Thursday, April 8, 2026
The new director of the Transylvania County Campus, Jessica Stepp Edney, on the Transylvania County Campus.
Photo by BRCC / Rich Keen
Jonathan Rich
BrevardBeagle.com
Blue Ridge Community College’s Transylvania County Campus has new leadership following the arrival of Jessica Stepp Edney as its new director.
Edney, whose first day on campus was April 1, succeeds Glenda McCarson following her retirement after 28 years of service to the local community college.
After graduating from North Henderson High School, Edney attended Greenville Technical College to earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Clemson University and taught marketing and leadership courses for several years at Brevard High School.
“Returning to Transylvania County feels like a true full-circle moment,” Edney said in a news release. “This is a special community, and it is a distinct honor to serve here again. My mother was the first in her family to graduate from college because of the door a community college opened for her. I chose that same path for my own education, and it was on a community college campus that I truly found my own path.”
Edney earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke before serving as a resource development coordinator for the Henderson County Boys & Girls Club.
She most recently served as business officer for the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River where she managed financial operations and served as the center’s human resources liaison.
In her new role, Edney said she hopes to expand instruction and continuing education programs in Transylvania County while increasing opportunities for the more than 450 degree-seeking students at the Brevard campus and hundreds more students enrolled there each year.
“We are very excited to welcome Jessica as the new director of the Transylvania County Campus,” said Dr. Chad Merrill, Blue Ridge’s executive vice president and chief operations officer. “We look forward to her breadth of knowledge of our service area, her relationships with community stakeholders, and her vision for growing and expanding the programs and services that Blue Ridge Community College provides to Transylvania County, Transylvania County Schools, and our economic development partners throughout the area.”