In the classroom, he teaches media history, historical research methods, backpack journalism, television news producing, reporting, and introduction to journalism. Between 2010 and 2015, he was associate chair of the Department of Communications (and, later, associate director of the School of Communications), overseeing undergraduate curriculum, course scheduling, admissions, and assessment. Before coming to BYU in 1993, Dale was an assistant professor and television news director at Lyndon State College in Vermont. He was an assistant teaching professor at BYU and news director of KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM between 1993 and 1996. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Utah in 2003. Before returning to BYU in 2000, he taught at Utah State University for three years.