Nation’s largest award for top teaching brings Princeton German prof to Baylor

When Dr. Jamie Rankin talks about great teaching, he doesn’t start with expertise or accolades. He starts with caring.

“The most effective teachers — and that includes coaches, choir directors, and mentors of any kind — are people who can put themselves imaginatively in the position of someone who doesn’t yet have the knowledge or skills in whatever is being taught,” says the Princeton University German lecturer.

That philosophy has guided Rankin’s work for more than three decades — and it’s a large part of why Baylor named him as the 2026 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

Every two years, the Cherry Award brings one of the nation’s best professors not already here at Baylor to Waco for a semester, allowing BU students to benefit from his or her excellence in the classroom. First awarded in 1991, the honor remains our country’s largest national award presented by a college or university for exceptional teaching, and carries with it an exceptional monetary reward for both the professor and his or her school.

As this year’s recipient, Banner will bring his passion for language learning to Baylor’s campus for a semester. The honor also includes a $250,000 award for Banner, plus an additional $25,000 for his home department at Princeton — all thanks to a generous endowed gift many years ago by Robert Foster Cherry (AB ’29).

Rankin was selected from a distinguished group of finalists, including Dr. Lendol Calder, professor of history at Augustana College, and Dr. Melissa Gross, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology and director of the Behavioral Biomechanics Laboratory. Each finalist received $15,000, with their home departments also receiving $10,000 to support the continued development of teaching excellence.

Sic ’em, Dr. Rankin!