Deborah Best honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Psychology Research Professor Deborah (Debbie) Best (’70, MA in Psychology ’72) recently received the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research. The award recognizes Best’s career-long contributions to cross-cultural research and their significant impact on the field of psychology. She has been a member of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research for more than 20 years and served as president from 2011–2012.

She also served as president of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology and editor-in-chief of its journal, the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, from 2012–2014, and currently serves as its special issues editor. Best also serves as chair of the American Psychological Association’s Division 52 Ursula Gielen Book Award Committee and was the vice president of Communications/Publications for Division 52 from 2020–2022.

Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award were leaders in mainstream psychology and related fields who demonstrated culture’s significant influence on human behavior and development. Best shared, “I am deeply honored to be recognized as part of this group of exceptional researchers. Having my research work acknowledged by colleagues who are leaders in the field of cross-cultural psychological research is one of the highest honors I have received.”

During a research and teaching career spanning more than five decades at Wake Forest, Best became the first female dean of the College and later served as chair of the Psychology Department. She is the author or editor of eight books, has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and has won dozens of awards for her teaching and research. Most recently, Best was awarded the 2024 Jon Reinhardt Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Her expansive research focuses on the development of gender stereotypes among children and on cognitive development during the preschool and school-age years, examining age-related memory changes and strategies. After attending Wake Forest for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Best received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.