SPC Faculty Member Beatrice Avila Celebrates Family Legacy in Education

Beatrice Avila, Program Director and Assistant Professor at St. Philip’s College (SPC), was recently recognized as the Alamo Colleges District Employee of the Month during a district Board Meeting.

Working at SPC has become a family affair for Avila, whose academic and professional journey has inspired multiple relatives to follow similar educational paths. A total of five family members attended the Board Meeting to support her as she was recognized, including her sister and two daughters.

Avila is an SPC alumna, graduating in 1998 from the Health Information Technology (HIT) program. She was the first in her family to attend college, a milestone that helped pave the way for her own children.

“Teaching students on the same campus and in the same program I attended is so rewarding,” Avila said. “It’s a full-circle moment where I can pass on the knowledge I gained.”

She added that she enjoys sharing personal experiences with her students. “I love my ‘when I was a student’ moments in my classroom,” she said.

She joined the college’s Health Information Technology program as a full-time faculty member in 2020 after previously serving as an adjunct instructor at Palo Alto College and Northwest Vista College.

Her family’s ties to the Health Information Technology field continue to grow. Her daughter, Julissa Avila, graduated from the SPC HIT program in 2019. Her sister, Julianna Navarro, and niece, Alyssa Mata, both completed the program in 2022.

Higher education has remained a shared value across generations of the family. Avila’s mother graduated from Palo Alto College in 2005 through the Teacher Education Program. Her son is currently attending Palo Alto College, studying computer networking, while another niece is enrolled in the Dental Hygienist Program.

Last year, Avila established an endowed scholarship at St. Philip’s College titled the Avila Legacy for Health Information Management Technology Scholarship, created to support future students pursuing careers in the field.

“I wanted the name to reflect my family’s legacy in the Health Information Management field,” Avila said. “We are proud to have strong women in the healthcare profession.”

She traced that legacy back generations, noting that her grandmother worked in a doctor’s office during World War II, and her great-great-grandmother in England worked in a hospital managing patient records.

“Me, my daughters, my sister and my nieces carry that legacy with us today in our professions,” she said.

Avila said she chose St. Philip’s College after researching programs in the region and discovering that its Health Information Technology program was the only one in San Antonio accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education at the time and is one of the college’s oldest Associate of Applied Science degree programs.

Today, as both an educator and alumna, Avila continues to shape the next generation of health information professionals, reinforcing her family legacy rooted in education, service, and family.