For his students, West Virginia University geography professor Kenneth C. Martis is like a compass, pointingtrue northto forever broaden their intellectual frontiers.

Martis is being recognized today (Nov. 15) with the 2007 West Virginia Professor of the Year award by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

He is among a select group of professors chosen for the honor in 40 states and the District of Columbiapicked from among 300 top professors in the United States. For more than 32 years, the award-winning author and scholar has been transcending borders to instill lifelong learning among students he mentors in the WVU Department of Geology and Geography in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Receiving this award is one of the most wonderful and humbling experiences of my life,Martis said.Ive been honored to read the many letters written by former students about how my teaching has benefited their lives. That alone is the best reward I could possibly receive.

The WVU professor maps out a continent of innovative life changing learning experiences for his students. Martis, who taught his first course at WVU in 1975, can often be seen paddling in a kayak on the Monongahela River or riding a bike on the Rails to Trails, among other outdoor adventures, with students taking his senior thesis (Geography 496) class. Martis designed the capstone course to encourage students to think creatively and critically while learning important team building skills.

Students select, design and implement projects that help solve a current problem of interest in the community. They have completed projects for Mon River Trails Conservancy, Morgantown Board of Parks and Recreation, WVU Parking Management Office and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, among other agencies. The class emphasizes collaborative and cooperative learning. Peer grading is part of the curriculum.

Martis lives by the credo,Dont Teach Your Students GeographyTeach Them to be Geographers.Teaching is more than facts and figures, Martis says, it also involves getting students to think as geographers, in terms of location, space, patterns and distance, which helps them retain new ways of thinking.

All my courses end with hope,Martis said.With hope, students can change themselves and the world.

Many of his former students say the WVU professors enthusiasm for teaching inspired them to pursue an active, engaged learning of events, places and people.

Dr. Martis brings an excitement and unique perception to the classroom that leaves his students with an elevated level of understanding and a genuine desire to learn more,said David Durham, director of WVU s Career Services Center, who, as an undergraduate, took Martisphysical geography class.

“However, what I and countless other students learned from Ken went far beyond the geography lessons,”Durham noted.”The observant students quickly learned that the classroom lessons, while enlightening, also provided a knowledge base and thought process that they would utilize for the rest of their lives.”

As an undergrad, Durham was among nearly 100 WVU students who have served as research assistants on Martissix groundbreaking reference books on American politics and elections. Martis has used the books as an in-depth teaching tool, providing opportunities for students to be an integral part of the research process and giving them credit for their work in publication documentation.

The books have received research grants and awards from the American Library Association, National Science Foundation, Washington Book Publishers and many other organizations.

The most recent book,”Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections: 1788-2004,”combines history, geography and politics to provide a reference source that maps for the first time in U.S. history the election outcomes for all counties in every presidential election. It was recognized as Best Single Volume Reference in Humanities and Social Sciences for 2006 by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.

Among other awards and honors, Martis was named the 2006-07 WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher and the 2007 WVU Foundation Outstanding Teacher.

Dr. Martis has devoted his entire career to providing high quality instruction to his students, and the tributes that flowed in from his former students from around the country truly indicate the impact that Ken has had over the many years he has taught at WVU ,said Trevor Harris, Eberly Professor of Geography and chair of the WVU Department of Geology and Geography.These tributes are a true accolade to Ken for outstanding teaching and mentorship, and we are very proud of him and grateful for all that he has contributed to the department over the years.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is so pleased that Dr. Ken Martis has been named a CASE West Virginia Professor of the Year,said Mary Ellen Mazey, dean of the Eberly College.Dr. Martis exemplifies the very best in undergraduate and graduate teaching and scholarship. In addition, he is active in professional service to the community and professional organizations. He embodies what is outstanding about the faculty here at WVU , and we are so pleased that he has been recognized for his achievements.

Including Martis, WVU has had 16 CASE Teacher of the Year recipients over the past 20 years: Sophia Peterson (1987), Carol Rotter (1988), Judith Stitzel (1989), Robert DiClerico (1990), Pat Rice (1991), Jack Hammersmith (1992), Richard Turton (1993), Gail Galloway Adams (1994), Bernard Allen (WVU Parkersburg, 1996), Christine Martin (1998), James Harms (1999), JohnJackRenton (2001), Elizabeth Fones-Wolf (2002), Laura Brady (2004) and Carolyn Atkins (2005).