Faculty Public Sociology & Community Engagement

Jessica Goodkind studies the mental health of recently resettled refugees and immigrants from around the world; she puts that expertise to work in New Mexico and around the country by advising newcomer organizations and resettlement agencies on how best to build on the strengths of refugees and immigrants to promote their well-being and enable them to contribute their knowledge, skills and ideas to American society and how to create system and policy changes that support newcomer well-being. Jessica is also the Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity Education at the UNM Health Sciences Center, a role in which she uses her expertise to develop and implement anti-racism and culturally effective health care curriculum for health professional students, faculty and staff. Finally, she is a Board Member of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice and provides evaluation consultation to community-based organizations and tribal communities in New Mexico.
Jessica is the director the Refugee Well-Being Project (RWP) at UNM, through which much of this research and outreach is run. For more information, go to the RWP website.
Nancy López draws on her scholarly work on intersectionality (e.g., attention to the simultaneity of race, gender, class, sexual orientation as systems of oppression and resistance) and the dynamics of racialization in American society to help civic organizations, community members and other researchers think more carefully about racial identity and how to measure race & ethnicity for advance transformative social justice praxis (action and reflection). For more information visit the website for the Institute for the Study of "Race" & Social Justice and the New Mexico Race, Gender, Class Data Policy Consortium.
For some examples of Dr. López's public sociology see:
López, Nancy. The US Census Bureau Keeps Confusing Race and Ethnicity," The Conversation, February 28, 2018. (Republished in Salon, Associated Press, Newsela for teachers in K-12 Instructional Online Platform)
López, Nancy. “What’s Your “Street Race-Gender”? Why We Need Separate Questions on Hispanic Origin and Race for the 2020 Census." RWJF Human Capital Blog. November 26, 2014.
VIDEO: Dr. Nancy López. What’s Your Street Race-Gender? Why We Need Two Separate Questions on Hispanic Origin and Race for the 2020 Census and Implications for the African Diaspora and Urban Communities, Feb. 19, 2015 Smithsonian Showcase, 40-min. presentation followed by 30-min. of question and answer: https://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/58998514?html5ui
López, Nancy, TEDx ABQ Salon En español – “¿Y Tú, Que Vas a Macar Para el Censo 2020? ¿Origen Hispano? ¿Raza o Color?” / “What Will You Mark for the 2020 Census? Hispanic Origin? Race or Color?”
Sign On Letter to Congressional Hispanic and Civil Rights and Voting Rights Taskforce
https://www.latinoisnotarace.info
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/31/census-latino-hispanic-race-ethnicity

Richard L. Wood draws on his scholarly expertise in his role on the national Board of Directors of Faith in Action, one of the leading faith-based voices for policy change to benefit working-class and poor communities around the United States