Doug Guerrero Awarded Honorary Degree

Chico State President Gayle Hutchinson announced that community partner and concrete industry leader Doug Guerrero will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree during Commencement on Sunday, May 21, 2017. The degree will be conferred by the Board of Trustees of the California State University in the name of the CSU and California State University, Chico to recognize Mr. Guerrero's extraordinary dedication and service to the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program and its students, as well as his leadership on the University Foundation Board of Governors.

Mr. Guerrero was instrumental in establishing the first Concrete Industry Management (CIM) degree program in the Western US in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management (ECC)—making Chico State home to one of only four CIM programs in the country. CIM majors benefit from a curriculum that combines business administration and concrete science. Mr. Guerrero cofounded the CIM program and, in 2005, was elected chair of the Chico CIM Patrons—a philanthropic group of individuals and organizations that have donated more than $3.6 million to support the program. Mr. Guerrero also serves on the CIM National Steering Committee, which provides scholarship and programming support to the four universities with concrete industry programs. In addition to Chico State, those universities are Middle Tennessee State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Texas State University. Together, the local CIM Patrons and national CIM program have supported CSU, Chico by funding student scholarships, supporting faculty salaries, helping renovate the ECC Concrete Lab, and hosting annual networking events that have resulted in a 100 percent job-placement rate for CIM graduates. Mr. Guerrero has also served on the CSU, Chico University Foundation Board of Governors since 2008, chairing the board from 2011–2013 and working with alumni, parents, and other community leaders to raise philanthropic support for our students, faculty, staff, and programs across campus.

Mr. Guerrero is a former US Navy lieutenant and he holds an executive MBA from St. Mary's College of California and a BS in architectural engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Before retiring to Chico in 2007, he held executive positions at some of the largest cement and concrete companies in the world, including CEMEX, RMC, Lone Star Industries Inc., and Kaiser Cement Corporation. He worked with multinational corporations and congressional leaders to craft regulations that continue to impact the import, sale, production, and distribution of concrete in the United States. He is respected among his peers for his influence on the modernization of the industry, including his corporate leadership and education and his environmental advocacy.

The University's partnership with Mr. Guerrero is exemplary of my vision for the future of Chico State—growing public-private partnerships that strengthen our academic programs and develop innovative curricula that match our faculty and students' ambitions with the needs of the 21st century. Thanks to Mr. Guerrero's leadership, generosity, and advocacy, we have a proven model to follow. He exemplifies our commitments to service, sustainability, student and faculty success, and applied research, as well as the community values that embody the Chico Experience.

Mr. Guerrero joins an elite list of honorary degree recipients across the CSU, as the system recognizes those who have demonstrated excellence in areas that benefit CSU campuses, the state, nation, world, or humanity. The CSU awarded its first honorary degree to then-President John F. Kennedy in June 1963 at San Diego State University. Mr. Guerrero is Chico State's 18th honorary degree recipient in the University's 130-year history.

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