Native of El Paso, Ann Quiroz Gates has decades of experience in computer programming and software development.
Her resume is 15 pages long, filled with the positions she has held and the computer science research she has participated in.
Her office reflects her background.
The walls are covered in books, awards and tech memorabilia. She has a small museum with an old computer that uses punch cards and a squarish mouse with three buttons.
On her desk, she has a black Microsoft fidget spinner.
“There is my museum,” she said. “I have the tapes and the floppy disks and the big floppies back there. Zip drives. That is an original mouse.
“It is interesting to see the differences. I started in Fortran IV; that’s the language I programmed in.”
Gates, 69, is the chair of the computer science department at the University of Texas at El Paso. It is the second time she has served as chair, a position she has held for a total of almost 10 years.
Early in her career, Gates passed up on an opportunity to work at IBM to pursue her interest in education.
“No regrets. I really do like teaching,” she said.
Gates, who has a doctorate in computer science from NMSU, oversees a department with about 16 professors and 800 students, twice as many as the department had 10 years ago. It is experiencing student growth on par with other universities across the country.
“And with the same number of faculty. It is just really crazy. It is a nationwide thing,” she said. “Part of it has to do with the whole emphasis on data science, data analytics and data mining. Automation, if you want to call it that, it’s everywhere and in every profession.”
Microsoft announced in March that it has selected El Paso as a TechSpark community – one of six in the country. The computer science department is working with Microsoft to implement the program, which is designed to foster economic opportunity and job creation.
The department is also working with Microsoft on the Technology, Education and Literacy in Schools, or TEALS, program, which is developing advanced computer science programs in El Paso schools.
Gates sat down with El Paso Inc. in her office on the third floor of the computer science building at UTEP. She talked about why Google and Microsoft are investing in El Paso, the dire need for computer science teachers and why she gave up her dream job.