Jeffrey Newton

Jeffrey Newton, Instructor of Journalism
Department of Journalism

Educational Background
M.S. Marketing Communications, Roosevelt University, 1986
B.S. Mass Communications, Central Missouri State University, 1978
B.S. Business Administration, Missouri Western State College, 1977

Professional Experience
Newton has more than 30 years professional experience in public relations and integrated marketing communication. His experience includes working for seven years as manager of public affairs at Abbott Laboratories and for two years as the director of international corporate affairs at Searle. He then spent a decade at Eli Lilly as the director of marketing communications and was the executive vice president at Integrated Marketing Communications for two years. His final stint in corporate America was at Medtronic, where he served as senior director of public relations for one year.

At Ball State University, Newton’s primary objective is to teach in the graduate public relations sequence. He often teaches PR 665, PR 605, PR 662 and PR 620 in both live and online versions.

Newton also chairs the annual Indiana Public Relations Leadership Summit. IPRLS annually draws leading national public relations leaders to an all-day conference held at the Ball State campus in Downtown Indianapolis.

Research/Creative/Publication Interests
Newton’s fields of professional specialization are development of public relations strategies, issues management, crisis communication, health and life sciences communication, small team leadership, media relations, message development, writing and editing, and media analysis.

Research/Creative/Publication Career Highlights
While working as a professional in the field of public relations, Newton was responsible for dealing with crisis communication at both Eli Lilly and Medtronic. He has years of extensive experience in working as the director of public relations at numerous companies. Newton earned multiple Eli Lilly Presidential Awards for excellence in programming. He has given a presentation on the effectiveness of media relations at ICASE (2008), served as a panel member for an AMA discussion on public relations (2009), and given a presentation on media relations at ICI (2009).

While at Ball State, Newton has developed a specialized graduate level class in healthcare public relations. He has also been involved in several independent study classes for graduate students. He is a member of Public Relations Society of America.

Thesis/Creative Project Experience and Philosophy
While attending graduate school at Roosevelt University, Newton completed a creative project focused on the creation of an integrated marketing communication plan to launch a start-up business.

He is most interested in thesis/creative projects that can be of use to professionals working in corporate or agency public relations settings. Projects that challenge conventional wisdom in a rigorous manner are welcomed.