In over half a century of association with Miami University, Karl E. Limper held positions of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Geology. He was also Dean of the College of Arts and Science and, in 1964-1965, served as Acting Provost of the university.

Dr. Limper joined the faculty of the Geology Department in 1939, left to teach at Hamilton College in New York from 1941 to 1942, and returned to Miami in 1946, after serving from 1942 to 1946 as the officer in charge (Lieutenant Commander) of the ground school at the Naval Air Station in Norman, Oklahoma.

From 1958 until 1971, he held the various administrative positions named above; however, he returned to the Geology Department in 1971 and taught there until he retired in 1981. Besides teaching at Miami, Dr. Limper also taught in the Field Station in the Wind River Mountains, near Dubois, Wyoming, from 1947-1960, and later from 1971 to 1981 when he served as Field Station Director. Dr. Limper loved to teach, especially at the Field Station. He once informed a colleague that when 5 students could beat him up a particular mountain at the Field Station, he would retire. It was not until 1981 that 5 students—40 years his junior—could accomplish that feat.

Dr. Limper received numerous honors and fellowships during his career, and his research in Ordovician paleontology was recognized with the award of Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ohio Academy of Science. He was a member of the Geological Society of America, the Paleontological Society of America, the American Geological Institute, and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

He brought dedication and distinction to everything he did, and always tempered his interactions with genuine warmth and a keen sense of humor. Because of his personal and professional contributions, Dr. Limper had a profound impact on innumerable lives and generated a lasting legacy in the resulting love, affection, and admiration of his family, colleagues, and thousands of alumni.