Roseanna Ander

Roseanna Ander serves as the founding Executive Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the University of Chicago Education Lab, established in 2008 and 2011, respectively. These research institutions – which have offices in both Chicago and New York – design, test, and scale data-driven programs to improve the public sector’s approach to two of the most pressing issues facing cities today: public safety and education.

Under Ander’s leadership, the Crime Lab and the Education Lab have produced cutting-edge research on gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform, and education that has led to significant impact and policy change in Chicago and across the nation. Education Lab research has helped generate more than $120 million in public investment for highly effective, evidence-based programs to ensure all students have the opportunity for future success. The impact of the Crime Lab’s evaluation of Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man (BAM) program, a cognitive-behavioral therapy program delivered in the Chicago Public Schools, led Chicago to redirect millions of dollars to expand the program’s strategy and support 57 nonprofits across the city. BAM and similar behavioral science approaches now play a vital role in the city’s efforts to reduce violence.

During her tenure at the Crime Lab and Education Lab, Ander has also played a key role in the launch of two major national initiatives: the Community Safety Leadership Academies (CSLA) and the Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI). The CSLA is composed of the Policing Leadership Academy and the Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy and is designed to train future leaders in policing and community violence intervention. In the education sector, PLI aims to overcome pandemic learning loss by scaling high-dosage tutoring in classrooms across the country. Ander was also instrumental in helping to launch the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative (READI), a program that connects men most at risk of gun violence involvement and victimization with cognitive-behavioral therapy, jobs, and wraparound supports.

Ander has extensive experience as a policy advisor, including serving on the public safety transition teams for Chicago Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, and she has been featured as a leader in Public Safety in Leaders magazine. Ander is on the board of Gun Violence Archives, a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and a member of the Chicago Network. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, Ander oversaw the Joyce Foundation’s gun violence prevention program. Her contributions included providing seed funding for the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) and developing a seminal report on Firearm Violence for the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. At Joyce, she also advised on grantmaking for early childhood education efforts. Before her time at the Joyce Foundation, Ander served as a Soros Justice Fellow with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and worked for the Harvard Injury Control Center and the Harvard Project on Schooling and Children. Ander holds an M.S. from the Harvard School of Public Health.