An updated edition of Charles McCarthy's book, "The Wisconsin Idea," will be released at a book launch event by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Cornerstone Press on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Alumni Room of the Dreyfus University Center and is free and open to the public. Speakers will include editors of the new edition as well as experts on the Wisconsin Idea, its meaning and history. Light refreshments will be served.
The event also launches a fundraiser in which donors may purchase the book, add their name and a message and have it distributed to libraries across the state on their behalf.
"The Wisconsin Idea" is the first book in a new Wisconsin Heritage Series by Cornerstone Press, the first student-managed publishing house in the nation and the only one in the UW System.
First published in 1912, the book documents how university faculty influenced and worked with legislators to create state policies and laws. The new edition includes notes, a foreword, afterward and researched annotations by Associate Professor Jeff Snowbarger and Assistant Professor Ross Tangedal of UW-Stevens Point's English Department, with assistance by students Lindsey Bundgaard, Baldwin; Amanda Greenthal, West Allis; Madeline Swanger, Slinger; Monica Swinick, Minneapolis, Minn.; and Rachel Zach, Stevens Point.
"As a student editorial assistant who curated annotations for this edition, I developed an intimate understanding of Wisconsin's history and ascent into the nation's foremost educational and agricultural model," said Swinick.
"These ideas belong to the people of Wisconsin, and this new edition makes them accessible once again," said Snowbarger.
The book represents the Wisconsin Idea, said Tangedal, as it was reprinted in the state on Wisconsin paper by a Wisconsin printer and edited and produced by a state university's student-staffed press. "Cornerstone Press is honored to carry on this legacy," he said.
Established in 1984, Cornerstone Press consists of students in the Editing and Publishing courses offered each semester at UW-Stevens Point. Students have hands-on experiences in all aspects of publishing, from editing to marketing the finished product. It operates with the support of the English Department and College of Letters and Science and is directed and taught by Tangedal. To learn more about Cornerstone Press and its publications, go to www.uwsp.edu/english/cornerstone.
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