Tonette S. Rocco

Tonette S. Rocco (born 1954) is an American academic in the field of educational policy studies.

As of February 2024, she is a professor of educational policy studies at Florida International University. She was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame for her "contributions as a social justice educator".

Education
Rocco attended the Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration, a Master of Science in labor and human resources, a Master of Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy in adult education and human resource development. During her studies, she co-founded the student organization Students for Disability Awareness.

Career
While obtaining her degrees from the Ohio State University, Rocco worked for the university's Center of Special Needs Populations.

Rocco joined Florida International University in 2005. For five years, Rocco was the director of the College of Education's Office of Academic Writing and Publication Support. She also became responsible for the academic journal NewHorizons in Adult Education published through Nova Southeastern University. The journal was later renamed to NewHorizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development. As of 2016, Rocco served as the journal's editor-in-chief.

As of February 2024, Rocco is a professor of Adult Education and Human Resource Development in the Department of Educational Policy Studies.

Accomplishments
In 2009, Challenging the Parameters of Adult Education received the University Continuing Education Association Frandson Book Award.

Handbook of HRD and Routledge Companion to HRD, both published in 2014, received the Forward Award from the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD).

In 2015, Rocco received two awards from the AHRD. "Connection, Value, and Growth", an article Rocco co-wrote with Maria S. Plakhotnik, Joshua C. Collins, Hilary Landorf, won the Monica M. Lee Research Excellence Award. Rocco personally won the Laura Bierema Excellence in Critical HRD Award.

In 2016, Rocco was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.

The following year, Disrupting Adult and Community Education received an honorable mention for the Phillip E. Frandson Award for Literature in the Field of Professional, Continuing, and/or Online Education.