Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Previously known as Vancouver Environment Education Group, Western Education Development Group, and WEDGE.
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Pacific Educational Press (PEP) is the publishing house of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. PEP publishes educational books and media resources, including textbooks and supplementary resources for schools, scholarly books for education specialists, textbooks for teacher education programs, and professional resources for practicing teachers. The Press was founded in 1971 as the Vancouver Environment Education Group (VEEP). In its early years VEEP focused on providing resources for elementary school teachers, focussing primarily on environmental education. In 1974 it changed its name to Western Education Development Group – abbreviated to WEDG, and later, WEDGE, only retaining its full name in the copyright information of its books. WEDGE expanded the range of subjects of its publications, and a number of series were produced in conjunction with other organizations during this period. The final name change to Pacific Educational Press occurred in 1987. PEP began producing textbooks for both the K-12 market and for teacher education courses. In addition, the Press has published a number of supplemental resources for teachers, and also several children’s fiction books with accompanying teacher guides.
The original director of the Press was Kip Anastasiou, who often served as the editor or even co-author of the books. The second director, Catherine Edwards, began circa 1990. She also served as an editor of the books produced by PEP. Edwards retired in 2014 and the Press is now under the direction of Susan Howell. The Press has remained small throughout its history, as of 2014 employing only about 10 full-time employees.