Dr. Norma Guzman Duran is Luna Community College’s new Vice President of Instruction and Student Services. She will officially begin at Luna on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
She has cultivated her career in higher education in Texas and Colorado for 17 years. She has worked for Texas A&M University, Dallas College, Lone Star College, Tarrant County College, and Colorado Mountain College.
She graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering in 2005. She then continued her studies and completed a Master’s in Business Administration in 2015 from Western Governor’s University and in 2020 graduated with a Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in Community College Leadership from National American University. Her dissertation topic titled “An Exploration of Factors Cultivating Health Science 2-Year Degree Completion for Latinos” helped her refine her goal to create awareness of 2-year career and technical degrees.
“We are very happy to have Dr. Guzman Duran join our Luna family,” said Luna President Dr. Edward Martinez. “Her experience in higher education and expertise in student success will assist Luna in moving forward. Luna is very fortunate to have someone like Dr. Guzman Duran.”
Among her areas of expertise are industry partnerships, strategic and systematic planning, accreditation, strategic diversity, evidence-based decision-making, experiential learning, program and faculty development.
Dr. Guzman Duran is currently the dean of the School of Business and assistant professor at Colorado Mountain College where she manages 14 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs across eleven locations. Among her accomplishments, she has increased the number of full-time faculty and diversity by 50 percent in the school of business, hired a faculty team that represents the community and industry skills, such as bilingual, certified public accounting, rural agriculture, environmental economists, data scientists, with teaching and learning backgrounds. In addition, she has hired current students as paid interns in the school of business to complete strategic planning projects for academic credit.
Impressively, she has conducted an employer survey 2022 State of the Labor Market Summit Report across the entire Colorado Mountain College footprint to determine regional state and national employer needs regarding critical occupations, competencies, and workforce skills. She has also conducted student-focus groups to determine students’ needs barriers, assessment, and engagement in their workforce readiness development. In addition, she has used data to inform and expand course offerings to meet student needs in all modalities, hybrid, and face-to-face for all business programs.
She has won several awards and has several recognitions in higher education including a Trinity River Team Spirit Award, Innovation of the Year Team Award, Hispanic Women in Leadership, and a Texas A&M University President’s Meritorious Award. She has also participated in several leadership institutes such as the American Council on Education Academic Management Institute, American Association of Community College: Future Leaders Institute, Workforce Development and Women in Higher Education Leadership Institute, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Quality Enhancement and Accreditation Institute.
“My mission in life is to help emerging majority, underrepresented students to reach their potential, examine their career and academic opportunities, and guide students to graduating with degrees that help them enter the workforce and remain competitive with high wage potential,” says Dr. Guzman Duran. “I am excited to work at Luna Community College and I am looking forward to meeting all the stakeholders.”
In her free time, she loves hiking, mountain biking, teaching, and dancing salsa. One of her most precious accomplishments is raising her son 2nd Lt. Hugo Duran an F-16 fighter pilot serving in the United States Air Force currently based in Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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