Dr. Dale Cressman is a media historian and professor emeritus at the Brigham Young University School of Communications. He retired from full-time teaching in 2023 after 31 years of college teaching, including 26 years on the full-time BYU faculty.
In the classroom, he taught media history, historical research methods, media literacy, backpack journalism, television news producing, multimedia journalism, news reporting, newswriting, and fundamentals of journalism. Additionally, he directed studies abroad and field studies in Europe and New York City.
Dale served for nine years as associate director of the School of Communications, overseeing undergraduate studies and student learning (curriculum, course scheduling, admissions, internships, advisement, assessment, diversity and inclusion initiatives) and leading a successful ACEJMC reaccreditation in 2022.
Dale also served on editorial boards for three academic journals. He's been published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, American Journalism, Journalism History, and various textbooks and encyclopedias. His article, "News in Lights: The Times Square Zipper and Newspaper Signs in an Age of Technological Enthusiasm," was chosen as the winner of the Michael S. Sweeney Award for best article of the year published in Journalism History in 2018. His 2007 article on television coverage of space flight was runner-up for best article of the year in American Journalism, the peer-reviewed journal of AJHA. His 2009 article on the history of Times Square was reviewed in Columbia Journalism Review. His current research on 1963 was highlighted in the August 2013 edition of British Airways' in-flight magazine, High Life. He is also writing a biography of network television news pioneer (and former ABC News president) Elmer W. Lower.
From 2019 until 2022, Dale served as Vice President of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). He was also a member of the Council 2018-2023, representing the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), of which he was also an ex officio member of its board. He occasionally serves on site-visit teams, helping evaluate journalism and mass communications programs for accreditation or reaccreditation with ACEJMC. Dale is a past division chair of the Broadcast Education Association and was the program chair of BEA's 2012 convention. In 1991-1992, he was chair of the national committee on journalism education for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). As a consultant, he has worked with universities, journalists, and government officials in the United States, Pakistan, and Bolivia.
After working as a professional journalist, Dale transitioned to higher education in 1990, with his first faculty appointment at Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), where he served as an assistant professor and television news director. Following that, in 1993, he was appointed an assistant teaching professor at BYU and served as news director of KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM. The stations, among the first—if not the first—in the nation to provide over-the-air, student-produced news broadcasts, won many awards and launched careers of thousands of broadcast journalists, including some who reached the top of the profession. In 1996, Dale left BYU to pursue a PhD. After three years as a visiting assistant professor at Utah State University, he returned to BYU in 2000. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Utah in 2003.
His professional journalism career included working as a newspaper reporter in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; line-up editor at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, television news producer in South Bend, Indiana; executive producer in Salt Lake City and in Waco, Texas; managing editor in Green Bay, Wisconsin; and radio and television news director in Provo, Utah.
In 1995, he produced the Emmy Award-winning public television documentary "Russia: Hidden Memory.” In 2008, his television news producing students were recognized by BEA for the best daily television newscast in the nation. A student-mentored learning project he led in 2019 on the Camino de Santiago in Spain won a BEA Festival of Media Arts faculty award. He was a chief liaison to rights-holding broadcasters for the Host Broadcaster during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. In 2008, he produced BYUtv’s worldwide coverage of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley’s funeral.
In the classroom, he taught media history, historical research methods, media literacy, backpack journalism, television news producing, multimedia journalism, news reporting, newswriting, and fundamentals of journalism. Additionally, he directed studies abroad and field studies in Europe and New York City.
Dale served for nine years as associate director of the School of Communications, overseeing undergraduate studies and student learning (curriculum, course scheduling, admissions, internships, advisement, assessment, diversity and inclusion initiatives) and leading a successful ACEJMC reaccreditation in 2022.
Dale also served on editorial boards for three academic journals. He's been published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, American Journalism, Journalism History, and various textbooks and encyclopedias. His article, "News in Lights: The Times Square Zipper and Newspaper Signs in an Age of Technological Enthusiasm," was chosen as the winner of the Michael S. Sweeney Award for best article of the year published in Journalism History in 2018. His 2007 article on television coverage of space flight was runner-up for best article of the year in American Journalism, the peer-reviewed journal of AJHA. His 2009 article on the history of Times Square was reviewed in Columbia Journalism Review. His current research on 1963 was highlighted in the August 2013 edition of British Airways' in-flight magazine, High Life. He is also writing a biography of network television news pioneer (and former ABC News president) Elmer W. Lower.
From 2019 until 2022, Dale served as Vice President of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). He was also a member of the Council 2018-2023, representing the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), of which he was also an ex officio member of its board. He occasionally serves on site-visit teams, helping evaluate journalism and mass communications programs for accreditation or reaccreditation with ACEJMC. Dale is a past division chair of the Broadcast Education Association and was the program chair of BEA's 2012 convention. In 1991-1992, he was chair of the national committee on journalism education for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). As a consultant, he has worked with universities, journalists, and government officials in the United States, Pakistan, and Bolivia.
After working as a professional journalist, Dale transitioned to higher education in 1990, with his first faculty appointment at Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), where he served as an assistant professor and television news director. Following that, in 1993, he was appointed an assistant teaching professor at BYU and served as news director of KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM. The stations, among the first—if not the first—in the nation to provide over-the-air, student-produced news broadcasts, won many awards and launched careers of thousands of broadcast journalists, including some who reached the top of the profession. In 1996, Dale left BYU to pursue a PhD. After three years as a visiting assistant professor at Utah State University, he returned to BYU in 2000. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Utah in 2003.
His professional journalism career included working as a newspaper reporter in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; line-up editor at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, television news producer in South Bend, Indiana; executive producer in Salt Lake City and in Waco, Texas; managing editor in Green Bay, Wisconsin; and radio and television news director in Provo, Utah.
In 1995, he produced the Emmy Award-winning public television documentary "Russia: Hidden Memory.” In 2008, his television news producing students were recognized by BEA for the best daily television newscast in the nation. A student-mentored learning project he led in 2019 on the Camino de Santiago in Spain won a BEA Festival of Media Arts faculty award. He was a chief liaison to rights-holding broadcasters for the Host Broadcaster during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. In 2008, he produced BYUtv’s worldwide coverage of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley’s funeral.
Born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Dale came to the United States as a student athlete, recruited by the University of Kentucky and Brigham Young. He lettered swimming in 1980 and 1981 and served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Madrid, Spain. He continues to enjoy swimming and cycling and recently began to teach himself how to play the alto saxaphone. He is married to Rebecca Parker Cressman, a Salt Lake City broadcaster. They have three adult sons & daughters-in-law, two grandchildren, a Goldendoodle and a mini Labradoodle.
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