"It's a Family Affair: Kinship and the Black Community" Conversation
Join New Mexico Child First Network as we celebrate Black History Month with our inaugural “Raising and Supporting Black Youth and Children in Foster Care'.”
Training certificates will be provided to all attendees.
Meet Sonia
Sonia Gipson Rankin teaches in the fields of Torts, Constitutional Law, Family Law, and Race and the Law. Gipson Rankin’s research is centered on the law and its impact on the Black American community, particularly in the areas of technology, family dynamics, and race.
Before joining the UNM School of Law faculty, Gipson Rankin served as the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Program Development in University College and as a Senior Lecturer in Africana Studies, both at the University of New Mexico. In 2016, Gipson Rankin was named one of 10 Outstanding First-Year Advocates by the National Resource Center for her work related to first year college students. In 2018, she was honored as a Woman of Influence Award by the Albuquerque Business Journal.
Gipson Rankin has served as a family mediator, legal advisor, and as a charter school trustee and has served on state-wide higher education committees and regularly presents on kinship care, mass incarceration, microaggressions, gender equity, and issues related to the Black American community before universities, civil rights and public policy conferences. Gipson Rankin has been committed to her community, serving in the past as Vice-President of her children’s elementary school PTA and as a pre-teen volleyball coach through the YMCA. She has taught lessons on Black New Mexico history, the constitution, and ethics throughout Albuquerque public schools and instructed at continuing legal education programs through the New Mexico State Bar. She is a former President of the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association, and a member of the State Bar of New Mexico Committee on Diversity.
In the News
U.S. Elections 2020, BBC World News (November 8, 2020)
Addressing new forms of racism Part II: Preventing Microaggressions, UNM Newsroom (July 21, 2020)
Addressing new forms of racism Part I: Defining Microaggressions, UNM Newsroom (July 17, 2020)
UNM legal experts break down judge's decision to hold alleged rapist in pretrial detention, KOB-4 (January 29, 2020)
Dr. King's vision still inspires hope, Sandia Lab News (January 30, 2020)
UNM faculty part of team studying bias in housing application algorithms, UNM Newsroom (October 24, 2019)
NM experts fight for transparency and fairness in housing algorithms, Santa Fe Institute (October 24, 2019)