Vicky Wells receives 2012 AAUP Constituency Award

We are very happy to share the news that UNC Press director of contracts and subsidiary rights Vicky Wells was presented with the AAUP 2012 Constituency Award at the annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses last week in Chicago. The AAUP, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, is comprised of 134 nonprofit scholarly presses. The award ceremony was particularly special for Vicky because it happened on her birthday and in the city where she was born and raised.

From the AAUP:

The Constituency Award is presented annually to a press staff member who “has demonstrated active leadership and service to the association and the university press community.” Vicky Wells, Director of Contracts and Subsidiary Rights at the University of North Carolina Press, was honored by her colleagues at the Tuesday luncheon banquet in Chicago.

In nominating Vicky, AAUP members noted her dedication and effort on behalf of the AAUP Copyright Committee on which she has served for many years, including several terms as chair. She was instrumental in the development of the AAUP Permission FAQs (PDF) and has been indefatigably generous in sharing her knowledge and experience of rights negotiations, online piracy, and permissions conundrums with all of AAUP.

Vicky, who has been with UNC Press for 18 years, also established the Rights and Permissions listserve for AAUP members, an essential tool that allows AAUP employees working solo at their presses to connect and benefit from one another’s expertise. She regularly hosts and serves on panels at the annual AAUP conference and has hosted several workshops as well, including the “Rights and Permissions in a Digital Marketplace” workshop at the 2009 AAUP conference in Philadelphia. We’re honored to have Vicky here with us and grateful for her service to both UNC Press and the AAUP.

Congratulations, Vicky, on this well-deserved recognition from your industry colleagues.

Update, 6/29/12: Here’s the AAUP press release about Vicky’s award.