"Attention class, attention please," is what a rowdy class of Dr. Harrison's would hear, and the soft Texas voice calms down the room and class is set to begin. Dr. Robert Harrison is a history instructor here at LBCC, and has been since 2006.
Dr. Harrison grew up in East Texas, near the town of Tyler, Texas. Dr. Harrison first received a masters degree from University of Texas at Tyler, Texas. Next, Dr. Harrison pursued higher education from Ohio State University, earning a PhD from the school.
But Dr. Harrison is the first one to tell you that nothing is definite. Dr. Harrison first started out in the journalism program, and wanted to be a writer. He soon figured out that it wasn't for him, as he puts it, "You can't write the next great novel while you are covering city council meeting after city council meeting."
After one year being a journalism major, Dr. Harrison switched to majoring in history. Teaching history became a career path for Dr. Harrison after a college professor sparked his interest in the subject. He already had some knowledge on teaching, as his father was a geography teacher.
Now how does a man from Texas, who got a PhD from Ohio State make his way to LBCC? Well one of Dr. Harrison's passions is traveling, and being a history enthusiast, he took his family along the Oregon Trail that was used in the 1800's. Once they reached Oregon they fell in love. Dr. Harrison got a job at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, but he did not care to much for eastern Oregon as he puts it, "We were 300 miles from anything green, it was awful."
Dr. Harrison left EOU for LBCC, he could have gone to a community college in San Diego, but he fell in love with the valley. Dr. Harrison has been teaching at LBCC since 2006.
History is not the only passion of Dr. Harrison. He is an avid baseball enthusiast, the Houston Astros are his favorite baseball team. He even has taught a baseball history class. He loves politics, saying that politics are fun and important. Then there is his family. He loves to travel with his wife, and finding time for his grand kids who were born weeks apart from each other.
It all comes back to history for Dr. Harrison though. He loves reading historical novels and listening to them on audio book. He has recently just finished a book on the history of salt, he says, "It is fascinating how important salt was and is for our survival."
The attraction to history will never go away for Dr. Harrison because as he says, "I will never get bored, because there is new evidence coming out every day."
Dr. Harrison continues to press on, molding young minds in the classroom. Also showing off his dance moves with his rendition of the Charleston dance, during his lecture on the roaring 20's in his History 203 class.
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