Education

MFA, Creative Writing, Ohio State University
BS, Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University

In her role as Associate Vice Provost for Academic Support, Jolie provides leadership for the JMU Learning Centers, Academic Student Services, and Transfer Initiatives. 

Since arriving at James Madison University in Fall 2020, Jolie has worked with partners across campus and beyond to develop and support a broad range of student success and advising initiatives. As director of Transfer Initiatives, she oversees the JMU Next Transfer Advising program, the BR2JMU co-admission program, and other programs and resources impacting the transfer student experience before, during, and after the transition to JMU. She is a former co-chair of the State Committee on Transfer and serves as JMU’s primary liaison to the commonwealth’s Transfer Virginia initiatives. 

Jolie came to JMU from Emory & Henry College, where she served as Associate Provost and Dean of Student Success, leading advising, retention, academic support, and orientation programs. Before making the transition to higher education, she worked as a newspaper reporter in Alaska and as an educator at High Rocks, a nonprofit youth empowerment program in rural West Virginia. She is also a writer; her stories and essays have been published in Tin House, Shenandoah, The Hopkins Review, and Southern Cultures. 

Originally from Ohio, Jolie earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University. She has given presentations related to advising, mentoring, transfer advocacy, transfer student success, and retention at national and regional conferences hosted by NACADA, the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS), the Association of General and Liberal Studies (AGLS), and the National Symposium on Student Retention.