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| Dean Smith | |
Dean Smith, director of Cornell University Press, is becoming the new director of Duke University Press, effective July 1. He succeeds Steve Cohn, who is retiring at the end of June and has been at the press since 1984 and as director since 1993.
Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth called the press "one of Duke's great assets. It is a world-renowned press with a stellar reputation. With his business acumen, deep knowledge of the publishing world, interest in new technologies and wide-ranging intellectual interests, Dean will be a wonderful new leader for the press."
She also thanked Cohn for building "the press into a national powerhouse that's held in high esteem throughout the academic world. Steve has worked tirelessly to ensure the highest possible standards for the press."
Dean Smith commented: "I look forward to working with my colleagues at the press and across the university to publish high-quality scholarship and advance the frontiers of knowledge in new and exciting ways."
Since Smith became director of Cornell University Press in 2015, the press has expanded its title output from 100 to 150 per year, increased its digital publishing from 350 to more than 3,000 e-books, and published 150 open access texts on the Cornell Open website.
Smith had a key role in reimagining Project Muse, the digital platform for humanities scholarship, to include e-books and journals together. He has experience in book and journal acquisitions, digital platform development, financial management, global business development and strategic planning, and held such roles as journal publisher, director of electronic publishing, v-p of sales and marketing as well as press director.
He is also an author. His American Boy won the 2000 Washington Writer's Prize and the Maryland Prize for Literature in 2001. In 2013, Temple University Press published his book about the Baltimore Ravens, Never Easy, Never Pretty: A Fan, A City, A Championship Season. He is also a contributor of poetry to such publications as Poetry East, Open City, The Virginia Literary Review, Gulf Stream and the anthology D.C. Poets Against the War.
Duke University Press annually publishes about 140 new books, almost 60 journals and multiple digital collections. The press was founded in 1921.