Dr. Zach Kelehear, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of South Carolina, has been named Dean of the College of Education at Georgia Regents University, effective July 1.

An educator with more than 25 years of classroom and administrative experience, Kelehear has also held teaching and leadership positions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Furman University, North Carolina State University, and within Georgia’s public school systems.

“I am excited to welcome Zach’s leadership of ‘imagination and courage’ to augment the already exemplary work of Dean Chance, who is retiring at the end of this academic year, and the College of Education’s faculty and staff,” said GRU Provost Gretchen Caughman. “Please join me in welcoming him to Georgia Regents University.”

Kelehear is the author of a number of leadership books including “The Art of Leadership: A Choreography of Human Understanding, Instructional leadership as Art: Connecting ISLLC and Aesthetic Inspiration” and “Leading without Being Stung: The Instructional Leader Meets the Apiarist,” which is based on very personal experiences.

“Effective leading invites teaching that involves experiment, reflection, and refinement,” Kelehear has said. “If we can imagine, if we can have the courage, we can have the type of schools that are worthy of our children in the 21st century.”

He is the recipient of the Inspirational Teaching Award from USC and the Teacher of the Year Award from Dunwoody High School, where he held his first teaching position. He received the Meritorious Teaching Award from Furman University in 1994 and the Summa Teaching Award in 1994 and 1991.

Kelehear received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Furman University and his doctoral degree from North Carolina State University.