Ron Compesi is a Professor of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, and also serves as Interim Dean of the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. He teaches primarily in the areas of video field production and editing, and media ethics.

Dr. Compesi holds a B.A. from the University of Connecticut, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. His dissertation was titled: Gratifications of Daytime Television Serial Viewers: An Analysis of Fans of the Program “All My Children.”

Dr. Compesi is author of Video Field Production and Editing, seventh edition (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2007). In print since 1985, this text is one of the leading college textbooks on the topic in use today in the United States and Canada. A Chinese language translation was published by the Beijing Broadcasting University in 2003. Dr. Compesi is co-author of Introduction to Video Production: Studio, Field and Beyond (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2006). A Chinese translation is currently underway at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Dr. Compesi has published scholarly articles and book reviews in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (JOBEM), Public Telecommunications Review, and Journalism Quarterly, and regularly serves as a manuscript reviewer for JOBEM. From 1993-2003, Dr. Compesi served as co-executive producer for a variety of special television programs produced for KTVU (Fox, Channel 2) television’s Family to Family and Bay Area People community affairs series. Dr. Compesi has held a number of administrative appointments at San Francisco State University, including Chair of the Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department (1986-1995), Associate Dean of the College of Creative Arts (2006, 1984-1985), and Interim Director of the School of Music and Dance (2004-2005).