Patricia Alexander is the Jean Mullan Professor of Literacy and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and a member of the National Academy of Education. She has been named one of the most productive and influential educational psychologist over the last decade. She has been a visiting scholar in over 12 countries including Australia, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, and Norway. The author of over 340 publications, she served as the senior editor of Contemporary Educational Psychology for 20 years and presently serves on 12 national and international editorial boards including those for Learning and Instruction and the Journal of Educational Psychology.