The University of Texas at Dallas has appointed John Walls associate vice president for communications, overseeing all of the University’s media relations activities.

“John Walls’ broad experience in crisis communications and his demonstrated ability to creatively assemble tools available to tell a story give us leadership for an important aspect of our operation. His knowledge of the current media markets and his past successful leadership of groups of communicators will serve UT Dallas very well,” said Susan Rogers, vice president for communications. “We’re pleased to add him to our team.”

Walls has worked with major energy and health care corporations and with academic and research nonprofit institutions. He and his teams have received numerous peer honors for marketing, advertising, public relations, and government and community affairs programs.

“UT Dallas is well-positioned to join the ranks of the nation’s leading public research universities, and I’m looking forward to helping tell the story of the talented faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends who are making that possible,” Walls said.

Before joining UT Dallas, he was assistant vice president for public affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. During his service to UT Southwestern, the institution received more than 40 peer awards for communications excellence.

Over the course of his career Walls has also worked for Tenet Healthcare, TXU Corp. and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He began his career at The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, where he worked as a public affairs reporter.

Walls has a bachelor’s degree in economics from UT Austin and a master’s degree in mass communications from Texas Tech.