AFTER 36 YEARS, GEOGRAPHY PROF AL ROBERTSON RETIRES

Growing up in California, Al Robertson hated geography.

"The worst class I had in high school was geography," he said.

But years later, he changed his mind. He took a liking to geography so much so that he became a geography professor.

Now 62 years old, Robertson is retiring after teaching for 36 years at Southeast Missouri State University.

Robertson said never expected to stay at Southeast more than three years. But in the end, he stayed and raised a family.

He likes Cape Girardeau, although he still makes regular trips to California. He loves seeing the Pacific Ocean and the mountains.

Robertson grew up in Southern California. But now he spends time in northern California. "All my family moved up to the Oregon border," he said.

Robertson served in the Air Force for four years. He taught enciphering and deciphering of secret codes at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill.

When he left the Air Force, he pursued a college degree.

He was an accounting major when he started taking classes at a Belleville community college.

But he took a geography class in college and liked it. It wasn't just memorization. It dealt with physical and cultural geography.

Robertson went on to graduate from Illinois State University with both bachelor's and master's degrees in geography.

To Robertson, geography involves a little bit of everything from history to the weather.

"Everybody is a geographer," he said.

A person isn't going to buy a house without looking at the neighborhood and finding out where the nearest school is located, he said.

Robertson said Southeast was a small college when he started teaching in what was then one of the new buildings on campus, Magill Hall.

Teachers were expected to wear ties and coats. Robertson still wears ties from time to time.

He wore one on Thursday when he taught his last class. His students will take their final exams next week.

"I came in with a tie and I'll leave with a tie," he said.

Dr. Mark Scully was president of Southeast when Robertson started teaching at the school.

There were few administrators and Scully left no doubt that he was in charge.

Robertson said all the administrators fit in two rooms in Academic Hall when he first started teaching.

The business college was just a department in those days. "They were all in one department in the basement of Academic," recalled Robertson.

The campus didn't have a Faculty Senate. Scully was reluctant to allow faculty to have such an organization.

But in the end, he allowed it. Robertson served in the Faculty Senate for more than 10 years. He chaired the Faculty Senate during the 1989-90 school year.

Some faculty members aren't eager to serve on the Faculty Senate. But Robertson said serving in the Senate let him see the inner workings of the university.

Over the years, Robertson taught geography and meteorology. He helped develop a major in earth science.

Robertson said more college students hold down jobs while going to school than they did years ago. "Many don't have time to study as much," he said.

Robertson is past president of the Missouri Academy of Science, made up of hundreds of scientists from across the state.

In recent years, he has taught some courses at the Bootheel Education Center in Malden. Robertson received the Bootheel Education Center's Outstanding Instructor Award.

Robertson enjoys driving the back roads to Malden. "I just like variety," he said.

Outside of the classroom, Robertson spends time keeping track of the local weather.

He keeps a record of Cape Girardeau's high and low temperatures and precipitation for every day dating back to 1949. He stores the information on his office computer.

Robertson said he started keeping weather statistics at the request of a Southeast Missourian reporter in the winter of 1976.

He received grants that helped him research weather statistics from past decades.

Over the years, he has been a source of weather statistics for both the newspaper and KFVS television.

He also has received calls from lawyers needing weather information for their lawsuits, as well from business people looking for climate information.

Robertson said he will continue to keep tabs on the weather even in retirement. He recently purchased a computer for his home.

From his home, he will be able to access the university's computer system to update the weather statistics.

He plans to teach part-time this fall. He is scheduled to teach a geography course for elementary education students.

Robertson said he plans to travel some in retirement.

He also wants to pursue his hobby of genealogy. To that end, he plans to visit cemeteries and courthouses in search of information about some of his ancestors.

Robertson said he has plenty of "honey do" chores to keep him busy around the house.

"You can't just sit back in a rocking chair," he said.