Vice Provost

Nicole Guajardo

Vice Provost, Academic Success and Engagement

Dr. Nicole Guajardo is a member of the senior academic leadership team responsible for working collaboratively with other senior administrators, staff, and faculty on the implementation of the university’s academic vision and mission. Her primary responsibilities involve the oversight of faculty research support, student academic support efforts, and graduate and professional education. More specifically, she oversees:

• Office of Sponsored Programs
• Center for Academic Success
• Center for Career Planning
• Academic Advising
• Office of Graduate Studies

Since coming to CNU in 2004, she has continually engaged in university service, including on the Faculty Senate and Senate Executive Council and as chair of the Department of Psychology. From 2010-2013 she served as Executive Assistant to the President for Student Success. In this role she developed and managed the core advising program, worked collaboratively with faculty and staff to create learning communities for first-year students, created Signing Day for sophomore students, and enhanced the Center for Academic Success to promote student achievement. As Executive Assistant to the President for Student Success, she also worked closely with faculty and staff across the university, which enhanced her knowledge of university functioning beyond academic affairs.

For over 12 years, Dr. Guajardo served as the Dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences. As Dean, she worked closely with faculty and students in Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science; Mathematics; Psychology; and the School of Engineering and Computing; as well as the BS in Neuroscience. She collaborated with the chairs and faculty in these areas to ensure that students studying science at Christopher Newport University developed solid foundational skills as well as relative expertise in their chosen field. During Spring 2022, she received the inaugural Saber Award, Christopher Newport’s Society of the Severed Hand's award to recognize "the most dedicated, committed, and impactful members of our academic community at Christopher Newport.”

Dr. Guajardo earned her BA and MA in Psychology from Wake Forest University and her PhD in Life Span Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University. She has published several articles and book chapters on children’s early social-cognitive development and serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.