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The KUCB Newsroom provides newscasts Monday through Thursday at noon and 5 PM on KUCB Radio. You can find many of our local news stories here.

New MOTA Director Will Start Next Week

Chrissy Roes
/
KUCB

The new executive director for the Museum of the Aleutians (MOTA) is finally arriving in Unalaska this weekend.

Dr. Neal Hitch is scheduled to reach the island on Sunday and start work on Monday, according to Melissa Good, secretary for MOTA's board of directors.  

Good said the museum should open "soon" after Hitch's arrival.

The museum has been closed — all but a handful of days — since the fall, when the board placed former director Zoya Johnson on administrative leave after items from the museum's collection were found in her home.

Hitch will step into his new role with more than 20 years of experience. He has served as director of the Imperial Valley Desert Museum in California and the Turks & Caicos National Museum in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hitch signed his contract in June after receiving the job offer unanimously from MOTA's board of directors. 

Their next meeting is scheduled for September. 

Laura Kraegel reported for KUCB from 2016 until 2020. She was KUCB's news director starting in 2019. We are proud to have her back in the spring of 2023 filling in as an interim reporter for KUCB.