The Citadel names new dean for the Zucker Family School of Education

On the first day of July, the Zucker Family School of Education officially welcomed its newest dean to campus.

The Citadel Provost and Dean of the College Sally Selden, Ph.D., SPHR, recently announced the selection of Leonard Annetta, Ph.D., for the position.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen how significantly education can change in a short amount of time,” said Selden. “With his long-running research into different methods of instruction, Dr. Annetta is uniquely positioned to lead the Zucker Family School of Education through these recent changes as well as those that are still to come. In addition, his focus on entrepreneurial thinking perfectly complements the high impact practices that are vital to the education and development of principled leaders for all walks of life.”

Annetta earned a Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. As a scholar, his research has focused on distance learning and the effect instructional technology can have on learning in rural and underserved areas.

“The education landscape is constantly changing. Current and future teachers, counselors and administrators need to change with the landscape accordingly,” said Annetta. “The Zucker Family School of Education is poised to be a leader in preparing the future educational workforce to see challenges through an entrepreneurial lens in order to become more purposeful and intentional in their approach to their practice.”

Annetta will also serve as the Zucker Chair in Entrepreneurial Education Leadership, an endowed chair position formed as part of the gift agreement The Citadel made with local philanthropist Anita Zucker in 2014. As chair, Annetta will be responsible for leading the effort to build and align programs at The Citadel with Tri-County Cradle to Career initiatives.

Most recently, he recently served as the Taft Distinguished Professor of Science Education and the regional innovation officer at East Carolina University.

He has been awarded more than $19 million for his research to date and has won multiple awards and honors for his work.

Earlier in his career, Annetta built off his doctoral research and programming experience to build a virtual, educational environment and create a new research genre in Serious Educational Games for which he published the seminal book in 2008; through multiple grants, he worked with K-12 teachers, counselors and administrators to integrate game-based technology and, most recently, extended reality-based Serious Educational games that aligned with content standards in North Carolina and Virginia.

Annetta has twice been awarded the National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship in Science Education and Technology from the Association of Science Teacher Education and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. He has also been invited to the National Science and Engineering Festival as one of the top 50 speakers in STEM multiple times. He has received the College of Education Outstanding Extension Service Award, been inducted into the NC State University Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension and recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Engaged in Extension and Outreach award. In 2022, Annetta was presented the Association of Science Teacher Education National Mentor of the Year award.

The mission of the Zucker Family School of Education at The Citadel is to support the development and preparation of individuals who are knowledgeable about the learning process and learners who are effective, ethical and reflective educators prepared to assume leadership roles in the profession and community. Further, with a focus toward learner-centered education, they are effective in educating a diverse learner population to high academic standards.