Community College Civic Info Challenge Design Summit

KERRI GLOVER

Executive Director, Community Relations & Marketing, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

Kerri Glover has decades of communications and marketing experience, including managing director of Ogilvy PR in Washington, DC, VP of Widmeyer Communications in DC, National Communications Director for the Sierra Club, Press Secretary to the US Secretary of Education, and various political roles. She also is a former journalist.

John Gossett

President, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

Dr. John D. Gossett assumed the Presidency of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College on July 1, 2020. His 38-year career in community college education began in the classroom as a Business Administration instructor and continued through various positions before leaving to assume the role of Vice President for Learning at McDowell Technical Community College in 2012. He became MTCC’s president in 2016.

Dr. Gossett and his wife Julie are the proud parents of five children, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law and four grandchildren.

Gary Green

Executive Director, Student Press Law Center

Gary Green is the executive director of the Student Press Law Center. The Student Press Law Center is the nation’s only legal organization devoted exclusively to defending and advancing the free press rights of student journalists. For more than 50 years, they’ve helped students and their educators navigate the law, strengthen their reporting and stand up for press freedom.

Michelle Harris

Director of Marketing + Engagement/PIO, Haywood Community College

Michelle Harris, MBA, has served as the Director of Marketing and Engagement and Public Information Officer at Haywood Community College for six years, bringing more than 14 years of marketing expertise to her role. She leads the college’s recruitment and marketing efforts, overseeing strategic communications, CRM operations, website management, and media relations to strengthen the college’s brand and community engagement.

Bailey Hoskins-Orr

Senior Program Associate, Listening Post Collective

Bailey Hoskins-Orr is a Senior Program Associate at the Listening Post Collective (LPC). Using LPC’s Civic Media Playbook as a guide, she helps direct local news and information providers to the resources they need to actively listen to and tell the story of their communities. A military brat with a multidisciplinary teaching and professional background, she is interested in nontraditional community spaces and experiential learning, and the role place plays in one’s sense of identity and belonging.

LIlly Knoepp

Senior Western NC Reporter, NC Local

Lilly Knoepp is NC Local’s regional reporter for Western NC, where she helps residents understand how they are affected by statewide issues. She served as Blue Ridge Public Radio’s first full-time reporter covering Western North Carolina from 2018 to 2025. She is a native of Franklin, NC who returned to the area after serving as the assistant editor of Women@Forbes and digital producer of the Forbes podcast network.  She holds a master’s degree in international journalism from the City University of New York and earned a double major from UNC-Chapel Hill in religious studies and political science.

Catherine KOMP

Ecosystem Engagement Director, NC Local

At NC Local, Catherine Komp leads programs and initiatives that connect and strengthen North Carolina’s network of news and information providers, including the weekly newsletter The Hub. Previously, Catherine spent 20+ years in nonprofit news in editorial and leadership roles, with a focus on collaborations and community-engaged journalism and storytelling.

Carla Murphy

Assistant Professor, Rutgers University-Newark

Carla Murphy is journalist, media organizer and an assistant professor in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at Rutgers University-Newark. She spent nearly 20 years in journalism, mainly as a social justice journalist covering local communities. Her reportage, essays and opinion writing have appeared in Colorlines, The Nation, Dissent, Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Beast, The American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, Women’s eNews, and local news outlets. As a media researcher, Murphy designed and produced Leavers: a survey of 101 former journalists of color. As a charter member of News Futures, a national civic media coalition, she advocates for journalism by, for, or with low wealth and/or communities of color—not about them for other audiences. Murphy holds an MSc in Gender and International Development from the London School of Economics and an MA in Journalism from the CUNY-Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. She is working on a book about migration, pluralist storytelling and becoming an American, now.

Grace Northern

Senior Program Officer, Listening Post Collective

Grace Northern manages the Civic Media Playbook, a tool designed to help communities better understand and engage with their local news and information ecosystems. With over a decade of experience in community engagement, she’s dedicated to centering community in journalism and supporting people in sharing local stories that strengthen connection and civic health.

Caroline Parker

Rural Reporter, EdNC

Caroline Parker is the director of rural storytelling and strategy for EducationNC. She covers the stories of rural North Carolina, the arts, and STEM education. Caroline attended the University of Georgia and graduated from the Grady School of Journalism.

José SANDOVAL

Reporter + Local All Things Considered Host, Blue Ridge Public Radio

José Sandoval is the local All Things Considered host and general assignment reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. A fluent Spanish speaker, he’s originally from Illinois. He previously served as a bilingual producer for WNIJ in Dekalb, Illinois, an intern with NPR, and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

SANGITA ShRESTHOVA

Associate Research Professor of Communication, University of Southern California

Sangita Shresthova, PhD, is an Associate Research Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California. A multilingual writer and researcher, she explores how stories, popular culture, and digital media inspire people to imagine and build more connected and creative communities. She is the author of By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism and co-author of Practicing Futures: The Civic Imagination Action Handbook and Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change. Her upcoming books, We Are Civic Media and Connected Cultures: How to Parent Across Borders, continue her work on how imagination and storytelling shape civic life across cultures.

Shelley White

President, Haywood Community College

Dr. Shelley White is the seventh president of Haywood Community College in Clyde, NC, and a proud graduate of Isothermal Community College. With 24 years of service working in North Carolina’s community colleges, she has led efforts in workforce development, industry partnerships, and student success. Named the North Carolina Community College System President of the Year in 2025, Dr. White is recognized for her steady leadership and deep commitment to community. She and her husband, Lee, live in Canton.