Department News, March 2026
Departmental News
Posted: Apr 01, 2026 - 12:00am
Publications
Kayla Martensen and colleagues have two publications in the ADVANCE Journal (https://www.advancejournal.org/issue/13813-vol-7-issue-1-2026):
- Introduction to the First Special Issue of Behind Enemy Lines: Advancing the Work of Inclusion, Equity, and Justice in Precarious Times and Places.
- Holding the Work: Collective Care, Creativity, and Feminist Scholarship at the ADVANCE Journal Retreat.
Graduate Student Vittoria Totaro’s is lead author on a paper titled “Self-reported work-related stress, depressive symptoms, and health and well-being among certified organic farmers: the Organic Farmer Safety, Health & Life Study (OFSHLS)” was published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003708
Eli Wilson and his colleague Adam Schoenbachler’s (Cornell post-doc) article in Work & Occupations about how people build careers in and around creative industries. It is titled, "Balancing Acts: Composite Careers in Nashville''s Music and Service Industries” is now available at
Research Funding
Two of our faculty received funding through UNM’s Research Allocations Committee (RAC):
- Kayla Martensen’s funded project is titled: "Community-Academic Research Partnerships: Equitable Collaborations Toward Justice"
- Andrea Román Alfaro’s funded project is titled: “Reframing the Urban Margins: Young people’s perspectives on violence, social inequality, and persistence in Albuquerque’s International District"
Conferences and Presentations
Nancy López organized a panel at the Latino Studies Association where Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Mehta and colleagues presented RWJF funded archival research on OMB & Census, as well as the Collaborative Multiracial Post Election Survey which included innovations in the street race measure. Their panel, "Counting Race & Ethnicity Among Latinas/os/xs in the Census: Looking Back & to the Future," was subsequently invited by the Latino Studies Association leadership in attendance for the 2028 Latino Studies Association Conference as a plenary session.
Kayla Martensen organized and chaired a panel titled “Emerging Abolitionist Research Across Institutional Contexts”for The World Social Science Association conference, at which two of our graduate students presented:
- Libby Vigil presented a paper titled: “Comparing Advocacy Approaches Between Advocates Who Support People in Prison and Those Who Support Immigrants in Detention”
- Aida Revilla presented a paper titled: “Immigrant Movements and Immigrant Rights”
Awards and Honors
Andrea Román Alfaro’s paper “Life-crafting Pedagogy: Motherwork amid Violence at Peru's Urban Margins” won the Elsa Chaney and Helen Safa Best Paper Award from the Gender and Feminist Studies section of the Latin American Studies Association.
Public Facing Sociology
Nancy López was selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Health Equity Works Speakers Bureau. More info: https://healthequityworks.org/ The Health Equity Works Speakers Bureau is a network of trusted experts, practitioners and community leaders who serve as credible voices in moments of crisis and opportunity. Members will be positioned to respond to misinformation, shape public narratives, and advocate for equitable, values-based health policies and practices.
Alumni Publication
Angeles "Rubi" Castorena (UNM BA sociology / Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and undergraduate Intern at Institute for the Study of "Race" & Social Justice, currently doctoral student in Sociology at UC-Irvine, recently published: “'I Love That Mexican Households are so Family Oriented': Uncovering Gendered Community Cultural Wealth in the Lives of Mexican American Students," in the Journal of Latinos and Education, 1-15
Other News
Lisa Broidy was selected as the next UNM ADVANCE Director. She will begin in that role on July 1.
