The award is based on contributions towards students’ education, displayed passion towards teaching and for making a positive impact on campus
By ROBIN FRANKLIN — campus@theaggie.org
Three instructors across several academic disciplines have been selected by the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission (AAC) to receive the 2025 ASUCD Excellence in Education Award. The awardees are: Matthew Butner, Junko Ito and Kathy Stuart
Academic Affairs Commission Chairperson Iris Chen, a third-year psychology and economics double major, expressed the importance of the award to her team’s mission.
“Not only is prioritizing voices and ensuring academic success for all UC Davis Aggies the purpose of AAC, but recognizing the work and efforts of professors is also essential,” Chen told The Aggie in a written statement. “Academic success cannot be achieved without faculty. This award symbolizes the bond between students and faculty members.”
Each spring quarter, nominations are opened and students can cast their votes for which faculty they believe should be recognized. The award was first established in 2003. Students can vote for multiple faculty members, though they cannot vote for the same instructor twice.
Matthew Butner, Computer Science
When students ask Lecturer Matthew Butner what to expect in his courses and how to prepare, he responds with a unique analogy to get students thinking outside the box.
“I always compare it to building with Legos,” Butner explained. “In the class, you don’t get the instruction manual. You get the picture on the front and then here’s all your Legos and you can do whatever you want with them, but you need to make it work like that. You need to figure out how to piece them together. You use a lot of creativity.”
A student who the nominated Butner for the award discussed his qualifications.
“His interaction with the class during lectures and availability during office hours show that he understands the value of direct communication with students,” the nominator wrote. “Overall, Lecturer Butner emphasizes the importance of having students not just get good grades, but learn and practice useful skills, and he provides many resources to help his students succeed.”
Butner takes a real-world application approach to teaching and encourages students to analyze their failures and continue working towards viable solutions.
“I try to relate it to analogies that are close to something in real life as much as possible,” Butner said.
“If things didn’t go good,” he continued, “what changes will you make next time so things will go the way you want them to go?”
Kathy Stuart, History
Associate Professor Kathy Stuart teaches various seminars on demonology, the history of madness, crime and punishment and her popular course on witchcraft. She is also the main instructor for the summer abroad program “Crossroads of Central Europe” in Vienna, Austria.
“I am really honored, and it really is wonderful,” Stuart told The Aggie. “I’m grateful for [students’] acknowledgement and their friendship.”
One student who nominated Stuart credits her teaching skills and enthusiasm for pursuing a double major.
“I have never met a professor who is more passionate about or involved in their field of study than Professor Stuart,” the nominator wrote. “She is a big reason I wanted to add a second major of history and has inspired me to pursue a career in the field. Her lectures are packed with information that you can not hear elsewhere and she truly is an expert in her niche of history.”
Stuart said that she hopes that her fervor for her classes is passed along to her students, regardless of their prior knowledge. Through the inclusion of humorous and sometimes provocative early European political art in her slides, she pushes the boundaries of what a university lecture can look like to engage students.
“Never take things too seriously,” Stuart said of her teaching philosophy.
Stuart was also presented the UC Davis Excellence in Teaching for Global Learning Award earlier this year, in large part for her contributions to the Vienna study abroad program.
Junko Ito, East Asian Languages and Cultures
Lecturer Junko Ito is well known as an instructor in Japanese, but she did not initially plan on becoming an educator. What first inspired her to start was an unexpected stroke of fate.
“After graduating from university, I started working in a company,” Ito wrote in a statement. “But then, by chance, I had the opportunity to teach at a high school in Japan for just one year. I discovered how much I enjoy teaching. That was the moment I decided to become a teacher.”
Ito is dedicated to spending quality time with her students every single day and finds the most rewarding part of teaching is hearing student feedback and receiving letters.
“I see my Japanese students almost every day, and they’ve truly become like family to me,” Ito said. “Their energy keeps me going.”
One nomination for Ito praised her around-the-clock dedication to students.
“She’s [a] kind and diligent instructor who stays up ridiculously late to make sure her students get feedback and corrections on their work,” the nominator wrote. “She gives every student hand-written, personal feedback on just about every assignment, and I can’t think of a single professor I’ve had who works harder to teach or deserves an award more.”
Ito said that she’s consistently trying to improve herself and her students, and expressed gratitude towards them for nominating her for the award.
“I was really surprised because I had no idea,” Ito said. “But I feel truly honored. I will treasure this award for the rest of my life. I’m filled with gratitude, and I will continue to improve to become the best teacher I can be.”
Written by: Robin Franklin — campus@theaggie.org
