Michelle Rae Hebl, the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Professor of Psychology at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has been chosen to receive the 2016 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. Professor Hebl will receive a $250,000 prize and visiting professorship at Baylor University during the Spring 2017 semester. Her academic department at Rice University will receive an additional $25,000.
Michael W. Thompson, chair of the Cherry Award committee and associate dean for undergraduate programs at the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Baylor, said that “Dr. Hebl has a remarkable record of recognized teaching and scholarship awards. The Cherry committee was particularly impressed with her passion and enthusiasm for teaching and her ability to engage with both students and faculty across a variety of disciplines.”
Professor Hebl has been on the faculty at Rice since 1998. She is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in psychology. Dr. Hebl holds a master’s degree from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Dartmouth College.
Robert Foster Cherry earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1929. He enrolled in the Baylor Law School in 1932 and passed the Texas State Bar Examination the following year. With a deep appreciation for how his life had been changed by significant teachers, he made an exceptional estate bequest to establish the Cherry Award program to recognize excellent teachers and bring them in contact with Baylor University students. The first Robert Foster Cherry Award was made in 1991.