UNC System BOG Appoints A&T Professor to UNC Press BOG

The UNC System Board of Governors appointed a North Carolina A&T professor as a new member of the UNC Press Board of Governors at its September 17 meeting.

In that role, Dr. Kim Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism, will participate in the process of reviewing and approving books and other scholarship for publication by the UNC Press.

Founded in 1922, the UNC Press was the first university press in the South. Its books have won hundreds of prestigious prizes, including the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, in addition to those administered by national scholarly societies.

The UNC Press was one of the first scholarly publishers to publish books by and about African Americans. By 1950, nearly 100 such volumes had appeared under its imprint, including famed historian John Hope Franklin’s first book: The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790-1860, published in 1943.

In the 1970s, the UNC Press recognized women and gender studies as areas in need of a scholarly publisher. Studies about Native American and indigenous studies are now a focus. The Press also seeks authoritative works on all things Southern, including cultural history, music, food, literature, geography, and nature. 

Dr. Smith’s term on the board runs through June 2025. The award-winning journalist-turned professor has authored or co-authored published articles and presented papers on African-American students’ use of social media, cybermourning and the parasocial relationships that comedian Robin Williams had with some of his fans, and the 100th anniversary of the A&T Register newspaper that is, perhaps, the oldest student newspaper at a Historically Black college that is still in publication.

###