She received her Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1996 and her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University in 2005. In 2009-2010, she was a visiting assistant professor and research associate at Harvard Divinity School. Professor Sullivan has academic interests in religion, poverty and public policy, family, and community-based learning. At Holy Cross, she teaches courses such as Sociology of Religion; Catholic Thought and Social Action; Women, Religion, and Poverty; Families and Societies; and The Sociological Perspective. Some of her publications include: