Trinity University Press, the publishing arm of the San Antonio, Tex. liberal arts college, will close its doors in December 2026.
Trinity UP staff were notified of the plan by provost and VP for academic affairs Megan Mustain on September 17. Mustain’s message, obtained by PW, cited ballooning costs and the “strategic needs of the university” as the reasons for the closure.
The press is run by director Thomas Payton, and employs six additional staff members, per its website. In her statement, Mustain said the college was working with press staff, who she called a “top priority,” to start the sunsetting process, “beginning with a halt to new acquisitions... and assisting authors in the pipeline with transitioning their book projects to other publishers.” Mustain added that the press would prioritize finishing current projects.
Originally founded in 1967 and revived in 2002 by an endowment grant from the Ewing Halsell Foundation, Trinity UP is a “mission-driven press,” per its website, with robust lists on social justice, southwestern U.S. culture, and, under its Tinta Books imprint, Mexican and Mexican-American culture. The press is also known for its environmental titles, which since 2022 have been published under its Terra Firma imprint.
AUPresses expressed concern for the plan in a statement sent on September 25, saying that it has reached out to the university to offer “assistance and insights as planning for the press proceeds.” Trinity UP joined AUPresses in 2018.
The closure comes less than a month after Bucknell UP received a similar order from its parent university to begin the process of shuttering. Similarly to the Bucknell announcement, Mustain’s notice framed the decision as a consequence of Trinity reprioritizing its “educational mission.”
“While profit has never been our aim, the costs of production and promotion have increasingly outpaced revenues, and the university’s subsidy for press operations has been growing year over year despite diligent efforts to contain expense,” Mustain said. Mustain did not respond to a request for additional comment by press time.
Over the past decade, Trinity UP has given hands-on publishing training to more than 125 students, per the AUPresses statement, helping many of them “jumpstart their careers” into professional publishing.
Historically, AUPresses has had success intervening on planned closures and raising public support for its members. As with Bucknell UP, AUPresses said that they remain “hopeful that a mutually beneficial reimagination of the press will be possible.”
