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Denisse Vásquez-Guevara, Assistant Professor of Communication, Cal Poly Pomona
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Denisse Vásquez-Guevara

Assistant Professor, Communication
College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences

Expertise:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Social Media and Online Technologies, Public Relations, Social Corporate Responsibility, Health Communication, Science Communication, Gender and Communication, Latin American Development (Andean Region), High-Performance Student Mentorship

Denisse Vásquez-Guevara’s research and professional work are in public relations and social media, and health communication and science communication — with a specific focus on communication for local development in Latin America, women’s empowerment and development through higher education, and public outreach for sustainable development.

 

For the last six years, Vásquez-Guevara has collaborated with research teams from Ecuador, the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador, Belgium and UNICEF for developing science communication and health communication campaigns centered on nutrition, COVID-19 prevention, inclusive urban parks and pediatric dental care. Among the campaigns she developed was A Todo Pulmon (With Your Whole Lungs), a social media-based asthma self-management tutorial tool for children, teenagers and caregivers funded by the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academy; UNICEF Ecuador’s COVID-19 prevention initiative; and Ecuador’s health education campaign for children and schoolteachers on the use of the topical BlueRemin® in the incidence of caries lesions in the molars of 7- to 9-year-olds.

 

As a practitioner, Vásquez-Guevara has served as a consultant of strategic communication for Honda Motors-Motorcycle Division in Ecuador; Ecuador’s state-owned insurance company Seguros Rocafuerte; the Plaza de las Americas Shopping Center and the Millenium Plaza Shopping Center in Bogotá, Colombia; and South American home appliance industry giant Induglob. In the realm of international service for women’s empowerment in Latin America, she led the Women in Science Webinar for Girls for the City of Zaruma (Ecuador) in March 2024; sits on the Red Ecuatoriana Mujeres Cientifica (REMC) Ecuador Admission Board for Mentoring – Node Cuenca (2024-25); and holds high-level mentorship roles in the USAID Mentorship for Female Refugees in IMPACTOR Quito, and REMC’s Mentor for Women in Science Program

 

Vásquez-Guevara is currently engaged in an interdisciplinary project with the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture and the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences to train Cal Poly Pomona students. The objective: enhancing the research and career access of underrepresented minorities in the growing field of plant-based meat substitutes (“meat analogues”).

 

Recent Grants and Fellowships:

  • Cal Poly Pomona Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant (SIRG) Program 2024-25, Training Cal Poly Pomona Students to Enhance Underrepresented Minorities and Culturally Diverse Groups Access to Plant-Based Meat Analogues, $15,000
  • VIUC-OUS 2022, Active Urban Environments: A Multidisciplinary View to Improving Public Space and Health, €350,000 (2023-27)
  • VIUC 2022-23, Research Provost Grant, University of Cuenca, Comparison and Effect of the Use of Topical BlueRemin® in the incidence of caries lesions in schoolchildren, concerning the Use of 5% sodium fluoride varnish. $15,000
  • California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Innovation Incubator for Micro-Internship Programs, El Centro de la Raza, $15,333 (Fall 2023) and $17,333 (Spring 2024)
  • DAAD German Cooperation in Ecuador in the SDG Nexus Project for Sustainable Development Grant for Women in Science Mentoring Program, $50,000 (2022)
  • UNICEF Ecuador, A Qualitative Evaluation of COVID-19 Prevention Campaign, $75,000 (2021)
  • CEDIA-CEPRA 2020-21, Therapeutic Response of Pediatric Asthma Patients, $20,000
  • CEDIA-CEPRA II Grant, Food Safety for Street Vendors, Universidad de Cuenca, $350,000 (2019)
  • LAII Ph.D. Fellow 2018-19, Latin American & Iberian Institute of the University of New Mexico, $12,550
  • DIUC Grant Fund Award. Associate Mobility Patterns Research Project, Associate Scientists, $5,000 (2014-15)

Selected Publications:

Interviews:

Education:

B.A., Social Communication and Advertising, Universidad del Azuay (Cuenca, Ecuador)

M.A., Marketing Communications, Universidad del Azuay (Cuenca, Ecuador)

Ph.D., Latin American Studies, Interdisciplinary Program in Communication & Journalism, and Community & Regional Planning, University of New Mexico

Languages:

English, Spanish

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