Primary Job Title Director of Visitor Experience Primary Organization Cosmosphere
Gender Male
After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Education from Sterling College, Tom Holcomb began his work with the Cosmosphere in 1997 as a front desk employee. In 1998, Holcomb entered full time work, extending his influence to the development and operations of Dr. Goddard’s Lab, planetarium shows, tours, audio/visual development, summer camps,
overnight programs and script writing.
In September of 2009, he became the Director of Education at the Kansas Cosmosphere. Holcomb headed a team of amazing educators who employed the backdrop of space and history to inspire the youth of today to become the innovators and leaders of tomorrow.
January 2013 Holcomb was promoted to Director of Education and Box Office Operations. Under his new position, he was charged with leading an outreach initiative to educators and school superintendents to promote school field trip offerings, encourage students to become campers, initiate the development of franchised educational programming to international venues and encourage the growth of Camp KAOS. These duties were in addition to his ultimate task of improving operational and resource efficiency across Education and Box Office operations.
In July of 2014, Holcomb was appointed to the newly created role of Director of Visitor Experience. In this role, Holcomb oversees customer service and visitor experiences at the Cosmosphere, fostering an institutional mindset of providing exceptional experiences for all visitors – including the creation of training materials and workshops for all front line employees. He oversees scheduling, training and customer service in Dr. Goddard's Lab and the Justice Planetarium and insures successful operation of The Carey Digital Dome Theater. Along with box office staffing, training and development; booking school and group programs; facility rental oversight; he's also responsible for growth, recruitment and preparation for a well-trained and engaged Cosmosphere volunteer base.
