Joe Ruhl received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Purdue University and he taught high school students for 42 years. Joe and his wife Gail have two children and four grandchildren. The National Association of Biology Teachers named Joe the Outstanding Biology Teacher of Indiana in 1987. In 1988 he was awarded a Golden Apple Teaching Award by the Lafayette, Indiana Chamber of Commerce. In 1989 he was honored at the White House as Indiana’s recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. In 1996 he received the Purdue University College of Science Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2004 he was awarded the Purdue College of Education’s Crystal Apple Teaching Award. In 2012 he was honored with the Shell National Science Teaching Award – given to one science teacher in the United States, and in 2017 he was one of five pre-K through grade 12 teachers from across the U.S. inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame (another trip to the White House Oval Office!).
