Dr. Sander works on research projects funded by the Administrative Office of the Courts and the University of Maryland School of Law. Her role is to conduct program evaluations to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of truancy programs and conflict resolution programs. She brings expertise in mixed method approaches, using both qualitative and quantitative data to assess these programs. Her twenty-eight years of experience have been firmly rooted in the community practice arena. She has held positions as an advocate, manager, community organizer, program planner and developer, social group worker, trainer, and volunteer coordinator. The main contexts for her practice have been leadership development, Head Start parent involvement and community partnerships, workforce development and poverty policies, racism and oppression, and community building and development.

Dr. Sander is currently interested in the use of community-based participatory action research to strengthen urban neighborhoods, influence policy, and hold social work education and institutions accountable to their core values. Future work will involve multicultural organizational capacity-building, social capital, and civic engagement. Dr. Sander has double Masters degrees in theology and social work from Boston University and a PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.