It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. We at MITH have had the best of times working with Dave Lester, our Assistant Director for the past year-and-a-half. In his time at MITH, Dave has supervised and completely transformed MITH’s operations, imaginatively programmed our Digital Dialogues series, revamped our communications strategy, run a splendid NEH-sponsored workshop on APIs, and inspired us all with his “less ya

[c]k, more hack,” can-do spirit. It would be hard to imagine a more creative, savvy, and enlivening colleague. And he brings in donut holes almost every Monday morning, to boot!

We are nonetheless delighted to congratulate Dave on receiving a fellowship from Berkeley’s iSchool to pursue a Master’s degree in Information Management. Although it may seem to be the worst of times for us to have to bid Dave farewell, there is more to this story.

We are as just as delighted to announce that when Dave steps down as Assistant Director of MITH in August, he will also be stepping up to assume the new position of Creative Lead at MITH, thereby establishing “MITH West” in the Bay Area.  It is thus the best of times again. While we’ll miss Dave’s daily presence, we’re excited about continuing to work with him for what we hope will be long into the future.

Our heartiest congratulations to Dave!