This week, the Association of University Presses has been hosting a special blog tour celebrating the many individuals whose intelligence, passion, and creativity fuel university presses, in honor of Mark Saunders, the late director of the University of Virginia Press.

In this spirit, we would like to send an enormous public thank you to the customer service and warehouse staff of the Chicago Distribution Center (CDC). They are the unsung heroes of not only the University of Chicago Press but the many university presses whose books are distributed by the CDC. They are the ones who ensure our books find their way directly into the hands of readers, which is our most important goal.

Thank you Cindy Bastion, Cynthia Beverly, Jameel Brewer, James Daniels, Louis DeLeon, Samuel DeLeon, Eric Durham, Jimmie French, Marcus Frierson, Ashley Garcia, Christina Garcia, John Gonzales, John V. Gonzalez, Karen Hyzy, Shawn Injeski, David Jagla, Mark Jefferson, David Johnigan, James Johnson, Bernedette Koonce, David Kubiak, Jill Larkins, Louis Luera, Abe Maldonado, Veronia Marcano, Gordana Markotic, Mate Markotic, Felipe Martinez, Deon McClinton, Tia Mendez, Joshua Messer, Laura Metzcus, Erica Nelson, Tiffany Petty, Michael Pietrusinski, Troy Price, Eric Pritchard, Brandon Riley, Jennifer Schmid, Kevin Shumpert, Sandra Sons, Theo Stevenson, Jenn Stone, Micheal Weltlich, and Shenae Wilcoxson!

Together they constitute almost 600 years of service at CDC. Four of those pictured have 30 or more years at the Press and more than half have more than ten years’ experience. That’s an incredible amount of hard work and dedication! And an almost unimaginable number of books shelved, picked, packed, and shipped directly to you.