Hebl will present Oct. 5 lecture at Rice as finalist for national teaching award

Professor of Psychology Michelle “Mikki” Hebl will present a lecture titled “Mindbugs and Gorillas and White Bears, Oh My!” at Rice as a finalist for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, a national teaching honor housed at Baylor University.

Mikki Hebl

As a finalist, Hebl is required to present one lecture at Baylor and one at Rice.  The award selection committee will take the Rice lecture and community reception into consideration when selecting the winner. The Rice lecture will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 5 in Duncan Hall’s McMurtry Auditorium and is open to the Rice community.

The Cherry program honors outstanding professors in the English-speaking world who are distinguished for their ability to communicate as classroom teachers. Nominees have a proven record as extraordinary teachers with a positive, inspiring and long-lasting effect on students, along with a record of distinguished scholarship. The recipient of the Cherry Award will receive a cash prize and a semesterlong teaching residency at Baylor.

A member of Rice’s faculty since 1998, Hebl has won seven George R. Brown teaching awards; in April she became the 10th Rice faculty member honored with the university’s George R. Brown Certificate of Highest Merit.

The Cherry Award winner will be named in spring 2016.