Dr. Anne Elrod Whitney is associate professor of education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research addresses how writing fits into lives—crossing disciplinary boundaries of composition studies, professional development, teacher education, and English language arts education. A former high school English teacher and longtime associate of the National Writing Project, much of Whitney’s scholarship has also advocated for the rights of teachers to speak as authorities on their own work and the rights of teachers and learners to do school work that is authentic and empowering. She has been honored with the Steve Cahir Award for promising research from the American Educational Research Association’s Writing and Literacies Special Interest Group (2008), the Conference on English Education’s Janet Emig Award for research (2009), and the Conference on English Leadership’s Best Article Award (2010).