Patricia A. Alexander

Patricia Alexander is a Distinguished University Professor, the Jean Mullan Professor of Literacy, and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland where she heads the Disciplined Reading and Learning Research Laboratory. She is a member of the National Academy of Education, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the Society for Text and Discourse.

Named one of the five most influential educational psychologists over the past decade, Alexander’s honors include the Oscar S. Causey Award for outstanding contributions to literacy research from the Literacy Research Association, the E. L. Thorndike Award for Career Achievement in Educational Psychology from APA Division 15, and the Sylvia Scribner Career Award from AERA Division C. She has published more than 300 articles, books, chapters, and monographs in the area of learning and instruction, and presented more than 400 papers or invited addresses at national and international conferences.

She currently serves as the senior editor of Contemporary Educational Psychology. Alexander’s areas of expertise include learning from digital or printed text, reasoning and critical-analytic thinking, credibility and trustworthiness of information, and expertise development.