Dr. Tangedal Celebrates Second Year At Cornerstone Press
Getting a closer look. Photo courtesy of Dalen Dahl.

Dr. Tangedal Celebrates Second Year At Cornerstone Press

Ross Tangedal is going into his second year of leading the University’s publishing house, Cornerstone Press.

The publishing house, which was established in 1984 and specifically designed to staff students taking English 349: Editing and Publishing, become the only student-run press in the UW-system.

Each student takes on a specific role from editorial to sales, all with the goal of publishing and selling a well-rounded book. Because of its relations to the classroom, a new staff is held every year, a feature Tangedal finds unique and inspiring.

A look at a shelf of books in the library. Photo courtesy of Dalen Dahl.

Tangedal is a professor for the department of English on campus, specializing in American print and publishing culture.

In his first year, he lead the press through the publication of their first book written by an international author. The book, “Meditations of a Beast” by Kristine Ong Muslim, was then featured in The Chicago Book Review’s article of “The Best Poetry Books of 2016” climbing the charts to number 11.

In regard to the past year, Tangedal said, “I’ve learned that students are willing to work hard, take risks and take chances. In my last year, I’ve never seen a more hard working group doing any single thing.”

Tangedal predicted another successful year for the Press. This year they received a total of 50 submitted manuscripts, a 163% increase from last year.

Tangedal is still finding ways to improve the efficiency of the Press.

“We have made a few adjustments to how we select the manuscript, and made adjustments to make the sales team a little bigger,” said Tangedal.

Reflecting on last year, he later said, “Most importantly, [the job] has shown me what I study, working with books on a daily basis, that the making of a book is one of the most intriguing and fascinating processes that we humans do.”

With his appreciation for books continuing to grow, Tangedal is ready to take on the upcoming semester. The Cornerstone Press is set to launch their new book in Dec. 2017.

Those interested in more information and events can find Cornerstone Press on Facebook at uwspcornerstonepress.

Kallie Fowler
Reporter
Kfowl429@uwsp.edu

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