Ashley McKinley is head of school at Friendship Day School in Charlotte.

Ashley McKinley has been appointed head of school at Friendship Day School for the Sciences and the Arts.

McKinley has served in several capacities through 15-years with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Rutherford County, Tenn. She was assistant principal responsible for sixth grade and chairs the School Leadership Team at Bradley Middle School. McKinley is a former sixth-grade language arts teacher, track and field coach and school counselor.

McKinley earned her master’s degree in school counseling from Winthrop University, a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the UNC Charlotte and a license in school administration from Wingate University.

Friendship Day School is a K–5 private school that focuses on academic rigor, STEM education and the arts – most notably, Suzuki violin at all grade levels.

• WBTV reporter and documentary filmmaker Steve Crump has earned North Carolina Humanities’ John Tyler Caldwell Award.

Of Crump’s more than 30 documentaries, eight have won regional Emmys and have covered topics ranging from Martin Luther King Jr.’s last days, to lunch counter sit-ins in the Carolinas, to Dorothy Counts,’ desegregating Harding High School in 1957.

The award will be presented during North Carolina Humanities’ 50th anniversary celebration, set to be held this October in Charlotte.

• JazzArts Charlotte founder Lonnie Davis has been elected president of the Jazz Education Network board of directors.

JEN is a nonprofit that builds the jazz arts community by advancing education, performance, and audience development.  It is a leader in networking students, educators and performers with members in 40 countries that supports infrastructure for musicians, educators, and enthusiasts.  

The flagship JEN conference attracts thousands of people to showcase talent, workshops, and issues facing the artist community. The 2023 conference will be held January 4-7 in Orlando Fla.   

• Livingstone College has appointed Tiana Cephers as sports information director.

Cephers will be responsible for the promotion and coverage of all Blue Bears athletic programs while handling website management, social media, gameday operations, and stat collection.

Cephers was previously sports information director at Bluefield State College in West Virginia, where she oversaw the promotion and coverage for all athletic programs, website management, social media, gameday operations, statistic collection for 20 sports, and supervising a team of student workers.
Prior to Bluefield State, Cephers spent a year at Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana as associate sports information director and the assistant director of marketing and development.

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