Dr. Virginia Johnson Anderson, Professor of Biological Sciences at Towson University, is a nationally known writing and assessment activist and author. She has presented workshops at more than 180 colleges and universities across the country and abroad. Anderson teaches her department’s upper-level, discipline-specific Advanced Writing Course, chairs the University’s Subcommittee for Undergraduate Programs Assessment, and is actively engaged in Gen Ed assessment. Widely published, Dr. Anderson has been the Principal Investigator for two major NSF urban science initiatives ($400,000+) and is currently an evaluator on three other science grants including Biofilms: The Hypertextbook, a major Montana State University/NSF grant. She consults for agencies such as the American Society for Microbiology, United States Peace Corps, Ecological Society of America, National Institute of Health, Maryland Writing Project, and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Anderson is best known as the co-author of Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment (Jossey-Bass, 1998 and in press).