Rate My Professor Laura Gómez

Laura E. Gómez, Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, permanently joined the faculty in January 2024, having previously served there from 2005 to 2011. A New Mexico native born in Roswell and a graduate of Albuquerque's Valley High School, she earned an A.B. with honors in Social Studies from Harvard College in 1986 and three degrees from Stanford University: M.A. in Sociology (1988), J.D. (1992), and Ph.D. in Sociology (1994), as the first Mexican American woman to receive Stanford's J.D. and Ph.D. Prior to academia, Gómez served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and clerked for Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She began teaching as Assistant Professor at UCLA School of Law (1994–2000), attaining tenure in 2000. Later at UCLA, she held the Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in Law, courtesy appointments in Sociology and Chicana/Chicano & Central American Studies, and roles including Vice Dean for Faculty Research (2013–2015), Interim Dean of the Division of Social Sciences (2016–2017), and Faculty Director of the Critical Race Studies Program, which she co-founded. During her first UNM tenure, she pioneered joint appointments in law and American Studies, served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development (2007–2009), and co-directed the Institute for the Study of “Race” & Social Justice.

A nationally recognized expert on anti-Latino racism, law and society, Latinx people and the law, critical race theory, and the sociology of race and racism, Gómez has published extensively in academic journals, books, and popular media, with frequent interviews. Her major books include Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism (The New Press, 2020; paperback 2022), featured on NPR’s best books list; Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race (NYU Press, 2007; second edition 2018), widely taught in ethnic studies, history, and sociology; Misconceiving Mothers: Legislators, Prosecutors, and the Politics of Prenatal Drug Exposure (Temple University Press, 1997); and Mapping “Race”: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research, co-edited with Nancy López (Rutgers University Press, 2013). Awards encompass the 2021 Outstanding Scholar Award from the American Bar Foundation Fellows, residential fellowships at the School for Advanced Research and Stanford Humanities Center, and American Law Institute membership. She was President of the Law and Society Association (2009–2011) and, since 2022, serves on the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino’s scholarly advisory committee.