Award. Trinity's previous Press was launched in 1961 when the University acquired Principia Press of Illinois, a small private press with titles primarily in mathematics, economics, and philosophy. To give more visibility to the university, the name was changed in 1967 to Trinity University Press. Among the early titles published under the new name were Baronial Forts of the Big Bend by Leavitt Corning Jr., Zosimus: Historia Nova by James J. Buchanan and Harold T. Davis, and Creating Theater by Ruth Byers. Operating with a small staff and a limited
budget, the Press published about a half-dozen books a year primarily
in the fields of religion, history, art and architectural history, bibliography,
and regional materials. In spite of its small-scale operation, the Press
brought regional and national recognition to the University through
its scholarly books and monographs. By 1975, the Press had produced
almost a hundred titles including two major series: The Trinity University Monograph Series in Religion
and Checklists in the Humanities
and Education. However, it ceased operations at the end of
the 1988-89 fiscal year. |
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Last updated on August 13, 2002 by the Office of Public Relations |
