Dr. Maloney specializes in sociology of education, sociological theory, program assessment, and qualitative methods.  Recently, she has been conducting an inquiry into how different types of charter schools perform character education in America.  This is in conjunction with a larger research project out of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia examining how multiple different school sectors perform character education.

Dr. Maloney also studies Teach For America and how beginning teachers acculturate to their local school environments.  During her time in multiple (Teach For America and non-Teach For America) schools, teachers also began to tell her about how adults cheat on standardized exams.  This research is new and forthcoming.

Finally, Dr. Maloney has been working to construct new methods of program and individual assessment for different service learning engineering programs in America.

Dr. Maloney has a history of collaborating with and mentoring new graduate students through her own work and the students' interests.  Please email her at patricia(dot)maloney@ttu.edu if you have a shared interest!