Heidi M. Anderson

Heidi Milia Anderson is an American academic administrator serving as the president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore since September 2018. Under her leadership, the university has received major funding, with $38 Million in total fundraising in her first four years, up 33% since 2020. She was previously the provost at Texas A&M University–Kingsville and the University of the Sciences.

Life Anderson is from Gary, Indiana. She completed a B.S. in pharmacy (1978) and a Ph.D. in pharmacy administration (1986) at the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. In 1982, she earned a M.S. in education at the Purdue University School of Education. Anderson was the assistant director of the health careers opportunity center in the Purdue University College of Pharmacy from 1978 to 1982. From 1986 to 1989, Anderson was an assistant professor in the health science administration department at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy.

Anderson was the provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of the Sciences from July 2013 to August 2015. She is the fourth woman in the 21st-century to serve as president of UMES. In 2022, Anderson became chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Controversy In an investigative report for The Daily Wire, Luke Rosiak published side-by-side textual comparisons showing that Anderson's 1986 Purdue University doctoral dissertation replicated extensive material from earlier works without attribution. The report documented numerous passages copied either verbatim or with slight changes from a 1984 paper on nursing education by Donna E. Larson as well as publications by David H. Jonassen, Robert M. Caldwell, Richard E. Pogue, and Elaine G. Boettcher. The analysis detailed instances where Anderson reproduced source citations while removing the original authors' self-citations, copied summary text verbatim, and used conclusion phrasing identical to Boettcher's prior work.

Following the report, as of October 7, 2025, Anderson is under investigation for plagiarism throughout her career. Further, her university employer previously was and currently is being sued for her alleged racial bias in hiring and treatment of employees. Anderson filed for defamation against Donna Satterlee, claiming the plagiarism allegations were harmful to her reputation.