A Master Story Teller
Veteran broadcast journalist, educator and documentary filmmaker Larry Foley is a professor and chair of the Lemke Department of Journalism at the University of Arkansas. 2017 marks his 40th year in television—a career invested in reporting, writing, producing and directing stories about his beloved home state of Arkansas.
Foley’s films have earned seven Mid America Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and 17 Emmy nominations in writing, journalistic enterprise, history, cultural history, special program and community service. His films have also received three Best of Festival of Media Arts awards from the international Broadcast Education Association.
Foley’s documentary credits include The Favored Strawberry, The First Boys of Spring (MLB Network/Fox Sports Networks), After the Tsunami, The Art of Crystal Bridges, Up Among the Hills, Growing Hope, Bridge to War Eagle, Sacred Spaces-The Architecture of Fay Jones, The Greatest Coach Ever, Beacon of Hope-The Story of the University of Arkansas, Charles Banks Wilson-Portrait of an American Artist, The Forgotten Expedition, It Started Here: Early Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase, 22 Straight, Arkansas’ Natural Heritage, Out of the Woods, The Keetoowahs Come Home, The Black Swamp, The Governor from Greasy Creek, Arkansas-A Special Place, Hell on the Border, The Pine Bluff Story, The Little Rock Story, The Conway Story and Natural, Wild & Free.
His PBS credits include The Buffalo Flows, Saving the Eagles, The Lost Squadron and When Lightning Struck: Saga of an American Warplane. Foley’s scripts have been narrated by: President Bill Clinton, Academy Award winners Billy Bob Thornton, Mary Steenburgen and Ray McKinnon, country music Star Joe Nichols, ABC reporter T J Holmes, and NFL Hall of Fame broadcaster Charlie Jones.
Foley joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas in 1993. He is founder of the campus television station UATV, and has been inducted into the Lemke Alumni Society Hall of Honor and the Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor. He is winner of the University of Arkansas faculty research award, Fulbright College Master Researcher award, the Individual Artist Governor’s Award from Arkansas Arts Council, and the Henry Award from Arkansas Parks and Tourism.
Foley began his television career in 1977 at KATV Channel 7, covering Southeast Arkansas as Pine Bluff Bureau chief, and host of Good Morning Arkansas. He spent 7 ½ years at KATV, working as a reporter, news assignment editor, morning news anchor and host, and sports producer. Foley joined Arkansas Educational Television Network in 1984 as senior producer, writing, directing and producing films about Arkansas’ natural and cultural heritage. In 9 years at AETN, he worked his way up the ladder, becoming Director of Production, Director of Programming and Production, and finally Deputy Director, the network’s number two position.
Foley, wife Susan and grandson Jeremy live in an historic home on the edge of the University of Arkansas campus, with their 3 dogs and 3 cats. Together, they have four children and six grand children.
