Andrea Rorrer is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Director of the Utah Education Policy Center at the University of Utah, and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education. Andrea received her master’s degree at the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin. She has over 32 years of professional experience in education, including roles as a policy analyst and a research associate in Texas, and a school administrator and a classroom teacher in Virginia.

Andrea’s expertise is school, district, and state leadership, policy, and educational change, particularly those changes aimed at increasing equity in student access and outcomes. Her work emphasizes systems approaches to build capacity and conditions for equity and excellence. She conducts research with and provides technical assistance and support to local schools and school districts, the state board of education, the legislature, and community-based organizations. In addition to policy and research reports, her scholarship on leadership preparation and practice, system change, school improvement, and educational policy has been published in the Journal of Educational Administration, Educational Administration Quarterly (EAQ), Theory into Practice, Educational Policy, the Journal of Educational Policy, Journal of Special Education Leadership, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, Peabody Journal of Education, Journal of Research on Educational Leadership and Economics of Education Review, and the UCEA Review, among other publications (e.g., 2006 Politics of Education Yearbook) and book chapters.

In the past, she served as an associate editor for EAQ, and has served on the editorial boards for the American Educational Research Journal-Social Institutional Analysis, and the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership and a co-features editor for the UCEA Review. She is currently an associate editor for EAQ and on the editorial board for American Educational Research Journal.

Andrea was previously interim-chair for the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. She was also a member of the Executive Committee member (2006-2013) and UCEA President of the University Council for Educational Administration (2012). She is currently co-PI and CoDirector with Michelle Young (Loyola Marymount University) for the national project INSPIRE Leadership Collaborative. The INSPIRE Collaborative provides valid and reliable evaluation and research tools, training materials, and strategies for leadership preparation program and practice improvement, including the INSPIRE-Leadership Surveys. Research on the INSPIRE Leadership Survey, Leadership matters: preparation program quality and learning outcomes, coauthored by Dr. Yongmei Ni, Dr. Andrea Rorrer, Dr. Diana Pounder and co-authors and published in Journal of Educational Administration, was been selected by the editorial team as the Outstanding Paper in the 2020 Emerald Literati Awards, which celebrates high-quality scholarly research.

Andrea in collaboration with colleagues Cori Groth and Janice Bradley has developed numerous professional learning programs in leadership. These co-developed leadership professional learning and school improvement designs are research-based, practice informed, and focused on enhancing transfer of learning for transformational purposes. Examples of this work includes the Leadership and Inquiry for Turnaround (LIFT) and district-wide Leadership Academy for leaders and leadership teams that are focused on excellence, equity, and improvement.

Her dissertation Leadership and Equity: From Reproduction to Reconstruction: An Institutional Analysis was awarded the American Education Research Association, Division A "Education Administration" 2001 Dissertation Award. She is the 2006 recipient of the Jack A. Culbertson Award, which is given annually by the University Council for Educational Administration for outstanding contributions to the field as a junior professor. In addition, she is the 2008 College of Education at the University of Utah Research Award, the 2019 College of Education Service Award and recognized as part of the 2019 Celebrate U Award. Andrea is the 2020 University Council for Educational Administration Master Professor Award recipient, which recognizes a faculty member whose record demonstrates excellence in: teaching, mentoring and advising, academic leadership, supporting diverse student and colleagues, and professional service.