Ivette Guzmán Zavala Ph.D. | 2026 Hall of Fame Program Bio
Nominated by Carmen M. Medina
Dr. Ivette Guzmán Zavala earned her degree from the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras and began her career as an Art Educator in Caguas, her hometown. She pursued graduate studies in Latin American and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures, obtaining her M.A. from Syracuse University in New York and her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Currently, she is a Spanish Professor at Lebanon Valley College and coordinates the Latina Heritage Activities each fall.
Since relocating to the Lebanon area in 2007, Ivette has served the Latina community in Lebanon in a variety of ways. She has volunteered with United Way, collaborated with the Migrant Education Program, and participated with the Latina vote, supporting various local candidates. She cooperates with organizations like WEPA and interprets in Spanish for families in the area. She volunteers as a medical interpreter at Volunteers in Medicine in Lebanon; this work is the most rewarding of her career.
She has published several articles on Hispanic Caribbean and Latina Studies. Together with historian Dr. John Hinshaw, she conducted research and co-curated the exhibition Dutchirican: A Latinx History of Central PA, which features her photography series “Caras de Lebanon”/ “Faces of Lebanon”. NPR’s Latino USA featured their work on May 16, 2025. Her book, Maternidades puertorriqueñas: esclavitud, colonialismo y diáspora en el arte y la literatura (Puerto Rican Motherhoods: Slavery, Colonialism and Diaspora in Art and Literature), was published by Instituto Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana in Pittsburgh in 2022. Her current research focuses on Hispanic Caribbean women and their influence on childbirth practices and locations.
Dr. Guzmán Zavala lives in Lebanon with her husband, John, their cherished dog Sofía, and takes great pride in being
Lucas’s mother.