Celebrating 10 Years of Drexel’s Author Event
February 21, 2022
2022 marks a notable milestone anniversary at the Drexel University Libraries. This year, we commemorate the 10th anniversary of our Celebrating Drexel Authors event, an event launched in 2013 in partnership with the Office of the Provost to cross disciplinary boundaries among the University’s community of authors and strengthen cross campus relationships.
Designed to build community and appreciation for those contributing to scholarship and creative expression, the Celebrating Drexel Authors event has recognized 556 faculty, staff and student authors and editors from every college and school since 2013. It is one way to honor Drexel authors and to extend our recognition of their contributions to advance Drexel as a preeminent research university.
A lot has changed over the last decade. In the beginning, we only recognized book authors and editors during the annual event held solely on campus. In 2017, we began to include journal article authors and dataset authors in the event program, and we committed to offering a virtual option for our faculty, staff, students and their family and friends living outside the Philadelphia area.
Those efforts came in handy in 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the move to all virtual teaching, learning and events at Drexel and around the world. For the last two years, the Libraries hosted all its events—including the Celebrating Drexel Authors event—online via Zoom.
While the virtual events were generally successful—78 attended in 2020 and 61 in 2021—we’ve missed the serendipitous conversations that happen when we gather together in the same physical space—holding those conversations that ultimately help strengthen campus community.
After two years of virtual-only events, the Celebrating Drexel Authors event will return to campus in 2022. We are still finalizing an event date and location and hope to host a very special 10th anniversary celebration that adheres to current COVID health and safety protocols.
“For two years we have missed, by necessity, much of the sheer joy of celebrating together on campus our colleagues and their published works,” said Danuta A. Nitecki, Dean of Libraries. “I am excited to support the Provost’s desire to return to on-campus celebrations as we once again reflect on a core academic activity and source of institutional pride: Drexel-based publications and the faculty, staff and student authors and editors who created them.”
Details about the 2022 event will be announced over the coming weeks. For more information about the Celebrating Drexel Authors event or to submit your citation information, visit our website.