Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has announced three finalists for the 2018 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. Each finalist receives a $15,000 cash prize as well as a $10,000 award for their academic department at their college or university to foster the development of teaching skills. Each finalist will present a series of lectures on the Baylor campus this fall. The winner, selected from among the three finalists, will receive a $250,000 prize and a one-semester visiting professorship at Baylor. The winner will also receive an additional $25,000 for his or her academic department. The winner will be announced next spring.
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.
This year, only one of the three finalists is a woman: Heidi G. Elmendorf, an associate professor of biology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her research is focused on an intestinal pathogen that is a significant contributor to diarrheal disease around the world. Dr. Elmendorf joined the faculty at Georgetown University in 1999. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Stanford University.