On the second floor of Peltier Hall in the history and geography offices, you will find a small corner to your right that is home to a man and his mustache.

David Dorrell is not your average history and geography teacher. He is an Oklahoma native who enjoys his job teaching at Nicholls.

“I just love the interaction with the students,” Dorrell said. “It’s cliché, but it keeps me young.

Dorrell stated that he believes that the relationship between students and teachers is important.

“We are more likely to accept to information from people we trust,” he said.

Dorrell is not someone you meet every day. Upon entering his office, one would notice that he has piles upon piles of papers and several acoustic guitars surrounding his desk.

“I keep a few lying around because it tends to calm me,” he said. “I play when I’m nervous.”

One of the first noticeable things about Dorrell is his handlebar mustache.

“My inspiration actually came from a monkey,” he said.

Before he taught here, Dorrell had a number of odd jobs ranging from roof construction to being a maintenance guy. He somehow knew all along that he would become a teacher.

“Before this, I’ve been all kinds of stuff, and I always had an idea of being a teacher,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I resisted at first. Eventually you just decide to kind of accept what it is that you’re supposed to be doing.”

Aside from his past “odd jobs,” Dorrell has taken on a few teaching jobs before coming to Nicholls.

When asked if he would do anything else other than teaching, Dorrell responded with, “No not really. This is what I do.”

Dorrell started out as a teaching assistant at Texas A&M and was a professor at Virginia Tech.

“I actually taught in the building where those people were killed,” he said.

Dorrell also taught at Baton Rouge Community College and River Parish Community College for a semester.

“I had to cover for my friend because he was physically run over by a car,” he said. “Additionally, I taught at LSU when I was finishing up for my doctorate.

Dorrell has earned several degrees for his field of teaching.

“Well, since I’m originally from Oklahoma, I got my undergraduate at a small school called East Central University in Oklahoma,” he said. “I have an earned bachelor’s degree in history, and I also have a teacher’s certificate. My master’s degree was earned in geography at Texas A&M, and my doctorate was earned in geography at Louisiana State University.”

Dorrell applied to Nicholls after seeing an ad for a geography position.

“I had been on a tour over here years and years ago led by Don Davis who had had this job at the time,” he said. “Once I knew this place, and I saw the ad, I thought, ‘oh I know where Nicholls is,’ I had been there before, and my wife had been there so I decided to apply, and they ended up hiring me.”

Like almost every professor at Nicholls, Dorrell has a pretty early, but normal workday.

“People come in here, usually for advising,” he said. “I also teach geography and history, so the classes are pretty varied. It’s not just one narrow lesson.”

Dorrell loves teaching history and geography because it allows his lesson plans to be broad and expanding.

“One day I may be talking about ancient civilizations, or I may be talking about what’s going on in Libya,” he said. ” There’s just a huge range of things that I’m allowed to talk about and still stay on topic, and I think that’s just great. It may be one of the best parts of my job. It’s not just some narrow focus; I get to be really broad in what I do.”

One reason Dorrell loves working here is because he loves the people he works with.

“I like my colleagues. The get-togethers we have inside and out of school are just really pleasant and nice,” he said.

Another reason Dorrell likes teaching here is the scenery that the Nicholls campus brings.

“It’s a pretty place,” he said. “I’ve taught and gone to school in fairly urban settings, but this campus is really pretty. They have nice big trees, and they have picnic tables next to St. Thomas. It’s an attractive place, and I particularly like the trees and stuff here.”

According to Dorrell, there is nowhere else he’d rather be than right here teaching.

“I always felt like I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing, and now I do,” he said.  “I feel like I’m at home.”