Carnegie’s Gay Clyburn interviewed Rob Thomas, a professor of geology at The University of Montana Western. Thomas is one of four college and university educators named as a national winner of the 2009 Carnegie/CASE U.S. Professors of the Year Awards.

Rob Thomas was named the Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor of the Year.

Rob Thomas’s passion is teaching geology to students in the field so they can directly experience how the Earth works. With his help, the University of Montana Western became the first public university in the country to transition from regular semester courses to block scheduling.