The public relations field is said to be one of performance recognition, and one retiring NIU professor will always be recognized and remembered.

Albert Walker recently recieved the Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award from the Public Relations Student Society of America and is retiring from NIU at the end of May. Walker has been with NIU since 1968.

“Students will miss someone who is deeply interested in public relations and who strives to be a top public relations professional—and an ethical one,” said Mary Beth Sanders, president of NIU’s chapter of PRSSA.

Walker helped found the Betsy Ann Plank chapter of PRSSA at NIU in 1968, the 13th chapter in the country.

In 1968, he was also instrumental in establishing the public relations sequence in the journalism department.

His teaching philosophy has not changed since 1968 and centers on student activities. The only changes he has made have been because of feedback from people working in firms, the “firing line” of public relations, because they are currently involved in changes in the field.

Kenneth Trantowski, a former student, said students appreciate Walker’s classes the most after they have left school. Through guest speakers, Walker would “share with you what the real world was like,” he said. Trantowski has been with the Burson-Marsteller public relations firm for 18 years and is their executive vice-president.

Sanders said some of the reasons Walker received the award was his work with Contact Communications, the student-operated public relations firm, his professional partners program, his work on the weekly newsletter, “PR Update,” and his thoughtful actions, including writing letters of reccommendation and making arrangements for trips.

Walker said his only departing regret is the NIU journalism department dropping the public relations emphasis, along with all other sequences within the department.

After his retirement, he said he will move to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and become a partner in the Fox and Walker public relations firm.