Durham, NC
Bachelor of Arts, Elementary Education; Master of School Administration
Assistant Principal,
Durham Public Schools
Pearsontown Elementary School
Andrea Underwood Petifer currently serves as an adjunct professor in the H. M. Michaux, Jr. School of Education. She is the 2018 Durham Public Schools’ Assistant Principal of the Year and is entering her sixth year of leadership at Pearsontown Year-Round Elementary School. Andrea was a Ronald Edmonds Scholar at NCCU, receiving a full academic scholarship. She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education in 2005, followed by certification in Academically & Intellectually Gifted in 2007. Andrea continued her studies at Meredith College, earning an M.Ed in Gifted Education in 2010. Following five years of mentoring student teachers, Andrea was recognized as the Southwest Elementary Teacher of the Year. After serving as an AIG facilitator, she attained an MSA from NCCU while concurrently serving as president of the Durham Association of Educators in 2013.
In May of 2018, she was featured in Durham Magazine’s The Women’s Issue, and in 2019, she was awarded the Office of the Secretary Defense Employer Support of the Guard Reserve Patriotic Employer Award. Andrea Underwood Petifer is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the Anointed Women’s Ministerial Training Team (AWMTT). She resides in Durham with her husband and three daughters. Her first children’s book is slated for release spring of 2021.