The Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Cosette Bruhns Alonso as Assistant Editor of Brown University Digital Publications (BUDP). Cosette joins an innovative and exciting program expanding the frontiers of scholarly publishing.
A collaboration between the University Library and the Dean of the Faculty, launched with generous support from the Mellon Foundation with additional support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, BUDP creates new possibilities for the production and sharing of knowledge for both scholarly audiences and the wider public. Landmark publications include Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1618) with Scholarly Commentary (University of Virginia Press, 2020), recipient of the 2022 Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Innovation in Digital History awarded by the American Historical Association; Shadow Plays: Virtual Realities in an Analog World (Stanford University Press, 2022), recipient of the 2023 PROSE Award in the category of eProduct awarded by the Association of American Publishers, and finalist for the ACLS Open Book Prize + Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award; and A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures (MIT Press, 2022).
Fourteen other works are currently in development and represent a broad disciplinary range. BUDP also partners with the MIT Press on the multimodal book series, On Seeing, committed to centering under-examined questions at the intersection of visual culture and social justice.
As Assistant Editor, Cosette will work as part of a multi-skilled team of experts to develop complex born-digital scholarship intended for publication with leading academic presses. She will play a key role in supporting humanities scholars in the creation of new scholarly forms that present research and advance arguments in ways not achievable in a conventional print format, whether through multimedia enhancements or interactive engagement with research materials. Cosette will work in close collaboration with Director Allison Levy to support new initiatives and partnerships.
Cosette, who holds a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Chicago, served as BUDP’s inaugural Diversity in Digital Publishing Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2021-2022). Most recently, she was Assistant Editor at the Modern Language Association, and previously held a two-year appointment as Contemporary Publishing Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Press and Penn Libraries. Cosette has published several articles and lectured widely on born-digital publishing. In addition to a deep commitment to supporting diverse voices and perspectives, Cosette brings to Brown significant teaching, curatorial, and digital archival experience.
