The University Press of Kansas is a publisher located in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

. Operated by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, it represents the six state universities in the US state of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. E ...

Fort Hays State University Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is a public university in Hays, Kansas, United States. It is the largest university in western Kansas, and the fourth largest of the six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, with a total ...

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

(K-State),

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regen ...

, the

(KU), and

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. The press was established in 1946, with major reorganizations in 1967 and 1976. Today, it operates as a consortium with representation from each of the participating universities. It is currently located on the west portion of the KU campus. The University Press of Kansas is currently a member of the

Association of University Presses The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is an association of nonprofit, mostly, but not exclusively, North American university presses. It is based in New York City. Until December 2017, it was known as the Association of American Univ ...

and has been since 1946.

History

The University Press of Kansas largely publishes works that explore American politics (including the presidency, American political thought, and public policy), military history, American history (especially political, cultural, intellectual, and western), environmental policy, American studies, film studies, law and legal history, Indigenous studies, Kansas, and the Midwest. The press's specialty areas were cultivated in 1981, when then-director Fred Woodward noticed that, aside from a successful series on the US presidents, the press had published few works about political science. Woodward subsequently decided to focus on building a list of publications that explored the politics of the United States. In 2021, leadership of the press was incorporated into the responsibilities of the dean of the University of Kansas Libraries, a position then held by Kevin Smith. In 2022, Mike Haddock, the associate dean for research, education and engagement at K-State Libraries, was appointed interim director of the press following Smith's departure from KU Libraries.

Kansas Open Books initiative

The University Press of Kansas's "Kansas Open Books" initiative is project aimed at scanning out-of-print UPK books and offer them for free download. The project is funded by the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

and the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Publications

Major

book series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

published by the University Press of Kansas include: * "American Political Thought" * " American Presidential Elections" * "American Presidency" * "Civil Military Relations" * "Congressional Leaders" * "Constitutional Thinking" * "CultureAmerica" * "Environment and Society" * "Kansas Nature Guides" * " Landmark Law Cases and American Society" * "Modern First Ladies" * "Modern War Studies" * "Rethinking Careers, Rethinking Academia" * "Studies in Government and Public Policy" * "

US Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

Guides to

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Battles"

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Kansas Open Books Initiative
Publishing companies established in 1946