Our third 3M National Teaching Award Winner is Dr. Robert Summerby Murray, Dean of Social Sciences and professor of geography. Since arriving at Mount Allison in 1992, Summerby-Murray has taught urban, economic, regional, cultural, and historical geography, as well as courses in geographic information systems. Dr. Summerby-Murray is currently secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Council of Deans of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and was formerly the Chair of the Performing Arts Series, Head of the Geography Department, and Secretary of the University Senate. Summerby-Murray is not only involved in teaching leadership, but also embodies a spirit of leadership and volunteerism.

His teaching specialties include the use of electronic course delivery, the encouragement of individual writing skills through both formal and informal assignments, and the use of fieldwork. Dr. Summerby-Murray’s current research interests involve the application of GIS technologies to historical cartography, the policy environments surrounding heritage landscape management and local economic development, the creation of place through collective memory and literature, images of de-industrialized small towns, industrial heritage, and the historical geography of marshlands. Robert Summerby-Murray is one of Canada’s leading academic geographers, "devoted to merging geographic research with teaching and the scholarship of teaching," according to one of his colleagues. "He has been a major force of change in academic geography in Canada, developing a coherent whole of teaching, research, and learning at the undergraduate level."

Rob’s passion for teaching extends beyond his classrooms, and so does his recognition. In 2000, Dr. Summerby-Murray was awarded Mount Allison’s Tucker Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Association of Atlantic Universities’ Distinguished Teacher Award. In 2003, he was awarded a Paul Paré Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research at Mount Allison. In 2006 Dr. Summerby-Murray was awarded a National 3M Teaching Fellowship.