The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) celebrated the achievements of seven individuals for their invaluable contributions to SSP and scholarly communication at our much-anticipated 46th Annual Meeting, held in Boston at the end of May. As part of the awards ceremony, Miranda Walker, SSP 2022-2023 Past President and Chair of the Nominating and Awards Committee, emphasized the thoughtfulness, care, and in-depth consideration that led SSP to recognize the following members for their time, leadership, and expertise.
Appreciation Award
The SSP Appreciation Award acknowledges the noteworthy contributions of one or more members who have significantly benefited SSP and the scholarly communication field within a short period of fewer than three years.
Patti Davis (Springer Nature Group) and Jeff Mahony (American Academy of Pediatrics) for their work on the Training Task Force, including the OA Workshop, Copyright Workshop, and the Journals Academy, which has been pivotal in achieving SSP’s strategic objectives and will have a lasting positive impact on our community.
Julia Dolinger (Taylor & Francis Group) for producing the Early Career Development Podcast, whose impactful episodes have supported every career stage, engaged the global community and developed new content and services.
Emerging Leader Award
Established in 2012, the Emerging Leader Award recognizes an SSP member working in scholarly communication for ten years or less. The award celebrates individuals who demonstrate service through contributions to an SSP committee or task force, and innovative contributions to their respective fields.
The following emerging leaders were honored:
Katherine Lavallee is a publisher at Oxford University Press, responsible for a portfolio of society-owned medical journals. She has served as a co-chair with Rebecca Benner of the Early Career Subcommittee (ESC). She set an ambitious agenda for the subcommittee, holding people accountable through positive communication while also going above and beyond herself. She played key roles in launching the “Early Career Chew” Newsletter, serving as liaison with the Council of Science Editors, and leading the Profiles project, which seeks to build a collection of profiles that discuss career paths and interests and highlight early career members of SSP. In addition, Kate is a proud alumni of the SSP Fellowship program.
Camille Lemieux is the Manager of Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Data Projects for Springer Nature Group. She joined Springer in 2022, where she sets and monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) for the publisher’s internal DEI programs and conducts evaluations to gauge program efficacy. She is an active member of the DEIA committee and volunteered to help C4DISC in writing, monitoring, interpreting, and presenting the results of the Workplace Ethics Survey.
Jessica Slater is a Research & Data Analyst at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Starting out as an Executive Assistant, she began helping with research and data analysis, providing key insights for the teams she supported within AAAS, and ultimately, the new role of Research and Data Analyst was created for Jessie to further enable her to take on this important work. Jessie is a strong advocate for DEIA in scholarly communications and is especially active in the accessibility space, leveraging her own experiences as a person with disabilities to highlight and dismantle inequitable practices in publishing and the community. In particular, as a member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, Jessie has worked hard to ensure better outcomes for both virtual and in-person meeting attendees at this year’s meeting.
Distinguished Service Award
This award is given to a member for their extended work on behalf of SSP and scholarly communication.
This year, Jennifer Pesanelli received this prestigious honor for her dedication to SSP and scholarly publishing since 2001, serving on multiple committees and task forces including the Board of Directors from 2015 to 2017 and as President from 2017 to 2018. Jennifer is the Executive Officer of the Biophysical Society (BPS), a scientific member organization with robust meetings, publications, and professional development programs. Before joining BPS, Jennifer was the Deputy Executive Director for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), where she worked with multiple member and client societies and oversaw FASEB programs and operations. Jennifer is passionate about scholarly publishing and has worked on dozens of scientific journals.
Melanie Dolechek, Executive Director of SSP, expressed her deep appreciation for the winners’ tireless efforts, highlighting their crucial role in making SSP a remarkable organization. “It’s an honor to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our members. Together, we continue to inspire and elevate each other to new heights.”
Additional congratulations to Sage Policy Profiles for winning the Previews Presentation People’s Choice Award for Best Innovation!
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2024 SSP award recipients and express profound gratitude for their unwavering commitment to SSP and the advancement of scholarly publishing.
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