
Palacio Podcast
Uduak-Joe Ntuk Is All in For Education as The Great Equalizer
Uduak-Joe Ntuk represents Uptown Long Beach on the Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees. Elected in 2018, he is the first African-American man elected to serve since the college’s founding. For Ntuk, education is the great equalizer. It can provide anyone with the tools to create their own future. That outlook was formed by his parents who are educators.
“…and so, growing up, education was always hammered into our head.”

Uduak-Joe Ntuk is the middle child of five children who grew up in north Long Beach/Bixby Knolls.
“It was watching PBS science programs. It was long nights of homework. It was always about learning and education. How many books could you read over the summer at the Dana Branch Library?”
Ntuk proudly describes himself and his siblings as “those types of kids in that type of competition.”
PalacioMagazine.com interviewed Uduak-Joe Ntuk about growing up biracial, the importance of education and sports in his own life, and his service as a Long Beach City College trustee.
Uduak-Joe Ntuk was recently named by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as the state’s top oil and gas regulator. You can read more HERE. Ntuk is also active in the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. To find out more about Long Beach City College, please visit their website at lbcc.edu.
More on Uduak-Joe Ntuk
“Trustee Uduak-Joe Ntuk proudly represents Uptown Long Beach on the Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees. Elected in 2018, he is the first African-American male elected to serve since the college’s founding.
Earning his Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts at LBCC opened the doors for Uduak-Joe to further his education and pursue a career in engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at California State University, Long Beach and his Master of Science in Engineering at the University of Southern California.

He currently serves as the Director of Petroleum Administration for the City of Los Angeles, where he is responsible for setting energy and environmental policy as well as providing technical advice to the Mayor, City Council, and various city departments. He also represents the City of Los Angeles on the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study (MATES V) Technical Advisory Group and on the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District Advisory Panel for the Inglewood Oil Field. Before this position, Uduak-Joe worked in both the public and private sectors, including at three Fortune 500 companies.
Committed to educating the next generation of engineers, he shares his expertise as a faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department at California State University, Long Beach.
Uduak-Joe has always found ways to serve his community through his involvement as a STEM advocate, Science Fair Judge, and PTA Officer. He also helped place hundreds of young people into jobs on the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Board Youth Council.
Uduak-Joe Ntuk served two terms as a Personnel Commissioner at the Long Beach Community College District, which administers the Merit System of equal opportunity employment for the district’s classified employees.
He and his wife, Tunua, are raising their children in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Uptown Long Beach.”
You can read more about Uduak-Joe Ntuk HERE.