Curriculum and Instruction professor Cheryl Craig recently returned from Chicago with her fifth American Educational Research Association (AERA) Award. In 2009, she received an Outstanding Research Article Award. Then, in 2010, she was named an AERA Fellow, the most prestigious honor in her field. This was followed by an AERA Lifetime Achievement Award (Curriculum) in 2011 and another AERA Outstanding Research Article Award in 2014. This year’s AERA prize was the Michael Huberman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Understanding the Lives of Teachers.

Craig’s Huberman Lecture was titled Looking backward and forward, inside and out: Studying teachers’ lives in schools.  Leading researchers from around the world gave her talk a standing ovation. Proud past and present UH students were present in the audience.

"We are all very proud of her for receiving this outstanding award at AERA!", said Laveria Hutchison, professor and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. "Her significant work has found its way across many countries as she continues to research the lives of teachers."

Cheryl Craig’s discussants were Dr. Gayle Curtis, a former student of Craig who was awarded an AERA Dissertation Award in 2014; Dr. Yali Zou, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Asian American Study Center, University of Houston; and Dr. Vicki Ross, Northern Arizona University, who co-authored a highly cited handbook chapter with Craig. The fourth discussant was Dr. Lily Orland-Barak, Dean of Education, University of Haifa, Israel’s most research intensive university.  Craig and Orland-Barak are currently editing a three-book series on International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies.

Echoing the words of John Dewey, Lily Orland-Barak noted that “when Cheryl Craig has something to say, it is always something worth saying…and something worth listening to…”

All four discussants praised Craig for her prolific record of scholarship that places her in the top 3%-5% in the field of education generally. All agreed that Cheryl Craig has made a significant contribution to understanding teaching and teacher education locally, nationally and internationally.