Andrea Whitsett

Director

602-496-0217

andrea.whitsett@asu.edu

Andrea Whitsett is Executive Director at Morrison Institute for Public Policy, an applied research institute at Arizona State University. Previously, Whitsett has held a variety of positions within the Institute including associate director, senior research analyst, and special projects manager. During her tenure, Whitsett has overseen the publication of numerous research studies as well as the Arizona Directions statewide report card. She has led the Institute’s signature State of Our State Conference and helped launch the pilot Arizona Citizens’ Initiative Review. In 2019, Whitsett was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the Phoenix Business Journal.



Whitsett’s passion for service traces back to her grandmother, Julieta Saucedo Bencomo, a community activist who in 1979 became the first Latina to serve on the Arizona State Board of Education. Whitsett is a member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s DATOS Research Committee and has edited multiple background reports for Arizona Town Hall. She is Vice Chair of the Arizona Foundation for Women and co-chairs its Research and Policy Committee. Whitsett previously served on the board of directors for the Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence and as board secretary for Florence Crittenton.



Whitsett holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale University where she was awarded an Amy Rossborough Fellowship through the Yale Women’s Center. Whitsett graduated from Arizona State University with a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Studies and has taught as a faculty associate in ASU’s School of Community Resources and Development.