Celeste Watkins-Hayes, PhD, is the interim dean and founding director of the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Watkins-Hayes is also the Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, professor of sociology, and an Anti-Racism Collaborative research and community impact fellow. She is an internationally recognized scholar and expert widely credited for her research at the intersection of inequality, public policy, and institutions, with a special focus on urban poverty and race, class, and gender studies. In addition to her academic appointments, Watkins-Hayes also served on the board of trustees at Spelman College for over a decade, where she assumed various leadership roles and led the search to identify the college’s 10th president. She is a founding steering member of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, having served on the board of directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts from 2017 to 2021.