Dale Fanning’s phone rang. It was Steve White. The two first met not long after Fanning graduated from high school. Hoping to become a set designer, Fanning was helping to build sets in regional summer stock. White was the theater’s resident lighting designer. He helped the young carpenter secure a position as master electrician.

The master electrician developed a passion for lighting design. “I’m a sculptor with light and scenery,” he says.

To study his craft, Fanning decided to go to college, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where White taught and would serve as Fanning’s academic advisor. One sleep-deprived evening during his senior year, that phone call came.

“Dale, just so you know, I’ve backed out.” White had been scheduled to work in Dublin as the lighting designer for the university’s theater production, but a mysterious sudden emergency prompted the call. “I’ve put in your name to go in my place.”

It was unheard of for an undergraduate to be involved in a high-profile international collaboration. After the Dublin “gift,” when he says he felt like a “professional,” Fanning knew his career direction was set.

The path led to graduate study at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, where Fanning was impressed with the university’s technology integration. Since arriving, he has expanded his repertoire, intrigued by the subtle approach to architectural lighting design. “When done well,” he says, “[lighting design] is the art of not being seen.”

Fanning recently received national recognition for his work by winning the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship for graduate study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. The U.S. Department of Education award is named for the late New York senator known for his support of the arts and education.
—Melissa Silmore (TPR’85)