1979_09 The Daily Collegian September 1979

              The Doily
Roger Ervin: Geography prof, world traveler
Daily CeoVgian Staff Reporter
Even before the first grade, Roger
Ervm knew what he wanted to do with
his life While most kids had knowledge
of the ABC's and beginning numerals,
he knew all the United States and their
capitals
And throughout grade school and
tumor high, when it was common for
kids to collect baseball cards and dolls.
Ervm managed to build up quite a set
of maps
He has since covered most of the land
on those maps personally, and rnor*
Having set foot in every one of the SO
states, he has also been to all the continents but Antarttca-and is set on going
there upon retirement
Ervm, 58 and a bachelor, has been a
professor of Geography here at CSUF
since 1957 Whenever he is not teaching,
he is usually traveling-often to some
remote places
His travels have taken him to the
tungles and vast open lands of Africa,
to the highlands of New Guinea and
'down under* to New Z*a\and and
Australia In all. he has been to 60 countries, the lastest of which is China,
which he saw this summer after a
lengthy wait
*l have long wanted to go to China
r
since it (China) opened up,* Ervin said,
'and the opportunity finally came'
about five years ago
And what did he think of China?
"Very interesting
"There were about a million tourists
in China during the summer and the
crowded conditions got to me somewhat* he said, (such as) the 'three
million bicycles in Peking *
His only regret was dwt he wasn't
a historian
'China is very proud of their long
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history and what you see is of more
significance to the historian than to the
geographer and that is really the only
disappointment, which you really can't
do anything about "
However, he said "dw people were
very friendly," a phenomenon which
although not always true, he usually
encountered
One group of people winch did receive
him well were the Highland people of
New Guinea Not discovered until about
1930 when some Europeans seeking gold
happened to run into them, Ervin said
those tribes were very primitive, yet
'very receptive '
Ervin said that meeting the different
peoples of dw world wm one of dw most
rewarding aspects of all has
along wrth giving him e valuable
•ng aid' to bring back to his students
'you might say a geographer n*v*r
takes a vacation,' Ervin said
Of Blithe spots he has been to, his
personal preference is Norway "I'm
fascinated by the fjords and dw country
is beautiful," he said The Norwegian
people ar* among the friendliest I
stayed wrth *
He also cited dw "down-under" coun
trim as some of his favorites
But his travels have not all been care
free
His trip to Moscow in 1976 was "uncomfortable I feft like I didn't have
control of my life there,* he said And
there ar* other places where he doesn t
care to return to, but for the most part,
doesn' t want to mention
He is not without some incidents,
either
"I had to push a bus up a hill in Scotland," he recalled "It was raining and
a bunch of us were inside It was either
push the bus or sit inside, so    "
And in Ireland, "I checked into my
room and immediately took a bath and
while I was taking my bath they knocked
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on the door and informed me I had been
assigned the wrong room But dwt
didn't make any difference to me I still
got my bath ' he said
During his travels, Ervin took up
photography and has found a lot of hams
in the world One of which was his guide
in Kenya
"He was an excellent guide." Ervin
said "I'd say, 'Stop, I want to take a
picture' and he d say there was a better
spot up ahead Then he'd get out and
want to be in every picture I'd take a
picture of a coffee plantation and he
wanted into the picture, and then a tee
plantation and he wanted into die
picture '
Most of those photographs, 'slides,
really, * ore used m the classroom where
Ervin is most comfortable In his 24
years of teaching (he taught for two
years at the University of Delaware
prior to moving here), Ervin said he has
always "been relaxed I can fsll asleep
in five minutes," he said And one of
the git eta if toys a teacher can get out
of teaching is the dose contact wrth a
student
The other afternoon was one of dw
most pleasant I've had,' he said 'I had
a student dial I had last Spring in here
and we iust talked about a tat of things
Having that close contact with students
keeps you young '
Born in Nebraska. Ervin first became
interested in geography when his
parents took him on his first trip at three
years of age
He went on to obtain his Bachelor's
and Master's degrees at dw University
of Washington and his Doctorate from
the University of Florida
His first real traveling came when he
was sent to Costa Rica and Chile in Laon
America to pursue his Master's thesis
He has since been almost everywhere
Since most of his trips are paid for
out of his own pocket (although tax
deductible), today's economy and dw
depreciation of the dollar prevents rum
from traveling as much as he used to
He does have this summer's trip all
planned out though-to dw Galapagos
Islands, and thorn famous turtles He
says he will have to live on a test onshore since dwm is no housing available
on dw islands, but dwt is iust one inconvenience he will not mind
And AntartJcs?
'I plan on going dwm aftar I retire
You have to go there during summer and
them is always school I want to see
those penguins
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