A nine-member search committee has been assembled to identify the next director of the Johns Hopkins University Press, a leader who will carry forward the distinctive legacy of the nation's first university press while also guiding it through a moment of significant change for academic publishing.
Stephen Gange, executive vice provost, will chair the committee, made up of individuals from across the university, including many with experience in publishing, scholarship, and libraries. They will seek an accomplished publishing leader to succeed Barbara Kline Pope, who has served as executive director of Hopkins Press since 2017. The university announced in August that Pope would retire from her role, effective Feb. 1, 2027.
"We are grateful for the strong position in which our retiring executive director, Barbara Kline Pope, will leave JHUP, the nation's oldest scholarly press," JHU President Ron Daniels said. "Through this national search, we aim to find a leader who will build on this strong foundation and whose strategic vision will steer the Press into its next chapter as it continues to shape the future of scholarly publishing."
Hopkins Press, founded in 1878, operates a uniquely diverse portfolio of four interconnected publishing businesses. With one of the largest journal programs of any American university press, it publishes 120 journals and manages membership for 27 scholarly and professional associations and societies.
The Press also boasts a leading books division that publishes 120 new books each year and maintains a backlist of more than 3,500 titles, and a division that distributes books for 18 esteemed university presses. Hopkins Press is also home to Project MUSE, a highly trusted and widely used massive online scholarship collection that is the leading provider of digital humanities and social sciences content, and BioOne, a leading nonprofit content aggregator in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
"We need a leader who can anticipate where scholarly publishing is heading and determine where the Press should position itself within that landscape," Interim Provost Lainie Rutkow said. "We're looking for someone who will honor what makes the Press exceptional, strengthen its foundations, and determine what the Press can become over the next generation."
The committee will be aided by Jack Farrell & Associates
