Welcome to Design Innovation, Chris Holthe!

Please join us in welcoming Chris Holthe, who will be joining us at Kent State as the Director of the Design Innovation Hub and Ecosystem!  This position focuses specifically on contributing to the larger vision/mission for Design Innovation at Kent State by managing the facilities/lab’s in the Design Innovation Hub and its coordinating staff and student employees and facilitating collaboration and challenge-based innovation projects across the Kent State “Design Innovation Nodes” network.  Chris, in this important role, will be strategically in charge of all of the co-working, maker-innovation spaces in the DI HUB and will be responsible for facilitating communications across the entire network of DI NODES (our 20+ different makerspace/resource partner environments across the university).

Chris received both a bachelor's in History and masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and holds a master's certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University. In addition, he has over ten years of experience developing technology-based services, programming, and spaces including makerspaces, 3D printing labs, digital media studios, and extended reality labs.

Previously, Chris has served as Training and Maker Services Manager at the University of Houston and is joining us from his most recent role as Experiential Learning Librarian at Northern Arizona University. Chris is an avid foodie, hiker, and sci-fi aficionado. Chris says he is very much looking forward to exploring all that Ohio and Kent State have to offer, and is excited to start collaborating with such a talented and energetic staff.

Chris' first day with us will be on Monday, June 27th. Welcome to Design Innovation, Chris!