While ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University occasionally authorized publication of academic works during the 1960s, the administration began planning for a more formal academic publishing operation in March of 1969. By the fall of 1971, those plans resulted in the establishment of ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press. Much of the early work focused on archaeological publications under the direction of Siegfried Horn, well-known biblical archaeologist, who informally acted as the first director of the press. Editorial activities were shared among full-time professors and university administrators who served as members of the press board, which was chaired variously by the university president or vice president of academic administration/provost.
As the volume and scope of publications increased, a professor from the School of Business, Robert Firth, was given a half-time responsibility as Director of ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press and had the help of a full-time editorial assistant and student-worker shipping clerk. This arrangement continued through the 1970s and 80s, with a steadily increasing volume of significant publications. Three major works during this time were important cornerstones of the small publishing house’s financial operations: two textbooks in educational philosophy by George R. Knight, and the Cruise/Blitchington Temperament Inventory. Many other works in church history, archaeology, faith and science, local history, business, missions, religion, and theology quickly followed. In the late 1990s, staffing changed to a three-quarter-time professional director and a three-quarter-time editor, both of whom were changed to fulltime in the early 2000s.
For most of its history, ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press was housed in single small offices in various locations around campus. In the 1990s it moved to a two-room office suite in the Information Services building. In 2005, it moved to its present location in Sutherland House.
In 2010, ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press published the New King James Version of the ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ Study Bible, which has had a marked influence on the financial operations of the Press and broadened its ability to serve a wider audience through an increasing portfolio of important academic works. That Bible publishing initiative has expanded to include a New International Version in 2019 and the ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ Bible Commentary (Old Testament volume in 2020; New Testament volume in 2022), a concise work intended as a complement to the ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ Study Bible.
¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press is now staffed by a director, associate director, editor, customer service and marketing associate, and many student workers who assist with editorial, technical, and marketing tasks. The staff is under the supervision of the ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Press Board, which is chaired by the president of ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University.