18 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020
T
he annual Association
for Jewish Studies
Conference for academic
publishers took place Dec. 13-17.
For Wayne State University
Press, one of the biggest national
publishers of Jewish Studies aca-
demic books, quite
a lot has changed
since last year’s
display.
Most significant-
ly, the Press has
welcomed a new
director, Stephanie
Williams, who started her job
in August and moved to Detroit
at the end of October. Williams
comes to the role from her
previous position as director of
Ohio University Press in Athens,
Ohio, and has more than two
decades of experience in mul-
tiple directing and marketing/
promotions roles across both
academic and mass-market pub-
lishing.
Williams is planning to stick
with WSU Press for quite a
while — she even bought her
first house, in Ferndale. “I love
it here,
” she said. “This is a staff
that is very unique in its gender,
in its diversity, in its longevity.
”
But her tenure follows a
brief span of public turmoil at
the Press. In February, several
senior staff including Editor-
in-Chief Annie Martin were
abruptly fired, then rehired less
than two weeks later following a
groundswell of outrage from the
academic publishing communi-
ty and the Press’ own editorial
board.
During this time, the Press’
previous interim director
Kathryn Wildfong came out
of retirement to become inter-
im director once more and
rehired the fired staff. Wildfong
remained in the role until
Williams was hired in August.
Little public explanation was
given for the actions, and the
university declined to comment
to the JN about them. But the
chain of command at the Press
did change during this time.
Before the firings, the Press
reported to the dean of the
University Library System and
School of Information Sciences.
Since then, the Press has report-
ed to Michael Wright, chief of
staff for WSU President M. Roy
Wilson.
These incidents were previ-
ously covered in the Jewish News
in February; our past coverage
is accessible on our website, the-
jewishnews.com.
Speaking to the Jewish News
shortly before the Jewish Studies
conference began, Williams reit-
erated the Press’ commitment
to Jewish Studies publishing and
addressed the behind-the-scenes
struggles.
She said she was initially in
the running for the director job
in 2019, but that “I had seen
and heard some things that had
kind of indicated there was a
problem” in the workplace. She
withdrew her name from the
running, but re-applied to the
job in summer 2020, once the
dust had cleared around the
staffing upheavals.
Williams said the earlier
debacle was due to “people who
Stephanie Williams discusses staf
upheavals and Jewish publishing.
ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR
New WSU Press Director Sees
‘Position to Succeed’
The staff of WSU Press. FRONT ROW: DeLisa Gaye Fields, Administrative Assistant II; Emily Nowak, Marketing and Sales Manager; Kristina Stonehill, Promotions
Manager SECOND ROW: Stephanie Williams, Director; Aaron Hearn, Assistant Storekeeper; Tyeresa Stevenson, Business Manager LAST ROW: Kristin Harpster,
Editorial, Design, and Production Manager; Marie Sweetman, Acquisitions Editor; Jamie Jones, Advertising and Exhibits Manager; Todd Richards, Warehouse
Manager; Annie Martin, Editor-in-Chief; Julie Warheit, Journals Manager; Theresa Martinelli, Order Fulfillment Manager MISSING FROM PHOTO: Carrie Downes
Teefey, Senior Production Editor and Reprints Manager.
IN
THED
JEWS
Stephanie
Williams