The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees voted today to appoint two new members to the board that oversees North Carolina Public Radio WUNC.
The university's Board of Trustees appointed John Hood and Allie Ray McCullen and re-appointed Hannah Gage and Michael Schoenfeld.
Hood is the former president of the conservative John Locke Foundation, an author, and a frequent political commentator. He serves as president of the John William Pope Foundation, which grants funding for charitable and conservative causes.
McCullen is the longest-serving current trustee at UNC Chapel Hill. He has cast controversial votes against granting tenure to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and against lifting a moratorium on renaming campus buildings. McCullen is owner of a real estate firm based in Sampson County.
The WUNC LLC Board of Directors provides strategic oversight to North Carolina Public Radio WUNC. The station's news department is editorially independent from the Board and the University.
Former broadcast executive and former chair of the UNC System Board of Governors Hannah Gage and Duke University's Chief Communications Officer Michael Schoenfeld were reappointed.
The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees appoints seven of the nine members to WUNC's Board of Directors. The other two seats are held by WUNC's general manager and UNC Chapel Hill's vice chancellor of communications.
WUNC's Board will soon have another vacancy as UNC Chapel Hill's Vice Chancellor of Communications Joel Curran leaves for a new job at Notre Dame University. His replacement at UNC Chapel Hill will also take a seat on WUNC's Board of Directors.
The WUNC LLC Board of Directors will be responsible for hiring the station's next general manager. That search is on-going after former manager Connie Walker died in May. Nora Casper is serving in an interim role.
Schoenfeld, the board’s recently-elected chair, will lead that search committee. The vote will go before the full board.
