The Chart Online

Geography returns to class
By Jacob W. Brower

Associate Editor

A Missouri Southern professor is on a mission to put geography back on the map.

Dr. Charles Fahrer was recently hired as an assistant professor of geography on a one-year basis. A North Carolina native, Fahrer, 47, said he tries to make his classes as interesting as possible.

"I try to be theatrical when I'm teaching," he said. "In many cases, the students don't know where I'm coming from. I don't want to be boring, so I may raise my voice suddenly, move back and forth, or do something to grab the students' attention."

So far this semester, Fahrer has received positive feedback about his job performance. Dr. Richard Miller, head of the social science department, said Fahrer brings a sense of excitement to the classroom.

"I think part of his success so far has been his enthusiasm for his work," Miller said. "I've heard a lot of positive feedback from the students, and I think he's enjoying it."

Many of his students, however, said theatrics are not the only thing Fahrer brings to his courses.

"I think his class is very understandable," said Talison Davies, sophomore Spanish major. "He's very thorough, and his class is an excellent tool for learning geography."

Fahrer began his work in geography during a career in the Army from 1979-2000, when he was assigned the duty of area studies using a geographical approach.

"I became a geographer without knowing it," he said.

The Army also requested Fahrer to learn and teach a foreign language to other officers. Given the choice between Russian and Arabic, Fahrer chose Arabic.

"After I learned Arabic, the Army stationed me in Kentucky," he said. "You know what? Not a lot of people speak Arabic in Kentucky."

Ironically, Fahrer's wife, Nina, whom he married on Christmas day 1999, is a native of Russia. He met Nina while traveling abroad a previous summer.

Fahrer graduated from North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 1977. He later earned his master's degree in geography from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., and his Ph.D. in geography from South Carolina University in Columbia.

"When I got out of the Army, I thought about going to graduate school," he said. "One day, I'm looking through the catalog, and I turned to the geography page, and there was everything I was wanting to study."

Fahrer said he thinks America has become lax in the teaching of geography.

"Geography really fell through the cracks in the American educational system about 20-30 years ago," he said. "I know a lot of high schools don't even require geography courses anymore."

Fahrer said he hopes to help ensure the next generations of educators are properly schooled in the area of geography.

"A lot of my students are education majors," he said. "They're going to need to learn it well enough to pick up the slack. They're going to need to know that there's a country called Mexico to our south."