Dr. Gene Farren has been a West Texas A&M University professor since 2017. He graduated from Sam Houston State University in 2006 with a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology, a master’s degree in kinesiology from the University of North Texas in 2013 and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in Sport Pedagogy from the University of North Texas in 2017.

Farren was born in Kansas but lived in multiple locations, including Washington D.C., Beaumont, Houston and the Dallas area until finally making his way to the Amarillo area.

One of his favorite hobbies is exercising at 4:30 a.m., specifically running. His least favorite workout is planks.

“I love to run, but I can’t do it every day,” Farren said. “But I like to run at least three or four miles a day.”

His other hobby is spending the day with his son. They play video games and work on homework together.

“I play whatever my son likes to play,” Farren said. “I’m horrible at video games, but he really likes to play Roblox.”

Along with Roblox, Farren plays Minecraft and fighting games, which his son always beats him. Farren admits he’s not good at video games. His preferred gaming console is the Xbox, and his least favorite is the Meta Quest 2. The headset makes him sick, but his son enjoys it.

Farren likes to cook for his son. His son likes anything chicken. Both have broccoli as their favorite vegetable.

“I love the invention of the air fryer; as you can see, you make the chicken nuggets and fries really easy that way,” Farren said.

Farren likes to wind down by turning off his electronics and reading before bed. He is reading “Ready Player Two” by Ernest Cline and recently finished “The Death of Expertise” by Tom Nichols. He reads both fiction and nonfiction.