2021 HENAAC Awards

As an Associate Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Christian Servin has been laser-focused on one overarching goal: helping his El Paso Community College students transfer to four-year institutions.  The proof of this simple but profound commitment is in the results: he has increased the number of students completing the C.S. program from 3 per semester in 2008, to an average of 47 per semester as of the fall of 2019. Many end-up at regional universities like his Alma Mater, the University of Texas at El Paso, where he earned all four of his degrees, including his Ph.D.

He has been particularly successful at student retention once they’re under his tutelage – no small feat given that attrition is historically highest among freshman. 

Dr. Servin has improved the Computer Science Degree Program at EPCC by designing, implementing, and aligning the curriculum with nationally recognized standards and guidelines. He’s also influenced community college C.S. and cybersecurity curricula across the country through his membership in the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

Dr. Servin’s 16-page resume is brimming with publication credits, academic committee and professional society memberships, and several honors and fellowships — including the INSPIRE CS-AI Fellowship from MIT and Carnegie Mellon.

But the true measure of the success of this first-generation Mexican American Computer Science professor is the more than 600 students that he has directly helped earn Associate of Science degrees, and the hundreds more who have successfully transferred to four-year universities.