First-Year Experience Staff

Rachel Roe-Dale

Director

As director of the First-Year Experience, Professor Rachel Roe-Dale ensures that students at Skidmore College have an academically fulfilling first year. Professor Roe-Dale joined the Mathematics and Statistics department at Skidmore in 2005 and became FYE Director in 2022. She completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation entitled Quantitative Models in Cancer Chemotherapy. She also holds a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from RPI and a Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Maryville College, Maryville, TN. Her research interests include mathematical biology and medicine, modeling physical systems, and exploring the connections between mathematics and art.

Marla Melito

Associate Director

Marla has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from George Mason University.  Prior to working at Skidmore, she was a visiting assistant professor of English and associate director of Fall for the Book at George Mason University, served as a writer-in–residence for the DC Creative Writing Workshop and DC WritersCorps, and held a variety of jobs in international public health. Her poems and essays have appeared in Fifth Gear, Phoebe, Hartskill Review, Gargoyle, the Greensboro Review, and the Roanoke Review. She is the author of a chapbook (The Doppler Effect, Finishing Line Press).   She is a certified Co-Active Professional Coach (CPCC), Associate Certified Coach (ACC), and member of the International Coaching Federation. 

Christy Brown

First Year Experience Administrative Assistant