The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) 44th Annual Meeting, June 1-3, at the wonderful Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, was a chance to reconnect with familiar faces, meet new colleagues, share, and learn over the course of a few days. For most attendees, it was their first in-person publishing conference since the COVID-19 pandemic; for many younger professionals, it was the first publishing conference of their careers.
It was wonderful to see so many GW Publishing alumni at the conference; recent graduates who are just beginning to make their mark in publishing, and others who are reaching the highest levels of the profession.
2022 MPS in Publishing graduates Ashley Warren, Marketing Communications Manager at Sage Publishing, Danielle Galian, Editor at Wiley, presented for the first time at a major conference, along with Randy Townsend, Director of Publishing Operations at PLOS and adjunct faculty in GW Publishing, and John W. Warren, Director and Associate Professor of GW Publishing, on Strategic Management—Of Your Career.
In this interactive session, we explored the use of strategic planning principles for your personal career, to provide direction, clarity, and focus that can ultimately lead to a more successful career. We explored principles of strategic planning, goal setting, prioritization, and more toward personal career development, and participants worked in two activities to define personal, career-focused values and strategic priorities.
Ashley Warren, who is beginning a promising publishing career at Sage, moderated a session, Connect With Confidence: Tools for Early Career Professionals, with Sarah Andrus, Marianne Calilhanna, Emily Davies, Rachel E. Scott, Qiana Johnson, and Whitney Rauenhorst.
Randy Townsend was celebrated at the SSP Awards luncheon as President-Elect; he will become SSP President at next year’s conference. He also spoke at a session moderated by Bill Kasdorf, “Back to the Future” of Digital-First Publishing: Where We Are and Where We Are Going, with Brian Cody and Charles O’Connor.
GW Publishing alumnus Andrea Hoffman, Chief Delivery Officer of publishing start-up Hum, and 2022 graduate Katherine McClure, Publisher Sales Representative for Rittenhouse, were in the In the SSP Exhibit Hall, representing their organizations to SSP members and attendees.
2021 MPS in Publishing graduate Kristine S. Krebs, Managing Editor, American Society for Microbiology, stayed busy at the conference with activities surrounding her participation in the SSP Fellowship Program for 2022.
On Thursday of the conference, we gathered on a beautiful early evening, meeting by the Chicago River for refreshments after a long day of conferencing. Thanks Jennifer Chiacchiaro, Randy Townsend MPS, Danielle Galian, MPS, Katherine McClure, Ashley Warren, Willa Liburd Tavernier, Ryan Reeh, Jon Gurstelle, and Andrew Bostjancic for a great evening.
Can’t wait until next time; the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) annual meeting is coming up in just over a week, in Washington, DC, where again we’ll reconnect in person with many of our faculty and alumni.
