Patricia L Anders, Ph.D.

Biographical Sketch

Patricia (Patty) Anders (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1976) began her career as a middle and high school teacher and reading specialist.  After completing her doctorate, she accepted a position in the Department of Reading at the University of Arizona.  She is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Language, Reading and Culture program in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education at the University of Arizona.

Patty’s research and scholarship focuses on secondary school student’s language and literacy development, particularly in the content areas and reading comprehension; teacher’s beliefs, theories and practices, especially as related to the teaching of literacy across the curriculum/academic literacies and to school leadership; and adult, family, community and workplace literacies.  She is the co-author of Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas, and the co-editor of three books, Understanding Readers’ Understanding, Literacy Development of Students in Urban Schools:  Research and Policy, and the soon to be published Handbook of Reading Disabilities.  Her journal publications include the award winning article “The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices in reading comprehension” in the American Educational Research Journal as well as others in leading journals of the field.  She is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.

She is a Fellow of the National Council Research in Language and Literacy and served as President.  She is Vice-President of the National Reading Conference (NRC, soon to be named the Literacy Research Association), has held several other leadership positions in NRC and was awarded the Albert J. Kingston Service Award.  She recently concluded a term serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association and was nominated to stand for election as President of IRA.  She  also served as the secretary of the American Education Research Association’s Division C and the Chair of the Basic Reading Research Special Interest Group.

Professor Anders is responsible for content area literacy courses leading to teacher certification; the CATS (Creating Academically Talented Students) literacy workshops; graduate courses in adult and academic developmental literacy; and graduate courses in reading comprehension and program supervision.  She advises graduate students and received the Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Graduate College, University of Arizona.