Stephen M. Cherry, Ph.D. is an award-winning Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston—Clear Lake. He joined the university faculty in 2009 and served as Program Director of Sociology for three years.  As professor of sociology at the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, Dr. Cherry works closely with senior leadership on graduate and undergraduate curricula, research, and academic policies and priorities, both in Houston and throughout the global network, as well as on cross-school and University-wide initiatives to facilitate, energize, and grow the University's research enterprise and its impact.

His research interests include immigration, religion, Asian Americans, and civic life with a particular focus on Filipino American Catholics post-1965. He is the author of Faith, Family, and Filipino American Community Life (Rutgers University Press 2014), Importing Care, Faithful Service (Rutgers University Press 2023) and the co-editor of Religious Movements Across Borders (Ashgate 2014).

Dr. Cherry draws upon a rich set of ethnographic and survey data, collected over a six-year period, to explore the roles that Catholicism and family play in shaping Filipino American community life. Revealing more than intimate accounts of Filipino American lives, his research offers a glimpse of the often hidden but vital relationship between religion and community in the lives of new immigrants and allows speculation on the broader impact of Filipino immigration on the nation. The Filipino American community is one of the largest immigrant communities in the United States and the Philippines is one of the largest sources of Catholic immigration to this country. His ground-breaking study outlines how first-generation Filipino Americans have the potential to reshape American Catholicism and are already having an impact on American civic life.

Before joining the University of Houston–Clear Lake, Dr. Cherry was Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern Mississippi for one year. Prior to University of Southern Mississippi, he was instructor/graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, and later an instructor at St. Edward’s University. Prior to his appointment as instructor in 2006, Dr. Cherry was a Visiting Professor at Southwestern University.

A 2015 fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, Dr. Cherry has also been awarded the CFD Texas Research & Scholarship prize for outstanding dedication to research, the National Society for Leadership and Success Teacher of Excellence, and both the University of Houston–Clear Lake Alumni Outstanding Professor and President’s Distinguished Teaching Awards. He is also a Carnegie Academy for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Scholar, and recipient of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Distinguished Article Award (2006, co-authored).

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Cherry has been an active partner and instructor for the Center for the Healing Racism over the last twenty years.  He is a seasoned anti-racism and equity consultant, executive coach, and training facilitator for programing across the country. He is currently the Director of Anti-Hate Initiatives and Programing for the Teens and Police Service (TAPS) academy.