In honor of his instrumental contributions to NYU’s digital humanities program, we would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Zach Coble, our esteemed Head of Digital Scholarship Services since 2017, as he departs to start a Ph.D. in the University of Missouri’s Information Science and Learning Technologies Distance program.
Zach started at the Division of Libraries in 2013 as Digital Scholarship Specialist, and was promoted to Head of DSS in 2017. During his time at the Libraries, Zach has helped to grow and deepen many Library services in digital scholarship and digital humanities, building partnerships across the University and New York City.
Zach was instrumental in piloting and developing the Libraries’ Web Hosting service, which now boasts well over 1000 unique users. He has been a key leader in the development and running of the NYU Digital Humanities Seed Grant program, helping to fund extraordinary faculty projects. Beyond NYU, he represented our local DH community on a city-wide scale as a member and steerer of the NYCDH community leading the NYCDH graduate student awards. Under Zach’s leadership, the Seed Grants program has funded 20 faculty projects, from which over $700,000 in external grants have already been brought to the university.
Zach also oversaw the creation of the DH Graduate Fellows program, a funded summer fellowship that has opened diverse career opportunities for graduate students by providing a cohort experience with expert mentorship that helps students build their skills in project-based environments and equips them to bring those skills back to their home disciplines. An alumnus of the ITP program, Zach taught Web Development in the DH Advanced Certificate program. Between these efforts, and his work on digital preservation, he helped countless students and faculty find sustainable and practical homes for their digital scholarship.
Zach has championed DH at NYU and beyond. We extend gratitude to Zach for his unwavering dedication, thoughtful and inclusive vision, and commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. We wish him all the best in his next adventures!
