Laura E. Gómez is a professor at the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

where she also holds appointments in Sociology and the Department of Chicana & Chicano Studies and Central American Studies.

Education and career

Gómez received her B.A. in Social Studies from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1986 where she was a

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Scholar. She received her M.A. in Sociology from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1988. She later received her J.D. with Honors from

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Sociology from

in 1994. Following law school, Gómez clerked on the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson. Before going to Stanford, she worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator

Jeff Bingaman Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman Jr. (born October 3, 1943) is an American retired politician who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from New Mexico from 1983 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...

. At

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, Gómez co-founded and served as the first co-director (with Jerry Kang) of UCLA's Critical Race Studies Program from 2000-2002. The program is the first specialized program of study on race and law in any U.S. law school. Gómez was a Professor in School of Law & American Studies at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

from 2005 to 2011. Gómez is active in several national scholarly organizations, including the

Law and Society Association The Law and Society Association (LSA), founded in 1964, is a group of scholars from many fields and countries who share a common interest in the place of law in social, political, economic and cultural life. It is one of the leading professional ...

(where she has served as Treasurer and on the Board of Trustees), the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Law Section, the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 175 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non- ...

Minority Section, the

Critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic field focused on the relationships between Social constructionism, social conceptions of Race and ethnicity in the United States census, race and ethnicity, Law in the United States, social and political ...

Workshops, and LatCrit. Gómez has also served as an Associate Editor of the '' Law & Society Review''. Gómez has been a peer reviewer for several other journals in legal studies, gender studies, Chicano/a studies, legal history and sociology, and she has been a member of the editorial boards of SIGNS and Studies in Law, Politics and Society. Gómez has held prestigious residential fellowships at the School for American Research in Santa Fe and the Stanford Humanities Center, where in 1996-97 she was the last Rockefeller Fellow in Legal Humanities. Gómez as the former Dean of Social Sciences has faced the accusation in the media of discriminating in hiring practices against conservatives. She opted not to promote Keith A. Fink to Continuing Lecturer, effectively ending his employment with the Department of Communication Studies on June 30, 2017."Students protest to support communication studies lecturer Keith Fink"
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Publications

Gómez is the author of '' Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race'' (2007) and
Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism
' (2020).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Laura E. 1964 births Harvard College alumni Stanford University alumni UCLA School of Law faculty University of New Mexico faculty American lawyers Living people People from Roswell, New Mexico American women lawyers People from Albuquerque, New Mexico American women academics 21st-century American women