Robert Devens has been named director of the University of Texas Press. He joined the press in 2013 as assistant editor-in-chief, becoming editor-in-chief in 2014 and assistant director in 2018. Before joining the University of Texas Press, he was an editor at the University of Chicago Press for 13 years, where he acquired trade and scholarly books in American studies, history, and urban studies and was the founding acquisitions editor for the American Beginnings and Chicago Visions & Revisions series.
Maurie McInnis, executive vice-president and provost at the University of Texas at Austin, said that Devens's "deep knowledge of academic publishing, his experience at UT Press, and his collaborative relationships with the scholarly community at UT Austin are tremendous assets. During his time at UT, he has served as a visible, public ambassador for the Press by articulating the critical role of university presses in supporting faculty scholarship, and research."
The press said that since joining the press, he has led the establishment of new series in fields ranging from Latinx studies to film studies, to more extensive general interest offerings in areas such as biography and music. He has also served as the press's editor in architecture, American studies, and U.S. history. He was the founding acquisitions editor for the Lateral Exchanges series in architecture and has been instrumental in the development of both the Texas Bookshelf and the Katrina Bookshelf.