November 2015
Nancy Guerra, professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware, will become dean of the School of Social Ecology, effective June 1, 2016. “I look forward to welcoming Nancy Guerra to the Anteater family,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman.
“Her passion for academic inquiry, teaching and community involvement provides the foundation for the kind of inspiring leadership we look for from our deans at UCI.”
In addition to her research and teaching roles, Guerra served as associate provost for international programs and director of the Institute for Global Studies and the Global Research Consortium at the University of Delaware. Prior to her appointment there, she was on the faculty at UC Riverside, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Guerra held a number of administrative posts at UC Riverside, including area head in the Division of Developmental Psychology and associate director of the Robert Presley Center for Crime & Justice Studies. She earned a doctorate in human development and psychology at Harvard University, an M.A. in educational psychology at UC Santa Barbara and a B.A. in psychology at UCLA.
An internationally known expert on youth development and violence prevention, including anti-bullying programs, Guerra is co-chair and administrative director of Know Violence in Childhood. The global learning initiative spans five universities and the Public Health Foundation of India and is funded by five major foundations and UNICEF. It’s designed to synthesize the literature on stopping childhood violence and advocate for evidence-based practices to achieve that goal.
Guerra has also been principal investigator for a National Academic Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and served on several national panels, including the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention. Her research – funded by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank – has taken her to Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela and Jamaica. For five years, she was editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence.