[1] Anderson graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in community studies as a resident of Merrill College.
She worked with Harold Koh, Michael Ratner, and students in the Yale Law School International Human Rights Clinic on litigation on behalf of Haitian refugees.
After graduating from Yale Law School in 1994, Anderson clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for Judge William A. Norris.
Under Anderson's leadership, CUNY Law moved from a converted junior high school in Flushing, Queens, to a new, LEED gold-certified building in Long Island City.
[21] Anderson's work traces the history and evolution of rape law and contrasts it with the reform surrounding campus sexual assault.
[32] In 2015, Anderson engaged in an "Intelligence Squared" debate on campus sexual assault with Jed Rubenfeld, Jeannie Suk, and Stephen Schulhofer.
[33] In her first year as president, Anderson invited Bernie Sanders by writing him a letter and telling him to “come home.” [34] Anderson is a member of the American Law Institute,[35] an Adviser to the ALI's Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses Project,[36] and a Consultant to its Project on Sexual & Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus.