L. Eudora Pettigrew

L. Eudora Pettigrew (1928 – December 6, 2021) was an American professor and academic administrator who served as the president of the State University of New York at Old Westbury. She was the first African-American college president in the SUNY system when she was named president of SUNY Old Westbury in 1986.

Early life and education Pettigrew was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1928. Her mother was a school teacher and her father a licensed County Farm agent. Pettigrew earned a bachelor's degree in music from West Virginia State College in 1950. She earned her master's degree in rehabilitation counseling from Southern Illinois University in 1963, where she also earned her doctorate in educational psychology in 1966. Her doctoral dissertation was "Similarities and Differences in Linguistic Code Behavior." served as assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Pettigrew served on the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP)/United Nations Commission on Disarmament Education Conflict Resolution, and Peace, which promotes global awareness and competence as well as peace and international understanding through education, as co-chair (1990–1996) and chair (1996–2002). and at the European University Center for Peace Studies's chair program in Austria on human rights, democracy, peace, and tolerance.

Pettigrew was awarded Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa degrees from University of Pretoria, Holy Family College, and Western Connecticut State University.