PHD, University of Illinois
B.A. English & African Literature Minor, Ahmadu Bellow University

Anita was born and raised in Africa, and she spent time primarily in Zambia (her birthplace), Nigeria, and Cameroon. She acquired Hindi from her parents and picked up Hindi, some Yoruba, Hausa, and Nigerian Pidgin in her childhood. She learned French and Spanish as a teenager--primarily from children, as documented in her first book, The Child Language Teacher: Intergenerational Language and Literary Enhancement, which chronicles how she taught her mother English in her childhood, and how this empowering experience enhanced her academic and social skills.

Her latest book is titled Language Building Blocks (Language Building Blocks 9780807753552. Teachers College Press).Anita chairs the Early Childhood Special Interest group at the National Association for Bilingual Education.  She served as U.S. Liaison for Childhood Education International from 2017 to 2020, and on the Board of the National Association for Bilingual Education from 2014 to 2017.  She directed the Howard County African American History Project, part of the Historical Society, and was a featured speaker for the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity: Howard County's Unsung (S)heroes - YouTube.  She is a proud parent and an advocate for collaborative writing, alternative testing (e.g., portfolio and multimodal assessments), and performative reading and writing instruction or what she calls performative literacies. Dr. Pandey can be reached at anita.pandey@morgan.edu