Dan Setterberg, respected and beloved long-time Austin College professor of communication studies and the Cecil H. Green Professor in Communication Arts, died Friday, February 5. The College community extends sympathy to his family.
Share your memories and condolences.
Share your memories and condolences.
Dr. Setterberg will be greatly missed. I made sure that I took every class that he offered. He had a profound impact not only in my education, but my approach to life. I will miss him
ReplyDeleteI am deeply saddened by this news. Dan was a wonderful professor, had one of the best laughs on the planet, and was instrumental in the person I became. I am now an assistant professor at a university and much of my teaching is modeled after Dan's. When I went away to start my PhD at Indiana University (also his alma mater) he advised me to have a beer at Nick's Pub saying that it was a "damn fine watering hole." Thanks to this advice, I met a group of grad students that became my friends and support system. I owe so much of who I am to Dan and hope that I can repay him by tending to my students they way that he tended to his.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to hear this! Sending my condolences to Dr. Setterberg's family and friends.
ReplyDeleteHe was an inspiration to me. I always enjoyed his classes, and appreciated his intelligence, guidance, and dry wit. He will be missed and will not be forgotten.
I am so saddened to hear of the passing of Dan Setterberg. He was one of my favorite professors and I always looked forward to his classes. I wish I had gotten to take more of his classes as they were some of the best I took in all four years of college. He will be greatly missed as his contributions to the college were huge.
ReplyDeleteHe was a brilliant man, and his views on the purpose of the media and where it would be headed in the future significantly impacted how I view my place in the world. He conducted himself with much dignity, and I will remember his classes as some of the most important of my college career.
ReplyDeleteDan was my mentor at Austin College, perhaps not so different than with most students, but his influence on my life has lasted twenty plus years. My copies of "No Sense of Place" and "Impact of Mass Media" are on a nearby shelf in my home office.
ReplyDeleteMy prayers are with Dan's family and the whole AC community. Dan will be greatly missed. By me, by many.
I was so sad to hear today that my mentor had passed away. He was my favorite professor at Austin College and I took all of his classes. I knew he had been ill for some time and I had been meaning to email him to ask him how he was feeling. I regret not doing that earlier. He left a major impact on my life and I could not have asked for a better mentor.
ReplyDeleteMy prayers are with his family and friends.
I had the pleasure of spending a summer working on a documentary film with Dr. Setterberg the year after I graduated (2004) as well as taking several of his classes. Dan Setterberg was a friend to the students, witty, generous and always encouraging. Austin College has lost a treasure and I am saddened that future generations of students will not benefit from his insight and wisdom. I think he always knew I'd make a better lawyer than filmmaker, but he encouraged me at both and never failed to give direction and guidance when asked. Rest in peace Dan, and schlep on.
ReplyDeleteMemories of Dan?
ReplyDeleteThirty years of morning coffee conversation; Jan Terms in DC at the Graylyn Hotel/Deja Vu; road trips to Ft. Worth to Westside Lions basketball games; longer road trips to West Texas to work on the book; buddy talks that began at Ida Green Theater and ended 400 plus miles later at a stock pond in No Tress, TX; mutual love for AC, students, families, and Mexican breakfasts. Dan was not, as he claimed, a Dark Lutheran. He was a West Texas Cowboy who loved the earth and most of the cratures on it. He left beautiful photographs to prove it. He also left a legacy of great teaching, leadership, and deep-seeded loyalty to family and friends. Vaya con Dios, my good friend.
Shelly Williams
I have worked with Dan on various projects over the past 25 years and always was impressed by his talents, his graciousness, and his integrity. His continued dedication to his students and the College throughout his illness was truly "valiant" and intensified my respect for him as a colleague and as an individual. My deepest sympathies to his family.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to hear of Dan's passing, and so young these days. I met Dan at Ida Green's Televison Control Room when he first arrived in '76. I was working on a DocuDrama that needed lots of critical feedback.
ReplyDeleteDan was very instrumental in helping me and our peers working on various video related projects. Since I am still working professionally as a video editor, it is true that Dan had a lot to do with how I shaped my career. Always very helpful and encouraging us to go for it, especially if we had never done anything like what he was encouraging us to do.
Dan will be missed by all. There must be lots of gorgeous images, Dan, for you to focus your lens on over there on the other side. We will think of you often.
Love to all, and my condolences to the Setterberg Family.
Jim Fink - '79 Roo.
I taught with Dan Setterberg as a member of what was then called the Communication Arts department from 1993 to 2001. During that time, Dan was my department chair, dean, colleague and friend. When I think of Dan, I cannot help but remember him with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, and I think that says a lot about who he was. Although I am no longer on the faculty of Austin College, my teaching today continues to be informed by my time there. I am a better teacher today because of my association with Dan Setterberg, and so generations of students to come will continue to benefit from his wisdom and spirit as an educator.
ReplyDeleteI extend my sincere condolences to the Austin College community, especially my past colleagues in the department, and most importantly, to the Setterberg family.
Dan Tinianow
La Sierra University
No matter who you are and where you came from, you respected Dan Setterberg. He was the most fair and talented professor I ever had. It was truly my pleasure to sit in his classes and hear what he had to say. The man could lecture without notes for 80 minutes, but could just as easily be interested in what his students have to say and let them guide the class with discussion. He was a master of asking the right question that would start discussions that would take us through the end of class. He's the only professor to ever drop me from a class (which I deserved) and I will always think very highly of my time spent with him. The last two words he ever said to me were vulgar and may even be seen as offensive by some. It's the verbal equivalent to the middle finger and he said it to me when he gave me a big hug and had a huge smile on his face as I was about to graduate. I only tell the story to show that Dan was so much more than a professor, he was a friend. I knew he wasn't feeling well that day but he was there in good spirits for his students. My condolences to his family, thank you for shaping who he was and sharing him with us.
ReplyDeleteDan was among the first professors I met at Austin College and quickly became a valued colleague and friend. It seems to me that he embobied what Austin College is all about. He was a scholar yet accessible; someone who was clearly student focused and at the same time had an understanding of administrative realities at an independent college. Dan thought in very broad terms, reaching across discipline to achieve goals of helping young people learn to think, write and speak. He always greeted me with a smile and punctuated our conversations with a hearty laugh. He will be missed by many.
ReplyDeleteJim Lewis
I had the pleasure of taking several classes with Dan. One was so small it only had about 5 students. He was passionate and cared about his students. A terrible loss for the future generations of AC students. Prayers to his family and loved ones.
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad news. Dan was one of my favorite professors at Austin College. He cared about his students and was always willing to take the time to talk--I learned so much for him. He encouraged all of us to think critically about the world and the way we interact with it. It is a shame that future students won't get to know him.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to Dan Setterberg for the classes I took from him almost twenty years ago now and for the chances to make the only movies I ever made. Although I did not go into the field professionally, it was worth it to stay at AC and work with him instead of transferring somewhere else to do film. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and all the Austin College community.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that Dr. Setterberg was an authentic teacher for the love of disseminating knowledge and having a two way street with his students. His sincerity was carried by every sentence uttered. This is what I remember the most of the few conversations we shared or that I heard him have with Prof. Mark Monroe. He radiated life and was always on the move. Austin College has lost one of its greatest assets.
ReplyDeleteI'm an AC alum from '93, and Dan was one of my most influential profs. I was a Communications major, and I remember that Dan not only wrote a glowing letter of recommendation for me to get into the University of Texas Master's program for Radio-Television-Film (in it he said I was a "touchstone" for my fellow students), he gave me a huge break on my final paper for the class I was taking from him my senior year. Back then we didn't have computers (gosh I feel like a dinosaur!), we used little Brother word processors to write our term papers--quite difficult to do with a 2 inch wide screen, believe me! Anyway, I was a pulling an all-nighter finishing up my final paper, and the thing crashed on me. I tearily turned in a half-printed out paper...and Dan gave me an "A". I think he would have said, had I been able to ask him, that I deserved it. I lost my mom this past New Year's Day at age 61. I feel like somehow all of the beautiful spirits who are on the other side now are still here to guide and inspire us, even though we are left to experience the tremendous loss. Dan was a pioneer, an inquisitive genius, and an all-around great guy. May his adventures continue.
ReplyDeleteMy sincere condolences,
Christina Fernandez Shapter
'93