Racial foundations of immigration policy

Racial Foundations of Public Policy is a Fall 2021 virtual speaker series that focuses on the historical roots and impact of race in shaping public policy as both a disciplinary field and as a course of action. The series will bring in renowned scholar-experts from across the country to be in conversation with the Director of the Center for Racial Justice at the Ford School of Public Policy, Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes. The series is open to all members of the University of Michigan community and the wider public. 

Jennifer Lee is the Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Social Sciences at Columbia University, and Past President of the Eastern Sociological Society. An award-winning author of four books, most recently of The Asian American Achievement Paradox, she is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to the Field Award from the American Sociological Association’s Asia and Asian American Section. Her wide-ranging research addresses morally urgent questions about the implications of contemporary U.S. immigration—particularly Asian immigration—on the native-born population. She has studied this from a variety of analytical lenses, including immigrant entrepreneurship and ethnic conflict, intermarriage and multiracial identification, educational opportunities and outcomes, and, most recently, affirmative action and the rise in anti-Asian hate. She is a Board Member of the Obama Presidency Oral History, a Trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation, and a Senior Researcher at AAPI Data, which recently received a $10 million grant to study anti-Asian discrimination and hate. Committed to public engagement, she is a Contributor for The Brookings Institution, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and a variety of other outlets. Earlier this year, she was invited by the Biden-Harris Administration to present her research on xenophobia, discrimination and anti-Asian hate to COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.Learn more about Dr. Lee here.

Faculty Expert

Celeste M. Watkins-Hayes

Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy; Director, Center for Racial Justice; Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy; University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; Professor of Sociology; Research and Community Impact Fellow, Anti-Racism Collaborative

Watkins-Hayes is an internationally-recognized scholar and expert on HIV/AIDS; urban poverty; social policy; and racial, class, and gender inequality. Her work illuminates social problems of great interest to scholars, communities, and policymakers. She works at the intersection of sociology, African American Studies, and public policy. Her work analyzes the impact of the HIV epidemic on women and the growth of the HIV safety net.

• Center for Racial Justice
• Celeste Watkins-Hayes
• Jennifer Lee
• Racial Foundations of Public Policy
• immigration
• Asian immigration
• anti-Asian racism
• racial justice