John Walls Named Vice President for Communications at UT Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas has appointed John Walls to the position of vice president for communications, which oversees all of the University’s media, marketing and web services functions.

“John Walls has served for two years in the role of interim vice president for communications, and in that time he has demonstrated excellent work and professional judgment, and an ability to work collaboratively across the University to help elevate the UT Dallas brand,” said UT Dallas President Richard Benson. “His breadth of experience in both the public and private sectors has helped him fulfill critical responsibilities in media relations, crisis management and marketing. He has performed admirably, and I believe he will continue to do an outstanding job for UT Dallas.”

Walls joined UT Dallas in 2010 to oversee media relations for the University. Under his leadership, the media relations team increased positive media coverage of the University by more than 500 percent, and worked with numerous departments and schools to provide support for major events, media training and consultation, and crisis communications counsel.

During his tenure, media relations personnel also earned more than 20 awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District IV and the Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Media Relations from The University of Texas System.

Under Walls’ leadership since 2016, the communications staff implemented a redesign of UT Dallas’ News Center, expanded visual storytelling and added new social media channels to enhance communications with external audiences.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work with an incredible team of professionals both here in the communications office and across the University,” Walls said. “We all strive to promote our talented faculty, students and staff. Sharing their stories and raising public awareness of the impactful research, education and opportunities here has truly been a source of pride and motivation for me. I look forward to continuing that work and pursuing innovative ways of bolstering our exceptional story.”

Walls previously worked with Fortune 500 companies, including TXU Corp. and health care corporations, and with academic and research institutions, including UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Texas Tech University System. He and his teams routinely earned numerous peer honors for marketing, advertising, public relations, and government and community affairs programs. 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.