UA professor honored, receives award for filmmaking career

FAYETTEVILLE — Dale Carpenter, a documentary filmmaker and professor, has been honored with the 2018 Ernie Deane Award.

Carpenter, a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville faculty member since 1994, received the honor at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in a surprise ceremony Friday, according to a university announcement.

Deane, as part of a career that included serving as press officer for Gen. George Patton during World War II, in the 1950s started The Arkansas Traveler column published in the Arkansas Gazette newspaper.

“Those were human interest stories, and Dale’s told a lot of human interest stories in his films,” said Larry Foley, chairman of the group of Deane’s friends, former colleagues and students who decide on the award.

Carpenter worked for a decade as a senior producer with the Arkansas Educational Television Network. While working at UA, he continued to make films on topics including disability rights.

Foley, a UA professor and filmmaker who has collaborated with Carpenter, described him as a North Little Rock native and said Carpenter is retiring this month from the university.

“He is a great talent and a wonderful storyteller who made a choice many years ago when he came back from the American Film Institute,” Foley said, referring to a fellowship with the Los Angeles-based organization. “Dale came home and he has been devoted to teaching Arkansas students and telling stories about his home state.”