CONTACT Richard Guzman at this website or at rrguzman@noctrl.edu about TRAINING, consulting, or speaking on the following topics. His fees vary according to the size of the organizations and events. He often incorporates media and performance into his presentations.
Many of his presentations have a Social Change dimension (see his Social Change page on this website). He is also often asked to preach. Go to an example of a sermon, “Sacred Doing,” which approaches social action from a different, more inward, way—a theme he also developed when he spoke at the memorial service of famed poet Carolyn Rodgers.
♦ Go HERE for syllabi and other material from the major courses he has taught.
DIVERSITY & ANTI-RACISM TRAINING
— For churches, colleges, companies, and organizations Dr. Guzman has spoken and done training on DIVERSITY, multiculturalism and race relations. He led one of Illinois’ largest school districts (Naperville’s #203) in the development of a diversity plan, for which he received a Those Who Excel award from the state of Illinois. Of his leadership, one community member wrote: “No one else that I know of could have presented the information with such authority, compassion, and vigor.” (See his full recommendation letter Here.) He is currently leading in developing trainings and workshops for the United Methodist Church on racism and becoming anti-racist. In the Becoming a Beloved Community workshop his emphasis is away from calling individuals racist and instead engaging groups to understand the entrenched power of systemic racism. Read about this workshop Here.
PROFESSIONAL WRITING — For many years Dr. Guzman has spoken, led workshops and conducted multi-session trainings on writing and project development for many organizations—from big service, research, manufacturing, and engineering firms (UPS, Caterpillar, Brown & Root, Bell Labs, etc.) to community organizations, colleges, and governmental groups (Nichols Public Library, North Central College, the Naperville Police Dept., etc.). His ideas are the basis of his book Writing Well Wherever You Work.
LEADERSHIP TRAINING — For nearly as many years, Dr. Guzman has taught leadership courses, especially on social change, and even (for UPS) a workshop on “Leadership Jazz.” Combining concepts from servant leadership, deep change theories, social marketing, and the unique leadership styles exhibited in jazz groups, he can help lead organizations into deeper levels of cooperative and creative work, and its members into a vision of how they can become more effective leaders and followers.
SERMONS and INTERFAITH DIALOGUE — Dr. Guzman regularly preaches and has spoken on Christianity’s relationship to other faiths, and on the Bible as well as the sacred texts of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Among his major college courses is Sacred Texts as Literature (view syllabus). See some of his sermons, like “Pentecost Means No Supremacies” and “Sacred Doing.”
LITERATURE & CULTURE — Based especially on his books Smokestacks & Skyscrapers: An Anthology of Chicago Writing (edited with David Starkey) and Black Writing from Chicago, Dr. Guzman has spoken and performed widely on Chicago writers and Chicago’s great tradition of Black writing. He also speaks about poetry, non-fiction, and authors from “multicultural” literature, not only in the United States but throughout the world in countries like the Philippines, India, Nigeria, and more.
MUSIC & CULTURE — Dr. Guzman has spoken on the nature, history and cultural impact of jazz, the blues, and rock ‘n’ roll, and on specific performers like Ray Charles, Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley, and others. Some of this material can be found in his first book Voices and Freedoms: A History of Jazz.