PARKERSBURG — A professor emeritus at Ohio Valley University has been named a History Hero in West Virginia.

Philip Sturm and other History Heroes from the state were honored Thursday by the Department of Culture and History and the Legislature in a ceremony at the Culture Center in Charleston. He was nominated by the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society, of which he is second vice-president.

History Heroes recognizes residents who have made significant contributions in historical preservation and teaching.

Sturm has taught history at Ohio Valley for 47 years and still instructs three classes as an adjunct professor. He has master’s and doctorate degrees from West Virginia University and was president of both the Parkersburg Bicentennial Commission, 1983-84, and the Wood County Bicentennial Commission, 1998-99.

He was named West Virginia Professor of the Year in 2000 by the Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia.

In 1999 Sturm wrote the official bicentennial history of Wood County, “A River to Cross,” and in 2005 wrote “Wood County Reflections” published by the Greater Parkersburg Tourist and Convention Bureau. His dissertation, “Kinship Migration to Northwestern Virginia, 1785-1815,” deals with the settlement of 200 Wood County families and their migration routes and settlement patterns.

He has also written the silver and golden anniversary histories of Ohio Valley University. Sturm and Nadine Hofmann are currently writing a history of Belleville, W.Va.

In 2017, Sturm received the Lifetime Achievement Award from “Who’s Who in America,” in which he has been listed since 2011.

He is the father of three daughters, Melanie Valentine of Cambridge, Ohio, Leslie Rollings of Tyler, Texas, and Betsy Thornabar of Parkersburg.