Cambridge authors honoured in the Queen’s New Year Honours List

Professor Sir Hew Strachan (University of Oxford) received a knighthood for services to the Ministry of Defence. Professor Strachan is both a Press author and long-standing editor of our Cambridge Military Histories series.

CBEs (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) were awarded to two of the Press Syndics, Professor Frank Kelly (Master of Christ's College) and non-executive Syndic Mrs Sherry Coutu. The Syndicate is the assembly of senior academics, very largely from the University of Cambridge, who constitute the governing body of the Press. Professor Frank Kelly was awarded his honour for services to mathematical sciences, and Mrs Sherry Coutu received her CBE for services to entrepreneurship.

Press author and regular adviser Professor Sue Mendus (University of York) was awarded a CBE for her services to political science: Professor Mendus is the author of Justifying Toleration and co-editor of Philosophy and Medical Welfare.

Penny Ur and Simon Greenall, both ELT authors for Cambridge, were awarded OBEs (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for their services to English language teaching.

Penny Ur has written numerous titles for Cambridge, most recently the second edition of A Course in English Language Teaching. Simon Greenall is the author of Cambridge Skills for Fluency: Reading.

OBEs were also awarded to the distinguished academic trio of Mary Beard, John Butt and Janet Todd.

Professor Mary Beard (University of Cambridge) was cited for her services to classical scholarship, and is the co-author of the best-selling two-volume Press publication Religions of Rome.

Professor John Butt (University of Glasgow) received his OBE for services to music in Scotland, and is the author of many Press music titles, including Bach's Dialogue with Modernity and The Cambridge Companion to Bach, as well as Playing with History and Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque.

Professor Janet Todd (Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge) received the award for services to higher education and literary scholarship and is the General Editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen. She is currently editing The Cambridge Companion to Pride and Prejudice, which will be published next month.

Richard Fisher, Managing Director for Academic Publishing, said: 'The Press is delighted to see formal public recognition for some of its most distinguished authors and advisers. We congratulate them all warmly on their honours, and thank them equally warmly for their continued commitment and support on so many different fronts.'

ELT author, Penny Ur, said on winning her award: 'I was very lucky to have one of my early articles fall into the hands of Adrian du Plessis, who set up the ELT department at the Press, and he invited me to write a book, edited by Michael Swan (Discussions That Work, 1981). I think the award indicates a clear recognition of the importance of the teaching of English today, when English is not just the language of the English-speaking peoples, but more importantly a means of international communication.'

The Press currently publishes over 300 research journals and over 45,000 books (roughly half in both print or electronic form), covering academic research and teaching, professional development, school level education, English language teaching and bible publishing, with over 4,000 new ISBNs issued last year.