About AVC Alvarado

Christine Alvarado has had a 20+ year career as an educator and educational researcher in higher education.   She joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2012 as a teaching professor in Computer Science and Engineering after earning tenure as a Computer Science professor at Harvey Mudd College.  She is passionate about improving education and creating learning experiences that serve the widest group of students in the way that best meets their needs.  In addition to her classroom teaching and her leadership in developing CS educational programs both locally and nationally, she views her role in administration as an opportunity to innovate education across courses, disciplines and programs.  During her time at UC San Diego she has served as Vice Chair for Undergraduate Education in the CSE department, Associate Dean for Students in the Jacobs School of Engineering, and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education.  In her role of Interim AVC of Education Innovation, she collaborates with faculty and staff across campus to develop and run programs that better serve the needs of current students at all levels.  She loves to discuss education, and would love to talk to you about any ideas you might have, so don't hesitate to contact her!  (avcei@ucsd.edu)

She received her undergraduate degree in computer science from Dartmouth College in 1998, graduating summa cum laude. She received her and S.M. and Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Her work has been funded by several grants from the National Science Foundation including a CAREER award in 2005. She has won several awards for her teaching and contributions to education including the A. Richard Newton Educator ABIE Award (2013), the UC San Diego Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award (2017), the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching (2019), the first NCWIT Academic Alliance Joanne McGrath Cohoon Academic Service Award (2022), and in 2018 was named a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.