Inaugurated in November 2003, Dr. Andrew Roth is the 13th president of Notre Dame College. Under his leadership, the College began a “Voyage of Discovery,” defining the future of Notre Dame for the next generation of college leaders. Ultimately, Dr. Roth foresees Notre Dame as one of the finest, small Catholic baccalaureate colleges in the Great Lakes region.

A recognized expert in the fields of admissions, financial aid, student development and records management, Dr. Roth has decisively moved the College toward achieving this vision. He restructured the admissions operation and financial aid process resulting in consecutive years of record enrollment in 2004 and 2005. Fundraising also reached an all-time high in 2004 as the College received gifts, grants and bequests exceeding $2.5 million. Notre Dame also experienced an operating surplus of nearly $800,000 in the fiscal year 2005. This enabled the College to practice good stewardship and not transfer any money from its endowment to offset operations.

Dr. Roth has also taken steps to improve the campus facilities and enhance the educational experience of Notre Dame’s students. In 2004, a series of campus-wide renovations began with construction in the Clara Fritzsche Library. The completely remodeled second floor now houses a Smart Classroom and a suite of offices for the Academic Support Program for students with learning differences while the first floor is now the site of a Starbucks-style coffee lounge. A new science lecture room was also built in the College’s Administration Building to handle increased demand on Notre Dame’s science facilities. The growth of Notre Dame’s student population necessitated construction of living spaces for 52 new beds on the garden level of Providence Hall while a new 75 space parking lot was built to ease a congested parking situation. Finally, Dr. Roth oversaw construction of the long awaited Legacy Walkway located on the main quad of the campus. The pathways are constructed of inscribed bricks commemorating alumni and friends of the College along with Sisters of Notre Dame who taught and served at Notre Dame since it opened in 1922.

Under his leadership, Notre Dame has made strides to expand academic opportunities for students. New programs were initiated, including the Intelligence Analysis and Research Program (IARP), Criminal Justice, and a Nursing Partnership with Huron School of Nursing, a part of the Cleveland Clinic Health System. The College has recently received approval from the Ohio Board of Nursing, the Ohio Board of Regents and The Higher Learning Commission to begin a baccalaureate program in Nursing under the direction of Dr. Diane Jedlicka. The program is now accepting applications.

Tenured in three different disciplines at his previous institution, Dr. Roth himself teaches an undergraduate course each year, viewing himself as “a faculty member and teacher first.”

A native of Canton, Ohio, Dr. Roth is committed to expanding the role of Notre Dame as a member of the Northeast Ohio community. Under his proactive leadership, over 25 new jobs were created at the College since 2003, including nine full-time faculty positions. In 2004, Notre Dame hosted athletes for the International Children’s Games. In 2005, the College continued to set a standard for student diversity, ranking third among Midwestern Comprehensive Colleges for ethnic diversity and first in Ohio by U.S.News & World Report. Further, the College continues to pursue its mission of promoting social justice by providing educational and archival resources through the Tolerance Resource Center located in the Clara Fritzsche Library.

Dr. Roth previously served as an administrator and tenured faculty member at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. His long and accomplished career encompassed finance, marketing, strategic planning, educational leadership and public policy. As an administrator, he served as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Previously, he was Vice President of Enrollment, where he set admissions and enrollment records, increased the academic quality of matriculating students and diversified the student body. He also designed a complete budgeting system for the college’s $21 million financial aid office, built budget forecasting models, budget execution and cash management strategies, and implemented a database driven financial aid leveraging and discounting system that fueled Mercyhurst’s growth. Dr. Roth also served as Chief Information Officer where he coordinated the administrative and instructional technology systems and guided the inclusion of state-of-the-art instructional technology in a new $7.5 million academic building.

Dr. Roth has widely published on the topic of higher education recruitment and retention. He has delivered numerous papers and presentations on a variety of topics including strategic planning, the economics and history of the oil industry, administrative ethics, the impact of mass media on contemporary culture, and higher education finance and public policy. In 2001, he published College Savings and the Tax Code: A New Spin On The “Who Pays for Higher Education” Debate (NY: Garland Publishing, 2001), which the Review of Higher Education called “a major contribution to the literature of higher education finance.”

A self-described “lifelong learner,” Dr. Roth has a doctorate in Public Policy & Higher Education Finance from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a master’s degree in Marketing & Strategic Planning from Gannon University, a master’s in English Language & Literature from Case Western Reserve University, and a bachelor’s degree in English from John Carroll University.

Dr. Roth is married to Judy Roth, a retired banking executive, and has three grown children and two grandchildren: Samantha, her husband Gerry and grandson Nathaniel Balbier; Paul, his wife, Kate, and grandsons Alden and Conor; and David.