UTEP Relaunches University Press
Print-on-demand press will focus on new books and Texas Western Press classics
New annual book prizes offer $10,000 for winning original manuscripts
Eight books scheduled for publication in 2025-26 academic year
EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 14, 2025) — The University of Texas at El Paso announced this week that it is relaunching its university press after being inactive for nearly 20 years. A slate of new books and republished classics are scheduled to be published in the 2025-26 academic year.
The relaunched press will be named UTEP Press, publishing a wide variety of popular and academic books. UTEP Press will also continue the specialty imprint, Texas Western Press, which will focus on Southwest and Borderlands topics and other books from its historic catalog. The last book to be published by Texas Western Press was ‘José Cisneros: Immigrant Artist’ by Adair Margo and Leanne Hedrick in 2006.
UTEP Press will use modern print-on-demand and ebook technology from book distribution partners Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also, for the first time, UTEP will make certain titles available in audiobook format on platforms including Audible and Apple Books.
“An important core of the UTEP mission is the creation and dissemination of knowledge,” said Lucas Roebuck, UTEP’s vice president for marketing and communications and UTEP Press publisher. “Amazon’s print-on-demand publishing means we can make high-quality paperbacks and hardbacks available to people around the world with almost none of the legacy overhead costs that forced many presses to go out of business.”
Roebuck said that while most readers still love paper copies, nearly one in four books sold today are in electronic format.
“We’re excited to be able to offer UTEP Press and Texas Western Press books in many ebook formats, including Kindle, Nook and Apple Books,” Roebuck said. “Electronic format offers low-cost and sometimes no-cost options, making our titles more accessible than ever before.”
Two New Book Prizes Offered
To kick off the relaunch, UTEP Press will award two $10,000 book stipends for new books to be published by the press.
The Texas Western Fellowship Award will be given for a book to be published under the Texas Western Press imprint.
“We are looking for a new, fresh book that captures the Southwest/borderlands experience, similar to the legacy titles from the original Texas Western Press and its Southwestern Studies series,” said UTEP Press Managing Editor Jenn Crawford. “There is no specific restriction on style – we want a title that will engage readers who care about this genre.”
The UTEP Discovery Fellowship Award will be given for a book that best fulfills UTEP’s mission to disseminate positive discovery and research that impacts UTEP’s community and the world. There is no prescribed book format or style, but the title must be accessible to a popular audience.
To be considered for one of the two awards, authors should submit a book proposal that includes: a summary (300-500 words) of the book idea, target audience, proposed length and projected manuscript completion date, as well as a summary of each chapter (50 words each). Submitting sample chapters with the proposal is encouraged but not required. Send submissions to press@utep.edu. There is no deadline for submission, but priority consideration will be given to authors who submit in August. Anyone may submit a book proposal, but UTEP Press will give preference to submissions from UTEP faculty, staff, alumni and students. Send questions to press@utep.edu.
UTEP Press 2025-26 Release Schedule
UTEP Press intends to release eight books during the 2025-26 academic year.
All books will be available in print on demand and in ebook format. Select books from the historic Texas Western Press Southwestern Studies series will also be available as a free download in PDF format.
| Release Date | Title | Author |
| September 2025 | Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership | Heather Wilson and Dave Goldfein |
| November 2025 | Epidemic in the Southwest: 1918-1919 | Bradford Luckingham |
| January 2026 | Ben Dowell: El Paso’s First Mayor | Nancy Hamilton |
| February 2026 | The Carvajal Family: The Jews and the Inquisition in New Spain in the Sixteenth Century | Alfonso Toro |
| March 2026 | The Struggle for Sobriety: Protestants and Prohibition in Texas 1919-1935 | Jeanne Bozell McCarty |
| April 2026 | Home Country: An Elroy Bode Reader | Elroy Bode |
| May 2026 | The Mexican Republic: 1847 | Dennis E. Berge |
| July 2026 | Anti-Slavery in the Southwest: William G. Kephardt’s Mission to New Mexico: 1850-53 | Lawrence R. Murphy |
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 25,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 171 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America
Last Updated on August 14, 2025 at 12:00 AM | Originally published August 14, 2025
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
