Dr. Judy VanSklyke Turk, 2013 Educator Honoree

Dr. Judy VanSlyke Turk, Educator

Dr. Judy VanSlyke Turk retired from VCU as a professor of public relations in the School of Mass Communications in May 2013. From 2002 through 2010, she was the director of the School.

Prior to joining VCU in 2002, she was founding dean of the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. Previously, she was dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina, director of the journalism and mass communications program at Kent State University and a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University and Syracuse University.

Judy is past president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). She has held every elected position in AEJMC’s Educators Academy and Council of Divisions. She was president from 2010 to 2012 of the Arab-US Association of Communication Educators.

Judy has been involved for two decades with the national accreditation of journalism and mass communication academic programs and was a member of the Accrediting Committee of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication from 2009 to 2012. She is a past chair of the College of Fellows of the PRSA and is currently co-chair of the Fellows’ Educational Initiatives Committee.

Judy worked professionally for The Associate Press and in university and corporate public relations before her academic career and was named “Outstanding Public Relations Educator” in 1992 by PRSA. In 2005, she received the Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations for her lifetime contributions to research, and in 2006, AEJMC recognized her as its “Outstanding Woman in Journalism Education.”

She was founding associate editor of Journalism Studies, an international refereed journal, and is a member of the editorial advisory board for Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Journal, Public Relations Review, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. She is co-author of “This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations”, now in its 11th edition.

Judy has consulted and lectured on public relations and journalism/mass communication teaching and curriculum issues in Eastern Europe.


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