Celeste Watkins-Hayes is internationally recognized for her research on inequality, public policy, and human service institutions. In investigating the ability of street-level bureaucracy to meet the needs of poor families, she found that organizational factors had a greater impact on service distribution than shared racial identity between caseworkers and clients. Watkins-Hayes has also written extensively on the HIV/AIDS safety net, connecting the experiences of poor Black women living with HIV/AIDS to broader analyses of intersectionality and support systems.
Professional positions
- 2020–present: Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, professor of sociology, and Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy (2023–present), Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
- 2003–2020: Assistant (2003–2009), associate (2010–2017), and full (2017–2020) professor of sociology and African American studies, Northwestern University
Notable publications
- Watkins-Hayes, Celeste. 2019. Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality. University of California Press.
- Watkins-Hayes, Celeste. 2014. “Intersectionality and the Sociology of HIV/AIDS: Past, Present, and Future Research Directions.” Annual Review of Sociology 40:431–457.
- Watkins-Hayes, Celeste. 2011. “Race, Respect, and Red Tape: Inside the Black Box of Racially Representative Bureaucracies.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 21 (Supplement 2): i233–i251.
- Watkins-Hayes, Celeste. 2009. The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform. University of Chicago Press.
Degrees
- PhD, sociology, Harvard University
- MA, sociology, Harvard University
- BA; sociology, economics, and education; Spelman College
In The ANNALS
Volume 647, May 2013: “The Micro Dynamics of Support Seeking: The Social and Economic Utility of Institutional Ties for HIV-Positive Women”
