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WSSU Athletics Director Resigns

WSSU Athletics Director Tonia Walker's last day will be Thursday. Photo courtesy WSSU.

The athletics director at Winston-Salem State University is stepping down.  Tonia Walker's last day will be Thursday.

Walker began at WSSU in 2000 as the Ram's women's volleyball coach. She's been the head of the school's athletics program since 2014.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports Walker hasn't given a specific reason for her resignation, other than it's time to step away from the university where she's been for 18 years.

She has been dealing with multiple sclerosis since 2010, but says her resignation is not health-related.

In 2016, Walker was named the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Athletic Director of the Year, and the National Association For College Athletics Administrators 2016 Administrator of the Year.

Chancellor Elwood Robinson released a statement saying Walker did an exceptional job, noting that WSSU is currently one of two schools within the CIAA with a woman at the helm of its athletic program.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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