(Winston-Salem) The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Board of Trustees will welcome two new members at its regular meeting on Friday.  Susan Klutzz and Linda Staunch will be sworn in during the meeting, from 9 to 11 a.m. in Eisenberg Social Hall of Hanes Student Commons.

Susan W. Kluttz took the oath of office on Jan. 5, 2013, becoming the eighth Secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources. She brought to the position keen interests in historic preservation and the arts, along with commitments to bolster economic development and education.

Kluttz served for 14 years, from 1997 until 2011, as mayor of Salisbury, becoming the city’s longest-serving chief executive. From 2011 until her appointment to the Department of Cultural Resources position, she served on the city council. As mayor, she oversaw city initiatives which developed Salisbury’s cultural arts plan, reorganized the Rowan Arts Council, and created a master tourism plan. In 2012 she received the Mayor’s Cup for sustained contributions to the city.

A summa cum laude graduate with a degree in English from UNC-Greensboro, Kluttz has served on her alma mater’s board of visitors. Since 1998 she has been a member of the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College board of trustees. Kluttz recently was named to the North Carolina Community and Business Alliance, a group aiming to advance economic growth and development. She was a founding member of the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, serving that group as vice chair, and is a member of the board of N.C. Center for Afterschool Programs of the Public School Forum of N.C. She holds an honorary doctorate from Livingstone College.

Kluttz is married to District Court Judge William C. Kluttz Jr. Their family members are son Lieutenant Commander William C. Kluttz III and his wife, MacLean Clinard Kluttz, of Newport, R.I.; daughter Susan Kluttz Smith and her husband, William H. Smith, of Burlington; and grandson William C. Kluttz IV.

Linda Staunch is president and CEO of Linda Staunch & Associates, an innovative public relations/marketing communications agency in New Bern. Her clientele spans a range of businesses, professions, and organizations including tourism, health care, economic development, education and small business initiatives. In addition to public relations, marketing, and advertising expertise, she has extensive experience in event planning and management. In 2010, she was the executive director of New Bern’s 300th Anniversary, a year-long event spanning national and international outreach and including strategic planning, event management, media relations, fundraising, and much more. Her portfolio of event marketing includes coordination and consultation with the Pepsi 100th Anniversary celebration in 1998, Pepsi America’s Sail in 2006, Morehead City’s Sesquicentennial in 2007, and several successful Retirement Expos. She has won numerous awards for strategic communication programming.

Staunch currently co-produces and hosts the popular local television show “Around Town…with Linda Staunch,” which appears on the local cable channel and on FOX-TV in the eastern region. The program features local and national personalities and activities and is dedicated to education and information presented in an entertaining format.

Staunch has been active in numerous local, state, and national professional organizations. She serves as a board member of the Craven County Tourism Development Authority (TDA), and is past president of the Craven County Chamber of Commerce Board and a member of the Carteret and Havelock Chambers as well. She served as a member of the N.C. Chamber Board for eight years. She is a board member of the North Carolina Symphony state board and president of the local symphony board, and a board member of the N.C. Community Foundation and past president of the Craven County board. In addition she is a board member of Mount Olive College; board member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; board member of the Friends of North Carolina Maritime Museum; and Friends of Cape Lookout; and advisory board member of the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. She has served on the boards of the Swiss Bear, Merci Clinic, American Red Cross, Centura Bank (New Bern), American Heart Association (Craven County), the New Bern Military Alliance, and the Craven Community College Foundation.

Staunch has served on the boards of the American Hospital Association Society for Health Care Marketing and Public Relations, and the Carolinas Health Care Public Relations and Marketing Society. She served for many years on the N.C. State Health Coordinating Council.  In addition she has been tapped for numerous task forces and advisory committees including the Craven County Strategic Planning efforts in 1998 and 1994. She is a frequent guest speaker covering a variety of topics.

Prior to establishing her agency in 1995, she was a member of the senior executive board at Craven Regional Medical Center, a leading health provider in coastal Carolina. There she was responsible for marketing, public relations, strategic planning, government relations, fund-raising and volunteer administration.

Staunch is a graduate of Peace College in Raleigh and of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a master’s degree at East Carolina University in Greenville.

Staunch lives in New Bern, and she has three adult daughters and four grandchildren. She is a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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