Associate Dean Nepstad has been a member of the UNM Department of Sociology and Criminology since 2009. Prior to joining the UNM faculty, she earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado-Boulder and held a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion. She previously held faculty positions at Regis University, Duquesne University, and the University of Southern Maine and was a Visiting Fellow at Notre Dame University’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Nepstad’s expertise is in the areas of social movements and contentious politics, peace and conflict studies, and the sociology of religion. Her research has focused on the role of religion in mobilizing movements that aim to obstruct war, protect human rights, and promote democratization. She has also written extensively about nonviolent resistance in revolutionary struggles against authoritarianism. In 2021, she received the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association’s section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict.

Nepstad has served in various capacities within UNM’s College of Arts and Sciences. From 2009-2012, she was the Director of Religious Studies. She served as the Chair of Sociology and Criminology from 2012-2014 and again from 2016-2021.