HCC professor wins prestigious Microsoft award

Highline Community College faculty member Michael Girvin has been named as a 2013 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.

Highline Community College faculty member Michael Girvin has been named as a 2013 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.

The Microsoft MVP award is presented annually to recognize outstanding technology community leaders from around the world that share their respective expertise with Microsoft.

“Michael Girvin is a great example of the kind of talent, energy and new ideas that our faculty bring to their work,” said Jeff Wagnitz, Highline’s vice president for academic affairs. “The Microsoft MVP award recognizes his exceptional leadership and vision in creatively applying technology to the teaching and learning process. He’s extraordinarily effective both in teaching about technology and in using technology to teach.”

Girvin is nationally and internationally recognized for his more than 1,200 Microsoft Excel how-to videos on YouTube. These video tutorials receive more than 15,000 views daily. He is also the author of “Slaying Excel Dragons”, a book designed to give readers a comprehensive understanding of Excel and how to use it.

Girvin received the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year award from Highline Community College. He was also the winner of the 2012 National Institute for Staff & Organizational Development (NISOD) Award for Excellence in Teaching.

He holds a MBA from California State University–Hayward, a BFA in art history and painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from the Evergreen State College.