Jennifer Cognard-Black Wins the $250,000 Cherry Award for Great Teaching

Jennifer Cognard-Black, professor of English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, was named as the recipient of the 2020 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The Cherry Award is designed to honor great teachers, stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching and encourage departments and institutions to recognize their own great teachers. Along with a record of distinguished scholarship, individuals nominated for the Cherry Award have proven themselves as extraordinary teachers with positive, inspiring and long-lasting effects on students.

Michael W. Thompson, the Cherry Award committee chair and associate dean for undergraduate programs in Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, stated that “Dr. Jennifer Cognard-Black stands out in her ability to inspire and nurture students. Her ‘Just Food’ courses transcend the classroom and provide an excellent model of service-learning.”

Professor Cognard-Black, who joined the faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2000, is the author or editor of several books including Books that Cook: The Making of a Literary Meal (New York University Press, 2014) and From Curlers to Chainsaws: Women and Their Machines (Michigan State University Press, 2016). Two of her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Dr. Cognard-Black is a summa cum laude graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, where she majored in English and music. She earned a master’s degree in fiction and essay writing from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in 19th-century Anglo-American literature from Ohio State University

Dr. Cognard-Black will receive a $250,000 prize. An additional $25,000 award will go to the English department at her college. Dr. Cognard-Black will also serve as a visiting professor at Baylor for the fall 2020 semester.