Al Fisher
Albert L. Fisher was a professor in the Department of Geography starting in 1960. After graduating
from Granite High School, Professor Fisher served in World War II in Europe. He returned
to Utah to earn his B.S. from the University of Utah, and subsequently studied political
geography at Johns Hopkins University where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. His post-Ph.D.
career included helping establish the Department of Geography at Brigham Young University
and working for U.S. Naval Intelligence and the CIA. Professor Fisher served as the
second chair of Geography at the U, from 1960 to 1970. His ten years as chair were
during a period of growth and prosperity for the department.
Professor Fisher was widely recognized for his scholarly work on political geography and Utah geography. In the early 1980s, he developed an award-winning and pioneering video series on the geography of Utah, along with an accompanying text. He served as a vice president for the new College of the Virgin Islands to help get it up and running while he was on sabbatical from the U, and also served as presidents of the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains Division of AAG, the Western Social Science Association, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
In 1986, Dr. Fisher was interviewed for an oral history project at the U. His memories of the Department of Geography during his time at the U are archived at the Marriott Library.