Cherry Award brings one of nation’s top professors to Baylor

While Baylor has geared up its research efforts in recent years — an emphasis seen in projects like the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) — the University remains dedicated to providing students with professors who are as excellent in the classroom as they are in the lab. Professors like Dr. James Garven and Dr. John Davis have earned national honors for teaching excellence in the past year; this fall, they will be joined by another exceptional teacher in Dr. Edward Burger, the 2010 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

The Cherry Award — the single largest monetary reward of any national higher ed teaching honor — is designed to honor great teachers and to benefit Baylor students by bringing the award winner to campus to teach in Waco for one semester. Burger, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Gaudino Scholar at Williams College in Massachusetts, was selected from among three finalists. (See all three finalists’ presentations on Baylor’s iTunes U site.)

Burger’s national reputation has allowed him to serve as a consultant for the “NUMB3RS in the Classroom Project” with CBS-TV/Paramount Studios/Texas Instruments and for NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, on “The Science of the Olympic Winter Games” (see the Mathletes segment). Stories of his teaching methods are legendary among those who know him; check out YouTube for samples of his work.

Sic ’em (and welcome to Baylor!), Dr. Burger!