Rattigan-Rohr named Executive Director of Community Partnerships

Associate Professor of Education Jean Rattigan-Rohr has been named executive director of community partnerships at Elon University. In her new position, Rattigan-Rohr will be a permanent member of President Leo M. Lambert’s senior staff. She has been serving on the senior staff in a three-year appointment as faculty administrative fellow and assistant to the president.

Rattigan-Rohr will continue to direct Elon’s Center for Access and Success and take on additional duties in representing the university in community partnerships in the Triad, with an emphasis on Alamance County. She will provide leadership for socioeconomic diversity and educational access at Elon and will direct the Community Impact Fellows program, an initiative that supports the work of four recent Elon graduates on projects in Title I elementary schools and with health promotion programs in Alamance County.

“Dr. Rattigan-Rohr has provided outstanding vision and leadership for Elon, developing strong bonds between the university and local schools, agencies and organizations,” said Provost Steven House in making the appointment. “She is an exceptionally talented and respected educator who is dedicated to improving the lives of people in our community. This new position demonstrates our strong support of her work and our desire to expand Elon’s partnerships in Alamance County.”   

In her new role, Rattigan-Rohr will serve as a member of Elon’s Provost’s Advisory Council and Academic Affairs Advisory Council and also serve on the Provost Inclusive Community Team.

Rattigan-Rohr joined Elon’s School of Education faculty in 2007 and has been an active scholar on topics related to education. She founded the It Takes a Village Project, a literacy project that assists struggling young readers through the involvement of their parents and Elon students. That project is part of the Center for Access and Success, directed by Rattigan-Rohr, which also includes the Elon Academy, the university’s renowned college access program for high school students in Alamance County; the Odyssey Scholars Program for academically talented Elon students with financial need and a drive to be leaders in their communities; and Collegiate Start@Elon, a dual enrollment program that allows high-achieving local students to take courses at the university.

Rattigan-Rohr grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and developed her passion for teaching as a youngster. She began her career as a broadcast journalist for Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation before moving to New York City; there she was the manager of the desktop publishing team for Blair Television. When her family moved to North Carolina, she completed a bachelor’s degree in speech language pathology and audiology, a master’s degree in special education and a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has received several grants, including two awards totaling more than $900,000 to fund her research and teaching and expand the It Takes a Village Project.