Peter Potter honored with emeritus status
Peter Potter, director of publishing services for University Libraries at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of director emeritus of publishing by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The emeritus title may be conferred on retired faculty members who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands in recognition of exemplary service to the university. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive a copy of the resolution and a certificate of appreciation.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2016, Potter’s career in academic publishing spanning nearly four decades, including more than 25 years as editor-in-chief at Penn State University Press and Cornell University Press.
Potter became the first director of publishing services in the University Libraries, and in this role founding Virginia Tech Publishing, the university’s first home-grown scholarly publishing enterprise. While leading the Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) initiative, a five-year pilot project of the Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of University Presses, he helped significantly advance the goal of making humanities and social science scholarship accessible on the internet.
Potter led Virginia Tech’s participation in TOME, through which more than $400,000 in grants were awarded to Virginia Tech faculty, resulting in their books being published in open access editions, thereby increasing their impact while simultaneously enhancing the global reputation of the university.
He contributed to the broader academic community as a speaker at universities and conferences on the future of scholarly publishing.
Potter played an important role in efforts to research and reflect on the history of Virginia Tech in the years leading up to the university’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2021-2022, including serving on the Council on Virginia Tech History from 2017 to 2023 and as chair of the Projects and Products Working Group established in 2018 by the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee, which resulted in numerous publications including two books published by Virginia Tech Publishing: "No Ordinary Moment: Virginia Tech, 150 Years in 150 Images" by Aaron Purcell, et al., and a second edition of "Virginia Tech, Land-grant University, 1872-1997: History of a School, a State, a Nation" by Peter Wallenstein.
Potter received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia.
