Tara Reeser appointed interim director of WSU Press

Tara Reeser has been appointed interim director of Wayne State University Press, effective immediately.

Reeser served as Journals Manager at WSU Press and replaces Kathyrn Wildfong, who recently retired after a two-year term as the interim director of the Press.

Reeser came to Wayne State in 2016 to oversee the journals program at the Press. Previous to her role at Wayne State, she spent 15 years as the director of a contemporary publishing center at Illinois State University (ISU) and associate director of the ISU Unit for Contemporary Literature.

While at ISU, she founded the Professional Speaker Series and PUB.UNIT Presents series in publishing and also taught classes in creative writing and publishing studies at ISU and Purdue University. She has served as a board member and acquiring editor for several nonprofit presses, associate editor for Spoon River Poetry Review, editor for American Book Review, a grant panelist for the Illinois Arts Council, and as an arts lobbyist with the Illinois Arts Alliance. She currently serves as the advisory editor for Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and on the board of co-im-press.

Reeser has a degree from Ohio University in journalism with a specialization in gender studies and a Master’s degree from Illinois State University in English Studies with a specialization in creative writing.

“I look forward to working with all those involved in supporting the Press as a vibrant cultural institution of Detroit.”