On June 1, 2016, Guerra was appointed the dean of the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine.
In 2000, she became an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside and received a three-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue research on how to prevent youth violence.
[2] Prior to the 2011–12 academic year, Guerra joined the faculty of the University of Delaware's Department of Psychology from the UC Riverside.
[3] In these roles, she briefed the United States Congress on "Raising Healthy Children: Recent Evidence from Developmental Science.
"[4] The following year, Guerra was appointed associate provost for international programs.