University of Central Arkansas Press (UCA Press)

The University of Central Arkansas Press (UCA Press) was a not-for-profit academic press that operated under the umbrella of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway (Faulkner County) under the direction of Dr. Robert Lowrey from 1985 to 1996.

The seed for the UCA Press was planted in 1984 when Lowrey was the editor of Publications of the Arkansas Philological Association and was able to put together enough funding to publish specifically on the scholarship of one modern American writer. Lowrey partnered with Jeff Henderson at UCA to produce a special volume on the works of John Gardner. Lowrey sent out a call for papers, a panel of experts was created, protocols were established, and then the submissions came rolling in. The number of submissions for the Gardner volume indicated that they would be best compiled in a book, sparking the need for a press to publish it.

Lowrey obtained permission from the UCA administration to establish the UCA Press. The mission of the press was threefold: to acquire and publish the best scholarly manuscripts available, the best manuscripts available on Arkansas culture, and selected creative writing that, in the opinions of the editors and the faculty board, supplemented or enhanced the university’s various community missions. The first title published by the press was Thor’s Hammer: Essays on John Gardner.

The UCA Press’s editorial process consisted of five steps: initial evaluation, expert review, reader recommendations, copyediting, and file and book jacket design. After the initial evaluation of the submitted manuscript by the acquisitions editor and the director of the press, two or three experts on the subject of the manuscript reviewed it. If the manuscript received two reader recommendations, the project was then proposed to the UCA Faculty Board. Proposals included marketing and budget plans for the project.

The UCA Press worked with the Faculty Press Board, which was appointed by the Faculty Senate and comprised faculty members from UCA’s four colleges, with each member serving a three-year term. The Faculty Press Board met two to three times per year depending on the number of publishing recommendations from the UCA Press staff. After receiving approval, the manuscript was copyedited. Lastly, the manuscript file and book jacket were designed and the manuscript was made ready for publication. The press published a number of journals, too, including Slant: A Journal of Poetry.

A 1992 request for action stated that “for some years the UCA Press has had a ‘co publishing’ arrangement with the University Publishing Associates (UPA) in Lanham, Maryland.” Under this arrangement, the UCA Press would acquire, edit, and typeset the manuscripts and the UPA would produce, market, and distribute the books.

The UCA Press encountered two major challenges that would prove to be insurmountable: space on the UCA campus and resources. In 1985, Lowrey requested that the press be housed on the third floor of McAlister Hall, in the south wing; this request was not granted. By 1992, the press was not an official part of the university and did not have a permanent building space. In the summer of 1993, the press was operating out of the third floor of UCA’s Torreyson Library; this proved to be an unfit location due to the large quantity of books that needed to be housed there. Proposed locations for the press included a small house on Bruce Street, the first floor of Old Main, and the first and second floors of Meadors Hall. The 1992 annual report of the press stated that for the press to succeed, it needed to “have a realistic position in the management chain,…work space appropriate to its operations, and…a full-time professional staff capable of acquiring, editing, and producing the best manuscript it can acquire.”

On July 26, 1995, the UCA Press announced that it would no longer be accepting projects for publication, and on May 1, 1996, it returned copyright for manuscripts it had published to the authors. Authors were given the first option to buy the remaining stock of their books held by the press; any remaining books were to be donated to the United States Information Service and then to Torreyson Library and other Arkansas public libraries. The 1995–96 academic year was the last year of operation for the press.

For additional information:
UCA Press Records, University of Central Arkansas Archives, Torreyson Library. University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uca.edu/archives/m97-01-uca-press-records-collection/ (accessed November 27, 2024).

Phoenix Smithey
University of Central Arkansas