Star of the Week: Sanford Thatcher

Name Sanford G. Thatcher
Title Director Emeritus
Organization Penn State University Press
address 8201 Edgewater Drive, Frisco, TX 75034
phone 214-705-1939
email sandy.thatcher@alumni.princeton.edu
website http://www.psupress.org/news/SandyThatchersWritings.html

Born and lived: Washington, DC 8/4/43 Lived in NE Pennsylvania from age 4 until college

early life: attended Wyoming Seminary (prep school) in Kingston, PA, and Princeton University; took two years of graduate study, in philosophy, at Columbia and then Princeton again

professional career and activities: 22 years at Princeton U.P. (MS Editor, Social Science Editor, Assistant Director, Editor-in-Chief), 1967-1989; 20 years at Penn State U.P. (Director), 1989-2009

family: wife Robin, who has three children, and two children of my own from a previous marriage

in my spare time: masters swimming, jazz/rock drumming, sailing

favorite books: David Copperfield; Brothers Karamazov; Lorna Doone; The Passions and the Interests (Albert O. Hirschman); Personal Destinies (David L. Norton); Greek mythology; Iliad, Odyssey

pet peeves: people who say “less” when they should say “few”

philosophy: sound mind in a sound body (the Greek ideal)

most memorable career achievement: winning the AAUP’s Constituency Award for my work on copyright

goal I hope to achieve five years from now: making it into the Top Ten national ranking in at least one masters swimming event

how/where do I see the industry in five years: moving ever more quickly toward OA (as PDA hastens the death of market-based university press publishing)