UND Vice President for University and Public Affairs Susan Walton interviewed for an administrator position at a university in Indiana, but the search has since been suspended.
Walton said in an email her priorities continue to include serving UND and supporting interim President Ed Schafer.
“Like many people, I have been presented with other opportunities from time to time, and that continues to be the case,” she said.
The Star Press reported in January the president of Ball State University, Paul Ferguson, resigned unexpectedly. Walton noted this in her email and said the search to fill the position she applied for was suspended shortly after her visit and presentation at a forum there Jan. 14.
Representatives from the BSU public relations office did not say why the search had been suspended.
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Walton has worked at UND since July 2012. She is an alumna of Brigham Young University in Utah. In her time at UND, she has assisted in the planning and selection of an athletic nickname that has replaced the controversial Fighting Sioux moniker. Walton was also inducted into the Public Relations Society of America College of Fellows in 2015.
“I have always believed in being open to new opportunities,” she said in the email. “In fact, it was that openness to opportunities that led me to my wonderful job at UND.”
Walton is the second known high-level administrator who has sought employment elsewhere after the departure of President Robert Kelley, who retired in January. Vice President for Student Affairs Lori Reesor is also a finalist for a position at the University of Florida, as well as one at Iowa State University.
When asked if she was a finalist for any other positions, Walton declined to comment and said it was her "career-long policy not to comment on opportunities unless and until they become realities."
