Dr. Kirk Anderson (Bio)

Dr. Kirk Anderson is a Professor of Educational Administration in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Born in Shoal Brook and raised in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, he comes from a family with Mi’kmaq and Inuit ancestry and is a member of the Mekap’sk (Northern Peninsula) Mi’kmaq Band.

Dr. Anderson holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and education from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Leadership from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Prior to entering academia, he served as both a teacher and principal in four schools across Newfoundland and Labrador. During this time, he was actively involved in professional service through the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA), serving as Branch President of the Sandwich Bay Labrador Branch, Provincial President of the Small Schools’ Special Interest Council, School Administrator Council Western Region President, and a member of the NLTA Collective Bargaining Team. In 2017, he served as a panel member on the NLTA Panel on Public Education. He currently serves as a member of Memorial University’s senate, the international board for the Association for Teacher Leadership and Scholarship (ATLAS) and the executive of the Canadian Association for Educational Administration (CASEA).

Following his school leadership career, Dr. Anderson held faculty appointments at the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Calgary, and the University of New Brunswick, where he served as Associate Dean of Education before joining Memorial University as Dean (2011-2019). In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received the University of Calgary Graduate Students’ Association Teaching Excellence Award in 2007.

Dr. Anderson has held national leadership roles in Canadian education, including President of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education and Vice President (Anglophone) of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education. In 2012, he was appointed to the University of the Arctic Indigenous Issues Committee. He was appointed as a University of the Arctic Chair for School Effectiveness and Improvement (2022) and cross appointed to Memorial University’s School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies (2024).