Meliora Press: A New Imprint of University of Rochester Press

A new imprint of the University of Rochester Press--called Meliora Press, taking its name from the University motto ("always better")--has been created for the publication of books of particular interest to the University and local communities. The imprint's first title is a history of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering by Professor Emeritus Edward Kinnen.

"Meliora Press will serve a complementary role to our longer-standing activities at the University of Rochester Press," said Brian Thompson, provost emeritus and chairman of the University of Rochester Press Board. "While we will edit and produce these works with the same high level of quality, Meliora Press will be a 'niche' for topics primarily of University and local interest."

Thompson noted that Kinnen's book, titled Resonance: Electrical Engineering at the University of Rochester, is "an excellent example of the titles we will see from Meliora Press over the coming years."

Kinnen's book is a detailed history of the department from its establishment in 1958 to the present day. Kinnen chronicles the appointment of faculty, their evolving research interests, and some of the more prominent inventions and patents by department faculty. A postscript pays tribute to an undergraduate in the department, Zhe Zeng '95, who lost his life in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

With the department nearing its half-century mark, Kinnen's history is "both timely and important," said Dean of Engineering Kevin Parker in his foreword, noting that the department has "launched many new ideas, concepts, and technologies that have changed the shape of the modern world."

Another title being published by Meliora Press is a biography of the late Paul Yu, a distinguished cardiologist and University faculty member, by Professor of Medicine Jules Cohen. Several other books on University programs are also in the works. In addition to program and departmental histories, works focusing on topics reflecting University library holdings and subjects of Rochester-area interest will be considered.

University of Rochester Press, founded in 1989, publishes 20 to 30 books a year by scholars throughout the world, with titles in a variety of fields, including musical theory and history, African studies, the history of medicine, the history of ideas, philosophy, film and photography, and religion and ethics. The press was launched with the Library of the History of Ideas series, and currently includes Eastman Studies in Music, Library of the History of Ideas, Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora, Rochester Studies in Medical History, and Rochester Studies in Philosophy, among others.