Finalists' Public Lectures
2026 Cherry Award Finalists' Public Lectures
Jamie Rankin, Ph.D.
University Lecturer in German, Princeton University
This was presented on October 14, 2025
Choose Your Words Carefully: Transforming Language Learning through Research-based Vocabulary Acquisition
Synopsis:
Anyone who has learned a new language knows how hard it is to get past the small-talk phase and develop real fluency. For many, the main obstacle is not grammar or pronunciation, but the overwhelming amount of vocabulary to be learned. After all, most native speakers have a functional vocabulary of roughly 12,000 words by the time they’re in high school. That’s a lot of flash cards. And while textbooks do their best to help, there’s a fundamental discrepancy between the way most textbooks teach second language (L2) vocabulary and what the research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) recommends. Three questions arise from that mismatch: How many words do you actually need to know? Which words should you learn first? And what’s the best way to learn them? There are, in fact, effective approaches and tools available, and the presentation will walk you through these and provide hands-on experience in using them, including options with ChatGPT. So if you can, please bring a laptop with you.
Lendol Calder, Ph.D.
Professor of History, Augustana College
This was presented on October 20, 2025
Make America Mean Something Again: Rethinking American History in the Age of Trump
Synopsis:
He is the most improbable yet influential political figure of our time: Donald Trump. When he descended the golden escalator in 2015, many dismissed it as a stunt, not a serious presidential bid. Yet months later, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” story captivated millions. Drawing on three decades of listening to college students as they try to make sense of America’s past, I will examine how a dearth of coherent national narratives created a vacuum that Trump’s story of America filled. Historians erred, I will argue, when they gave up national storytelling in teaching and research, ceding ground to purveyors of nostalgia and simple slogans. Finally, I will survey possibilities for forging a new national narrative—one that respects evidence, acknowledges the complexities of America’s past, and equips future generations to engage history with critical insight.
Melissa Gross, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Kinesiology, University of Michigan
This was presented on October 27, 2025
Learning to Look: Cultivating the Anatomical Gaze
Observing the world around us is a powerful act - close observations of people, natural phenomena and cultural artefacts have launched scientific inquiries, medical discoveries, and new ideas. As demands on our time and attention accelerate, providing students with opportunities to develop the close looking skills that stimulate critical thinking and creative problem-solving is especially important. For students in the health sciences, learning to look at the body more closely, critically, and with curiosity is a skill that can be developed through practice. Cultivating their anatomical gaze will help students not only to improve their visual acuity but also to create more meaningful representations of the body when communicating with others in their professional futures.