Valerie Roberts Evans

Journalism

Professor of Practice

Email

vaevans@mail.smu.edu

Phone

214.768.4775

Connect

Valerie Roberts Evans is a career journalist with 26 years of professional experience. Her broadcast career started in 1986 after she graduated from Northern Illinois University.

As a news manager, Evans was responsible for shaping news coverage for 10 television stations in six states. Evans also participated in branding and strategic planning at those stations. While in Denver, she helped start a newscast for Fox affiliate KDVR.

She won a Regional Emmy Award in the Spot News category for A Day of Weather in 2012. That day, the weather went from torrential rains and flooding to tornadoes; Evans and her team at WFAA-TV were able to navigate the natural problems that come with the unexpected and produce an outstanding broadcast that gave viewers the information they needed.

Evans also shared a Lone Star Emmy Award for Continuing Coverage for an investigative show called Crooked Teeth: Medicaid Millions.

While she was a manager at WFAA-TV, Evans was nominated for news coverage awards and the station won several awards for news excellence.

She considers herself a Big J journalist and purist who’s a stickler for grammar.

Evans has a husband and two sons.

View CV

CV

Education

B.A. Journalism; minors in communication studies and Black studies, Northern Illinois University

Recent Work

Professional Experience
Executive producer, WFAA-TV Dallas

News director, WEYI-TV Flint

Managing editor, WXYZ Detroit

Assistant news director, KDVR Denver

WZZM-TV Grand Rapids

WDTN Dayt on

WEYI Flint

KDKA Pittsburgh

KSDK St. Louis

Adjunct professor, University of North Texas

Course list

Reporting 1 JOUR 2312
Broadcast 1 JOUR 3385
Broadcast News Seminar JOUR 4300
4360 Race, Class and Gender
JOUR 4360
EvansValerie-August-2023