The official title is Deputy Secretary for Archives and History for the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The job includes being North Carolina's State Historian, and the newest person to hold the job is a familar voice and face in Western North Carolina.Dr. Darin Waters has been appointed to the job, and will start September 7th. The Asheville native has been the Executive Director of UNC Asheville's Office of Community Engagement since 2017, as well as an associate professor of history at the school for the past 11 years. He also co-hosts The Waters & Harvey Show on Blue Ridge Public Radio with his UNC Asheville colleague Dr. Marcus Harvey. The show airs on the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 9 a.m. The show started airing on BPR in 2017 after debuting on WRES-FM in Asheville in 2014.
“Darin’s experience and expertise in both North Carolina history and community engagement will accelerate our efforts to provide more comprehensive stories of the people, places and events that have shaped the state we live in today," said Reid Wilson, secretary of the state department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in a statement. The deputy secretary position also includes overseeing the North Carolina Historical Resources Commission, and all 27 of the state historic sites throughout North Carolina. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville and the Zebulon Vance Birthplace in Weaverville are the two state historic sites in Western North Carolina.
Dr. Waters was unable to do a lengthy interview on Thursday as he is in the process of moving. But he did tell BPR that he is committed to continuing The Waters & Harvey Show on BPR with Dr. Harvey. New episodes will come out later this month. “Dr. Darin Waters is an insightful public communicator and has built the Waters & Harvey Show into essential listening," said Blue Ridge Public Radio General Manager and CEO David Feingold in a statement. "All of us at BPR send our heartfelt congratulations on his new position and are so pleased that he will continue to co-host the program with his UNC Asheville colleague Dr. Marcus Harvey.”