Professor Michael Geisen was selected from among millions of public-school educators to serve as the National Teacher of the Year in 2008. In this position, he traveled nationally and internationally as an ambassador for the teaching profession, helping educators, policymakers, and community members meet the needs of high-school students in a rapidly changing 21st-century world.
Professor Geisen was a middle-school science teacher at Crook County Middle School in Prineville, Oregon, for 10 years. He has received numerous other teaching awards and accolades. He was selected as the 2009 Outstanding Teacher in K-12 Education by the Oregon Academy of Sciences and was named the Toshiba Innovator in Education in Tokyo, Japan, and the 2007-2008 Oregon Teacher of the Year.