ST BOOKS - Key Persons
Ayoka Noelle Mota Samuels (2022-2024) (Term 1) served as the Director of the Gary Comer Youth Center in Chicago's Grand Crossing community, providing support and opportunities for over 4,000 youth and their families annually since 2006. A native Chicagoan, she has served in the nonprofit sector professionally since 1993. The organizations where she has served include Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, BR&R Communications, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, and New Concept Development Center, and she has been a consultant for Malcolm X College's Kwanzaa Committee.
Peter Berkery (2023-2025) (Term 1) has served as the executive director of AUPresses for almost ten years. He came to the role from Oxford University Press, where he was vice president and publisher for their US Law Division. Previous positions in academic publishing included positions at Wolters Kluwer and a division of what is now Thomson Reuters. Before the siren song of publishing lured him away, Peter began his working life in association management in Washington DC. He holds a BA in Classical Studies, an MA International Affairs, and both a JD and an LLM. In addition, he's a certified financial planner. Peter is admitted to the bar in Maryland, DC, and Hawaii.
Job Titles:
- Director of Princeton University Press
Christie Henry (2022-2024) (Term 1) is Director of Princeton University Press, an independent non-profit global publisher affiliated with Princeton. Prior to PUP, she enjoyed 24 years of collaboration at the University of Chicago Press. She teaches at the Yale and Denver publishing programs and is a current board member of the Association of American Publishers and the Association of University of Presses.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Executive Director of the Experimental Station
Eric Slauter (2022-2024 Completing Vacated Seat*) (Term 1) is Deputy Dean of the Humanities and the College, Associate Professor of English, and serves as the founding director of the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution and has a special interest in the history of the book-and the history of bookselling-in America.
Geoffrey Stone (2023-2025) (Term 1), the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Professor of Law, has served on the UChicago faculty since 1973. During that time, he has served as both Dean of the Law School and Provost of the University. His primary field of scholarship has focused on the freedom of speech.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Ex - Officio
has been the director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores since 2014. Other than a two-year stint as a live-work writer at an artists' colony, Jeff has spent his entire career in bookselling, including directorships at the Stanford and UC Berkeley bookstore
Aledia Evans (2022-2024) (Term 1) serves as Senior Director, Corporate Engagement at Catalyst. As a Chicago native, she is genuinely invested in expanding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in workplaces by employing strategic methods to ensure its sustainability for the current workforce and the next generation of professionals. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University before completing a Master of Arts at DePaul University.
Jeff Deutsch (ex-officio) has been the director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores since 2014. Other than a two-year stint as a live-work writer at an artists' colony, Jeff has spent his entire career in bookselling, including directorships at the Stanford and UC Berkeley bookstore
Lori Berko (2024 -2026) (Term 1) currently serves as Vice President and Secretary of the University of Chicago, responsible for oversight and facilitation of the institution's governance practices. Lori previously served in other leadership capacities at UChicago. Before joining the University, she worked as a real estate attorney and as a social worker.
Mike Levine (2024-2026) (Term 1) had a 40+ year career in development, primarily at the University of Chicago where he was an Associate Vice President. He recently retired from the university and is now a Vice President at Grenzebach Glier and Associates, an international fundraising consulting firm.
Natalie Moore's (2023-2025) (Term 3) long career in journalism has taken her to Detroit, St Paul, Jerusalem, and now here to Chicago, where she is the South Side reporter for WBEZ. She is the author or co-author of three books, including The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation (2016). She is a graduate of Howard University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern.
Ydalmi V. Noriega (2022-2024) (Term 1), a writer and arts administrator, serves as director of programs and community engagement at the Poetry Foundation, overseeing live programming and organizational partnerships in Chicago and beyond.