Maureen Hallinan is the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.

Her research centers on the sociology of education, including the determinants and consequences of the organization of students for instruction and the effects of school characteristics on student achievement and social development. Her work includes studies on the formation and duration of students’ cross-race friendships in middle and secondary schools.

Hallinan is the principal investigator of the Comparative Analysis of Best Practices in Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools, 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.

With more than 100 articles in professional journals, Hallinan also is the author or editor of seven books and has several chapters in edited volumes. She coedited Stability and Change in American Education: Structure, Process and Outcomes (2003) and edited the Handbook of the Sociology of Education (2000). She is the author of School Sector Effects on Educational Outcomes (2006).