April 8, 2025
ACEJMC Colleagues:
Following a national search, Susan Balcom Walton, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Walton will begin her role Thursday, May 1, at ACEJMC’s Council meeting at the Freedom Forum in Washington, DC.
Susan succeeds outgoing ACEJMC Executive Director Pat Thompson.
Susan, Pat and assistant to the executive director Cindy Reinardy will immediately begin the transition, with special attention focused on curating site teams for Fall 2025 and Winter 2026. Pat’s last day as director will be May 31, 2025. Cindy announced last year that she will retire in the summer of 2026, which will help to ensure a year-long transition with Susan in her new role.
Susan will base ACEJMC’s operations from her home in suburban Boise, Idaho, and Cindy will remain at the University of Kansas.
Pat – a veteran journalist, journalism school administrator and faculty member – has been ACEJMC’s Executive Director since 2018. For almost 30 years, she served ACEJMC on site teams, on the Accrediting Committee, and as chair of the ACEJMC Appeals Board. ACEJMC is grateful for Pat, her years of service and the care she’s invested in our work.
Susan brings more than three decades of experience in both the academy and the profession. A former Fortune 500 public relations executive and a former full-time faculty member at Brigham Young University and Brigham Young University-Idaho, Susan currently directs the Certification for Education in Public Relations (CEPR) program through the Public Relations Society of America. CEPR offers academic programs the opportunity to undergo an external evaluation team review and earn endorsement for undergraduate and master’s level programs meeting eight standards, similar to those of ACEJMC.
Susan will step down from her CEPR role when she assumes the ACEJMC position.
Susan holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of North Dakota, along with Master of Arts in English and Bachelor of Independent Studies degrees from Brigham Young University. Her doctoral research focused on how university presidents use social media to better position their institutions for U.S. News & World Report college rankings. Walton’s teaching experience includes news writing, public policy and political communication, business communications, and public relations. Her papers, publications, and books cover a variety of communications-related subjects.
Susan’s professional career includes roles at Mayo Clinic, where she served as Division Chair, Community Public Affairs; Harley Davidson Motor Company, where she was director of Corporate Communications; and Dow Chemical Company, where she led global communications for Dow’s plastics businesses.
In the summer of 2024, ACEJMC’s Search Committee began its work to recruit talented, qualified individuals for the executive director role. Ten candidates were identified to move forward in the process, and three finalists completed face-to-face interviews in Chicago last month. ACEJMC expresses its sincere thanks to Search Committee members Greg Pitts, Marie Hardin, Rafael Lorente, Dorothy Bland, Peter Bhatia and Del Galloway (chair).
ACEJMC also extends its thanks to the University of Mississippi and the University of Maryland, where ACEJMC based its operations the past seven years.
