Elgin man named Illinois Professor of the Year
Longtime Northern Illinois University professor Dan Gebo of Elgin has been named the 2014 Illinois Professor of the Year.
Gebo will receive the award Thursday from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education during a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Among his accomplishments is leading research teams that discovered the world's smallest primate fossil in 2000, a 55 million-year-old, thumb-length primate in China, and the oldest primate skeleton in 2013, dating back 60 million years.
“I was quite excited that my record could be so competitive to win over such a big group,” Gebo said.
Each Illinois university entered two or three candidates for the award. NIU nominated three professors.
Gebo said he fell in love with the story of evolution and fossils in high school biology class. His teaching style involves a lot of hands-on learning.
“I'm often bringing bones into the classroom,” he said. “They can see how science is a process rather than just a bunch of facts. There is a certain fascination about bones and fossils ... it's also about ancestry, family histories and so on.”
A comparative anatomist and paleontologist, Gebo specializes in the evolution of monkeys, apes, humans and lower primates. He teaches introductory physical anthropology and courses on evolution and primate and human anatomy at NIU.
“My goal is to help students to see a wider perspective of the world, gain insights that they had not considered before and shift their thoughts into a larger, better-integrated arena of knowledge,” Gebo said.
Gebo, 59, has conducted fieldwork in Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt and Madagascar and wrote or co-authored nearly 80 publications in top-tier professional journals, including Nature and Science.
During his 27-year career at NIU, Gebo has taught nearly 7,000 students. He also has won every award the university offers for exceptional teaching and research, officials said.
NIU President Doug Baker said Gebo is not only a world-renowned primatologist, but also “a world-class teacher.”
“In pursuit of proof for the concept that great researchers often make great teachers, one would be hard-pressed to find a better example than professor Gebo,” Baker said.
Former student Eric Sargis switched from a business career track to science after taking Gebo's introductory anthropology course. Sargis later published a research paper with his mentor and now teaches anthropology at Yale University.
“Dan Gebo is the best teacher and undergraduate mentor I have ever known,” Sargis said. “I would not be where I am today if I had never taken Dan's introductory class.”
Another former NIU student, Joanna Lambert, said taking Gebo's primate evolution course during her final undergraduate year changed her life.
“From the first day, I was galvanized — not only because of the material and content of the course, but because of Dan's passion and utter dedication to teaching,” she said.
Lambert later earned her master's degree from NIU with Gebo as her thesis adviser. She worked for Gebo as a field research assistant in Uganda on a wild monkeys project.
“It was the most amazing learning experience of my life,” Lambert said.
Lambert is now an anthropology professor at University of Texas at San Antonio and is working on primate biology and conservation in Africa.
Gebo helped spearhead the USOAR — Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry and Research — program at NIU. Through it, more than 100 students have received funding for research projects globally, including in China, Peru, Ireland and Cuba. As director of NIU's Faculty Fund, Gebo also oversees the annual awarding of 16 four-year undergraduate scholarships.
“A teacher needs to be part counselor and part mentor to ensure that students develop their full potential as questioners and knowers,” Gebo said.