Baylor names finalists for 2012 Cherry Award, the nation’s largest teaching award

One of the most obvious signs of Baylor’s commitment to providing students with the best professors possible is the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, which every two years brings one of the nation’s top teachers from another university to Baylor for one semester. The honor is the only national teaching award for university professors and carries with it the single largest monetary award presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching.

The three finalists for the 2012 award were announced recently. They are:

• Dr. Brian Coppola, chemistry, University of Michigan. His research has focused on methods of teaching chemistry at the university level, examining connections between his field and other areas of study such as psychology and history. Coppola has been honored for his teaching in the past by groups such as the American Chemical Society, the National Science Teachers Association and the American Chemical Society.
• Dr. Heather Macdonald, geology, College of William & Mary. A member of W&M’s faculty since 1983, she has twice served as department chair. Macdonald is known for her award-winning work with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers “On the Cutting Edge” project that helps geoscience faculty stay up-to-date with both geoscience research and teaching methods. Her teaching prowess has been recognized by organizations such as the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and the Geological Society of America.
• Dr. Allen Matusow, history, Rice University. In his nearly 50 years experience at Rice, Matusow received the Brown Award for Superior Teaching four times between 1969 and 1982 before being given the Brown Honorary Life Teaching Award from Rice in 1985. His research focus has been post-World War II American foreign policy and U.S. history from 1945-1974, especially the foreign policy of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Over the years, he has developed a popular history course at Rice that covers not only the political happenings of the 1960s, but also its musical and cultural milestones.

Each finalist will give a lecture at Baylor this fall, and the winner will be announced next spring. He or she will then teach in residence at Baylor during the fall 2012 or spring 2013 semester.

Sic ’em, Cherry Award finalists!