Photo above: New faculty listen to presentations at their orientation in the Swain Boating Center at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.

The Citadel would like to welcome new faculty joining the Military College of South Carolina beginning this fall. There are 21 new professors who will help teach cadets and students in the college’s five schools and primary academic areas including:

• Tommy and Victoria Baker School of Business
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Swain Family School of Science and Mathematics
• Zucker Family School of Education
• Department of Leadership Studies
• ROTC Programs

The new faculty members are as follows:

Hussein Abdoh, Ph.D.
Abdoh is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Baker School of Business. Prior to arriving at The Citadel, he taught finance courses at the undergraduate and graduate level for several years in the United Arab Emirates. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at El Paso and his undergraduate studies at the University of Jordan. 
Read more here.

Iolani Connolly, Ph.D.
Connolly is an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at The Citadel. Connolly holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from University of the Incarnate Word, M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Golden Gate University and B.S. in Business from Arizona State University. 
Read more here.

Adam C. DeVoria, Ph.D.
DeVoria joins The Citadel School of Engineering as an expert in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Before joining The Citadel, he was a post doctoral research associate at the University of Florida where he conducted work relating to low aspect ratio wing aerodynamics. Read about one of his projects here.

Marc Doucet, Ph.D.
Doucet holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Political Science from University of Ottawa. He holds a B.A. in Social Sciences from the Université de Moncton. Doucet is a Fulbright Scolar.

Todd Drew, Ed.D.
Drew is the director of Graduate and College Transfer Programs and an assistant professor for the Baker School of Business. Before joining The Citadel, Drew worked for over 20 years in higher education, including leadership experiences at the chair, school dean, college dean and vice president levels.
Read more here.

John D. Egan, Ed.D.
Egan is an assistant professor of Leadership Studies at The Citadel. He completed an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Georgia Southern University where he taught leadership courses and coordinated a nationally-benchmarked undergraduate leadership program. Egan’s research explores attributes associated with quality leadership programs, innovative teaching strategies and experiential learning theory.

Matthew Gilbert, Ph.D.
Gilbert is an Intelligence and Security Studies professor at The Citadel. Gilbert is a career public servant and served with the New York State Police in a variety of roles for 22 years. He has taught criminal justice and homeland security at Charleston Southern University and at Trident Tech.

Gail Gilmore, Ph.D.
Gilmore is an assistant professor with The Zucker Family School of Education at The Citadel. She brings 25 years of school leadership experience into the classroom, having served as a Connecticut superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of schools, principal and interim division director for educator effectiveness and professional learning at the Connecticut State Department of Education.
Read more here.

Vincente Gomis-Izquierdo (Ph.D. candidate)
Gomis-Izquierdo joins the School of Humanities and Social Studies at The Citadel as an assistant professor of Modern Languages. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate with Bowling Green State Unviersity.

Chao Gu (Ph.D. candidate)
Gu is a Ph.D. candidate with Bowling Green State University who joins the Mathematical Sciences team as an assistant professor.

Joshua Hostetter, Ph.D.
Hostetter joins The Citadel as an assistant professor of Political Science from Arizona College where he was also an assistant professor. Prior to that he was an assistant professor with University of South Florida.

James W. Leonard, Ph.D.
Leonard received his Ph.D. from Tufts University in the Fall of 2017 with a specialty in 19th/20th American Literature, and is currently teaching literature and writing courses at The Citadel. His dissertation and current book project examines relationships between taxonomic discourse and American national identity and focuses on the works of Mark Twain, Djuna Barnes, Leslie Marmon Silko and Cormac McCarthy.
Read more here.

Jhoanna M. Méndez (Ph.D. candidate)
Méndez is as assistant professor of Modern Languages. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Florida State University. Additionally, Méndez is a Ph.D. candidate with Florida State University.

Pooya Niksiar, Ph.D.
Niksiar is a professor of Mechanical Engineering in The Citadel School of Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University. Prior to joining The Citadel, Niksiar was a lecturer at Clemson where he served as Clemson Rocket Engineering Club’s advisor. His research includes the design and development of advanced functional porous materials for bio-applications.
Read more here.

Jeffrey Rogg, Ph.D.
Rogg joins The Citadel as an assistant professor of Intelligence and Security Studies. He holds a B.A. from Swathmore College, a JD from Villanova University School of Law, an M.A. from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

Michele Ruth, Ph.D.
Ruth joins The Citadel as an associate professor and head of Technical Services for the Daniel Library. She holds a B.S. from Georgetown College and an MLIS from the University of Kentucky.

Jody Smith, Ph.D.
Smith is an assistant professor for the Swain Department of Nursing. Smith holds a B.S.N. from Mansfield University, an MSN/FNP from Texas A&M University and a DNP from Grand Canyon University.

Kimberly Subasic, Ph.D.
Subasic is the nurse administrator for the Swain Department of Nursing at The Citadel. She joined the college from the University of Scranton where she was the chair of the Department of Nursing.
Read more here.

Vonzell Yeager, MLIS
Yeager is part of the Daniel Library team, serving as the evening services librarian. Prior to joining The Citadel he worked for the Charleston County Public Library and as the student success librarian for University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Yeager holds a B.A. from North Carolina A&T University and an MLIS from University of Pittsburgh.

Col. Michael McLendon, USA
McLendon is an ROTC professor of Military Science in The Citadel’s Palmetto Battery ROTC Detachment for the U.S. Army. He holds a B.S. from Florida A&M and an M.A. from Webster University and the National Defense University.