Ooligan Press stays the course

Despite a bumpy road, Ooligan keeps its balance

Ooligan Press is a key component of the curriculum in Portland State’s graduate publishing program. Dennis Stovall, who founded the nonprofit, student-run publishing house, coordinated both Ooligan and the publishing program for 10 years; he retired Oct. 1.

Despite a bumpy road, Ooligan keeps its balance

Ooligan Press is a key component of the curriculum in Portland State’s graduate publishing program. Dennis Stovall, who founded the nonprofit, student-run publishing house, coordinated both Ooligan and the publishing program for 10 years; he retired Oct. 1.

Abby Gaterud, interim director of Ooligan Press.
Karl Kuchs / Vanguard Staff
Pressing away: Abby Gaterud, interim director of Ooligan Press.

Since Stovall announced his retirement approximately seven months ago, there has been no search for a permanent replacement. Stovall told Publishers Weekly in March that “[he] thought [his] retirement announcement would precipitate a serious search for a new director, with plenty of time for it, but the administration seems to be taking a different approach.”

Abbey Gaterud, 28, is the interim director of Ooligan Press and the publishing program. She has been with Ooligan since 2006, when she was a student in the graduate publishing program. Gaterud is now the program’s sole full-time faculty member.

Gaterud said that for a short time following Stovall’s announcement, the future of Ooligan Press felt tenuous. Gaterud and others at Ooligan did not perceive that the university felt any urgency about Ooligan’s imminent loss of leadership, and the absence of apparent action by PSU exacerbated concerns for Ooligan’s future.

“At the end of last year,” Gaterud said, “it didn’t feel like we could make any plans.”

This created an awkward situation for Ooligan. “Publishing is an industry in which you have to make plans far ahead of time. Books take a long time to publish,” Gaterud said.

Ooligan has since received assurance from and the English department that the press will live on. Leerom Medovoi, professor and chair of the English department, hopes to begin the search for Stovall’s permanent replacement this winter.

Major transitions within the department and in the college, Medovoi said, are the root cause of the delay. “The publishing program is a remarkable asset to our department and the university,” Medovoi said in an email. “We want to make sure we do this right.”

According to Gaterud, Ooligan Press is unique in the world as a functioning press within a graduate program. “The press belongs to the students,” she said. “It’s their company to run how they see fit.”

Gaterud said despite the uncertainty that followed Stovall’s spring announcement, Ooligan never slowed down. Ooligan Press is a business, and in order to maintain its relevance in a fast-changing industry, Gaterud said, Ooligan must assume a proactive mentality.

“The industry is moving faster than we are,” Gaterud said. “It’s a frantic run to the next step.” Ooligan Press has national and international distribution and focuses on poetry, fiction and non-fiction that have Pacific Northwest appeal. As interim director, Gaterud is responsible for keeping Ooligan aimed in a progressive and competitive direction. Over the next year, she plans to identify new opportunities for Ooligan Press and, in keeping with PSU’s mission, to establish new connections with the community.

Gaterud believes that Portland State’s publishing program, which has produced more than 260 graduates, has had a perceivable impact on the publishing industry. To maintain the program’s relevance, Gaterud’s efforts this year will center on developing curriculum that keeps up with industry changes and technological advances. She wants to create more classes that teach the entrepreneurial side of publishing and the developing digital innovations that affect the industry.

“[This is] the most exciting time for publishing that we’ve come across in a long, long time because the options are endless at the moment,” Gaterud said.

Ooligan Press will foster, and at the same time operate under, somewhere between 80 to 100 students this year. Last year, Ooligan was home to 120 students.

Cory Mimms is new to Ooligan this fall. “I was attracted to the program for a few different reasons, the major one being Ooligan Press,” Mimms said.

Ooligan elevated PSU’s program above other publishing programs that Mimms was considering. “The students pick what titles to publish, do the editing, the marketing and sales and the book design. They manage sections of the press,” Mimms said. “They make all the major decisions about how a manuscript gets published.”

Ooligan will publish three to four books this year and has contracts through 2013.