Building far-reaching friendships

The title “associate dean” initially evokes images of stodgy tweed, an intimidating, mahogany desk and a phonograph with Chopin’s Sonata in b-flat minor playing softly in the corner.

Then there’s Dr. Grant Farr, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, whose office and persona blast those images to bits. His office is painted in a soft orange hue, and he has a painting produced by a Portland State student hanging on the wall above his desk.

Farr has acquired a small collection of student art in addition to numerous trinkets amassed during his travels. The most striking items in the room, however, come from a rocky, mountainous country more than 6,500 miles away: three traditional Afghan robes called “chapans.”

Farr is among the top Afghanistan experts in the United States. His knowledge is so vital that the U.S. Congress invited him to testify on the Afghan situation in 2007. He has maintained a passion for the turmoil-filled country since he worked there with the Peace Corps in 1966.

While most Americans fear the Taliban as the biggest threat facing Afghanistan and the West at large, Farr disagrees.

“The real threat is just apathy, people are disheartened,” he said. “The government doesn’t work, there’s no electricity, the banks don’t work, the police and fire department are corrupt and don’t work.”

Farr frequently travels to Afghanistan to conduct research and make connections with other intellectuals trying to make sense of the world that millions of Afghans deal with every day.

He spends his time primarily in Kabul, the nation’s capital, and in surrounding towns and villages. Farr is on a first name basis with President Hamid Karzai, and interacts with a variety of tribes across the country.

Farr said he particularly enjoys spending his time in the north with the Uzbeks, and he fluently speaks Dari–the Afghan dialect of Persian.

The British commander stationed in Afghanistan echoed Farr when he indicated that a flat-out win for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be nearly impossible.

The possibility of defeat was a prime topic at the conference that Farr attended this month in Omaha, Neb. “Although it’s hard to see a complete loss, its harder to see how to win,” Farr concluded after the conference.

When he’s not providing a statement to the United States, or attending conferences around the country, he enjoys playing the bass in a jazz quartet comprised of fellow veteran educators. Farr also loves working with the student athletes, and even does a little power lifting.

Farr has been a professor at Portland State for 33 years, and an associate dean for the past four. He also worked for 18 years as the chairman of the Sociology Department.

His academic passions include mathematics, and all aspects of sociology. Since becoming associate dean, he has had less time to teach classes, an aspect of his career that Farr said he really misses.

His favorites classes to teach were the 100-level intro classes.

“I got the chance to really move students, teach them something, really change them,” Farr said.

While the professor is an internationally recognized expert on Afghanistan, he really loves Portland State.

“I like that Portland State has students who are working, or returning women,” Farr said. “I enjoy seeing them really change and grow.”

Farr was a recipient of the George C. Hoffmann Award for Excellence for his work in research and education, a recognition that touched him.

Farr plans to head back to Afghanistan sometime in late November or early December.

“In the winter,” he said, “Kabul is really clear, cool, but cold.”

His new research project investigates the religious institutions in Afghanistan, particularly the religious “madrasa” [school], in hopes of uncovering the religious background that drives the Taliban.