Our Board
FāVS Board Executive Director Tracy Simmons: Tracy Simmons is an award winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her 15-plus years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti.
Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas and Connecticut. Currently is a Scholarly Associate Professor at Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communication and serves as the executive director of FāVS News. She also writes nationally and is a reporter and columnist for the Spokesman-Review.
You can reach Simmons at tracysimmons@favs.news.
Rebecca J. “Becky” Tallent, Ed.D., is an associate professor emerita from the University of Idaho’s School of Journalism and Mass Media. In retirement, she is a columnist for FāVS News, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, the Yakima Herald and the Idaho Capitol Sun. She is also the author of two recent book chapters on Indigenous women, especially how the women are shown in media.
Tallent is an active member of the Society of Professional Journalists, from whom she received the 2019 Wells Memorial Key (the society’s highest honor) for outstanding service to journalism. She is also an active member of the Indigenous Journalists Association (formerly the Native American Journalists Association), where she also served on the Journalism Education Committee for several years. In 2023 she earned second place in column writing for “Native American Heritage Month: We Are Still Here” (in FaVS News) from the National Native Media Awards.
Contact Becky at: spokanefavs.becky@gmail.com
Board Secretary Puneet Bsanti:
Puneet Bsanti is a Murrow College graduate from Washington State University. For four years, she studied English and multimedia journalism. In the summer of 2023, Puneet was a reporting intern for the Bellingham Herald where she covered breaking news, education stories and the region’s Sikh community. Since September 2023, Puneet has been a breaking news reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune where she covers crime, criminal hearings, and other developing news.
Puneet has written stories for The Daily Evergreen at WSU and the Spokesman-Review. Puneet also published a story with Religion Unplugged where she wrote about how a university in Thessaloniki, Greece, is supporting the community’s Muslim community.
Contact Puneet: favs.puneet@gmail.com.
At-Large Board Member Destiny Moore:
Destiny Moore is a project manager and communications professional with more than 10 years of experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and cross-functional project leadership. She currently serves as a project manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, where she oversees complex customer projects supporting the electric power industry and helps drive process improvement, customer service excellence and operational efficiency.
Prior to her current role, Moore served as a global communications specialist for Weir, a global mining engineering and technology company, where she developed strategic communications programs, led global content initiatives and supported business objectives through storytelling, employee engagement and media relations. Her career began in journalism, with reporting and published work appearing in regional and national media outlets, including The Oregonian, The Register-Guard and the International Journalists’ Network.
Moore is passionate about strengthening local journalism, fostering informed communities and building meaningful connections between organizations and the people they serve. She brings a people-first perspective to leadership and is committed to advancing collaboration, transparency and community engagement.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Idaho and a Master of Science in journalism from the University of Oregon. An Idaho native, Moore lives in Moscow with her husband, two cats and a very energetic Australian shepherd pup.
At-Large Board Member Amanda Irwin:
Act I
Amanda knew journalism was her calling from graduation at UNC Chapel Hill’s J-School. She spent 15 years as a reporter and editor in NC crafting stories about the arts, education, family life and her favorite beat— religion. She wrote for the StarNews, various magazines and NPR affiliates, was a member of the Religion Newswriters Association, the national Religion News Service and was the creator of Wilmington Faith and Values, one of the five FAVS newsrooms serving as bureaus for RNS.
Act II
In 2014, her husband was chosen as Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work at Central China Normal University in Wuhan, China as a culmination of his many years of China and globalization research. The whole family followed along with their 4-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. Amanda began again with an editing job at CCNU and then taught ESL to Chinese children for 2.5 years at Wuhan Maple Leaf International School.
Act III
The family returned to the States in 2018 for her husband’s job in Sociology at the University of Connecticut, and Amanda began again, this time as the executive office manager to the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Eastern Connecticut State University. In their years in the frozen North, Amanda finished her Master’s Degree in Strategic Communications on top of learning what a roof rake is and how to use it as well as thoroughly enjoying mountain hiking.
Act IV
Since 2023, Amanda and her family returned home to North Carolina to be closer to family. She is currently the Director of Marketing and Communications at Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina and is loving life again living in their island home on Carolina Beach. Amanda craves walks on the beach but goes home to see the mountains and her parents as often as she can. Her son is now a junior in high school and a new driver. Her husband is retired but still globetrotting. And her daughter is a college graduate and a jobseeker in the Health Sciences and Political Science fields.
That nun was so right!
Contact Rebecca at: AmandaIrwin@favs.news
At-Large Board Member Rev. Heather VanDeventer:
Heather VanDeventer is an Episcopal priest and has served as the dean of St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane since 2018. She has previously served congregations and lived in northern Virginia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. Heather is married to David, also an Episcopal priest, and they have two kids in college in the Midwest. Most of her board experience is with organizations related to the Episcopal Church and she is excited to join the FāVS board. Heather is a longtime fan and supporter of community supported public media. She appreciates the distinctive mission of FāVS and its important work to connect and inform people across various faith and values traditions in the Inland Northwest.
Contact Rev. VanDeventer at: heathervandeventer@favs.news
View the 2025 FāVS News annual report here.
Mission Statement
FāVS News informs and builds faith and non-faith community through digital journalism and online and offline engagement opportunities.
Values Statement
FāVS News believes in building community and in bridging divisions through independent, transparent journalism and commentary, and engagement that emphasizes inclusion, acceptance, understanding, and respect. We give voice to the widest range of belief traditions with a particular interest in those whose voices have been muted or ignored. We strive to be politically neutral but recognize the intersection of ethics and values in any discussion of religion, politics, and ideological diversity. We demonstrate a wide-ranging worldview but remain deeply rooted in our home, which is the Inland Northwest.
Vision Statement
FāVS News will be the primary place to articulate faith and nonfaith practices in the Inland Northwest in which divisions are healed and communities connected.
Board Bylaws
Conflict of Interest Policy.