#WeAreUP
In May of last year, the Association mourned the untimely death of Mark Saunders, Director of the University of Virginia Press, and friend and mentor to many. His colleagues on the University Press Week Task Force led the AUPresses community in a #WeAreUP blog tour that coincided with our gathering in Detroit for AUPresses 2019. Throughout the week-long tour, 30 blog posts remembered Saunders and honored his legacy by recognizing and celebrating the many people engaged in all aspects of university press publishing.
A committed member of the UP Week Task Force from its start in 2012, Saunders had suggested the tag line used that first year—”Contributing to an informed society.” In a year when we again contemplated what it means to be “an informed society” and how the kinds of publishing university presses do can advance that goal, it was only fitting that the community honored the role that Saunders played in university press publishing by also honoring all who make UP publishing happen through their labor and their care—and whom he cared about so deeply.
The reflections and celebrations of #WeAreUP and memories of Saunders were featured by Scott McLemee in Inside Higher Ed.