Nancy Lopez

Nancy López, Ph.D., is associate professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico. Dr. López earned a B.A. Columbia College, Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. She directs and co-founded the Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice, RWJF Center for Health Policy and chairs the Race, Gender and Class Section, American Sociological Association. She also coordinates the NM Statewide Race, Gender, Class Data Policy Consortium for data harmonization that leverages intersectionality to advance equity-based public policies.

López’s scholarship, teaching and service is guided by the insights of intersectionality for interrogating inequalities across a variety of social outcomes including education, health, employment, housing, etc.. Her book, Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys: Race and Gender Disparity in Urban Education (Routledge, 2003) focuses on the race-gender experiences of Dominicans, West Indians, and Haitians to explain why girls are succeeding at higher rates than boys. Dr. López co-edited a volume entitled, Mapping “Race”: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research (Rutgers, 2013).