Teresa Petty appointed Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of University College

Teresa Petty has been appointed associate provost for undergraduate education and dean of University College, effective July 1. She currently serves as senior associate dean in the Cato College of Education and professor in the college’s Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education.

“Teresa’s expertise in middle and secondary education gives her unique insight into the challenges experienced by our new traditional-aged students,” said Jennifer Troyer, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “This expertise, coupled with her leadership experience and prior work in building relationships with colleagues across colleges, will advance the success of University College and, ultimately, our undergraduate students.”

Petty joined the University in 2005 as a clinical assistant professor before moving to a tenure track position in 2007 and, eventually, professor in 2016. In 2016, she began as associate dean for the college, where she was responsible for teacher preparation and all undergraduate programs in the Cato College of Education. She served as interim dean of the Cato College of Education from January 2020 until January 2022. During that time, she led the college through its Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation accreditation, the opening of Niner University Elementary, development of its new strategic plan, restructuring of its research office, a budget reversion and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Petty’s research interests include online teaching and learning and teacher preparation. She currently serves as principal investigator on a $1.8 million U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant that seeks to diversify the teacher pipeline in high-need schools. Prior to her time at Charlotte, she was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Guilford College and taught high school mathematics in Randolph County.

Petty earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in educational computing technologies and supervision from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I am passionate about education and learning and am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the dean of University College,” said Petty. “I look forward to working collaboratively with my colleagues within the college to continue providing excellent resources and initiatives to help our students succeed and thrive at UNC Charlotte.”