Joseph R. Kopta (PhD candidate) received the Art History Graduate Teaching Award for 2020/21. Joe has taught at every level in the undergraduate program, including most recently, "Destroying Images: Iconoclasm", for which students revised and wrote on under-represented topics on iconoclasm on Wikipedia. In just over a month since the articles were written or published, over 20,000 views were recorded. 

Two students from his General Education class, "Arts of the Western World" were received first place in the Undergraduate Student Awards for Academic Excellence in the GenEd Program at Temple. Joe summed up his teaching philosophy by saying, "Developing robust critical-thinking and evaluative skills about visual culture has always been a pedagogical priority. I also aim for an inclusive and diverse pedagogy, which invites multiple audiences and learning styles...to engage with and appreciate visual culture beyond their time with me in the classroom."

Joe has generously donated his prize money to a newly established Art History graduate research award, a mark of his ongoing mentorship of other graduate students in the program.

Congratulations to Joe on this well-deserved award.