She is a distinguished research professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she has held a position since 1974.
[2] She earned her PhD in 1974 from the University of California, San Diego, where her graduate adviser was Margaret Langdon.
[4] Her research has concentrated on all aspects of the grammars of indigenous languages of the Americas, most recently focusing on the Chickasaw (Muskogean; Oklahoma), Garifuna (Arawakan; Central America), Imbabura Quichua (Quechuan; Ecuador), Tongva (Uto-Aztecan; Los Angeles Basin), and Tlacolula Valley Zapotec (Zapotecan; Central Oaxaca, Mexico) languages.
She has published numerous articles and books,[5] and was instrumental in the creation of dictionaries for San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec,[6] Chickasaw and Wolof.
[7] Munro was named to be the Ken Hale Professor at the 2019 LSA Linguistic Institute held at UC-Davis.