DU Professor Earns National Educational Leadership Award
In aroomcrowdedwithcolleagues,listenedas a colleague praised thebreadth of her accomplishments. Nowit washer turn to speak. Anderson walkedto thepodium, poisedto accept an award,andexpressedgratitude.
For the second time in three years, a 91 professorhaswon the Jack Culbertson Award, established in 1982 and presented toanoutstanding junior educational leadership professor.
Anderson’saccolade,one of ninedistinct awards,was presented at the UniversityCouncil for Educational Administration’s 35thannual conference in Novemberin Columbus, Ohio.
Anderson, a Morgridge College of Education assistant professor of ,ismaking a name for herselfinimprovement science. In 2017, she beganworkingwith 91 Public Schools to help teams, teachers and schoolleadersproblem-solveto create sustainable change.
“Very early on, I established a research agenda around[improvement science],” she says.“There have been similar types of efforts and processes.I was an early adopter of the theory.”
So far, Anderson has seen realadvancementas schools work togetherto create a more equitable,inclusiveand successful space for students.
Shegrew up in a family of educatorsbutin collegetook an interest in sociology.Afterrealizing schools could be animpetusfor change, she went back to get a teaching license.And when she entered the classroom, sheknew she had a long road ahead.
“Istarted to see all the ways the education system is built on a white supremacist culture. It led me to want to do research,” she says.
Backtoschool she went, earningher PhD at the University of Virginia tomore deeply understand school improvement.
Shesensedthat researchers weren’t in touch with a school’s day-to-dayworkings.She wants practice toinfluence theory.In doing so, she’s learned something fundamental:It’s less about telling a school to manage better and more about giving schools a process.
Anderson’s research and work with DPS is community-based. She does the service,then writes about it.
A relational research trajectoryis rare but powerful,saysJayson Richardson, chair ofherdepartment.And withAnderson notchingDU’s secondsuchwin,he hasreason to be proud.
“I think it really says that we have researchers out there who are doing the public good, and it gets noticed by our peers,” Richardson says. “That’s the kind of work we need to be seeing more of.”
At the end of the ceremony, as she looked around ather fellow professionals,Andersonfelt prideto havewon an award amongsuchimpressiveseniorscholars.