by Jessica Fiorillo
November 13, 2023
Happy University Press Week! This week, November 13th–17th, is officially celebrated as University Press week by The Association of University Presses and University Press fans everywhere. The theme for this week’s celebration is #SpeakUp, and this blog post is a part of the UP Week 2023 Blog Tour.
At Harvard Education Press, #SpeakUp defines and drives everything we do. Our mission is to provide the community of teachers, school and district administrators, higher education instructors and administrators, as well as state and federal education policy makers with the knowledge, tools, and information they need to understand and address the educational issues facing our society today and tomorrow.
We know that our schools, students, and educators—at all levels—face enormous challenges. Institutions of learning are microcosms of society and reflect and magnify societal tensions and strains. They can provide early warning signs of tensions to come and can also serve as crucibles for social change.
At Harvard Education Press, we #SpeakUp for the teachers and students striving to overcome the problems in our society by shining a light on them, highlighting the courageous students and educators who are making a difference, and by providing the tools we can all use to start advancing the causes of justice and equity.
Here are a just a few examples of how HEP titles #SpeakUp:
“Whatever It Is, I’m Against it”: #SpeakUp for meaningful change in higher education.
This book is featured on the UP Week 2023 reading list here.
Culturally Responsive School Leadership: #SpeakUp for minoritized students.
Unconscious Bias in Schools: #SpeakUp against the racialized contexts of our schools and society.
Black, Brown, Bruised (2022 PROSE Award Finalist): #SpeakUp for building a better society through addressing discrimination, stereotyping and hostile environments in STEM field.
Bullying and Cyberbullying, Second Edition: #SpeakUp for improving student interactions and combating bullying, aggression and harassment.
Justice on Both Sides: #SpeakUp for addressing inequalities associated with race, class, and gender.
Restorative Resistance in Higher Education: #SpeakUp for challenging unjust structures on college campuses.
Equality or Equity: #SpeakUp for equity for low-income students, students of color, and immigrant students.
Transgender Students in Elementary School: #SpeakUp for the LGBTQ+ community and affirming learning environments.
Education Lead(her)ship: #SpeakUp for women in educational leadership roles.
Am I My Brother’s Keeper? (2022 AESA Critics’ Choice Book Award and a 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title): #SpeakUp for Black and LatinX students.
Teachers of Color (AERA Division K’s 2023 Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education Award): #SpeakUp for teachers of color.
Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions: #SpeakUp for students with special needs.
Click here to learn more about University Press Week. View the 2023 UP Week 2023 gallery and reading list here.
About the Author
Jessica Fiorillo is the Executive Director of Harvard Education Press (HEP). She joined HEP in June of 2022. Her publishing career began in 1996, when she joined the staff of Harcourt College Publishers as a developmental editor. Most recently she directed the STEM publishing program at Oxford University Press. Prior to that she was the Director of Science Publishing at Wiley, and Publisher for the physical sciences at W.H. Freeman/Macmillan publishers. With her extensive background in serving the education community through educational publishing, she is delighted to be at HEP, advancing the mission of providing practitioners and policy makers with the knowledge, tools, and information they need to understand and address the educational issues facing our society today and tomorrow.