Erin Anderson
Associate Professor, William & Sheila Konar Director of the Center for Urban Education Success
Educational Leadership
PhD, University of Virginia (educational administration and supervision)
MEd, University of Virginia (social foundations education)
BA, University of Virginia (sociology)
Biography
Erin Anderson was named the second William and Sheila Konar Director of the Center for Urban Education Success in 2026. Anderson brings extensive experience as a scholar, educator, and leader focused on continuous K-12 school and district improvement.
She previously served as an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Denver. In partnership with Denver Public Schools, she led a professional learning program for leadership teams to integrate improvement science and liberatory design into school improvement work. Her experience as a teacher and leader in middle and high schools in Virginia and New York initiated her interest in making schools more equitable and inclusive spaces for students and communities historically marginalized by the education system. She researches school and district leadership practices, leadership preparation, educator well-being, planning and implementing equity-focused continuous school improvement, and university-district partnerships for preparation and improvement.
She is the co-editor of the book Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement and the first author of Leading Continuous Improvement in Schools: Enacting Leadership Standards to Advance Educational Quality and Equity. In addition to several book chapters, Anderson’s work has been published in Education Sciences, Frontiers, Journal of Educational Administration, Journal of Educational Change, Journal of Research on Leadership Education, Journal of School Leadership, Leadership and Policy in Schools, Teacher’s College Record, the Handbook of Educational Supervision, and The Foundational Handbook on Improvement Research in Education. Erin was also the recipient of the 2021 Jack A. Culbertson Early Career Award from the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA).
She is active in national organizations. She is on the executive committee of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), is the current chair of the Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership SIG for the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the past-chair of the Improvement Science SIG, and one of six faculty invited to be part of the National Coalition of Improvement in Education, a field-building group. She is currently an associate editor at the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership and an Advisory Board Member for the NYKids Improvement Scholars. She serves on her university's Promotion and Tenure committee and Faculty Senate.