November 03, 2021
By Alaina Uricheck ’24
Ranking Recognizes SU as ‘Destination School’
Susquehanna’s No. 1 ranking on College Factual’s “Colleges Most Focused on Publishing in the U.S.” list recognizes the university as a “destination school for prospective students who want to major in publishing and editing,” said Laurence Roth, Degenstein professor of English, co-chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing and founder of the publishing and editing major.
Susquehanna is also ranked No. 3 on College Factual’s “Most Popular Publishing Schools” list.
“This recognition indicates the popularity and success of our major, its attractiveness to prospective students and that we have the resources and courses to satisfy their interests and career goals,” Roth said.
Susquehanna’s Department of English and Creative Writing offers several student publications/literary projects that provide students the opportunity for hands-on editing and publishing experience. There are also internship opportunities available to students on campus and at the Blough-Weis Library, as well as remotely at venues like the Santa Fe Writers Project, Her Campus Media and Citizens Climate Lobby. Some of the student publications include Rivercraft, Flagship and Sanctuary.
“Our publishing and editing major places a strong value on student mentoring, experiential learning and an entrepreneurial attitude toward publishing and editing. We also believe that students should be able to do what they came here to study and practice, and do it with the tools that professionals use,” Roth said. “We want to prepare students for the creative media-sphere of the 21st century and that means having the ability not only to make products but also to analyze and critique that sphere with an insider’s knowledge as well as the humanities perspectives that will enable them to understand where media industries have been and where they’re going.”
Many publishing and editing graduates also go on to graduate school, including the esteemed Columbia Publishing Course in the School of Journalism at Columbia University.
“The director of the Columbia Publishing Course, Shaye Areheart, has said Susquehanna students are incredibly well prepared to succeed in Columbia’s program and in the industry,” Roth said. “Since the start of the publishing and editing program, we’ve placed about a dozen students in Columbia’s program and another half dozen or so in other publishing graduate programs around the country.”
Susquehanna is one of a very small number of liberal arts colleges with an expansive publishing and editing program. The minor began in 2012 and the major began in 2015. Since then, alumni have entered all levels of the industry, working as book buyers and booksellers for independent bookstores, in permissions, IT, marketing and book production for trade and educational publishers, and at companies like AfterShock Comics, HarperCollins Publishers, Ross Yoon Literary Agency and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Susquehanna will soon relaunch the SU Press as an entirely student-run operation. The press will provide hands-on experience in publishing and is a collaborative project with the Sigmund Weis School of Business. With this project, our undergraduate publishing program will be the only one in the country affiliated with a business school. More details about the SU Press will be coming in fall 2022.