Jeanne Acton, president of the NSPA Board of Directors, started at Texas’ University Interscholastic League, one of the largest scholastic press programs in the nation, in 2004. In addition to UIL journalism director, she is director of the Interscholastic League Press Conference, which sponsors yearbook, broadcast, and print and online newspaper competitions for Texas middle and high schools. During her decade of teaching, Acton advised newspaper, broadcast and yearbook programs and coached softball at Lyndon Baines Johnson High School (Austin, Texas)  After a decade in the classroom, Acton was an assistant principal for three years. In 2017, she won the Pioneer Award from National Scholastic Press Association and the Medal of Merit from Journalism Education Association.

Alyssa Boehringer is a communications specialist and journalism teacher at Princeton ISD in Texas. In the past 16 years, her students have won various Gold and Silver Crowns from CSPA and Pacemakers from NSPA for broadcasts, online and print publications. She serves as president of the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and is a member of the Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop Committee. She is the 2017 JEA Broadcast Adviser of the Year and is a recipient of JEA’s Medal of Merit,  TAJE’s Trailblazer and ILPC’s Edith Fox King Award.

Kathryn Campbell, CJE, (she/her) has been teaching and advising for 20 years, and deadline is (still) her happy place. She is the Director of Publications at St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. When she isn’t watching “Grey’s Anatomy” reruns or reading mystery novels, she’s working with student journalists on the Ibid yearbook, Iris: Art + Lit magazine, and The Rubicon / RubicOnline news. Her students have won numerous NSPA Pacemaker and CSPA Gold Crowns. She is the president of JEM and the state director for Journalism Education Association and serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Chuck Clark is the director of WKU Student Publications at Western Kentucky University. The College Heights Herald and the Talisman are two of the nation’s most honored college media outlets. Together, the publications have 39 ACP Pacemaker Awards. Clark has extensive experience in professional newsrooms. Before joining WKU in 2012, he was managing editor at The Birmingham News (Alabama) where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of a newsroom with more than 140 journalists. During his tenure, The News won numerous national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting (2007). He serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Michelle Coro, CJE, has led multimedia programs at Desert Vista High School (Phoenix, Arizona) for 18 years as an adviser for the Thunder Vision, View Newspaper, Storm Yearbook and the DVthundermedia.com website media programs. She encourages students to explore areas of media production including writing, videography, graphic design, digital photography and technology in all her classes. In addition to her courses, Coro has served as one of the school’s web directors and the administrative council team, as well as the district’s Career and Technology Education media advisory council and the Arizona State Interscholastic Press Association board. In addition to her current duties at the high school, she is an adjunct professor teaching print publications at Grand Canyon University in the College of Fine Arts and Production. Her work as a professional journalist in broadcast and print media before becoming an educator includes the police/fire beat as a news reporter for the Tribune Newspapers and work in front of and behind the camera for stations KYMA-TV, KSAZ-TV and WDAF-TV. Coro serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors, the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association board and the Journalism Education Association Journalist of the Year committee.

Amy DeVault, MJE, teaches journalism and visual communication at Wichita State (Kansas) University, where she advises The Sunflower newspaper. She has been recognized by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association as a Friend of Scholastic Journalism and was at 2019 College Media Advisers Honor Roll Adviser for four-year colleges. She is president of the Kansas Collegiate Media and serves on the NSPA/ACP Board of Directors, as well as an officer for the Kansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before joining the faculty at Wichita State in 2007, DeVault worked at The Wichita Eagle as a news designer.

Mitch Eden, MJE, is in his 26th year teaching, the past 16 at Kirkwood (Missouri) High School. He advises The Kirkwood Call newsmagazine, Pioneer yearbook and TheKirkwoodCall.com website. Eden is a former Dow Jones News Fund National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. He received the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pioneer Award, Journalism Education Association Medal of Merit and Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award. He has also served as Journalism Education Association Secretary and Missouri Journalism Education Association president. He serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Charla Harris, has advised the journalism program at Pleasant Grove High School (Texas) for the past 35 years. Her students have been recognized with  multiple CSPA Gold Crowns, NSPA Pacemakers and ILPC Star Awards. Harris  was the 2018 JEA/H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, is an ILPC Max Haddick Teacher of the Year and Dow Jones Distinguished Adviser. She is recipient of the NSPA Pioneer Award, the JEA Medal of Merit, and the Gold Key from Columbia Scholastic Press Association. She is a past president of the Texas Association of Journalism Educators.

Ivy Kaplan is a support specialist at School Newspapers Online, where she assists publication staffs in improving their website design and web content. Before joining SNO, she had several editorial positions in the greater Washington, D.C., area after majoring in journalism at American University.

Gary Lundgren, associate director of the National Scholastic Press Association, has received the CSPA Gold Key, NSPA Pioneer, JEA Medal of Merit, ILPC Edith Fox King and TAJE Friend of Journalism Award. In his 10 years at the University of Arkansas, the Arkansas Traveler newspaper and Razorback yearbook staffs he advised were consistent CSPA Crown and ACP Pacemaker winners. During his 20 years at Jostens, he launched the Look Book and Jostens Adviser University, and he edited three editions of the 1,2,3 Yearbook Curriculum, as well as Jostens Adviser & Staff magazine

Susan Massy advises the Lair yearbook and the Northwest Passage newspaper at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School (Shawnee, Kansas), where she teaches newspaper, yearbook and photojournalism. Both publications have earned CSPA Crowns and NSPA Pacemakers. Massy was honored as the 1999 JEA National Yearbook Adviser of the Year.

Mark Murray has served as president and now executive director for the Association of Texas Photography Instructors for 34 years. During that period he also worked for the Arlington Independent School District in Arlington, Texas, until his 2019 retirement.  He is a Joseph M. Murphy and Gold Key recipient from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and a Pioneer Award winner from the National Scholastic Press Association. He has been awarded the Carl Towley Award and Medal of Merit by JEA, has been named a TAJE Trailblazer and TAJE Texas Legend, and has been presented ATPI’s highest honor, the Star of Texas award.

Meghan Percival, MJE, teaches photojournalism and AP Psychology and advises the Caledonia yearbook at McLean High School (Virginia). Caledonia has been recognized with the NSPA Pacemaker and CSPA Gold Crown and was inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame. In addition to serving on the board of directors for NSPA, she was the local chair of the 2019 NSPA/JEA Fall High School Journalism Convention. Percival received a Gold Key from Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2013, was a 2014 JEA Distinguished Adviser and  2018 JEA Medal of Merit Recipient and a 2019 NSPA Pioneer Award winner.

Linda Puntney, MJE, holds the distinction of retiring as the executive director of the Journalism Education Association twice. She is an emeritus professor of journalism at Kansas State University, Manhattan. She served as director of Student Publications Inc. and the adviser to the Royal Purple yearbook and Update magazine. From 1990 through 2010 the Royal Purple won both the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker and Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown, one of the only books in the nation to do so. Puntney has received the NSPA Pioneer award and the JEA Medal of Merit, Lifetime Achievement Award, Carl Towley Award and the Teacher Inspiration Award. She was awarded the CSPA Gold Key and the Charles O’Malley Award for Teaching and is a member of the College Media Association Hall of Fame.

Sara Quinn, a senior fellow at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota, is an internationally known media design consultant and researcher.

Former president of the Society for News Design, Quinn taught visual journalism at The Poynter Institute for more than a decade. Her eye-tracking research helps journalists determine the best forms for storytelling across all platforms. Sara teaches workshops around the globe. She serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Margie Raper, MJE, is an 18-year journalism teacher. Raper is the broadcast journalism and publication adviser at the Rock Hill High School (Prosper, Texas) She is proud to share her passion for scholastic journalism with her students, see them grow as storytellers and celebrate their achievements. She serves as the past president of the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and on the Gloria Shields NSPA Media workshop committee. In 2019, Margie was named the ILPC Max R. Haddick Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year. She has also been named a JEA Distinguished Adviser, Medal of Merit and ILPC Edith Fox King honoree. She serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Elizabeth Smith is an assistant professor of communication at Pepperdine University and director of Pepperdine Graphic Media. She has 18 years of experience teaching a variety of journalism and media courses at Pepperdine, as well as advising the Graphic and directing Pepperdine Graphic Media. She has nearly 20 years of professional experience in the journalism industry, including print, web and broadcast news. She is an award-winning journalist, and in 2010 won an Emmy for her work on the breaking-news coverage of Michael Jackson’s death. Smith was named a Kopenhaver Center Fellow for 2017. Smith has partnered with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on the topics of news literacy and understanding the spread of fake news. In 2021 College Media Advisers named her Distinguished Adviser of the Year for Four-Year Newspapers. She is president-elect to the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Mike Simons, MJE, began his third decade advising yearbook and journalism this fall, all of it in the Corning-Painted Post School District in upstate New York. He advises Tesserae, the yearbook at Corning-Painted Post High School; the CPPTV broadcast program, and teaches photography and design as well. His yearbook staffs have earned four consecutive NSPA Pacemakers and CSPA Gold Crowns, and he has received the CSPA Gold Key, was a 2015 JEA Distinguished Adviser and was named a  2021 JEA Medal of Merit recipient. He teaches at yearbook and journalism workshops nationwide and is the host of the popular “Yearbook Whys” podcast. 

Chris Snider is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He teaches classes in digital strategy, social media, web design, visual communication, multimedia and more to both undergrad and graduate students. Prior to joining Drake, Chris was a visual journalist and editor at newspapers including the Baltimore Sun, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Des Moines Register. He writes a weekly email newsletter on what’s new in social media.

Becky Lucas Tate, the 2019 JEA/H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, has advised both the award-winning newspaper and yearbook at Shawnee Mission North High School (Kansas) for the past 31 years. Tate’s staffs consistently earn All-American and Medalist ratings, along with Crown and Pacemaker awards. Tate has been named a Special Recognition Adviser by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. She also received the Engel Award for the  Excellence in Publication Advising from the Kansas Collegiate Media. In addition, she received a CSPA Gold Key and JEA Medal of Merit. She serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors.

Dow Tate is a journalism teacher at Shawnee Mission East High School (Prairie Village, Kansas) and the director of the Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop. He’s the co-author of the book “Scholastic Journalism.” In 2011, he was named a Kansas Teacher of the Year finalist. He was inducted into the Scholastic Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Oklahoma and was named a Texas Legend, as one of the most influential people in the state’s 75-year scholastic journalism history. He taught 14 years at Dallas Hillcrest High School (Texas). His students’ publications — the newspaper, yearbook and news website — have earned the nation’s highest honors, including NSPA’s Pacemaker and CSPA’s Gold Crown. He’s had four students named National High School Journalist of the Year and two have gone on to win Pulitzers. Tate has been named the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund’s National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year as well as the Texas Max R. Haddick Teacher of the Year. He served as the president of the Dallas Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in 1990.

Scott Winter, an associate professor of journalism and English at Bethel (Minnesota) University, earned his doctorate at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he wrote the 2015 biography “Nebrasketball: Coach Tim Miles and a Big Ten Team on the Rise.” His research interests are long-form creative nonfiction and international social justice reporting. He spent a decade as an assistant professor at UNL, where he also taught in journalism master’s programs in Ethiopia and Kosovo. He takes Bethel students on social justice journalism trips in collaboration with the Art and Design Department and advises The Clarion student newspaper.