A combination of positivity, high energy and 30 years of professional experience in the field allows Dan Ross, assistant lecturer in Kent State University’s Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences, to provide real, engaging experiences to his students. This skill set also has helped Ross become one of this year’s Outstanding Teaching Award recipients.

The Outstanding Teaching Award honors exceptional nontenure-track and part-time faculty members at Kent State. Sponsored by the University Teaching Council, the awards are given each year to three Kent State faculty members for their outstanding achievements in teaching.

Dan Ross, assistant lecturer in Kent State University’s
Department of Geography, celebrates with his students
after receiving an Outstanding Teaching Award. The
award, which is sponsored by the University Teaching
Council, honors exceptional nontenure-track and part-time
faculty members at Kent State.

“It’s humbling and a complete surprise,” Ross says. “I wouldn’t be successful if it weren’t for my students.”

Ross teaches a class on soils in the fall and conservation in the spring. He uses a hands-on approach to teach his students.

“They have to tell me what’s out there,” he says. “They tell me the soil, the land use and the infrastructure. You do that at the beginning of any good natural resource plan.”

All of his classes are taught in the field, where he acts as the client. His students are his consultants who write the inventory assessments about the acres around campus.

“There’s nothing wrong with teaching traditionally, but it’s not for me,” he says. “I worked in the field 30 years of my career, that’s the only way I know how to teach. I’d rather go out in the field and identify soil instead of reading about it in a book.”

Ross worked full time with the USDA Natural Resource Natural Conservation for 30 years in the field and three years as a state specialist.

David Widner, a Kent State doctoral candidate who taught an online class with Ross, says that he will be using Ross’ methods to teach his own classes after he graduates.

“He has the ability to engage students with his high energy and positivity,” Widner says. “He gave me the good skills that I ended up using in my research. He comes to class with so much energy it makes everyone excited to learn in his class.”

Benjamin Stillman, junior conservation major at Kent State, says that he loves Ross’ classes because they provide real experiences to prepare for jobs after college.

“He’s the best teacher I’ve ever had,” Stillman says. “He really helped me set goals for myself to get a job; he helped me figure out what I wanted to be. I’ll take as many classes that I can with him because he’s that awesome.”

“The award is about my students because they’ve been so successful,” Ross says. “I have
students who are doing so much better than I ever did, and what greater compliment to a teacher than your student doing better than you.”

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Geography, visit http://www2.kent.edu/cas/geography.