Spring 2004 brings with it the promise of new beginnings in the coming year for the Gore Center and its staff.

In May, two of our valued student assistants, Jeff Jones and David Mabry, will be graduating from MTSU, both with degrees in computer information systems.  Jeff and David have served the Gore Center as Academic Service Scholarship students for two years.  In that time, they have helped the Center to make significant technological advances.  Jeff has specialized in website maintenance and restructuring and has also played an important role troubleshooting software and hardware problems.  David helped us to design, set up, and maintain a new server, along with three other computer workstations.  He has played a crucial role in developing searchable databases for our website and has designed several databases for our internal use.  We wish both of them the very best! They will be missed.

Also this Spring, all four of the Gore Center and Rutherford County Archives graduate assistants will be completing their commitments after 1.5 to 3 years of service.  Van Zbinden is the senior member of this group, having led the County Archives for three years.  Heather Bailey and Kevin Cason are both completing two years in the Gore Center. Jennifer Allen will have completed 1.5 years in the County Archives by the end of June.  All four will be completing the Master of Arts degree in public history within the next six months to one year.  None of the four will be strangers to campus in the coming months, though, and we hope to see all of them frequently.  Look for news on this front in the early summer!

Another important “beginning” that looms on the horizon is the Gore Center’s relocation to Todd.  Renovation of Todd is well underway and Betty Rowland and I recently had an opportunity to tour the Gore Center’s emerging new facility.  We are both excited by the prospect of a new home.  We are told that the move will probably occur over winter break next year, barring major weather delays in the construction process.

Finally, the effort to secure a new home for the Rutherford County Archives is pressing forward.  A final decision about the location of the new facility should be forthcoming soon.

Stay tuned!

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