Rochelle Smarr, Ed.D.

Dr. Rochelle Smarr is a practitioner-scholar and higher education leader specializing in experiential learning, student success, and career readiness. As the inaugural Director of Experiential Learning at UC San Diego, she oversees a portfolio spanning academic internships, the Co-Curricular Record, UCDC (UC Washington), and campus-wide experiential learning tools and initiatives that connect students with internships, research, community engagement, peer leadership, and student employment.

Working collaboratively with faculty, staff, and campus leaders, Dr. Smarr advances an integrated approach to experiential learning that strengthens student pathways, career-readiness competencies, and equitable access. Her leadership has included co-leading UC San Diego’s collective impact work on experiential learning, developing a shared institutional definition, strengthening campus partnerships, expanding participation in experiential learning programs, and securing scholarship support for students.

Her leadership extends beyond UC San Diego through the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), where she has served as Board Chair and now serves as Immediate Past Chair, and LEAD California, where she supports regional community engagement efforts. She’s participating in Campus Compact's Mid-Career Learning Cohort and participating in the development of a statewide career-readiness initiative. Her growing global engagement includes collaborations with international scholars and international partners exploring experiential and community-engaged learning across cultural contexts.

Dr. Smarr earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership jointly from UC San Diego and California State University San Marcos. A Master of Arts in Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from San José State University. Her professional journey is rooted in her own experience as a first-generation college student from a military family. An undergraduate service-learning course sparked a career dedicated to experiential learning and the transformative roles of community engagement, reflection, and service.

Her work has been recognized with the 2022 LEAD California Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement and IARSLCE's 2024 Distinguished Dissertation Award.