Sarah Costello wins UHCL’s nomination for Piper Award

Sarah Costello, assistant professor of art history, has been nominated to represent UHCL in a state-wide competition for the 2017-2018 Minnie Stevens Piper Excellence in Teaching Award.

This award annually acknowledges professors for superior teaching at the college level in the state of Texas. Participation is by invitation only, and candidates must be nominated through the University’s President’s office.

The winning nomination of each school will then compete at the state level. There, all of the schools that participate are represented by their nominees. Ten outstanding professors are chosen, and each recipient receives a certificate of merit, a gold pin and a $5,000 cash honorarium.

Costello is originally from New York, but she has lived in Texas for about 15 years. She earned her master’s degree in classical and near eastern archaeology at Binghamton University – State University of New York (SUNY), and her Ph.D in anthropology at Bryn Mawr College.

Costello taught at the University of Houston-Main from 2005 to 2014 on short-term contracts before accepting a tenure-track position at UHCL.

While this is the first time she has been nominated for the Piper Award at UHCL, Costello won the Provost’s Teaching Award at The University of Houston.

“This is double the excitement for me to get an award here too,” Costello said. “It is very gratifying. It is all about the love of what you do and being able to communicate that enthusiasm.”

The focus of choosing the winner is on innovation, leadership, on and off-campus service and honors/professional development/research.

In addition to teaching classes on the UHCL campus, Costello also teaches students off-campus at the Ramsey Unit, part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison-farm.

“It can sometimes be challenging,” said Costello. “But the students are respectful and the experience is very rewarding.”

Costello is also doing archaeological work in Cyprus, a small island nation in the Mediterranean. The University of Edinburgh in Scotland is the official sponsor of the excavation, and Costello helps arrange a program with the University of Edinburgh to allow students to work with her.

“It is really great to be able to involve students directly,” said Costello.

Nicole Bishop, fine art major, has seen Professor Costello’s teaching first-hand in her World Arts Survey 1 (Arts 1303) and Arts of the Ancient Greek World (Arts 4315) classes.

“She is very passionate about what she teaches,” Bishop said. “She has helped me understand how art should be received and cared for.”

David Rachita, dean of students, is involved in the process of UHCL nominating a professor to represent them at a state level for the Piper Award.

“You can see her passion,” Rachita said. “She researches new and innovative techniques and spends time learning them because she wants to use them with her students.”

Organized in 1950, the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded to support charitable and educational endeavors.

The Minnie Stevens Piper Award is sponsored annually by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. It is awarded to ten outstanding professors from two- and four-year colleges and universities, public and private, within the state of Texas. To learn more about the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, visit the Comptroller website.

“UHCL has over 300 hundred faculty,” said Rachita. “To be selected as the University’s nomination to the State Piper Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award is an honor and an accomplishment in and of itself let alone being compared to the best around the state.”

Any student or current faculty member can nominate one professor of their choice. The top ten finalists are selected according to a ratio comparing the number of nominations and class load and straight number of nominations.

The ten finalists submit a portfolio of all of their accomplishments for the UHCL Piper Award committee to review in order for the committee to come to a unanimous, subjective decision about the winning nominee. To learn more about how the nomination process works, visit the UHCL website.

Rachita does not participate in the decision-making process, but he does facilitate discussions among the committee.

“I ask them to think in two ways when making this decision,” Rachita said. “Who would we be enthusiastic about representing us at a state level competition, and who do we want to showcase to our students and other faculty to say this is great teaching at UHCL.”

Rachita said that the committee was highly impressed with her being nominated and very enthusiastic about her nomination win.

“She doesn’t just talk about the art itself, rather the background, the history of the art, where it was found, what civilization was like and when it was used,” Bishop said. “As a student, this helps you better understand the purpose and use of the piece rather than just the subject matter.”

Michelle Kraft, fine art major with a minor in art history, has had multiple classes taught by Costello. These include: World Art Survey 1 (Arts 1303), Museum Studies (Arts 4364) and Arts of the Ancient Greek World (Arts 4315).

“She is the reason I decided to minor in Art History,” Kraft said. “She is the type of teacher who is willing to talk with you after class about interesting ideas and concepts. She is also willing to go an extra mile to make sure you understand what she is talking about.”