Dr. Malissa Alinor is a sociologist using social science research to highlight how discrimination disrupts our lives.
Dr. Malissa Alinor is a sociologist whose research focuses on how women and people of color experience discrimination, the emotional and behavioral consequences of experiencing discrimination, and how organizational policies shape racial and gender inequality. She is a mixed methodologist with expertise in experimental, qualitative, and quantitative methods.
Dr. Alinor is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership and Innovation Lab in affiliation with the Stanford Impact Labs- using social science research for the social good. She earned a Ph.D and M.A. in sociology from the University of Georgia and a B.A., summa cum laude, in sociology from the University of Florida.
Connecting research and practice:
My research findings show that it is difficult for marginalized groups to navigate competency microaggressions in a way that improves their workplace and labor market outcomes on their own. So, organizations and policy makers need to create structural changes in order to improve the well-being and retention of diverse groups.