Philosopher Receives Cherry Teaching Award

Stating that he wanted it to become the Nobel Prize of teaching awards, Baylor undergraduate and Law School alumnus Robert Foster Cherry left an exceptional estate bequest to establish the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching at Baylor.
First awarded in 1991 and given biennially after 1993, the award enhances its status this year with both the cash amount -- now $200,000 -- and the recipient, Saint Louis University's Eleonore Stump, who will be in residence at Baylor during the spring 2005 semester. 
"We had 118 nominations from excellent universities around the world," said William H. Bellinger Jr., professor of religion and chair of the Cherry Award Committee. "We were delighted with the response."
Three finalists were chosen last fall to visit the campus, present lectures and interact with students and faculty. Finalists receive $15,000 each and a $10,000 prize to their university's home department. In addition to Stump, finalists were Harry Stout, the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History at Yale University, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, emeritus, at Yale's Divinity School.
The award is designed to honor great teachers in the English-speaking world who have a proven track record as extraordinary teachers with a positive, inspiring and long-lasting effect on students, Bellinger said. In the past two years, the nomination and selection process and the cash award have been reconfigured to further increase the stature of the award.
"This has positioned the award to the status Mr. Cherry desired," Bellinger said. "I have confidence in saying it is now one of the most prestigious teaching awards."
Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy. Her lecture at Baylor last September was on "Horrendous Evil: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering." While here, she praised the award and Baylor saying, "It does Baylor credit to focus on teaching. Research and teaching are natural allies, and they come together beautifully. Research is teaching under another guise."
In addition to the larger cash award, Stump's home department will receive $25,000.