Mariana T. Guzzardo, Ph.D. Faculty Profile

Photo of Mariana Guzzardo

Mariana  T.   Guzzardo, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Human Development & Womens Studies

Mariana T. Guzzardo grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and remained there until she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico.  She then attended the University of Connecticut (UConn), where she obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in Human Development and Family Studies, specializing in Adult Development and Aging. Later, as a postdoctoral research associate at Northeastern University, she focused on the analysis of qualitative data from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (UMASS- Lowell).

Mariana's research focuses on the use of community-based health and social services among Latinx/e older adults with disabilities. Most recently, her research explores the experiences of older Puerto Ricans with disabilities during Hurricane María of 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. In her work, she considers how community-based support contributes to resilience in disaster experiences. 

Another facet of her research focuses on transnational identity among the Puerto Rican diaspora. As a postdoctoral research associate with BPRHS, Mariana and co-authors wrote about participants’ multiple discourses on identity. She and co-authors also considered how the sentiments expressed in published poetry by Puerto Ricans resonate with the BPRHS participants' subjective experiences.  

Research Interests

Psychosocial issues for older Latinxs with functional and access needs, including: 

● Housing, services and informal support 

● Post-disaster and pandemic experiences 

● Dialogical, transnational identity 

● Experiences of those living in Puerto Rico given the colonial context for aging 

  • PhD in Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut
  • MA in Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut
  • BA in Psychology, University of Puerto Rico

Fall Semester 2024
Course #SecCourse TitleDaysFromToLocationCampus
HDEV 44201Health and AgingARRWEB-ASYNCH
HDEV 499W02Senior Research SeminarARRWEB-ASYNCH
HDEV 499W03Senior Research SeminarARRWEB-ASYNCH

  • Ingraham, N., Guzzardo, M. T., Gamba, R., Moore, M., Engelman, A., Khosla, N., Adams, A. L.,Bussmann, J. D., Kashinath, S., Jones-Bey, A., Toosi, N. R., & Taylor, S. (2024) “I wonder if we are set up to fail”: Autoethnographic insights from a public university. Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching, 9(1), 1-30. 
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Oshana, J. C., Balkin, A., & Todorova, I. (2024). “Adapting to a New Reality”: Older Adults’ Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 8(2), 188-208. 
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Engelman, A., Todorova, I. L. G., Rivero-Vergne, A., Dean-Olmsted, E., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E. (2023). “Everything has changed:” Functionally diverse older adults’ experiences with Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 97, 104009. 
  • Engelman, A, Guzzardo, M. T., Antolin-Muniz, M., Arenas, L., Gomez, A. (2022). Assessing the Emergency Response Role of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) Serving People with Disabilities and Older Adults in Puerto Rico Post-Hurricane María and post-COVID19 pandemic. Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(4), 2156. . 
  • Todorova, I., Albers, L., Aronson, N., Baban, A., Benyamini, Y., Cipolletta, S., del Rio Carral, M., Dimitrova, E., Dudley, C., Guzzardo, M., Hammoud, R., Fadil Azim, D. H., Hilverda, F., Huang, Q., John, L., Kaneva, M., Khan, S., Kostova, Z., Kotzeva, T., Fathima, M. A., Anto, M. M., Michoud, C., Awal Miah, M. A., Mohr, J., Morgan, K., Nastase, E. S., Neter, E., Panayotova, Y., Patel, H., Pillai, D., Polidoro Lima, M., Qin, D. B., Salewski, C., Sankar, K. A., Shao, S., Suresh, J., Todorova, R., Tomaino, S. C. M., Vollmann, M., Winter, D., Xie, M., Xuan Ning, S., & Zlatarska, A. (2021). “What I thought was so important isn’t really that important”: International perspectives on making meaning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 9(1), 830-857.  
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Todorova, I. L. G., Polidoro Lima, M., Engelman, Dean-Olmsted, E., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E. (2021). Reflexivity and humility evoke a transformable methodology. Health Psychology  and Behavioral Medicine: An Open Access Journal [Special Issue: Advanced Methods in Health Psychology and Behavioral, 9(1), 1-24, DOI:  Medicine].
  • Guzzardo, M.T., Khosla, N., Adams, A.L. et al. (2020) “The Ones that Care Make all the Difference”: Perspectives on Student-Faculty Relationships. Innovative Higher Education, 46, 41-58.
  • Vesely, C. K., Bravo, D. Y., & Guzzardo, M.T. (2019). Immigrant Families Across the Life Course: Policy Impacts on Physical and Mental Health. National Council on Family Relations – Policy Brief, 4 (1).
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Adams, W. E., Todorova, I. L. G., Falcón, L. M. (2017). Harmonizing beliefs with realities: Social support among older Puerto Ricans with disabilities. SAGE Open [Special Issue on Ethnogerontology], 7.
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Adams, W. E., Todorova, I. L. G., Falcón, L. M. (2016). Resonating sentiments on Puerto Rican identity through poetry: Voices of the diaspora. Qualitative Inquiry, 22(5), 428-443
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Todorova, I. L. G., Adams, W. E., Falcón, L. M. (2016). “Half here, half there”: Dialogical selves among older Puerto Ricans of the diaspora. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 29(1), 51-65.
  • Todorova, I. L. G, Guzzardo, M. T., Adams, W. E., & Falcón, L. M. (2015). Gratitude and Longing: Meanings of health in aging for Puerto Rican adults in the Mainland. Journal of Health Psychology, 20(12), 1602-1612.
  • Adams, W. E., Todorova, I. L. G, Guzzardo, M. T., & Falcón, L. M. (2015). “The problem here is that they want to solve everything with pills”: Differentiating and integrating multiple cultural meanings of medications. Sociology of Health and Illness, 37(6), 904-919.
  • Guzzardo, M. T., & Sheehan, N. W. (2013). Community-based long term care: How residential setting and living arrangement influence elderly Puerto Ricans’ knowledge and use of long-term care services. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 56(1), 26-48.

  • Guzzardo, M. T. & Todorovia, I. (2024, August 23-25). Context and introspection during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico: “Anhelo cambio, cambio en el mundo” [Conference presentation and panel discussion] Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA) Biannual Conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States. https://www.ricanstudies.com/logistics-2024
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Patel, H., Valencia, E., Todorova, I. (2022, May 6). Reflections during the COVID- 19 pandemic in Puerto Rico: “Con el fin de la pandemia anhelo cambio, cambio en el mundo” [Online Conference Presentation]. Annual Conference for the Latin American Studies Association (LASA): Polarización socioambiental y rivalidad entre grandes potencias. https://lasaweb.org/en/lasa2022/ 
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Oshana, J. C. & Todorova, I. (2021, December 2). Older adults’ experiences and sources of strength during a pandemic [Online Conference Presentation]. California Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics (CCGG) Fall Research Showcase. 
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Todorova, I. L. G., Engelman, A, Guzzardo Tamargo, Rosa & Dean Olmsted, E. (2021, August 24). “Everything was destroyed”: Resilience of older adults with disabilities during hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. [Online Conference Presentation]. EHPS 2021, 35th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society. https://2021.ehps.net/ 
  • You, J. & Guzzardo M. T. (2021, April 21 to 23). Report on Campus Climate Alumni Survey [Online Conference Presentation]. Peralta Online Equity Conference, Peralta Community College District's Online Equity Initiative. https://sites.google.com/view/peraltaequityconference/  
  • Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E., Guzzardo, M. T., & Romañach Álvarez, A. (2020, Dec. 7) Yo quiero...ir y venir: Latinx identities portrayed through movement within multilinguistic and multicultural repertoires. Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain Lab Talk Series at the University of California, Irvine.
  • Engelman, A., Guzzardo, M. T., Todorva, I, Vasquez Del Valle, A., Naidu, V. (2020, October 24-28). Supporting older adults with disabilities and the emergency response of community-based organizations (CBOs) in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María [Conference presentation]. 148th Annual American Public Health Association Conference (virtual).
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Guzzardo Tamargo, R., Romanach, A. (2020, May 13-16). "Quiero...ir y venir": The fluid and multifaceted voices of LatinX bilingual code-switchers [Conference presentation]. LASA 2020 Congress: America Ladina: Vinculando Mundos y Saberes, Tejiendo Esperanzar, May 13-16, 2020 (virtual).
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Engelman, A., Todorova, I., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E., Dean-Olmsted, E., & Rivero-Vergne, A., (2019, November). Recovery, resilience and empowerment: Women as agents of change in the aftermath of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. Paper presented at the National Women’s Studies Association conference in San Francisco.
  • Guzzardo, M. T. (2019, September). Challenging local corruption and colonial repression: A Boricua awakening. Presentation for LatinX Cultural Awareness Month 2019, sponsored by the Chicanx Latinx Staff and Faculty Association. 绿帽换妻, Hayward.
  • Co-presenter. (2019, August). Supporting faculty to support our students: Tools for balancing empathy and rigor. Presented by the members of the 2018-2019 Faculty Learning Community (FLC), hosted by the Pioneers for HOPE Learning Framework. Presentation for Back to the Bay. 绿帽换妻, Hayward.
  • Guzzardo, M. T., Engelman, A., Todorova, I., Dean-Olmsted, E., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E., & Rivero-Vergne, A., (2019, May). Everything changed after the hurricane: Older Adults’ Experiences & the Emergency Response in Puerto Rico. Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association in Boston.
  • Guzzardo, M. T. & Engelman, A. (2018, November 8th) "Everything Changed After The Hurricane":Older Adults' Experiences & the Emergency Response in Puerto Rico. Presentation during U-Hour for the Library Speaker Series, 绿帽换妻, Hayward.