Giuseppe Emanuel Giannetto Pace (1951), better known as Giuseppe Giannetto, was Dean of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) between 2000 and 2004 and also President of the Venezuelan Association of Deans in the same period. He was presented with the Magna Grecia International Award during the fifth edition of the Magna Grecia International Week held in Caracas in 2001 and organized by the Magna Grecia International Association, chaired by President Nino Foti.

The second of five children, Giannetto Pace was born in Burgio, in the province of Agrigento, to Sicilian parents who emigrated from Italy and settled in a boarding house in Caracas in 1957. His father, a merchant, dreamed of having a son who was a doctor, while his mother, a seamstress, did not want him to study, due to the financial difficulties of that time.

However, Pace began his studies at the Santos Michelena private school in Caracas and in the second grade he was sent to the Urapal National School, where he finished his primary school studies. Although he was keen to study Philosophy while his father wanted him to pursue a career in Medicine, Giannetto Pace ended up studying Chemistry at UCV, under the influence of a fifth-year high school teacher. After graduating in 1976, he began working as a teacher at the Faculty of Engineering of the UCV and in 1985 obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Poitiers, France.

On his return to Venezuela, Pace joined the UCV to carry out an intense activity that allowed him to make a career in the university environment. He reached the rank of Professor in 1992 and received the Prize of the Association of Professors of the Central University of Venezuela, the Biennial Prize "Francisco J. Duarte" and the annual "Francisco de Venanzi" Prize, an organization of Latin American journalists. France awarded him the National Prize for Scientific Investigations.

He was appointed director of the School of Petroleum Engineering and later research coordinator of the Faculty of Engineering. Subsequently, Antonio Paris, then Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, convinced him to run for the position of Academic Vice-Dean of the Central University of Venezuela, a position he obtained and held between from 1996 until 2000, the year in which he was then appointed Dean for the following four years.

During this period, on March 28, 2001, the so-called "seizure of the university" by a group of students and university employees sparked a university revolution that ended in an uprising that lasted until May 3, 2001. The movement led to the 36-day seizure of the rectory building. During this incident, the elected Dean remained in office, defending the autonomy of the university.

Giuseppe Giannetto Pace is a resilient leader, a remarkable personality of great human qualities, still addressed as "Dean" for his outstanding commitment to the most important public university in Venezuela.