Seven Faculty and Staff Members from the College of Fine Arts and Communications Have Retired This Past Year
“This year, the College of Fine Arts and Communications would like to show appreciation for the retiring faculty and staff who have put in dedicated work to support students and colleagues,” said Dean Ed Adams. “The positive impact these individuals left on the university will continue to motivate and inspire us for years to come.”
Faculty and staff retirees this year include Rory Scanlon, Dale Cressman, Geralyn Giovanetti, Kory Katseanes, Steven Johnson and Daniel Barney.
Rory Scanlon | Department of Theatre and Media Arts
Rory Scalon has served as Associate Dean for the College of Fine Arts and Communications and as Associate Dean for BYU Undergraduate Studies, including filling the position of Director of BYU’s Honor Program from 2010 to 2012. He taught in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. Scalon’s professional credits include television productions with companies such as Hasbro, General Foods and Disney. His theatre projects include scenic design for the Utah Sesquicentennial project, “Barefoot to Zion,” and design work for Tuacahn for their recent Disney series. His first book with Costume Fashion Press in New York, titled “Costume Design Graphics” was released in 2001. His creative team completed the historical research and construction of ancient costumes for displays at the Salt Lake Temple Square Visitors’ Centers, and he has worked with the Church on new costume designs for the Hill Cumorah Pageant.
Dale Cressman | School of Communications
Dale Cressman worked for BYU for 26 years as an assistant teaching professor, KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM news director and later as an associate professor in the School of Communications. He received his PhD from the University of Utah. He served as an associate director of the School of Communications on two different occasions, for a total of nine years. He has served in leadership positions in the Broadcast Education Association and the American Journalism Historians Association and was also the vice president of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has won several awards including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Mike Sweeney Award for best journal article, a regional Emmy for his documentary “Russia: Hidden Memory” and a faculty award from the BEA Festival of Media Arts. Cressman said, “Everything I hold dear in my life has come to me because of the decision I made in 1979 to attend BYU as an undergraduate. Teaching at BYU has been my dream.”
Geralyn Giovanetti | School of Music
Geralyn Giovannetti was a professor of Oboe at BYU. She also taught woodwind chamber music, graduate oboe pedagogy and literature and performed with the resident faculty ensemble, Orpheus Wind Quintet. In 2020, Giovannetti was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching award. She has served on numerous faculty, college and university committees and for nine years was the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the BYU School of Music. Giovannetti has performed with numerous national and international orchestras and symphonies. She is the founding member of the Sundance Trio, Trio Abelia, the Madeleine Trio, and the CAN-AM Trio. Giovannetti and her colleague, Christian Smith were the 2008 co-hosts of the International Double Reed Society Conference (IDRS) in Provo, Utah. Through her work with Sundance Trio, she has compiled and maintained a database of over 200 original works for oboe, bassoon and piano.
Kory Katseanes | School of Music
Kory Katseanes worked for 24 years as the Director of Orchestras in BYU’s School of Music. As Director of Orchestras, he oversaw the orchestral program that accommodates nearly 400 students enrolled in the five University orchestras, and directed the graduate orchestral conducting program. He conducted the BYU Philharmonic and the BYU Chamber Orchestra in their campus concerts, throughout Utah and on their regular tours throughout the world. He served as the director of the School of Music from 2009 to 2015. He was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching award in 2021 and the American Prize in Conducting for College/University Orchestras in 2022. Katseanes said that he has felt like the “luckiest conductor in the world” and that he is “supremely thankful for the opportunities, [his] faculty colleagues, administrative partners and the thousands of students who made this tapestry possible.”
Steven Johnson | School of Music
Steven Johnson taught in the School of Music at BYU for 36 years. Johnson has been invited to present papers on numerous occasions, for events such as the Society of Music Theory, the American Musicological Society Regional Conference and the Centennial Festival at the New School in New York City. Johnson has served as a chair and committee member on the Rank Advancement Committee, an Area Head of Musicology and as a member of the Department Search Committee of Music History. Johnson’s professional activities also include editing and contributing to The New York Schools of Music Visual Arts and the New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Johnson’s expertise has also been solicited for peer review by publications including Journal of the American Musicological Society, American Music and Oxford University Press.
Daniel Barney | Department of Art
Daniel T. Barney, PhD was Professor of Art Education in the Department of Art in the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University for 16 years. During his time at BYU, he taught courses in curriculum development and theory as well as methods in contemporary art. His research interests included arts based inquiry, pedagogical forms in relation to contemporary art practices, a variety of qualitative and post-qualitative methodological approaches to research, literacy in the arts and visual arts curricular issues. Barney co-edited and co-authored the book “Arts Education and Literacies” , was a Series Editor for Springer Press, authored many book chapters with prominent publishers, and he has authored numerous articles in journals that include, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Cultural Studies—Critical Methodologies, Visual Arts Research, International Journal of Art & Design Education, Journal for Artistic Research, and International Journal of Education through Art. He was Editor of the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, and Associate Editor of The Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association, a lifetime member of the Council for Policy Studies in Art Education, and a lifetime member of Professors of Curriculum.