Brandeis University Press announced its partnership with the University of Chicago Press on Nov. 12, following the dissolution of the New England Press Consortium, of which Brandeis was a founding member.

All marketing and sales of existing and future titles under the Brandeis University imprint, or published under the University’s name, transferred to the University of Chicago Press on Nov. 12, according to a Nov. 12 BrandeisNOW article. Printing is now directed to its “state of the art” distribution and fullfilment operation, the Chicago Distribution Center. The University is currently searching for a new director to lead the Brandeis University Press.

University Provost Lisa Lynch said the University of Chicago Press is “known for its excellent services to its client publishers and their customers” and that “it will provide visibility to our university’s outstanding publishing program and authors worldwide,” per the press release.

The creation of the Brandeis University Press was part of a larger movement in the late 1960s to create University presses, per a June 26, 1968 New York Times article. Funding of the BUP was established in 1968, according to the University Archives.

The Brandeis University Press publishes scholarly articles and books on politics, culture, history, gender, religion, philosophy, language and literature on its website. BUP is “committed to publishing compelling and innovative approaches to the study of the Jewish experience worldwide,” as well as to “illuminate subjects of all stripes with intelligence, curiosity, and care.”

The BUP, which has published over 300 titles, has produced a number of books which received a variety of awards including the Polonsky Prize of the Hebrew University, National Jewish Book Awards, Baron Prize of the Academy for Jewish Research and Azrieli Institute Prizes for Best Book in Israel Studies, per the press release.

The University was one of the founding members of the New England Press Consortium, which was created in 1970. Though the organization’s membership has fluctuated between 6 and 10 colleges and universities, over the past few years all but Dartmouth College and Brandeis University left the consortium, according to a April 20 article by Inside Higher Ed. 

Dartmouth College staffed the the organization, that published about 60 books each year, per the same article. However, due to financial difficulties and a membership of only two schools, the NEPC became “unsustainable,” Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon said, leading to its dissolution late this year.

 —Natalia Wiater

—Sam Stockbridge contributed reporting.