Transitions

When we founded Greenhouse Studios, our goal was to cultivate a new approach to scholarly work—one that brought collaborators together from the beginning to design new ways of creating and sharing knowledge. From the start, it was a space for experimentation, for growing big ideas together. Now, we enter a new phase, which will expand our mission and impact.

Today the University of Connecticut takes a key step to advance the future of digital scholarship by bringing together the functions and staff of Greenhouse Studios and i3 (Internal Insights and Innovation), a unit of the Provost’s Office. The merger is the result of a longstanding and productive collaboration between the two units, which you’ve seen on projects like Omeka Everywhere and Sourcery. The merged unit will be located in the Provost’s Office and will combine Greenhouse Studios’ focus on collaborative scholarly design with i3’s institutional expertise in web development, analytics, and digital platforms.

The heart of Greenhouse Studios has always been its people, and I’m excited that our core team—including Sara Sikes and Brooke Foti Gemmell—will continue in their leadership roles as part of the merged unit.

The merger also marks a personal transition for me. I’m incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished at Greenhouse Studios, and I am confident that its pioneering spirit will continue in this new form. With the merger now in place, I will be stepping back from my director role to return to teaching and research and to take a long-overdue sabbatical. My good friend and i3’s current director, Joel Salisbury, will take on leadership of the merged unit. I will continue to work closely with the entire team as a collaborating PI, as will my longtime partner in crime Clarissa Ceglio in her role as Associate Director of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute (UCHI).

This is an important milestone for digital scholarship at UConn. By joining forces, we’re integrating Greenhouse Studios' pioneering approach directly into the university's core practices, all while preserving the innovative and human-centered spirit you’ve come to expect from us. The change positions UConn to continue its leadership in taking on the challenges and opportunities of teaching and research in the digital age, and I look forward to seeing what the new chapter brings.

Building Greenhouse Studios has been one of the greatest joys of my career. Thank you all for the opportunity. Stay tuned.