WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – North Carolina Governor Mike Easley has appointed Denise Franklin of Winston-Salem to the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) Board of Trustees.

Franklin has spent more than 25 years in the field of communications with an emphasis on broadcast journalism. Currently, she is the General Manager of 88.5 WFDD, the National Public Radio affiliate that serves 32 counties in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina. She joined 88.5 WFDD in 2001 as Senior News Host and shortly thereafter became News Director. In 2004, she was promoted to Associate General Manager. She also hosts “Voices and Viewpoints,” an interview program highlighting individuals living in the Triad who are achieving national and international recognition.

Prior to joining WFDD, Franklin was a news anchor and investigative reporter at WXII, the local NBC affiliate. She also worked in television news in Kansas City and Wichita, Kansas. Franklin graduated from the Babcock Graduate School of Management in 2006.

In addition, Franklin developed and coordinated a journalism ethics conference, Ethics and Leadership in the Media, which was held at Wake Forest University and attracted students from several area universities. She has been an adjunct college instructor at Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University. Franklin also is an active community volunteer. She currently serves on the board of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and the New Winston Museum.

The NCSA Board of Trustees is composed of 19 citizens with eight members elected by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and four appointed by the governor of North Carolina. The membership also includes a representative of the North Carolina Symphony, the secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, the president of the NCSA Student Government Association, and liaisons from the NCSA Foundation and Board of Visitors.

The North Carolina School of the Arts, located in Winston-Salem (“The City of the Arts”), was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, NCSA opened in Winston-Salem in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. The North Carolina School of the Arts is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. The chancellor, deans, and faculty work with students in a residential setting to create an educational community that is intimate, demanding, and performance-centered. Learning is enriched by access to an academic program responsive to a conservatory curriculum. Founded to be both an educational institution and a resource enhancing the cultural life of the state of North Carolina and the Southeast, NCSA offers numerous public performances, on- and off-campus, as well as community education in the arts.

School of the Arts alumni have performed in or behind the scenes of Broadway shows, film, television and regional theatre, and are members of the world’s finest symphony orchestras and opera and dance companies. They have won or been nominated for all of the major awards in the entertainment industry, including Tony, Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and others.