Will Guzmán, PVAMU Professor of History
Prairie View A&M University Professor of History Will Guzmán was recently honored by the Jersey City branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during its 98th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet.
Guzmán is a valued member of the Division of Social Work, Behavioral and Political Sciences, having joined PVAMU in August 2019. Previously, he was an associate professor in the African American Studies program and Director of the Hagan Africana Studies Center at New Jersey City University (NJCU).
While at NJCU, Guzmán organized the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and doubled the MLK Student Scholarship amount. He also served as Faculty Advisor to the Black Freedom Society, Band of Brothers, African Student Association, and the SGO Education and Social Justice Committee.
Guzmán campaigned for the establishment and funding of an NJCU Black Male Initiative (Shango) to recruit, retain, and graduate more African American students, recommended the new Science Building be named after NJCU alumnus and civil rights activist Dr. Betty Shabazz, and advocated for the hiring of more African American tenured faculty across campus.
Guzmán earned his undergraduate degree in African American Studies from Florida A&M University. He won the C. Calvin Smith Book Prize for Civil Rights in the Texas Borderlands: Lawrence Nixon and Black Activism.
An active member of the Jersey City NAACP, Guzmán was appointed to the Jersey City Supplier Diversity Study Committee. “I was recognized by the Jersey City NAACP for a variety of reasons, which included assisting with and co-sponsoring the Jersey City Together Fall 2017 Action, where more than 1,000 community leaders met,” he said. “Community members strategized on how to address the issues of affordable housing, rent control, and gentrification.”
Gratitude is the prevailing emotion as he reflects on the NAACP award. “I am very humbled that one of the largest branches in the premier civil rights organization within the nation would bestow such an honor on me,” he said.
With a myriad of accomplishments behind him, and many more undoubtedly to come, Guzmán never loses sight of the fact that education is the key that will continue to unlock the doors of opportunity.
“We must engage in reading, research, and writing in order to honor our ancestors,” he said. “My hope is to continue the campus legacy of instilling these sentiments into PVAMU students.”
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By Vincent Barajas