SHSU Faculty Member Named 2026 Piper Professor

SHSU Faculty Member Named 2026 Piper Professor

Renee James, professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Sam Houston State University, has been named a 2026 Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. James is one of only 10 professors across the state of Texas selected for the prestigious award.

“In the nearly 70-year history of the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor program, fewer than 20 faculty members at SHSU have been named Piper Professors,” James said. “I never imagined that I would become part of that distinguished club.”

The Piper Professor Program awards 10 professors from across the state of Texas with $5,000 for their superior teaching at the college level each year. Candidates from public and private, two- and four-year institutions in Texas are nominated by their respective university President’s Offices. Each college or university can make one nomination per year.

“Dr. James exhibits a passion for teaching and commitment to student success that is transformative,” Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Sumanth Yenduri said. “Being named a Piper Professor underlines the significant impact that she has made on her students, our university, and her field.”

Dedicated to improving science education, James has taught for 29 years with 26 of those at SHSU. She has earned recognition throughout her career, including being named a Texas State University System Regents’ Teacher (2021) and earning a Sam Houston Excellence in Teaching Award (2022) and a NASA/IGES “Gold Star” for Inspiring Uses of Hubble in Education (2010). She has written three published books, nearly two dozen astronomy education articles, and more than 20 feature articles for the general public.

“Before I even completed my PhD, I had begun to pursue professional development opportunities to develop strategies to reach students who did not speak the languages of math or science, and I have never stopped looking for ways to make the cosmos and the rules it operates by more approachable to every possible audience,” James said. “In fact, this goal is so important to me that I've completely redirected my research program from one that would add a few more tiles to the great mosaic of our understanding of galactic formation to one that seeks to maximize [student] learning outcomes.”

She has continued her professional development by earning a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in 2019 and the Association of College and University Educators Certification in Effective Teaching (2024-2025).

“I've been surrounded by outstanding teachers from the day I stepped foot on the campus in 1999,” she said. “My colleagues have always been generous with their strategies and resources for improving student learning at SHSU, and many of them have been phenomenal brainstorming partners, without whom my teaching would look so much different. It feels more appropriate to say that this is a recognition of SHSU's excellence, not my own.”

James is the first Piper Professor in the College of Science and Engineering Technology and the 15^th Piper Professor at SHSU since the program’s inception in 1958.