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