Skip to main content

Board of Directors

MEETING DATES 2023-2024
Oct. 10 ~ Nov. 14 ~ Jan. 9 ~ March 5 ~ April 9

The Student Media Board of Directors meets in the African American Cultural Center Conference Room (Witherspoon 356). Each meeting begins at 7 p.m., and all meetings are open to the public. For more information about the board and its meeting schedule, please contact Patrick Neal, Director of Student Media Advising, at pcneal@ncsu.edu.

In accordance with the Student Media Constitution, representation of the Student Media Board of Directors shall be:

  1. Three student body representatives elected at-large in a student body election;
  2. Three student college representatives, appointed by the dean of the college, as apportioned to the colleges in the Media policies;
  3. Two faculty representatives, serving on staggered two-year terms, as apportioned to the colleges in the Media policies;
  4. Three individuals not under the employ of the University providing expertise on media management qualified and selected as provided by the Media policies;
  5. One representative from each media outlet chosen as provided by the Media policies, non-voting;
  6. The president of the Student Body, ex-officio, non-voting;
  7. The senior-most professional employee of the Student Media, ex-officio, non-voting.

Elected student members shall not be active members of the Student Senate, a Student Media organization, or any other campus-wide advisory or governance body as defined in the Documents of Policy.

At-large student body representatives (3, voting)

Student body representatives are elected each fall; if no one runs for all available seats, representatives are appointed by the Student Body President

Appointed student representatives (3, voting)

  • Caitlin Laye, senior, history (College of Humanities and Social Sciences appointee)
  • Madeline Renneker, sophomore, communications (College of Humanities and Social Sciences appointee)
  • Julianna Lopez, junior, accounting (Poole College of Management appointee)

Professional (3, voting) and academic representatives (2, voting)

  • Dean Phillips is a multi-award-winning Senior Lecturer Emeritus from the NCSU Department of Communication. Although retired, Dean still teaches a full class schedule during spring semesters. Prior to coming to NCSU in 2001, Dean spent decades as a television news anchor in markets across the country. During his years in television, Dean received numerous Associated Press and Emmy awards and nominations. His last television two markets were Atlanta and Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill. Soon after leaving television, Dean became a communication consultant for political and corporate clients. Here again, he won numerous awards including Television Commercial of the Year from the North Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Broadcasters in back-to-back years. In 2015, Dean authored his first book, Cherrydale, and is writing a second book titled Playlight.
  • Christa Gala teaches journalism courses as part of the NC State English Department’s journalism minor program. With an undergraduate degree in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MA in English from NC State, Christa spent two decades as a freelance journalist writing about business, real estate, biotech, and the restaurant and medical industries. Christa was a columnist for the Cary News for 15 years, and most recently she wrote the Tar Heel of the Week column for The News and Observer. Gala taught at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism for six years before coming back “home” to State. In addition to teaching and continuing to write on a freelance basis, Gala has written content for the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences (LAS) at NC State, which facilitates collaborations among academia, industry and government intelligence agencies.
  • Tyler Dukes is an investigative reporter at The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C., where he specializes in data and public records. He also teaches courses at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy. In 2017, he completed a fellowship at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Prior to joining the N&O, he worked as an investigative reporter on the state politics team at WRAL News. He is a former adviser to NC State University’s daily student newspaper, Technician, and served as editor-in-chief of the paper as a student in 2006-2007.
  • Jake Seaton is a product integration lead for NBCUniversal, specializing in AdTech integrations across NBCU’s brand portfolio. Prior to NBCU, Jake led product strategy for WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., managing its websites, mobile and connected TV apps, and voice-first experiences. Jake cut his teeth in media while serving as entertainment and features editor for Technician from 2003 until 2006, and managing editor in 2006. After graduating from NC State University with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, he worked as a content producer for WNCN-TV and McClatchy. 
  • Robbie Williams is senior account executive for Ameresco, a “clean tech” firm that helps its clients maximize energy efficiency, design and build infrastructure upgrades, and implement renewable energy sources and strategies. While earning his undergraduate degree in business management at NC State, Robbie worked as a Student Media advertising representative and the Student Media business manager.

Student Media leaders (7, non-voting)

Ex-officio (2, non-voting)