University Press of Kentucky

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University Press of Kentucky

Parent company	University of Kentucky Office of the Provost
Founded	1949
Founder	Thomas D. Clark
Country of origin	United States
Headquarters location	Lexington, Kentucky
Distribution	Hopkins Fulfillment Services (US)[1] Oxbow Books (UK, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand)
Key people	Ashley Runyon, Director
Official website	kentuckypress.com

The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 1949, the press was established as a separate academic agency under the university president, and the following year Bruce F. Denbo, then of Louisiana State University Press, was appointed as the first full-time professional director. Denbo served as director of UPK until his retirement in 1978, building a small but distinguished list of scholarly books with emphasis on American history and literary criticism.

Since its reorganization, the Press has represented a consortium that now includes all of Kentucky's state universities, seven of its private colleges, and two historical societies. UPK joined the Association of University Presses in 1947.

The press is supported by the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation established in 1994 for the sole purpose of providing financial support for The University Press of Kentucky. It is named in honor of Thomas D. Clark, Kentucky's historian laureate and the founder of The University Press of Kentucky.