Key Takeaways
- Dr. Jamie Petrilla is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) College of Integrative Learning.
- She teaches the capstone project, Global Foundation Gen 499.
- Her story is one of resilience and leadership.
- The lessons she learned from her grandparents,’ who immigrated to the United States from Italy, serve as a reminder of how lucky she is to teach.
- Dr. Petrilla’s grandparents immigrated from Italy to the United States seeking a better future and greater opportunity for future generations.
- Dr. Petrilla became the first person in her family to earn a college degree, continuing the progress each generation worked to achieve.
- Her work in the nonprofit sector reinforced the importance of mission-driven service and helping others create meaningful change in their communities.
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The Intersection of Luck and Leadership with Dr. Jamie Petrilla
Dr. Jamie Petrilla shares the story of her grandmother’s journey to the United States as if it were her own to tell.
“She had typhoid,” recalls Dr. Petrilla, who is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC). “Her hair fell out. But the lice couldn’t live on her like they could with the other passengers.”
This was her grandmother’s definition of luck.
It began aboard a crowded ship bound for the United States, where hundreds of immigrants endured a three-week journey across unforgiving water in search of a future they could only imagine. Her grandmother left behind everything familiar for a country she did not yet understand.
That voyage marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Petrilla family—one shaped by endurance, sacrifice, and an unwavering belief that life could become something more.
“My definition of lucky and hers will never meet,” Dr. Petrilla says. “But it changes how you see everything.”
After arriving in the United States, they settled in Pennsylvania, where survival took a different form. Neither spoke English nor received an education beyond grade six. Yet, they were determined to make a life for themselves in America. Dr. Petrilla’s grandfather worked in unregulated coal mines, crouched in darkness and standing in ice-cold water as he chipped away at coal with a pickaxe. Her grandmother worked in sweatshops where the pace was relentless and the heat unbearable.
“When I think about how hard they pushed themselves without any guarantee of what the future could hold for their children, their grandchildren, and me. I’ll always admire their willpower,” she says. “Because of them, I’ve always considered myself lucky.”
In addition to her role at UAGC, Dr. Petrilla is a mother of three, a pillar in her community, and an educator whose work has been recognized at the university and statewide. In 2023, she received the UAGC Culture of Care Award for her student-centered approach to teaching and mentorship. Such accolades illustrate how Dr. Petrilla leads a life with purpose.
The decision her grandparents made generations ago made that life possible. But the greatest thing they passed forward was not endurance alone. It was a belief repeated across generations: Education is the key.
Moving the Line Forward
That belief first took root with Dr. Petrilla’s parents.
Her father spent years away from home serving as a Marine before later becoming a cross-country truck driver. Her mother worked in a sweatshop much like the women before her, but became the first in the family to graduate from high school.
It was progress, even if incremental. Each generation moved the line forward.
“I always knew what they had done,” Dr. Petrilla says. “That awareness stays with you.”
From an early age, she understood the sacrifices her family made to create opportunities that future generations never had. That awareness not only shaped how she saw herself but also the kind of educator she would eventually become. Years later, in 2013, she was appointed by the Department of Education as a statewide math educator coach specializing in alternative instructional approaches for at-risk populations, work rooted in her longstanding commitment to students who are too often overlooked.
The foundation for that commitment was laid much earlier, beginning in the fourth grade.
“People don’t have to stay in the box they’re put in. But sometimes it takes one person to make the connection.”
Her early school experiences were shaped by the bias often directed toward children of Italian immigrants, subtle and not-so-subtle reminders of where others believed she belonged.
“I can distinctly remember being called out on the first day of school because my teacher was convinced I didn’t know my own name,” she says. “She thought it was a boy’s name. Imagine being in first grade and being accused of something like that. It was humiliating. But for children of Italian immigrants, it wasn’t uncommon.”
Then she met a teacher who changed everything. Young, Italian, and self-assured in a way Dr. Petrilla had never witnessed before, the teacher represented a future she hadn’t seen modeled. Until then, the only Italian women Dr. Petrilla knew worked in sweatshops.
“She was a beacon of light,” Dr. Petrilla says.
That was the first time Dr. Petrilla saw another possibility for herself.
During a trip with a small group of high-performing students whose grandparents were immigrants, the teacher parked at the far edge of a mall lot next to a nearby university.
“She gathered us around the car and pointed,” Dr. Petrilla recalls. “‘Girls, right there. That’s your way forward.’”
The message was direct.
“You don’t have to stay where you are,” the teacher told them. “You can get yourselves there.”
They drove the perimeter of the campus, slowly, deliberately.
“I had passed it so many times,” Dr. Petrilla says. “My mother had, too. She didn’t even know what a college experience looked like. But she would still point and say, ‘That’s your ticket out of here.’”
“Success, to me, is being able to look back and know I spent my time doing things that mattered for people instead of chasing things that ultimately don’t."
That day, the abstract became real.
“I knew then,” Dr. Petrilla says. “I was going to teach when I grew up.”
Years later, her grandmother lived to see her graduate from college. A milestone that, just one generation earlier, hadn’t been possible.
Discovering Where Purpose Lives
After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Curriculum, and Instruction from Indiana University, Dr. Petrilla set out to teach. But her path first led her somewhere unexpected.
Encouraged by her brother’s girlfriend, she accepted a summer clerical role with a nonprofit serving disadvantaged youth in Pennsylvania. What began as temporary work quickly shifted into something more.
“I had never seen people so energized by what they were doing,” Dr. Petrilla says.
The contrast was immediate. This wasn’t work defined by exhaustion; it was fueled by purpose.
“You don’t come home from a sweatshop or a coal mine excited about the next day,” she says. “But here, people were talking about what they were building. I’ll never forget the spark I saw in their eyes.”
Programs ran nearly around the clock. Parenting classes in the evenings, job readiness workshops, education support, and life-skills training. And the results literally spoke for themselves.
“I would run into people years later in a grocery store or at the mall, and they would say, ‘This program changed my life,’” Dr. Petrilla says. “I still run into people. They’ll come up with their kids or grandkids and say, ‘You helped me go to college.’”
When the summer ended, she stayed. Within two years, she was managing the department, helping individuals transition out of the same industries her grandparents had endured. Her work eventually expanded statewide, helping connect underserved communities with educational and workforce opportunities. In 2019, she was selected as part of a 31-member STEM educator task force charged by the governor with helping shape STEM education and policy across the state.
At the center of that work was a belief she carried with her:
“People don’t have to stay in the box they’re put in,” Dr. Petrilla says. “But sometimes it takes one person to make the connection.”
From Connection to Classroom
After years in nonprofit leadership, including overseeing programs that expanded statewide, the pandemic brought that work to a halt. Looking for a way to continue serving, Dr. Petrilla applied for a part-time role at UAGC. Instead, she was offered a full-time position in 2022.
Today, she leads the Global Foundation capstone course, GEN 499, and works in the Student Support Center focusing on the RISE retention program. A reflection of her commitment to student engagement and inclusive online learning, in 2022, her courses earned Quality Matters Certification, a nationally recognized benchmark for online education design.
In GEN 499, students are asked to identify a problem in their community and work toward solving it. The assignment is open-ended, but the outcomes are often concrete and far-reaching.
Students have launched community initiatives, built partnerships with local organizations, and, in some cases, influenced policy.
One student, drawing from her experience in a multicultural household, created resources to help educators better support children navigating multiple cultural identities. It started as a class project but quickly gained attention from a local school board, then state representatives, and ultimately contributed to proposed legislation in Ohio.
“She told me, ‘This has gone completely off the rails,’” Dr. Petrilla recalls. “But that’s what happens when people realize they can do something with an idea.”
To support that work, Dr. Petrilla integrates tools like 2-1-1, a nationwide service that connects individuals to local resources, often revealing opportunities students didn’t know existed.
“Every term, I hear the same thing,” she says. “‘I had no idea this was here.’”
From there, the work expands into partnerships, volunteer efforts, and sustained community impact.
“I want to help generate people who can build those bridges,” Dr. Petrilla says. “You can touch countless lives.”
What They Set in Motion
Across every stage of her life, Dr. Petrilla has carried something forward. From her grandparents, it was endurance, and the belief that education could change the course of an entire lineage. From her fourth-grade teacher, it was visibility, the moment when possibility became real. From her nonprofit work, it was connection, the understanding that people don’t move forward alone.
Today, she brings all of that into her work with students. Whether serving as a Teacher Partner at a UNESCO World Heritage Site or mentoring students through community-centered capstone projects, her focus remains the same: helping people recognize their ability to create change.
“I think if you can plant that seed,” she says, “water it a little here and there, they’ll run with it.”
What her grandparents carried across an ocean became something her teacher helped her see and something Dr. Petrilla now passes on, student by student. The work they began didn’t end with survival; it continues in classrooms, communities, and in the lives of her students who go on to change, reaching further than they could have ever imagined.
Q&A: Get to Know Dr. Jamie Petrilla
UAGC: If your grandparents could see the work you’re doing today, what do you think they would say to you?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “They would probably start by saying a whole bunch of things in Italian that I wouldn’t understand first. But honestly, I think they would be proud. My grandfather was tough as nails, a coal miner, very stoic, but when he got emotional, you’d see that one tear in his eye. That was all you were getting from him. Beneath that toughness, though, he was incredibly loving.
I think both of my grandparents would feel that all of it was worth it: leaving everything they knew behind, coming to America, learning a new language, and living in a tiny row house with no central heat or running water. My mother used to stuff newspapers that she collected around the neighborhood between the boards in the walls to keep the snow from blowing in while they slept. It was freezing.
They endured all that so future generations could have opportunities they never had. They’d look at where we are now and say, ‘This is why we did it.’”
UAGC: When you think about your journey from your grandparents’ beginnings to your life today, how would you describe what education has made possible?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “My grandmother always said education was the portal, and I think she was right. There’s almost nothing you can’t do if you can get yourself connected to the right people, the right resources, and the right education.
The opportunities are out there, but many people don’t know how to find them, or they don’t have someone in their corner helping guide them. When those pieces finally come together, your entire life can change.
That change doesn’t just impact you; it impacts your children, your family, and everyone connected to you. Education creates a ripple effect across generations.
If you’re willing to take that leap, bridge the gap, and seek out the resources available to you, the possibilities are endless.”
UAGC: What’s one hobby students might not expect you to have?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “I love creating floral sculptures. I collect upcycled materials from places like Goodwill or Salvation Army and turn them into these huge floral art installations in my yard.
In the winter, they probably look a little terrifying, like something out of a horror movie with all the dead flowers and exposed structures, but in the summer, they become these colorful, giant living sculptures. It’s creative, strange, and really fun.”
UAGC: What are you reading right now?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “I’m currently rereading Teaching With the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen. I’ve always been fascinated by brain-based learning, and that book had a huge impact on how I teach and even on my dissertation research.
When I used to hire teachers, I’d have them read the chapter on environmental controls during orientation because it completely changes the way you think about creating learning environments.
Every time I revisit the book, I find another insight or idea I can apply. It continues to shape the way I approach teaching today.”
UAGC: What’s one thing on your bucket list?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “In 2002, I had the chance to visit my grandmother’s village in Italy and meet family members who still live there. One cousin spoke five languages, so she became our interpreter.
One day, I’d love to take my children and my brother’s son back there so the next generation can experience it for themselves. I want them to walk the same streets their great-grandmother walked, visit the fountain where she used to do laundry, and truly see where our family story began.
It’s one thing to hear the stories or look through old photographs, but it’s completely different to stand in those places yourself. It was incredibly profound for me, and I think it could inspire them to do amazing things too.
The village is high up in the Alps, breathtakingly beautiful, and when you see how difficult life was there without modern conveniences, you gain an even deeper appreciation for what my grandparents sacrificed.
We keep talking about making the trip happen, and our family there is always inviting us back. I know it’s something none of us would ever forget.”
UAGC: What does success look like to you?
Dr. Jamie Petrilla: “Success, to me, is being able to look back and know I spent my time doing things that mattered for people instead of chasing things that ultimately don’t.
The moments that stay with me are when someone I worked with 20 years ago stops me in Walmart, introduces me to their kids, and says, ‘Here’s my job. Here’s my degree. Here’s what I accomplished.’
That’s success to me. That’s time well spent.
Knowing that something you did helped change the trajectory of someone’s life, and that the impact continues long after, is the most meaningful thing I can imagine. I want my students to experience that same opportunity in their own communities.”
