Racial foundations of labor market 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 Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, director of the Center for Racial Justice at the Ford School of Public Policy. The series is open to all members of the University of Michigan community and the wider public.

Trevon D. Logan is the Hazel C. Youngberg Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University. He is a research associate in the Development of the American Economy Program and the director of the Race and Stratification in the Economy Working Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research.  A former President of the National Economic Association and member of the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of the Minority Groups in the Economics Profession, he is currently Co-director of the American Economic Association’s Mentoring Program and member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Literature and the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

His current research focuses on racial inequality and economic history. His international award-winning research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Economist, NBC, CBS, Bloomberg, CNN, and other major media outlets. Named by Fortune Magazine as “One of the 19 Black Economists You Should Know and Celebrate” in 2020, his work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Brookings Institution, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, among others.

Logan received his BS in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999, his MA degrees in demography and economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003, and his PhD in economics from University of California, Berkeley in 2004. Learn more about Dr. Trevon Logan here.

Faculty Expert

Celeste M. Watkins-Hayes

Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy; Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy; University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; Professor of Sociology

Watkins-Hayes is an internationally-recognized scholar and expert widely credited for her research at the intersection of inequality, public policy, and human service institutions, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS; poverty; and race, class, and gender studies. Dr. Watkins-Hayes has published three books, numerous articles in journals and edited volumes, and pieces in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Chicago Magazine.

• Center for Racial Justice
• Celeste Watkins-Hayes
• Trevon Logan
• Racial Foundations of Public Policy
• racial justice