Penny Byrne

Associate Professor, Department of Journalism & Communication
At USU since 1984

Specialty Areas:
Broadcast News, Media Law

Contact:
(435) 797-3292
(435) 797-3973 Fax
pennyb@hass.usu.edu

Academic Degrees:
-- M.A., English, University of Texas-El Paso, 1969
-- B.A., Texas Western College, 1967

Spring 2009 classes:
JCOM 4220, Newscast II
JCOM 4030, Media Law
JCOM 5230

Penny Byrne has been in the JCOM department for twenty-two years; during that time, she has seen the department change from a small speech-oriented department to one which serves 400 majors in print, broadcast, and public relations. Over her tenure, Byrne has succeeded in creating a strong and growing television news sequence. Students interested in broadcast news have the opportunity to complete a full year on the staff of a bustling production team which produces two regular weekly programs, A-TV News and Cache Rendezvous. These programs, aired on the campus cable system, allow students to hone skills necessary for employment in many facets of the electronic media industries.

Byrne developed her skills in academic and professional employment in El Paso, Texas, before coming to USU. She has written and produced documentary materials for both cable and public TV stations. Her students have won dozens of awards in the SPJ Mark of Excellence Competition, both regional and national, and in the National Broadcast Society's student contest. She is the advisor for most of the department's broadcast majors. In addition to her involvement with broadcasting, Byrne teaches the department's required media law course–which most students find unusually challenging.

In summer, 2004, Byrne was one of forty professors from around the world invited to participate in an Oxford Roundtable seminar on issues related to freedom of the press. The trip, funded jointly by the college of HASS, the Women's Center and the JCOM department, has provided her with a wealth of stories for the law class! She also regularly attends the Broadcast Education Association national convention and the National Association of Broadcasters convention. She has been an invited participant at three International Radio and Television Faculty Seminars, a Poynter Institute seminar in broadcast producing, and various regional news and broadcast seminars.

When not on campus, Byrne enjoys cooking, golf and camping–though she readily admits the 34-foot travel trailer she and husband Dean now own is a long way from the eight-foot tent they started in more than 40 years ago.

Research/Professional Activities:
During the past several years, Byrne's professional activities have centered on keeping up with the rapid technological advances that are changing the face of broadcasting, and translating those advances into new classroom learning and training opportunities for broadcast majors. She has attended annual faculty seminars of the International Radio and Television Society in New York City, conferences at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., and seminars and conferences on new broadcast technology and media law developments across the country.

Penny Byrne has been appointed director of the USU Honors Program for the 1996-97 academic year, and will be splitting her time between the COM Department and her Honors duties.

She was also adviser of the USU Society of Professional Journalists student chapter, and helped organize the regional SPJ convention, which USU hosted:
"Wilderness Tomorrow? Covering the West," Annual 1996 SPJ Convention, Region IX, Sherwood Hills/Best Western Resort, Wellsville Canyon, Utah. April 19-20, 1996.

"The best thing about broadcasting is that it gives you a chance to learn it all as it's happening-O.J. (Simpson) in the afternoon and o.j. (Sunkist) in the morning."
-- Penny Byrne, 1995