Dr. Charles H. Fisher 1920-1923

Charles H. Fisher

Before becoming principal of the Bloomsburg State Normal School (BSNS), Charles Henry Fisher had extensive experience in the field of education. He taught in York, PA and Trenton, NJ, and had been a professor of education at Swarthmore College. In addition, Fisher was the head of the education department at West Chester State Normal and assistant director of the Teachers Bureau of the State Department of Public Instruction at Harrisburg.

Dr. Fisher's most ambitious project at BSNS was the establishment of a Bureau of Educational Research. In 1922 he started a three-year course for teachers of junior high school age students, which was the normal school's first step towards college status. In 1923 he resigned from Bloomsburg and became president of the Western Washington State Teachers College at Bellingham. Fisher left there after sixteen years when a dispute developed over his defense of academic freedom.

He later worked as a professor of education administration at New York University, and in 1942 became the Dean of Huron College in South Dakota. In the last years of World War II he returned to Washington to work as a materials priority director for the state. Charles Fisher died on December 8, 1964 at the age of 84 in a suburb of Seattle, Washington. In 1968 Western Washington honored Dr. Fisher by dedicating the Fisher Fountain to his memory.