Bill Savage
Director
UMI Dissertations Publishing, ProQuest Information and Learning
UMI Dissertations Publishing On-Line Submission Application

Bio

Bill Savage received his bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in 1970, a master's degree from the University of Hawaii in 1972 and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1985. His field of specialization is the origin and early years of Chinese philosophy. He has published journal articles and an extended monographic translation in this area.

His first position at UMI was Product Development Manager for UMI Research Collections. Identifying collections of primary research materials for microfilming and distribution, he was responsible for the production of over a dozen microform and electronic collections including The Alternative Press Collection, The Echols Collection: Selections on the Vietnam War, The Hartlib Papers, Quaker Women's Tracts, and Regimental Histories of the American Civil War.

He assumed his present position, Director, UMI Dissertations Publishing, in 1992. He was part of the team that developed UMI's ProQuest Digital Dissertations publishing program and is responsible for future development of the program.

Presentation Abstract

ProQuest/UMI Dissertations Publishing introduced its on-line submission application in late 2003. UMI asked the Council of Graduate Schools to conduct a survey of students submitting manuscripts and of the administrators who control the sites to determine where improvements could be made and to make best practice recommendations. The first part of that survey, the survey of submitting students, has been completed. The preliminary survey results seem to indicate that the on-line submission application has succeeded in providing authors with a simple, yet effective, means of submitting electronic documents for publication. At the same time, the results also provide interesting implications for graduate education and education policy.