UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Press Director Patrick Alexander has been at the helm of Penn State’s scholarly publishing division since July 2009. He has announced his retirement from the University effective Jan. 2, 2024, concluding a 40-year publishing career that includes more than 25 years in academic publishing and nearly 14 years at the University Press.
“Patrick has been a tireless advocate for the Press — its staff as well as its publishing programs. Indeed, that advocacy extends to the entirety of the University Press community,” said Faye A. Chadwell, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications. “We are thankful for his dedication and leadership and the experience and insights he brought to our conversations about the future of publishing, the status of university presses, and the nature of scholarly communication and open access publishing.”
Alexander joined Penn State in March 2007 as associate director and editor-in-chief of the Press, and as the co-director of Penn State University Libraries’ Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing. Highlights of Alexander's leadership and his commitment to the Press’s mission and advancement include:
- The acquisition of the commercial publisher Eisenbrauns, an imprint focused on Ancient Near East and biblical studies.
- Establishing the journals department and growing the list of journals from 11 to more than 80, including journals owned or affiliated with more than 50 scholarly organizations, societies or university departments.
- Formalizing how the Press works with the University’s Editorial Committee.
- Ramping-up the Press’ e-book program.
- Expanding the international impact of the Press, including two successful partnerships in China and Germany.
- Launching PSU Press Unlocked, an open-access platform featuring more than 70 books and journals.
He developed strong relationships between the Press and other University units. He and his staff also have heightened the visibility of the Press as a strategic fundraising priority for the University Libraries. During his tenure as director, the Press received an anonymous gift to establish the Penn State University Press Academic Publishing Internship Endowment to support its remarkably successful internship program.
“Being the director of Penn State University Press for the past 14 years has been an honor. I have had the opportunity to learn from and work with an incredibly dedicated and talented staff who take seriously the mission and purpose of a university press. The leadership team at the Press has been incredibly supportive and collaborative, and the entire Press has always faced those challenges that almost all university presses face with resourcefulness and integrity,” Alexander said. “Working at Penn State has been an outstanding close to my career of 40 years in publishing.”
Alexander’s academic publishing experience includes working for Walter de Grutyer (Berlin/New York), Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden/Boston), and Hendrickson Publishers (Peabody, Massachusetts). He actively participated in industry-related events and leadership opportunities, such as the Charleston Library Conference and the Association of University Presses, having served on its board of directors. Most recently he served on the executive board for the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (U.K.) and as an ALPS council member and its board liaison for the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing.
Among other contributions to his field, Alexander also served as a member of advisory boards for Project Muse, Purdue University Press, the International Catacomb Society, and Qatar University Press, and as a member of the editorial board for SPARC’s (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) campus-based publishing initiative.
As the Penn State institutional representative to the multi-organizational AAU/ARL/AAUP/ALGPU working group, he contributed to the Subvention-Funded Digital Monograph Publishing Initiative (TOME).
Alexander also has authored multiple articles focused on issues of scholarly publishing, particularly peer-review and marketing of scholarly works. These publications are balanced with the many years he has conducted workshops on scholarly communication, writing and academic publishing. His most recent publication is an article on open access contributed to the Author’s Handbook to Academic Publishing.