Vardis's brother, Vivian, was drafted into the army and Vardis joined with him. The war ended before they were sent abroad. Vardis's total military service, including his earlier airforce training, was less than four months. In his last year at the U of U, in 1920, he wrote several plays. One of his teachers felt the plays were promising and offered him a teaching job. Vardis spent the summer studying at the University of Chicago in order to qualify for teaching at the U of U that fall. He found the University of Chicago intensely stimulating, writing that the library contained "all the lordly wealth of wisdom." As a teacher at the U of U, he was initially nervous and insecure. He inspired a few students, including Wallace Stegner, who wrote that Fisher "put a can opener on my head and opened up my brains." In September 1921, Fisher returned to the University of Chicago for his MA, this time bringing his wife and child with him. One of his teachers called him a "book drunkard," and he read so much that he went temporarily blind. Leona read to him until his eyes recovered and he could afford new eyeglasses. In 1922, Fisher wrote his thesis on Daniel Defoe and graduated with his MA. He continued studying at the University of Chicago for a doctoral degree. Fisher received his Ph.D. magna cum laude from the University of Chicago in 1925.