OUR ALUMNI
CHRISTOPHER CARVER The idea of community has always been a guiding principle for Christopher Carver (BA, geography, 1999). As a child, he would mark a path through the streets of downtown Columbus, exploring the communities of his hometown. After high school, searching for new experiences in a warmer climate, Carver moved to Florida to attend college. Less than two years later, he was ready to return to Columbus to pursue the connection he’d felt to Ohio State since childhood. After enrolling at Ohio State, Carver turned his attention to what he calls the “eternal undergraduate challenge” — choosing a major. As part of his process, Carver signed up for one class in each area that interested him. After classes in writing, philosophy and aviation, Carver finally found his calling in a course on political geography. “Taking that class literally changed my life,” he said. “It connected the idea of place and maps — which I’d always been interested in — with the idea of community and people. It opened up a passion in me that I still interweave in my professional life.” According to Carver, it was the diversity of exceptional academic programs at Ohio State that allowed him to find his path in life. But it was the community at Ohio State that he says changed him for the better. “Being able to interact with so many different people from so many different backgrounds creates an unbelievably fertile
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ground where, if you leverage it for what it can be, you’ll never be the same again,” Carver said.
From campus to New York City After graduating from Ohio State, Carver was eager to move to New York City. He took the New York City fire alarm dispatcher’s exam and, after placing well, was offered a job. By the time Carver took early retirement in 2015, he had worked his way up to director of fire dispatch, which meant he was responsible for ensuring effective fire service communication for the entire city. Carver is now the director of 9-1-1 and PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) Operations at the National Emergency Number Association — the national nonprofit organization that guides how 911 operates around the country. Carver explained that his degree in geography has had countless applications to his career in public safety. “My academic program at Ohio State made my experience at the New York City Fire Department so much richer,” Carver said. “I was able to connect the idea of public safety and the public safety needs of a community back to the things I learned at Ohio State.” Carver said one event that brought these applications into focus was Superstorm Sandy in 2012. During the storm, Carver and his team were unable to track what neighborhoods were flooded in real time.
