Jo-Ann Rolle, Ph.D. has been named to the newly-created position of senior vice president for academic and student affairs at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM). 

Prior to joining LIM, Dr. Rolle was the vice president of academic affairs at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Howard University and has more than three decades of experience in academia, private industry, federal government and international organizations. Her areas of expertise include higher education administration, information systems management, business management, economics, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Rolle was dean of the School of Business and Technology at Excelsior College in Albany, New York from 2003 to 2005 and previously served as the associate dean of administration at the University of Maryland University College, School of Undergraduate Studies, where she was also Collegiate Professor of Management.

She has also chaired the department of Entrepreneurship, Economics and Information Technology and directed the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hampton University. From 1993 to 1994 Dr. Rolle was an administrative fellow at Harvard University, where she completed postdoctoral coursework and research on diversity, and served as a resident scholar in management consulting.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Rolle has held positions with IBM, The World Bank, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is active in numerous professional organizations, including serving on the Board of the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Education Week, and is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Nuclear Society, and the New York State American Council Education Women's Network. Dr. Rolle is a past president of the Virtual Historically Black Colleges & Universities and has developed and taught several courses in entrepreneurship and economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Rolle to LIM," says LIM President Elizabeth S. Marcuse. "The depth and breadth of experience that she brings to her new role will be invaluable to LIM as we take our academic offerings to a new level and expand and strengthen the services we provide to our students."