We are thrilled to unveil newly refreshed logos for the University Press of Florida and UF Press! These logos were designed by Mindy Hill, who recently joined the Press as our new book designer (see our staff announcement).

The University Press of Florida logo, which depicts a sun rising over an open book, has been a beloved symbol of our publishing program for many years. For our 80th anniversary we’ve streamlined and modernized this symbol as we look to the future. This logo represents our enduring commitment to publishing works that illuminate paths forward in a variety of academic disciplines and shed light on local and global issues, all from our vantage point as the only university press in the Sunshine State.

UF Press, which was reestablished in 2015 and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, also has a refreshed logo design. This logo features UF’s iconic Century Tower and the orange and blue colors of the school. Many thanks to Mindy Hill for her skillful work reimagining these two logos for the next era of our publishing program.

University Press of Florida invites you to attend its Fall 2025 Publishing Symposium on October 23, 2025. This free virtual event is open to anyone interested in learning about book publishing. This year’s sessions will especially appeal to authors considering publishing a book and students looking for information about careers in publishing. To register for one or more of the three sessions, click the registration links below. 

Understanding Editors 

October 23 | 1:00pm–2:00pm EST 

Authors work with several different types of editors when publishing a book. These roles may include acquisitions editors, series editors, developmental editors, production editors, and copyeditors. This panel brings together speakers representing the types of editors that authors may collaborate with. Each editor will describe their role in the publication process, how they work with authors, and how they strengthen book projects.

Panelists

Stephanye Hunter is editor-in-chief in the Acquisitions Department at the University Press of Florida.  

Joel Correia is assistant professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University and series editor for the Critical Geographies of Latin America and Caribbean series at the University of Florida Press.

Rachel Hynson is a developmental editor and founder of et al. Scholars.   

Marthe Walters is a project editor and manager of the Editorial, Design, and Production Department at the University Press of Florida. 

Billie Smith-Haffener is a freelance copy editor with eleven years of experience in university press publishing. They have a master’s degree in publishing from Pace University and are based in southwest Colorado.

Careers in Publishing

October 23 | 2:30pm–3:30pm EST 

There are many paths to a career in publishing. This panel brings together publishing professionals who have interned at the University Press of Florida to discuss their own career paths and offer perspectives on getting started in publishing. This panel is intended for undergraduate and graduate students and anyone interested in learning about internships and careers in publishing.

Panelists

Jenna Kolesari (moderator) is metadata and exhibits manager at the University Press of Florida. She currently serves as the internship program liaison at the Press and helps to coordinate the hiring and managing of interns across departments. 

Anjelica Fabro is an editorial assistant at the University of Georgia Press. She assists editors with projects from a variety of fields including Black studies, Latin American and Caribbean studies, Southern studies, food studies, literary studies, and history. Anjelica interned in the Acquisitions Department at the University Press of Florida in 2024. 

Andreina Fernandez is acquisitions editor in gender and sexuality studies, American studies, and Latin American and Caribbean studies at the University of North Carolina Press. She holds an MA in women’s studies from the University of Florida. Andreina interned in the acquisitions department at the University Press of Florida in 2020. 

Heather Ha is a marketing associate at Cambridge University Press (CUP). She works within the Cambridge Aspire (Higher Education) team at CUP and is responsible for the Earth & Environmental Science and Language & Linguistics subject areas. Heather interned in the Sales and Marketing Department at the University Press of Florida in 2021. 

Kat Nguyen is the publications editorial coordinator at LibraryPress@UF (LP). She manages the open access journals publishing program and provides editorial support for all LP publications. Kat interned in the Editorial, Design, and Production Department at the University Press of Florida in 2021. 

Publishing Careers Meetup

October 23 | 4:00pm–5:00pm EST

Students interested in exploring careers in publishing are invited to attend this informal networking session. University Press of Florida staff members representing acquisitions, editorial, design, production, and marketing will be available to chat with attendees about their areas of publishing and the day-to-day activities of their roles. If you are planning to attend the panel “Careers in Publishing” from 2:30pm–3:30pm, we hope you will join us for this meetup afterwards.

• Completed transition to Longleaf Services for warehousing and fulfillment, moving approximately 120,000 books to our new warehouse.
• Migrated historical sales and royalty data from The Cat’s Pajamas, the Press’s legacy software, to Longleaf’s cloud-based system, Qlik.
• Began a website redesign which will be unveiled within the next few months.
• Faculty editorial boards approved 55 book projects for future publication.
• Expanded the creative nonfiction list, a new area with synergy with existing subject areas in Florida literature and environmental studies.
• Presented on university press publishing for students and faculty at Florida State University’s School of Dance.
• Hosted a free virtual publishing panel, “Peer Review and You,” emphasizing the critical role of peer review in scholarly publishing. Acquisitions editors discussed the process, ethics, and best practices of peer review as well as current challenges.
• Continued our successful co-publication series with Florida Humanities, supporting Dry Tortugas: Stronghold of Nature by Ian Wilson-Navarro, Of Slash Pines and Manatees: A Highly Selective Field Guide to My Suburban Wilderness by Andrew Furman, and Fort Mose: Colonial America’s Black Fortress of Freedom (second edition) by Kathleen Deagan, Darcie MacMahon, and Jane Landers.
• Upgraded eBook accessibility standards to meet current accessibility guidelines. (For more on our accessibility initiatives, see next section.)
• Saw an 80% increase in the number of accessible eBooks created in-house using the Scribe Well-Formed Document Workflow.
• Began improving accessibility of backlist eBooks and transmitting enhanced accessibility metadata.
• The journal Bioarchaeology International was accepted into the Web of Science Emerging Sources Index.
• The journal Forensic Anthropology launched a special issue on the American Academy of Forensic Sciences 50th anniversary.
• Journal of Military & Political Sociology was accepted into Project Muse collections and will debut in 2026.
• The journal Rhetoric of Health & Medicine was accepted into Scopus and published a well-received special issue on rural health.
• Upgraded our journals platform, Open Journal Systems, to the latest version, improving the submission system and improving DOI registration.

Dear Reader,

2025 is a milestone year for the University Press of Florida as we celebrate our 80th anniversary—and the 10th anniversary of the reestablished UF Press imprint, which launched in 2015 with our journals program and books in select academic disciplines. We’re proud to be marking these occasions and highlighting the many accomplishments of the Press during the year 2024–2025.

This was a year full of standout moments. As always our authors published exceptional work and we were thrilled to see their efforts widely recognized. Record numbers of our books placed in both the Florida Book Awards and the Florida Historical Society awards. Our editorial team hosted a highly successful virtual seminar, Peer Review and You, which drew an enthusiastic audience and will expand into a full-day virtual symposium in Fall 2025 (please join us!).

Our popular student internship program continues to be one of the most rewarding parts of our work. Interns are compensated equitably for their contributions, thanks in part to gifts from friends of the Press. It’s especially gratifying to see so many interns go on to careers in publishing, including at peer university presses across the country. (You can hear some of our former interns speak at our Fall 2025 Publishing Symposium panel “Careers in Publishing.”) They bring fresh insight, energy, and skills to the Press, and their growth is something we take pride in.

This year we worked hard to secure funding for book projects in need of additional support, and we thank the generous donors who have made this possible. We also secured more than $110,000 in support of nearly 20 open access titles and made huge strides toward eBook accessibility. These achievements reflect our deep commitment to public scholarship and to expanding access to knowledge—for our state, our academic communities, and readers around the world.

As you have read through this newsletter, we hope you have shared the sense of pride we feel in these accomplishments and the work that we do. We are looking ahead with excitement. The coming year will bring a new website, our widespread use of our newly refreshed logos, and continued innovation in how we serve our authors, readers, and partners.

Thank you for supporting this important work.

Sincerely,

Romi Gutierrez
Director, University Press of Florida and UF Press

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