With his last official day working at N.C. Central University coming up Sept. 30, Truitt O’Neal is starting to clean out his cluttered office at AudioNet, NCCU’s campus access radio.

He says that packing up is making his departure bittersweet.

“I have my days,” said O’Neal. “The last couple of weeks have been kind of hard, because I find myself having to throw away stuff, and you run up on stuff that you haven’t seen in three or four years and you’re like, ‘Wow. This is kind of hard.’ But at the same time it’s a new chapter in my life. I’ve done this for a while.”

O’Neal has worked as AudioNet’s general manager since 1998.

The Department of English and Mass Communication, which administers AudioNet, is making the general manager position a teaching position as well.

According to the University of North Carolina system, only individuals with master’s degrees can teach at a university.

Though O’Neal is attending graduate school at NCCU for a degree in educational technology, he does not yet have the qualifications to teach.

“Our plan is that the person who is in that position in the radio station would be able to conduct a classroom with undergraduate students,” said Louise Maynor, chair of the Department of English and Mass Communication.

The department has been interviewing potential candidates to fill the position.

O’Neal graduated from NCCU with an undergraduate English degree in 2001.

He said that gaining the trust of students was a challenge since he had just graduated himself.

AudioNet has recently won top national awards in student radio production from the Collegiate Broadcasters, Inc.

As AudioNet’s general manager, O’Neal has helped both students and instructors learn how to use digital editing programs and audio/video equipment.

He also assisted the mass communications program with the development of the audio and video production suites in the Farrison-Newton Communication Building.

O’Neal will continue his job as a part-time DJ at Radio One and is seeking work in the communications industry.

Still, he worries about the future of AudioNet.

“I just hope somebody comes in who is willing to invest that extra time, not the nine-to-five type of situation,” he said.