Matt Ignacio
2025 Provost Teaching Award
Assistant professor
Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions
Since Matt Ignacio joined ASU’s School of Social Work on the Tucson campus, he has designed innovative and immersive curriculum, trained and mentored future social workers, and led place-based collaborations with students and community members.
His impacts on students, curricular programs, and within the field of social work are palpable and recognized by these groups. In just five years, Matt’s has won Distinguished Instruction for every class, eleven ASU Professor Impact Awards, Watts College’s Emerging Public Service Educator Award, National Association of Social Workers Transformational Educator of the Year for the Arizona Chapter, and this year’s School of Social Work Instructor of the Year Award.
His approach embodies and connects several ASU charter principles. His innovative course designs and earnest mentoring efforts Enable Student Success. His course, “Social Work in Borderlands Context,” leverages place as students learn about challenges along the Mexican migration corridor from leaders in Tucson, Nogales, and on the Tohono O’odham reservation, of which he’s a tribal citizen. Through these events, he also builds bridges with tribal community college students who can visualize a path forward to transferring to ASU after meeting with current Sun Devils and faculty.
Lastly, he enhances community well-being and use-inspired research through his pilot tribal Community-Based Participatory Study centered on COVID-19. Matt hired social work graduate and undergraduate students to examine COVID-19 health messaging strategies, and related social, health, and mental health issues. He mentored students on how to co-create culturally relevant study materials, build trust with community leaders, obtain approvals from district councils, and eventually develop peer-reviewed manuscripts for publication. Matt’s sustained and impressive impact follows from his intentional, innovative, patient and collaborative approach to teaching.