University of Michigan Provost Laurie McCauley is recommending sociologist Celeste Watkins-Hayes, associate dean for academic affairs, as the interim dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Watkins-Hayes also serves as university diversity and social transformation professor, Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, and professor of sociology, LSA. She is the founding director of the Ford School's Center for Racial Justice and a research and community impact fellow with the Provost's Anti-Racism Collaborative.

Her appointment would be effective July 19, 2022, and run until a permanent dean is appointed, pending Board of Regents approval. She succeeds Michael S. Barr, who stepped down to serve as governor and vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve.

"I am pleased to recommend Professor Watkins-Hayes as interim dean of the Ford School. She is a distinguished scholar and educator, with broad and robust experience as an administrator," said McCauley. "I am confident that the school will maintain its momentum during this interim period."

"I am truly honored to serve as interim dean of the Ford School of Public Policy," said Watkins-Hayes. "In this important moment of transition, I look forward to working closely with our world-class faculty, staff, students, university community, and external partners to continue to further the Ford School's core mission of advancing the public good."

Watkins-Hayes is an internationally-recognized scholar and expert on health inequities, HIV/AIDS; social policy; societal safety nets; and race, class, and gender. Her latest book, Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality (University of California Press, 2019), has won seven awards, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Book Award, the discipline's highest book honor.

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