Rochelle Smarr began her engagement with IARSLCE as a proposal reader in 2015. This opportunity led to her joining the membership committee and eventually becoming a board member in 2019. As a mid-career professional, Rochelle brings a diverse range of experiences with sixteen years as a SLCE practitioner-scholar. Her roles have spanned community organizer, program manager, director, and dissertation completion. She has facilitated community engagement programs at public, private, and public/private land-grant universities, both on- and off-campus.

Dr. Smarr, a first-generation college student from a military family, is currently the Director of Experiential Learning at UC San Diego. In this role, she oversees academic internships and the co-curricular record, which complements students' academic transcripts by highlighting campus engagement activities. She leads campus-wide discussions on defining, categorizing, and recognizing experiential learning courses and programs that increase student college to career-readiness through high-impact practices.

Rochelle earned her B.A. in English from San José State University and her M.A. in Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy from New York University, both with honors. She received her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the joint doctoral program at UC San Diego and California State University San Marcos. She is the recipient of the 2022 LEAD California Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement.Her dissertation, "Stories from the Field: Black Service-Learning Student Experiences," was awarded the 2024 IARSLCE Dissertation Award.

As Chair of IARSLCE during its 25th anniversary year in 2025, Rochelle is eager to lead the association in a year of reflection on its history, embrace the present context of SLCE, and draft a collective visionary roadmap for the future of IARSLCE that leverages the contributions of all members.