Carol Hughes holds Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Public Accounting certifications along with B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from UNC-Asheville and Clemson University. She currently teaches accounting at Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College, where she was named 2007 Teacher of the Year, and at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She received the NISOD Excellence Award in 2008, and the American Accounting Association’s J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize in 2018. Her areas of specialization and her accounting background are in introductory accounting, government and not-for-profit accounting, and tax.
Carol is actively involved with several local and national agencies. She was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to the National Taxpayer Advisory Panel. Carol has also been involved as a consultant and board member of several local non-profit organizations, and was awarded the Hoyt Abney Community Service Award by the Greater Asheville Public Service Council in May 2007, and the Excellence in Public Service Award in 2008. In addition, she has received awards for her promotion of financial literacy and was the winner of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Part-time Faculty at the University of North Carolina Asheville.