Joya Misra
Distinguished Professor
Bio
Joya Misra is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University Massachusetts, Amherst. She studies the intersectional inequalities impacting workers, and policies at both workplace and societal levels, that can mitigate these inequalities. She is an award-winning researcher, teacher, mentor, and public sociologist, who deeply appreciates working in a job that allows her to engage in such meaningful work. At UMass, she previously directed the Institute for Social Science Research. In the discipline, she has served as Editor of Gender & Society (2011-2015), andPresident of the American Sociological Association (2023-2024).
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, Emory University, 1994
Research Areas
Inequality, Race/Gender/Class, Work & Labor, Political Sociology, Welfare States, Research Methods
Selected Publications (former or current students noted by asterisk)
Books
Joya Misra and Kyla Walters*. 2022. Walking Mannequins: How Race and Gender Inequalities Shape Retail Clothing Work. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Honorable Mention for the Book Awards from the Race, Gender, and Class, and Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Sections of the American Sociological Association.
Thomas Janoski, Cedric de Leon, Joya Misra, and Isaac Martin. 2020. The New Handbook of Political Sociology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Joya Misra, Mahala Dyer Stewart*, Marni Alyson Brown. 2017. Gendered Lives, Sexual Beings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dan Clawson, Robert Zussman, Joya Misra, Naomi Gerstel, Randall Stokes, and Doug Anderton (Eds.). 2007. Public Sociology: Fifteen Eminent Sociologists Debate Politics and the Profession in the 21st Century. Berkely, CA: University of California Press.
Articles
Joya Misra, Ember Kanelee*, Ethel Mickey, and Laurel Smith Doerr. “‘I don't believe that I have been wanted’: Processes of Overinclusion and Exclusion in Racialized and Gendered Organizations.” Social Problems. Online First.
Shuyin Liu*, Laurel Smith-Doerr, Dessie Clark, and Joya Misra. 2025. “Faculty Work before and “after” COVID-19: Investigating the Effects of Caregiving, Health, and Gender. ADVANCE Journal. https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/ADVJRNL.6.1.2
Joya Misra. 2025. “Presidential Address: Sociological Solutions: Building Communities of Hope, Justice, and Joy.” American Sociological Review 90(1) 1–25.
Joya Misra, Ethel Mickey, Ember Kanelee*, Laurel Smith-Doerr. 2024 “Creating Inclusive Department Climates in STEM Fields.” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. 17(2), 176–189.
Joya Misra. 2023. “Revolution or Incursion? Academic Sociologists and Gender in the 21st Century.” American Journal of Sociology. 129(3): 955-964.
Joya Misra. 2023. “The Challenges and Joys of Publicly Engaged Sociology.” Sociological Forum. 38(S1): 1124-1143.
Kyla Walters* & Joya Misra. 2023. “Stop Discounting Retail Workers.” Work & Occupations. 50(3): 368–375
Kyla Walters* & Joya Misra. 2023. “Cool Clothes and Fun Times? Consumer Identity in Retail Clothing Work.” In Amy Wharton’s Working in America: Continuity, Conflict, and Change in a New Economic Era. New York: Routledge.
Ethel Mickey, Joya Misra, and Dessie Clark. 2023. “The Persistence of Neoliberal Logics in Faculty Evaluations amidst Covid-19: Recalibrating Towards Equity.” Gender, Work, & Organizations. 30(2): 638– 656.
Dessie Clark, Ethel Mickey, and Joya Misra. 2022. “Growing the Roots of Equity: The TREE Model of Institutional Response to COVID-19” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Online First.
Ember Skye Kanelee,* Joya Misra, and Ethel Mickey. Forthcoming, “Fostering Inclusion for Black Faculty.” Understanding and Dismantling Privilege. 12(1): 54-63.
Joya Misra, KerryAnn O’Meara, Alexandra Kuvaeva, Dawn Kiyoe Culpepper, and Audrey Jaeger. 2021. “Gendered and Racialized Perceptions of Faculty Workload.” Gender & Society. 35(3): 358-394.
Joya Misra, Celeste Vaughan Curington, *and Venus Mary Green.* 2021 “Methods of Intersectional Research.” Sociological Spectrum. 41(1)9-28.
Joya Misra, Ethel Mickey, and Dessie Clark. “Addressing and Documenting Pandemic Impacts.” ADVANCE Journal. 2(2). https://doi.org/10.5399/osu/ADVJRNL.2.2.1
Joya Misra. 2020. “Women, Politics, and Gender Inequality.” Western New England Law Review. 42(3):397-417.
KerryAnn O’Meara , Elizabeth Beise , Dawn Culpepper , Joya Misra & Audrey Jaeger. 2020.“Faculty Work Activity Dashboards: A Strategy to Increase Transparency.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52:(3)34-42.
Joya Misra and Mary Bernstein. 2020. "Sexuality, Gender, and Social Policy. In Thomas Janoski, Cedric de Leon, Joya Misra, and Isaac Martin's The New Handbook of Political Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomas Janoski, Cedric de Leon, Joya Misra, and Isaac Martin. 2020. “Introduction.” In Thomas Janoski, Cedric de Leon, Joya Misra, and Isaac Martin’s TThe New Handbook of Political Sociology.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dawn Culpepper, Sarah Kilmer, KerryAnn O’Meara, Joya Misra, and Audrey J. Jaeger. 2020. “Terrapin Time Initiative: A Workshop to Enhance Alignment between Faculty Work Priorities and Time Use.” Innovative Higher Education. 45: 165-79.
KerryAnn O'Meara. Courtney Lennarz, Alexandra Kuvaeva, Audrey Jaeger, and Joya Misra. 2019. "Department Conditions and Practices Associated with Faculty Workload Satisfaction and Perceptions of Equity." Journal of Higher Education. 90(5): 744-772.
Eunjung Jee*, Joya Misra, and Marta Murray-Close. 2019. "Motherhood Penalties in the U.S., 1986-2014." Journal of Marriage and Family. 81(2) 434-449.
Diego F. Leal,* Ragini Saira Malhotra*, and Joya Misra. 2019. "Visualizing Feminized International Migration Flows." Socius. 5:1-3.
Selected Honors
Five College Women’s Studies Research Center Research Associate, 2025-2026.
UMass Graduate School, Distinguished Graduate Mentor, 2025
University of Massachusetts Sociology Mentoring Award, 2009-2010, 2014-2015, 2024-25
Honorable Mention, Race, Gender and Class Section Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, ASA, 2024
Honorable Mention, Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Outstanding Book Award, ASA, 2024
Roy J. Zuckerberg Endowed Leadership Chair, 2022-2024
Eastern Sociological Society Public Sociology Award, 2022
Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship, awarded 2019-20 (fellowship taken 2020-21)
Feminist Mentoring Award, Sociologists for Women in Society, 2010
World Bank/Luxembourg Income Study Gender Research Award, 2009
Finalist, Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research, 2009
Funded Projects
National Science Foundation. Creating Pathways for STEM Higher Education Leadership. Education and Human Resources Core (EHR-CORE). (2023-2026)
ARC Network: A STEM Equity Brain Trust. Gender, Race, Workload, and Leadership in STEM. (2020-2021)
National Science Foundation. Collaboration and Equity: The Resources, Relationships, and Recognition (R3) Model for Advancing Women and Underrepresented Faculty in Science and Engineering. ADVANCE IT. (2018-2023)
Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Parenthood and the Gender Wage Gap. (2016-2017)
National Science Foundation. Faculty Workload and Rewards, ADVANCE Plan-IHE. KerryAnn O’Meara, PI. (2015-2020)