A guided tour of the Amazon Jungle is all in a day’s work for Dusty Green.

Dusty Green remains a familiar face to those Panhandle television viewers who back around the turn of the century got their local news from KVII, Amarillo’s ABC affiliate.

He probably is not so recognizable in Antarctica, Tanzania or China, but the former award-winning reporter and news anchor has spent ample time in those far-flung nations – and many more – since departing KVII in 2007. 

But before he traverses one more dusty road or green savannah, Dusty Green will be honored by his alma mater, Amarillo College. A plaque honoring Green, a self-employed (and still award-winning) travel videographer, will be added to the prestigious Matney Mass Media Wall of Fame at AC.

Green will be on hand for the public installation ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 22 in the Panhandle PBS Studios located on Jackson Street on the Washington Street Campus. It had originally been scheduled for the second floor of Parcells Hall, but that has changed.

The Wall of Fame honors former students who have been successful in the media and others who have made significant contributions to the Matney Mass Media Program. Green studied journalism at AC from 1991-93. A native of Borger, Texas, he wrote for and eventually became editor of the student newspaper, The Ranger.

Dusty and his wife Nik today are co-producers of a travel-adventure web series, “Two for the Road,” and have won numerous awards in the travel industry and appeared in USA Today and on the Travel Channel, among others. They are presently working with staff at AC’s public television station, Panhandle PBS, to develop “Two for the Road” for TV.

“Dusty started his media career as the editor of AC’s student newspaper, The Ranger, and went on to establish himself in the broadcast industry – starting in Amarillo and then branching out across the world,” Jill Gibson, Matney Mass Media Program coordinator and associate dean of AC’s School of Creative Arts, said.

“His achievements as an independent video producer and internet entrepreneur demonstrate how our graduates are at the forefront of changes in today’s mass media,” she said.
During his tenure at KVII, Dusty Green was named Best Reporter by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters, which also deemed his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 worthy of a Best Documentary award.

Despite his love for broadcasting and for KVII, where he went from assistant producer all the way to news anchor and news director during a 14-year span, Dusty and Nik in 2007 did the unthinkable: they quit their jobs, sold all their possessions and launched their own production company. Today they share their captivating adventure videos – from the giant tortoises and marine iguanas on the Galapagos Islands to the majestic elephants and fearsome lions of the Serengeti Plain – on “Two for the Road.”

Following are the Wall of Fame honorees to date (in order of inclusion):

Beth Duke, former city editor of the Amarillo Globe-News and 2010 winner of AC’s Distinguished Alumni Award;

Kari Fluegel, who worked in media relations for NASA;

Ben Sargent, a Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and AC’s Distinguished Alumnus in 1993;

Mike Stravato, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press; 

Thomas Thompson, former editor in charge of Pulitzer-winning coverage at the Amarillo Globe-Times; 

Jason Boyett, author of several books and an award-winning advertising copywriter and designer; 

Nancy Crowley, the late, longtime journalism teacher at AC, Amarillo High and Tascosa High;

Walt Howard, longtime news anchor for KFDA-TV, Channel 10;

Brad Loper, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for The Dallas Morning News;

Jamey Neill, also known as Jamey Karr on the air, former program director at KACV-FM and presently general manager of The Eagle; 

Robert Wylie, posthumously, a Piper Professor who taught journalism and English at AC for three decades;

Don Ford, a longtime director of engineering for AC’s radio station, an entity he helped establish in 1976, and for AC’s PBS television station—now called Panhandle PBS;

David Coons, an AC alum and a broadcast engineer for AC’s radio-TV academic department for 35 years; and

Jerry Webb, director of AC student publications from 1972-78 and president of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association in 1976.

April 11, 2016