Temple Japan Names David Satterwhite and Ariel Tabak 2026 Teachers of the Year

2026 Teachers of the Year Award recipients: David Satterwhite (left) and Ariel Tabak (right).

• Annual award honors outstanding teaching and lasting impact on student success
• Satterwhite and Tabak emphasize diversity and inclusion in student learning
• Award recipients create learning environments where every student can contribute

Temple University Japan (TUJ) has named David Satterwhite and Ariel Tabak its 2026 Teachers of the Year, recognizing their outstanding teaching, dedication to student success and meaningful contributions to the university’s academic community. Both recipients believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to creating an environment where students can learn from one another and succeed.

The annual award honors faculty members whose teaching has made a lasting impact on students both inside and outside the classroom. Satterwhite, a lecturer and Kyoto experiential education coordinator, and Tabak, an adjunct instructor, were selected for their exceptional contributions during the past academic year.

As TUJ continues to expand its programs and enrollment in Tokyo and Kyoto, the university has been actively recruiting faculty to maintain high-quality instruction and student support. Reflecting this growth, TUJ has introduced a new Teacher of the Year selection process that includes faculty nominations, teaching portfolios and a review committee.

The updated process underscores the university’s commitment to recognizing excellence in teaching and student support through a more rigorous and comprehensive evaluation. As the faculty has grown, so too has the number of outstanding instructors, each bringing distinct strengths and contributions to the classroom, making the selection process more thorough than ever.

The recipients were selected by a six-member committee comprising previous Teacher of the Year award winners and faculty members representing academic divisions across the university. The committee recognized Satterwhite for his exceptional teaching, student-centered approach and Tabak for their dedication to mentoring students, advising the Poetry Club and fostering an inclusive learning environment despite their relatively short time at TUJ.

Tabak was recognized for outstanding teaching, excellence in inclusive, student-centered pedagogy and impactful learning design, and meaningful contributions to the academic community. Tabak has brought over a decade of humanities, philosophy, and language teaching to TUJ, joining the faculty in August 2025. Their research examines how institutional design, accessibility, critical thinking, and artificial intelligence shape participation in higher education. Since arriving at TUJ, they have quickly established a distinctive classroom model centered on rigorous student-led inquiry, intellectual independence, and broad participation.

Beyond the classroom, Tabak has also contributed to TUJ and the broader academic community through university service, including as a member of the TUJ Safety Committee, and an active program of research emerging from their teaching. Since beginning their research work in July 2025, they have had 24 conference presentations accepted, delivered 14 presentations and published two academic papers. 

Tabak has also built a substantial record of student research mentorship and scholarly development. During their first year at TUJ, they mentored six students presenting at the TUJ conference and eight students developing work for the Intellectual Heritage Showcase. They also serve as a faculty advisor to the Poetry Club.

At TUJ, where students come from diverse cultural backgrounds, Tabak has developed a more intellectually expansive curriculum that invites students to bring their own intellectual and cultural traditions into the classroom. They said their approach is rooted in creating a classroom where students are trusted and valued as contributors to knowledge. “My goal is that every student in my class feel that they have something that is worth sharing and worth knowing that everybody else should listen to,” Tabak said. 

For Tabak, the Teacher of the Year award ultimately reflects the students who shaped their teaching. “The award carries my name, but this award very much belongs to my students,” they said. “It represents the students whose intelligence and access needs and perspectives shaped my teaching.”

Tabak hopes the students they mentor will eventually surpass them and take their own places in academia. “I hope this award makes me obsolete in six years,” they said. “Those freshmen, they better be coming for this job. Then I’ll know I’ve done my job right.” 

Satterwhite was selected in recognition of his outstanding teaching, unwavering commitment to student success and meaningful contributions to the academic community. As a lecturer and Kyoto Experiential Education Coordinator, Satterwhite has created engaging, hands-on learning experiences that connect students with Kyoto’s rich cultural and historical environment.

His courses combine classroom learning with field excursions and guest speakers, providing students with opportunities to apply what they learn in real-world settings. Student testimonials highlighted the lasting impact of his teaching on both their academic growth and personal development.

Beyond the classroom, Satterwhite has strengthened TUJ’s academic community through innovative course design and by leveraging his professional networks to expand learning opportunities for students.

Satterwhite, who was raised in Kyoto and later studied there for two years in college, brings more than 30 years of teaching experience to his role at Temple University Japan. After a decade at the helm of Fulbright Japan and several years as an adjunct at TUJ in Political Science and Asian Studies, focused primarily on NE Asia and the Korean Peninsula, he served as founding director of the CIEE Kyoto Center in 2019.  Pleased to be living in his ‘hometown’, and teaching a signature TUJ course entitled “Envisioning and Exploring Kyoto” alongside Asian Studies courses, he enjoys serving as TUJ Kyoto’s Experiential Education Coordinator.

Satterwhite said the role gives him “the best of two worlds”—teaching in the classroom while taking students off campus to learn through direct experience. He has led TUJ study trips to South Korea, Hiroshima, more than 10 educational excursions to the Tohoku region, including the tsunami-ravaged coast and the meltdown Fukushima reactor site, and more than a dozen sites in and near Kyoto.

Satterwhite said TUJ students have been wonderful, noting that they come from many different countries and bring their cultural experiences and backgrounds into the classroom, where they can safely articulate and celebrate those differences together.

“The students have risen to the task,” Satterwhite said. “They share creative ideas across the classroom, respond energetically to our inclusive educational approach, engage with our numerous guest speakers, and graduate as truly thoughtful members of society.  I am proud of them, and proud to be an active contributor to TUJ’s commitment to diversity and inclusion – hands down, that’s the best way for our students to learn.”

• TUJ Professor Wins Top Sociolinguistics Award for Research on Japanese Work Culture (June 9, 2026)
• Temple University, Japan Campus Expands Faculty in 2025 to Meet Rising Enrollment and Academic Growth (October 23, 2025)
• Advancing TUJ’s Teaching through Faculty Development and Inclusive Education with Temple University Experts (May 29, 2025)