Dr. Robert Rhodes, provost of ACU, announced last Monday that ACU Press will be reorganized as a part of the Brown Library. The Press staff will be relocated to the south side of the Adams Center at the main entrance to the library.
“The ACU Press staff is looking forward to the upcoming changes and opportunities,” said Duane Anderson, interim director of the Press. “Being centrally located with a new focus from the administration will hopefully raise the awareness here on campus of what ACU Press does and how it benefits the university.”
Anderson, also the director of sales and operations for the Press, said the design for the future space has yet to be finalized.
Additionally, Rhodes announced plans to create a new executive board for the Press comprised of faculty, staff and alumni. Anderson said Dr. Weaver, dean of library services and educational technology, and the Press’s future director will serve on the board with other members to be named soon.
Rhodes also appointed Dr. Darryl Tippens, university distinguished scholar of faith, learning and literature, to serve as the interim academic acquisitions editor for the Press. His new job as acquisitions director entails searching for and subsequently reviewing, critiquing and evaluating new material.
Tippens, former provost of Pepperdine University, believes his extensive background in research, teaching, writing and publishing will be advantageous in his new position because of his unique perspective. He also says he’s enthusiastic about the new challenges of his position.
“It’s requiring me to do some new things that I don’t typically do,” Tippens said. “It also, I think, gives me an opportunity to help my colleagues of the university come to know the press better and appreciate what it’s doing. I think, in some ways, (the press) is a hidden gem in the university.”
Tippens also considers merging the library and press as a practical move by ACU. The purpose of a library, he said, has now expanded past simply keeping books on shelves and now promotes, like the press, the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
