Fleener is currently dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University, where she has been since 2004. With new grants and college endowments doubling in her six short years in Louisiana, she brings a track record of excellence. Fleener will be returning to North Carolina, where she worked as a teacher in mathematics and computer science at various Durham county schools. She also received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In an email to Technician, Dean Warwick Arden, Interim Provost Vice Chancellor at N.C. State, explained that he is excited about having Dr. Fleener join the Wolfpack and expects her to be a great asset to the University. ”I believe she has the vision and the capability to bring our already successful and highly regarded College of Education to a new level of excellence,” Arden wrote. Arden also thanked Interim Dean Dr. Jose Picart for his “outstanding performance” over the past year. Picart began filling in for the university last year when the previous dean, Dr. Kathryn Moore, stepped down to returning to teaching and research in the Department of Adult and Higher Education after nine years at N.C. State. According to N.C. State News Services, with 2,000 currently enrolled in the College of Education, N.C. State produces the most math, science and technology educators in the state. Louisiana State University’s website boasts that it also has the largest education college in the state of Louisiana, so high expectations are not something with which Dean Fleener will be unfamiliar.
Dean Fleener was unavailable for comment.