UC Press to ramp up California studies
A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is helping UC Press launch a major California studies initiative that will include a journal, annual conference and enhanced online publishing opportunities for scholars.
"The relations between California and the larger world constitute subjects of compelling importance not only for scholars but for the public at large," said Louis Warren, a professor of Western U.S. History at UC Davis and a member of the UC California Studies Consortium steering committee.
The consortium is a collaborative research institute based at UC Irvine with scholars from across the UC system participating. It is part of the UC Office of the President's Humanities Research Institute. The institute and the California Digital Library will partner with UC Press to launch the peer-reviewed journal, which will be published in both print and digital format. Researchers will also be able to publish works in progress and to invite comments online.
An annual conference will further promote the work of the California Studies Initiative. Since the rest of the world often looks to the state as a leader in public policy and cultural trends, the initiative aims to broaden the distribution of California studies knowledge to policymakers outside of the academic world and to a global public arena.