North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has named Dr. Will Guzmán as the assistant vice chancellor for International Programs and Community Engagement, effective July 1, 2022.
Guzmán will provide leadership and management for the Office of International Programs and the Office of Community Engagement and Service. As NCCU’s senior international officer, he will expand study abroad and global exchange experiences to connect NCCU students with national and transnational people and projects. He will also create community collaborations with the University’s government, corporate and non-profit partners, which will allow students to sharpen their leadership skills. Both assignments deliver elements of the Eagle Promise, four outcomes that NCCU promises to fulfill for students upon graduation. Guzmán will report to provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. David H. Jackson, Jr.
Guzmán has 27 years of administrative experience with a demonstrated commitment to diversity in teaching, research, service and multinational activities. Guzmán taught Africana classes at the University of Texas–El Paso (UTEP), Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), Seton Hall University, Florida State University (FSU), New Jersey City University (NJCU), and Florida A&M University (FAMU). He also held administrative posts at NJCU and FAMU.
As director of FAMU’s Office of Black Diasporan Culture, Guzmán served as a liaison to the Bahamas Minister of Education, Science and Technology, resulting in Bahamian students becoming the largest group among all campus international undergraduates. At the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean & the Americas, he recruited over ninety professionals to provide technical assistance to numerous nations and dispersed grants totaling $700,000 to Caribbean nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in hurricane-afflicted countries.
Guzmán’s extensive community service in the historic African American neighborhood of Providence led to his selection as the City of Tallahassee’s “Neighbor of the Year.” Additionally, for his work in Jackson Hill and Greenville, he was inducted into Jersey City’s Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center “Trailblazing Pioneers Wall of Fame,” granted Jersey City’s NAACP “Community Service Award,” and given North Jersey’s National Action Network “Iron Sharpening Iron” Award.
The author of “Civil Rights in the Texas Borderlands: Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon and Black Activism,” Guzmán is fluent in Spanish and has traveled to Africa, Central & South America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
The inaugural “Afro-Texans” series editor at Texas Tech University Press, Guzmán recently completed a National Humanities Center ten-month residential fellowship. He holds a Ph.D. in history from UTEP, master’s degree from FSU, bachelor’s degree from FAMU and an associate’s degree from Valencia College.
Please congratulate Dr. Will Guzmán on his new role!
