ASU hires a Beard winner

Arizona State University has named Tucson baker Don Guerra its first baker-in-residence, putting a James Beard Award winner inside a new campus food program. (news.asu.edu) Guerra joined the School of Transborder Studies for the 2026 residency year, and Arizona Family reported the appointment on April 15, 2026. (news.asu.edu) (azfamily.com) Arizona Family said Guerra will teach students how bread is tied to community and how to make loaves, and reported that he bakes about 1,000 loaves a day inside Hayden Flour Mills. (azfamily.com) The residency sits inside a school that studies borders, migration and culture, and Arizona State University said it is modeled on the school’s earlier artist-in-residence program. (news.asu.edu) (newsroom.asu.edu) Arizona State University tied the role to lectures and public programming, including Guerra’s “Bread without Borders” talk on March 5 at the Tempe campus. (news.asu.edu) Guerra is best known as the founder of Barrio Bread in Tucson, a bakery that Arizona State University said opened in 2015 and built a loyal local following. (news.asu.edu) His national credential is specific: the James Beard Foundation listed Guerra as the 2022 winner for Outstanding Baker. (jamesbeard.org) Barrio Bread says Guerra started baking commercially in 2009 in a garage bakery before expanding into retail shops in Tucson and Gilbert. (barriobread.com 1) (barriobread.com 2) Arizona State University said Guerra grew up near the Tempe campus, and he told the school that his mother baked bread and his grandmother made flour tortillas at family gatherings. (news.asu.edu) The university’s first baker-in-residence is now a hometown-adjacent hire with a statewide profile: a Tucson bread maker returning to Tempe to teach through flour, grain and daily bread. (news.asu.edu)