Maureen T. Hallinan, Ph.D., is the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and in the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame. She received a BA from Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY, an MS from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in Sociology and in Education from the University of Chicago. She was on the faculties at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Stanford University, before moving to Notre Dame.

     Professor Hallinan's research is primarily in the sociology of education. She studies the determinants and consequences of the organization of students for instruction; for example, how students are assigned to ability groups and what the effects of ability group level are on student learning opportunities. She also examines the effects of school characteristics on student achievement and social development. Her work includes studies of the formation and duration of students' cross-race friendships in middle and secondary schools.

    Professor Hallinan was the principal investigator of the Comparative Analysis of Best Practices in Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools project, a five-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Education to determine the best practices adopted by educators to promote student learning and social development. Professor Hallinan has been the recipient of research grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Spencer Foundation.  

    With over 120 articles in professional journals, Professor Hallinan is also the author or editor of eight books and has several chapters in edited volumes. She most recently edited School Sector and Student Outcomes (2006, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press).

Other recent publications include:

Hallinan, Maureen T., W. Kubitschek, & G. Liu. 2008. "Student Interracial Interactions and Perceptions of School as a Community." Social Psychology of Education online edition: http://www.springerlink.com/content/uw7000363n41t523/

Hallinan, Maureen T. 2008. "Preliminary Thoughts on Creating a Field as it Might Apply to Catholic Education: A Response." In Proceedings from: The Carnegie Conversation on Catholic Education, University of Notre Dame, 2007, John Staud (Ed.) p. 15-17.

Hallinan, Maureen T. 2008. “Teacher Influences on Student Attachment to School.” Sociology of Education 81: 271-283.

Hallinan, Maureen T. 2008.  “The Sociology of Education.” In McCulloch, G., &  D. Crook (Eds.), Routledge International Encyclopedia of Education, 555-556. New York: Routledge.

Professor Hallinan was president of the American Sociological Association in 1995-1996 and president of the Sociological Research Association in 2000. She was elected to the National Academy of Education in 1999, served as the Chair of the Nominating Committee, 2004-05, and was on the Membership Committee of the Sociological Research Association, 2006-07. She is also a member of the honorary societies: Alpha Kappa Delta, Phi Beta Kappa, and Pi Lambda Theta. Maureen is the recipient of the Willard Waller Award from the American Sociological Association (2004), as well as these awards from the University of Notre Dame: Excellence in Research on Catholic Education Award (2007), Faculty Award (2006), Research Achievement Award (2003), and Presidential Award Citation (1997).