
Over the past few months, visitors to the University of Tennessee Press in Hodges Library have noticed some changes. What used to be the paper-filled office of former director Scot Danforth has been cleaned out and renamed the Danforth Room—a space for staff to meet with authors and colleagues, complete with a new coat of powder-blue paint and bookshelves filled with UT Press titles. Meanwhile, the old meeting room, with its window overlooking Volunteer Boulevard, has been converted into an office for the new press director, Katie Hannah.
“I couldn’t bear working without a window,” Hannah says, explaining her decision to move the director’s office. It’s a fitting sentiment for a leader who has brought a new vision to the press’s role as the Volunteer State’s book publisher.
When asked about developments to watch for as the press enters this new chapter, Hannah highlights three priorities. The first is a renewed focus on the press’s most successful subject areas—Appalachian studies, Southern history, African American studies, the Sport and Popular Culture series, vernacular architecture, and the outdoors and Great Smoky Mountains.
Hannah is particularly interested in projects that highlight regional and local stories. “There is so much that is rich in the cultural heritage of this area,” she recently told Knoxville’s WUOT. “That’s something I’d really like to see us coalesce around.” Newly released books like Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present and Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide reflect the press’s East Tennessee roots, and there are several more titles of regional interest in the planning stages.
The second priority Hannah mentions is an effort to deepen the press’s partnerships with UT System members, local arts organizations and museums, and scholarly societies. With recent and upcoming events in venues like the American Museum of Science and Energy, the Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, Union Ave. Books, and the East Tennessee Historical Society, UT Press is already making its presence felt locally. Hannah is taking that momentum across the state and the nation, visiting bookstores and other UT campuses across Tennessee as part of University Press Week in November 2024 and making plans to host the Association of University Presses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show at Hodges Library in April.
Finally, Hannah wants to help UT Press navigate technological developments shaking up the publishing industry and use its open-access imprint, Newfound Press, to engage with UT students.
Mirroring a similar move by other university presses around the country, UT Press recently became a division of UT Libraries, giving it access to the resources that the university has invested in digital library development. Now the press is using those resources to plan the launch of a publishing lab—a program in which UT students could learn the operations of a scholarly press while making UT Press titles more accessible, with the ultimate goal of making Newfound Press entirely student-run.
Under Hannah’s leadership, UT Press is reaffirming its commitment to the stories that shape the cultural fabric of the state and region, while expanding its reach through strategic collaborations and embracing technological advancement. By fostering connections with the communities it serves, UT Press does more than just publish and preserve important scholarship—it paves the way for a new generation of scholars and readers. And while moving the director’s office may seem like a simple change, it represents a fresh perspective and a bright future for UT Press, where tradition meets innovation, and regional stories continue to inspire and resonate on a broader stage.
Recent News
More News- UT Press Publishes "Report Card Nation: The Inside Story of Education Reform Under George W. Bush"
- Thura Mack Receives Excellence in Academic Outreach Award
- Libraries Co-Hosts ‘Great Expectations in Healthcare’ Nursing Conference for K-12 Students
- Jazz Pianist and Composer Donald Brown Premieres New Work Inspired by Libraries' Archives, March 26
- Survey Helps Libraries Improve Services
- Black History Month Exhibit
- Knoxville’s Largest Little Library
- A Library Love Story