Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro is Dean’s Professor and Chair of the Department of Gender & Sexuality

Studies at the University of Southern California. She is a globally recognized scholar of intersectionality theory, the world’s leading analytical framework for analyzing and resolving inequality. She has written numerous articles and three books on the intersections of categories of difference like race, gender, class, sexuality and citizenship and their impact on policy. Today Dr. Hancock Alfaro is also Founder of RISIST, the Research Institute for the Study of Intersectionality and Social Transformation. RISIST is a cooperative social enterprise that consults with organizations seeking to apply intersectionality to the challenges they face in analyzing interlocking systems of inequality.

In 1993, under the mentorship of NBA Hall of Famer Tom “Satch” Sanders, Hancock Alfaro conducted the original survey research and designed the business model for the Women’s National Basketball Association. The only women’s professional basketball league to succeed in the United States, the WNBA began its 22^nd season in May 2018. Her recent collaborative work includes service on the Board of the Liberty Hill Foundation and work with both Hispanas Organized for Political Empowerment (HOPE) and the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute (LAAAWPPI). She sits on two boards: Community Partners and LAAAWPPI.

RISIST consolidates 15 years of work done by Dr. Hancock Alfaro across the country to consult with and train individuals, groups and organizations in intersectionality.