DeKALB – Joanna Lambert saw her first monkey in the wild while she was on a research trip in Uganda with Northern Illinois University professor Dan Gebo.

Although the moment 25 years ago is one she’ll never forget, the more poignant memory is of Gebo, she said, because he’s the reason she progressed from a graduate student studying anthropology to a biological anthropology professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“It’s because of his support that I’ve been able to have the career I have,” Lambert said. “His passion and his absolute dedication are really remarkable.”

Gebo has taught more than 7,000 students in his 27-year career at NIU. After winning every award Northern Illinois University offers for teaching and research, Gebo has been named the 2014 Illinois Professor of the Year.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education will present Gebo the award today at a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

A biological anthropologist and primatologist, Gebo specializes in the evolution of monkeys, apes, humans and lower primates. Gebo, of Elgin, teaches introductory physical anthropology and courses in primate and human anatomy and evolution.

“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 in an NIU news release.

Gebo was a key member of the research teams that announced discovery of the world’s smallest primate fossil in 2000, 45-million-year-old, thumb-length primates in China, as well as the oldest primate skeleton, dating back 60 million years, in 2013.

He helped spearhead NIU’s Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry and Research program. Gebo also has conducted fieldwork in such places as Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt and Madagascar.

Lambert first met Gebo when she took his primate evolution course in her final year as an undergraduate student at NIU.

“That’s what galvanized me and made me realize that’s what I wanted to dedicate my life to,” said Lambert. “It was the way he made it really relevant. ... He was able to bring them to life for me.”

Gebo was the reason graduate student Nathan Cooley uprooted himself from Texas in 2013. Cooley first met Gebo after the professor had just had an article published in Nature, a prominent scientific journal. Despite his recent success, Gebo was approachable.

“It’s a combination of his expertise – he knows what he’s talking about – and yet he’s down-to-earth,” Cooley said. “He’s an easy guy to talk to. It’s like talking to one of your friends.”