Laurie Matheson has been named Editor-in-Chief of the University of Illinois
Press. Her publishing career began in New York City as an editorial
assistant at Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1984. She joined the University of
Illinois Press in 1996 as an editorial assistant, took her talents to the
marketing department where she was a copywriter, then returned to acquisitions
in 2001, first as an acquisitions editor then senior editor.

Her books have earned rave reviews and have won a long line of awards, including
the Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award from the Association of Black Women
Historians, the Weatherford Award from the Appalachian Studies Association, the
Association for Asian American Studies Best Book Award, and the Association for
Recorded Sound Collections Award for Best Research in Recorded Rock or Popular Music. She received her Doctorate in Music in 1998.

Laurie will continue acquiring in music, labor and women’s history, folklore, and Appalachian studies.

Congratulations, Laurie!