A teacher and scholar of stratigraphic geology, biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography, and a professional geologist and consultant, Charles Alexander Ross was born April 16, 1933, in Champaign, Illinois. He was educated at the University of Colorado (BA, 1954) and at Yale University (MS, 1958; PhD (geology), 1959). His PhD dissertation was entitled The Type Wolfcamp Series (Permian), Glass Mountains, Texas. He served as a research associate at Yale University from 1959 to 1960, and as assistant and subsequently associate geologist for the Illinois State Geological Survey from 1960 to 1964, when he was appointed to the faculty of the Geology department

at Western Washington University in Bellingham. During his tenure at WWU, he served as department chair from 1977 to 1982. In 1982, Dr. Ross was appointed staff geologist to the senior staff geologist of the Stratigraphic Sciences division of the Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company. From 1983 to 1985, he served as director of the division. From 1985 to 1992, he held the post of senior stratigrapher with Chevron U.S.A. Since 1992, Dr. Ross has been a research associate of the Geology department of Western Washington University. Dr. Ross is widely published in his specialties, particularly in the areas of Permian research and foraminiferal studies. In 2002, he was named the Moore Medalist for Excellence in Paleontology by the SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology).