Nominations for the 2026 Cherry Award Open May 1, 2024

For additional updates, please visit the 2026 Award page.

Learn More

Cherry Award logo

The Cherry Award program is designed to honor great teachers, to stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching, and to encourage departments and institutions to value their own great teachers. The recipient of the Cherry Award will receive a prize of $250,000 and will teach in residence at Baylor University during an upcoming semester.

2024 Cherry Award Recipient

Jay L. Banner, Ph.D.

Jay L. Banner, Ph.D.

2024 Cherry Award Winner

Jay L. Banner, Ph.D., F. M. Bullard Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has been named the 2024 Cherry Award recipient. On the UT-Austin faculty since 1990, Banner earned his B.A. in geology at the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in earth sciences from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Cherry Award Announcement