Cohn Reappointed Director of Duke University Press

Steven Cohn has been reappointed for a new five-year term as director of Duke University Press beginning July 1, Provost Peter Lange said this week.

Cohn, who has served as director since 1993, was reappointed following a review led by faculty members Sally Deutsch, Stan Abe and Michael Hardt. Deutsch served as chair.

As director, Cohn oversees all operations of the Press.  He has guided the Press through a period of great change in the publishing industry and academic publishing in particular.  He has developed a flexible business model and launched initiatives into electronic publishing while building the Press' strengths in both books and journals.

"Steve Cohn has been an intellectually committed, smart, and innovative leader of the Duke Press," Lange said. "With his leadership team, he has brought it back from the brink of crisis to a strong financial position while also enhancing its scholarly profile and distinctiveness.  To do this in a period of great turmoil among university presses is testimony to his skills and vision."

Before he was director of the press, Cohn worked at Duke as the Press’s journals manager and as the managing editor of a journal of health policy. He also has taught English at Stanford University, George Peabody College for Teachers, and Durham Technical Institute and has worked in a variety of fields from construction to teaching and counseling problematic children.

Duke University Press publishes nearly 50 scholarly journals and 120 books per year. It is best known for its publications in the humanities and social sciences, but its publications span a range of fields from law to mathematics. Cohn has served on the Board of Directors of AAUP, co-wrote the list that appears on the American Association of University Presses website to encapsulate "The Value of University Presses," and has chaired the association's Scholarly Journals, Admissions and Standards and Library Relations committees.