Dean's Symposium - Public Policy in the 21st Century: Charting the Course

National social policy leader Cecilia Muñoz, in conversation with Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes,  will reflect on her eight years in the Obama administration and domestic policy work on the Biden transition team, as well as her decades-long careers at the National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US). The issues of political inclusion for the LatinX community, public interest technology, and immigration and refugee affairs remain central to her work.  

This event is part of the Dean's Symposium. For more information about the other panels and keynotes, please click here.

From the Speakers' bios:

Cecilia Muñoz is a national leader in public policy and public interest technology with over three decades of experience in the non-profit sector and 8 years of service on President Obama’s senior team. Cecilia spent two decades at the National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US); winning a MacArthur Fellowship for her work on immigration and civil rights. She served in President Barack Obama's West Wing, becoming the first Latino to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council. She serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including the Kresge, MacArthur and Joyce Foundations, New America, Protect Democracy, and Civic Nation. She also serves on the boards of Headspace Health and AdHoc. 

Celeste Watkins-Hayes is the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and founding director of the school's Center for Racial Justice. 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. 

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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.

• CRJ
• Center for Racial Justice
• Dean's Symposium
• Celeste Watkins-Hayes
• Cecilia Munoz
• Domestic policy
• Gender race and ethnicity