Sarah Anderson

Sarah E. Anderson is a Professor and Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She studies how the public and politics influences policy. For example, her research focuses on how the public drives inequity and inefficiency in agencies’ wildfire prevention and why legislators reject compromise, the subject of her book Rejecting Compromise: Legislators’ Fear of Primary Voters. Her interest in environmental issues comes from growing up in Montana, and her research is shaped by her experience in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a U.S. congressman's legislative assistant. In her research, teaching, and service, she works with students, staff, faculty, communities, and leaders to overcome social and political barriers to solving environmental problems and to work toward equity in the environmental field. In her free time, she hikes, gardens, and travels.