Ronald (Ron) E Anderson

Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota

Contact Info:
Department of Sociology, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: (952) 473- 5910
rea@umn.edu

Ron Anderson is emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, having served on the faculty since 1968. His legacy includes seven books, over 100 articles, 150 presentations at professional meetings, 15 large research grants, over 50 smaller research projects, and at least 40 consulting positions, many of which were evaluations of technology interventions in education. He continues to conduct research and to write articles and books.

His most visible professional accomplishments were the completion of several very large research projects on the role of information technology in education. This include the 1998 TLC project with Hank Becker; reports are available at www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/ . The results of another large project of innovative cases of teaching with techology, with Sara Dexter, can be found at http://edtechcases.info/ . In addition, he has been very active in the large international project of IEA called the Second International Technology in Education Study (SITES) between 1997 and 2007. In that capacity he coordinated research in over 20 countries and otherwise facilitated international communication and comparisons.

For 20+ years Professor Anderson has been Co-Editor of the Social Science Computer Review . And he is on the editorial boards of three academic journals on technology and education. He was director of the Minnesota Center for Survey Research in the 1980s and since then has conducted several large national surveys. For many more details of his professional career, see his Wikipedia biography.

Currently he is working on the analysis of cross-national data on social well-being in affluent societies and the construction of the Good Society Index, extending it to middle-income and poor societies. He just completed a papers on Caring Capital and World Suffering.

In 2009, I established the Foundation for Compassionate Societies, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. It's principle effort is to build and maintain the website CompassionateSocieties.org. This site is devoted to promoting greater personal compassion and compassionate social policies through blogging, publishing articles, and social networking. Currently, this charitable activity and volunteering are his principle activities. A description of these activities are can found at the "Charity & Volunteering" link on the lower left of this page.

On January 25, 2011, my daughter, Gina Anderson MD, at the age of 45 died without any warning of a blood clot that ruined her lungs and heart. It was a shock and tragedy for many family, friends, patients and colleagues. Here is a compilation of statements and photographs that honors her life, entitled "We Miss you, Gina Anderson" from many who whose lives she touched with compassion. Life goes on without her presence, but her inspiration lingers on.

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