University Press Names New Director

UNIVERSITY PRESS NAMES NEW DIRECTOR

Stephen Wrinn,
director of University Press

Books that Wrinn has acquired have won awards, including the Washington Post Notable Book of the Year in History, the Herbert Hoover Library Prize for the Best Book in American History, and the Philadelphia Inquirer Book of the Year in Cultural Studies.

March 6, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- Stephen Wrinn has been named director of The University Press of Kentucky. He will serve as the Press' third director since its creation in 1943 and will begin his tenure April 1. He succeeds Kenneth Cherry, who retired from the Press in August 2001, after 23 years of service.

As director, Wrinn will acquire books in history and political science, manage a staff of 22 and a warehouse operation, and serve as the liaison for the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, which supports the publication of books about Kentucky and the Appalachian region. Wrinn most recently was academic publisher at Brassey's, Inc. in Dulles, Va.

Previously, he was vice president of editorial and executive editor for history and political theory at Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in Lanham, Md. In addition to his responsibilities at Rowman & Littlefield, Wrinn was also editorial director for Lexington Books.

Wrinn has worked with a wide range of prominent scholars and public intellectuals during his time at Rowman & Littlefield and Lexington Books, including Jean Bethke Elshtain, Amitai Etzioni, James T. Patterson, Lance Banning, William Kristol and Jonathan Yardley.

Born and raised in Wallingford, Conn., Wrinn earned a bachelor's degree in history at Kenyon College and an advanced degree in history at the University of Vermont. Before pursuing a career in publishing, Wrinn instructed classes in American history at the University of Vermont, Champlain College, and The American University in Washington, D.C.

Wrinn is also the author of a book, "Civil Rights in the Whitest State: Vermont's Perceptions of Civil Rights, 1945-1968," and he has written about the book-publishing industry for The Washington Post. He and his wife, Julie, have a 15-month-old son, Eli.

The University Press of Kentucky publishes about 60 books a year in the fields of history, political science, film studies, Kentucky and Appalachian studies, and folklore, among others. The Press is a consortium that represents Kentucky's eight public universities, five private colleges, and two historical societies.