Virginia Tech Publishing (VTP) is part of the Publishing and Digital Scholarship department of the University Libraries. The team (listed below) works closely with our colleagues in other departments of the Library, primarily the Open Education Initiative (listed below). In addition, our Library Advisory Committee, made up of representatives from across the Library, ensures that VTP remains connected to the wider activities of the Library and the university as a whole.
gcorinne@vt.edu
540-231-4041
Corinne joined the publishing team in April 2017 and has been overseeing Virginia Tech Publishing since June 2023. With a background in Information Science, Digital Humanities, and commercial e-textbook publishing, Corinne enjoys working with faculty and students to create digital publications utilizing a variety of tools and platforms.
Iliana Cosme-Brooks (she/her) joined Virginia Tech Publishing in 2024. Her work is thoroughly interdisciplinary, with an academic background in writing, rhetoric, and digital humanities and open publishing experience across a range of formats and humanities fields. In her work producing open access books at VTP, she collaborates with authors to create dynamic and accessible texts that redefine what scholarship can be.
joeforte@vt.edu
540-231-2677
Joe brings a wealth of media production experience and a background in the interdisciplinary humanities to Virginia Tech Publishing. He is especially interested in alternative modes of publication as they are transforming scholarly communication and instruction. He supports faculty and students who wish to develop media projects as components of their pedagogy, scholarship, or community engagement. Joe also manages the Athenaeum, a suite of rooms in Virginia Tech’s Newman Library dedicated to teaching and research in the Digital Humanities.
kindred@vt.edu
804-339-8055
Kindred Grey joined University Libraries after receiving her B.S. in Statistics and Psychology from Virginia Tech in 2020. Her main focus is publishing open textbooks that are visually appealing, accessible, student oriented, and technologically advanced. She works one-on-one with students and professors to provide project coordination and editorial assistance. Kindred’s contributions have resulted in texts that are accessible to a wider range of readers and visually sophisticated in hopes that the conceptual information in these books is more clear and useful for students.
Dr. Jason A. Higgins is the Digital Scholarship Coordinator for the Humanities with Virginia Tech Publishing and is an assistant professor jointly affiliated with VT University Libraries and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Among his roles with Publishing, he serves as the journals manager. He also coordinates digital humanities projects and provides consultation to faculty, students, and community partners. He is an editor and is the faculty advisor for Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Journal. Currently, he supervises our digital humanities internship program and directs two ongoing oral history projects: with VT alumni who served in the Vietnam War in partnership with the Corps of Cadets; and with descendants of the families enslaved at Smithfield and Solitude plantations in partnership with the More than a Fraction foundation. He teaches the Vietnam War, African American History since 1865, and Oral History. Higgins is the coeditor of Service Denied: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History (UMass Press 2022) and the author of Prisoners after War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration (UMass Press 2024). He earned a Ph.D. in History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master’s in English from Oklahoma State University in 2016.
Emily Hills (she/her) joined Virginia Tech Publishing in 2024. With a GradDip in Publishing (Applied) from Whitireia New Zealand and a background working in scholarly and governmental publishing, Emily is excited to bring her expertise to VTP’s open access scholarly book publications. Her work involves helping authors navigate the publishing process to produce high-quality, rigorous scholarly books. Emily also works with publishing interns and is passionate about creating opportunities for publishing education at Virginia Tech.
Mariam (she/her) joined Virginia Tech Publishing in 2024 as a Digital Scholarship Coordinator. With an interdisciplinary background encompassing journalism, audiovisual creation, graphic design, advocacy, and communication, Mariam is dedicated to integrating diverse mediums and modalities to foster innovative scholarship across campus. Her work also involves supporting and empowering students and faculty to enhance their abilities and confidence in the creative process. Mariam is deeply committed to driving positive social change and community engagement, leveraging new technologies to promote accessibility and amplify impact.
Jesse Sadler joined Virginia Tech Publishing in 2024 as the Digital Humanities Trainer and Project Consultant. He is interested in working at the intersection of Digital Humanities and Data Science, helping students and faculty across the Humanities utilize digital tools and create digital scholarship. He received a Ph.D. in European History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015. He has taught in the History Departments at UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, and Virginia Tech.
Hollis Wittman (she/her) joined Virginia Tech Publishing in 2024 as the Metadata Consultant for the Humanities. Her work centers equity and accessibility within the world of data publication and outreach, with an emphasis on open linked data platforms like Wikidata and Wikibase. She works with projects spanning the humanities, but has a particular focus on electronic concert music, supported by her interest in contemporary music history.
Open Education Initiative Partners
arwalz@vt.edu
540-231-2204
Anita joined the University Libraries in 2013. As the Assistant Director of Open Education and Scholarly Communication Librarian, she is tasked with leading the university community in exploring, finding, creating, adapting, and publicly sharing open educational resources (OER). She manages the Open Education Initiative Faculty Grant program, provides guidance on author rights, intellectual property, open licensing, and rights reversion, and coaches faculty and student author teams. She has served as managing editor of multiple open textbooks and other OER published by Virginia Tech Publishing.