Anderson started his career at MIT in 1963. In 1975 he co-founded the History, Theory and Criticism (HTC) section with Wayne Andersen and Henry Millon. The History Theory Criticism section was the first Ph.D. program in a school of architecture in the U.S. Anderson supervised hundreds of theses at MIT, including those of scholars now well known in the field. He served as director of that group from its founding until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, he was the Head of the Department of Architecture and then returned to teach in the HTC section until his retirement. As Department Head at MIT for nearly 15 years, he brought decades of experience having served on civic boards in Boston, including the
Boston Landmarks Commission, Boston Preservation Alliance,
MassPort, and the
Boston Society of Architects. He was awarded the Topaz Medallion in 2004, reflective of his broad impact on architectural education over the course of his long career. He designed six architectural projects that include a house for himself and his family located on
Deer Isle, Maine. ==Personal life==