Texas Border Business
McALLEN, Texas – For Serkan Celtek, director of Research and Analytical Services at South Texas College, every number tells a story. Behind every statistic is a student finding a career path, a faculty member improving instruction or a program opening new opportunities for those in the community.
It is a perspective that has guided Celtek for 17 years at STC.
It also forms the basis of an approach to the job that has earned him a League of Excellence Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international nonprofit organization that recognizes faculty, staff and leaders who have made a lasting difference in the lives of students and the communities they serve.
“I see the award as validation,” Celtek said. “It’s a tap on the shoulder saying this is the way to go, but don’t ever stop. We have to keep innovating because the work never stops changing.”
Through his work at STC, Celtek said he has built a career helping departments across the college transform data into meaningful decisions. From evaluating academic programs and grants to supporting strategic planning and enrollment initiatives, his work touches nearly every aspect of the institution.
But despite spending his career surrounded by numbers, Celtek insists his work has always been about people.
“A number doesn’t mean anything by itself,” he said. “It has to have an interpretation. We have to put meaning to the data together.”
Celtek joined STC in 2009 as an institutional research analyst before becoming the department’s director in 2013, but even earlier than that, his path to higher education was anything but traditional.
With academic backgrounds in Engineering, Business Administration, Information Technology and Statistics, along with years spent as an educator, Celtek discovered that institutional research brought together every discipline he had previously pursued.
“I didn’t plan for it, but I am happy that it happened this way. I can use all my background here and I love it,” he said.
Celtek said a natural curiosity continues to shape his leadership today.
Whether partnering with faculty on program reviews, helping departments evaluate new initiatives or developing surveys that measure student success, Celtek believes the best research begins with understanding the people behind the request.
His team works alongside departments throughout the college, translating idea into meaningful data that can guide decisions improve outcomes.
“We see ourselves as the technical support,” he said. “The departments are the functional experts. We put meaning to the data together.”
This spirit of collaboration put the department Celtek leads at the forefront of the college’s mission to evolve. Over the past year, Celtek has led efforts to modernize STC’s data resources by replacing static reports with interactive dashboards, giving employees faster access to information while freeing the department to focus on increasingly complex research projects.
His team has also supported STC’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives by designing and analyzing surveys that help leaders better understand how students, faculty and staff are adopting AI, as well as determine where additional training may be needed.
Celtek said innovation is not simply about embracing new technology, it is about remaining curious enough to continue learning.
It is knowing that the story behind the numbers helps create better opportunities for every student who walks through the doors at STC.
“We are always here to help,” Celtek said. “Everything that we do, in some way, helps students. We take pride in that, and we always do our best to provide high-quality, trusted data.”
