University of Hawai'i Press announces new Director and Publisher

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Mar 5, 2013

Michael Duckworth
Michael Duckworth
Michael Duckworth has been named the new director and publisher dean of the University of Hawai‘i Press.  His directorship is effective June 1, 2013.
 
Duckworth has been Publisher of Hong Kong University Press since 2009, helping to lift annual new title releases in English and Chinese, while raising the Press’s visibility in many subject areas at academic conferences and trade fairs.  In recent years, Duckworth has initiated expanded involvement with emerging electronic publishing models; increased productivity by adding several new positions in Editorial, Production, and Marketing; and extended fundraising efforts to support heavily illustrated titles in art and architecture.  He served for a year as Associate Publisher starting in early 2008, supervising Humanities acquisitions and managing key series such as TransAsia Screen Cultures, Queer Asia, as well as new efforts in Asian Art, Architecture, Film Studies, Cultural Studies, and Health Sciences.
 
From 1995 to 2008, he served as Acquisitions Editor and later Executive Editor at the University of Washington Press, where he managed lists and developed hundreds of new works in Asian Studies, American Ethnic Studies, Middle East Studies, Jewish Studies, Russian/East European Studies, Architecture, Information Sciences and regional trade books in Natural History.  Duckworth has served as a member of the editorial board (and its precursor, the publications committee) of the Association for Asian Studies since 2000. 
 
Prior to joining scholarly publishing, from 1990‐94 he worked as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal in New York and as a reporter for The Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.  While in New York, he edited features on global politics and commerce, wroteheadlines, indexes, and wire service summaries for the European and Asian editions of The Wall Street Journal based in Brussels and Hong Kong.  As a reporter for The Asian Wall Street Journal in 1991‐92, Duckworth wrote business and cultural features about Hong Kong and China, as well as local news stories.
 
Duckworth obtained his Master’s degree in Journalism and in International and Public Affairs from Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Chinese history and literature from Reed College.
 
Said Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Reed Dasenbrock, “I look forward to working with Michael Duckworth to continue to strengthen UH Press's reputation as a leading publisher of Asian and Pacific Studies.”
 
Added Chancellor Tom Apple, “We are certainly grateful for the strong interest of the outstanding candidates for the position of Director and Publisher of the University Press.  Mr. Duckworth clearly has impressive expertise, academic and administrative experience and strong recognition in the global economic arena, so we enthusiastically welcome his leadership in this new capacity.  Our respect and appreciation also go to William Hamilton, who retired at the end of 2012, for his dedicated service of 25 years as the director and publisher.”
 
For more information about the University Press, see http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu.