The Citadel Military College of South Carolina has selected Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie Jr., USMC (Ret.), to become the new president of the prestigious military university located in Charleston, South Carolina. McKenzie is a 1979 graduate of The Citadel.
McKenzie has been serving as Executive Director of the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida since its inception in 2022, as well as taking on the role of Executive Director of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, or Cyber Florida, that same year. McKenzie has brought a tremendous breadth of academic, military, and leadership experience to GNSI, facilitating deeper research and action on global and national cyber and security threats, and inspiring and educating the future generations of security and cyber professionals.
McKenzie is departing GNSI at a time when the academic and student success initiatives he created are revving up. GNSI will be sending four USF students to the United Kingdom this summer to study at the prestigious International Security and Intelligence Programme. Also this summer, six USF students will take part in the first-ever GNSI DC Experience, a week-long immersion into the heart of the U.S. national security enterprise. GNSI has helped USF students turn The Future Strategist Program from a small volunteer group into a full-fledged university student organization, with over 80 members who host their own academic conference each year. The USF Undergraduate Strategy Competition, modeled after the competition at the U.S. Army War College, has attracted student teams from across the country and as far away as Poland. The Journal of Strategic Security, published quarterly by GNSI and USF Libraries, is the top-downloaded academic journal in the USF Library portfolio and is ranked in the top 10% of all military studies journals worldwide by Google Scholar.
Now, four years later, he is returning to his alma mater to begin the next chapter of his career.
Commissioned through the college's Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program, he began his service as a career infantry officer and rose through a wide range of command and staff positions, serving as Commander of Marine Forces Central Command, Director of the Joint Staff, and ultimately as Commander of United States Central Command. With more than four decades of military service beginning at The Citadel, his career has now come full circle – a homecoming eagerly anticipated in Charleston.
At The Citadel, McKenzie will be succeeding a fellow member of the Class of '79, Gen. Glenn M. Walters, who has served as the university's president since 2018. During Walters' tenure, he oversaw substantial academic, financial and infrastructure advancements.
We are incredibly grateful for the leadership, experience, and engagement that General McKenzie has brought to GNSI and USF, and will continue to build on the initiatives he has forged through his time at this institution.
McKenzie is scheduled to begin his position as the 21st president of The Citadel on July 1, 2026.