Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes
Assistant Professor of African American Studies & Sociology Curriculum Vitae Address: African American Studies Department 5-113 Crowe 1860 S. Campus Dr. Evanston, IL 60208-2209 Department of Sociology 1810 Chicago Avenue Evanston, IL 60208 Phone: 847-491-4805 (AFAM) 847-467-7768 (Soc) Fax: 847-491-4805 Email: c-watkins@northwestern.edu

Courses:

AFAM 101-6 Freshman Seminar: Race, Poverty, and Public Policy in America (Click here to view syllabus)

AFAM 215 Introduction to Black Political and Social Life

Degree:

Ph.D. Sociology, Harvard University, June 2003

M.A. Sociology, Harvard University, June 2000.

B.A. Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies (sociology, economics,
& education), Spelman College, May 1996

Current Research:

The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform.
This is an ethnographic analysis of the implementation of welfare reform on the front lines of service delivery. It investigates how the professional, racial, class, and community identities of welfare caseworkers and supervisors shape the implementation of policy and other organizational dynamics. Study findings indicate that while welfare reform changed the job descriptions of front-line staff members (from eligibility-compliance claims processors to welfare-to-work caseworkers), these agencies were largely unable to undertake the steps necessary to change employees' professional identities.  As a result, welfare reform did not unfold as many policy makers had imagined it, and a piecemeal system of service-delivery is now underway. While we have witnessed caseload reductions and increased work among low-income mothers, inequalities abound in how clients receive the services most likely to influence their abilities to sustain economic self-sufficiency. This incomplete revolution has also solidified many of the long-standing tensions around race, class, and community belonging in these offices in ways that have direct and indirect effects on service-delivery and other organizational dynamics. The book, The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform, will be released in the spring of 2009 by the University of Chicago Press. In order to complete this project, Dr. Watkins-Hayes received support from The National Science Foundation (Grant No. 0512018), The Brookings Institution, and the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

The Social Consequences of HIV/AIDS for African-American Women: An Ethnographic Study.
This ethnographic study explores the social experiences and processes of Chicago-area African-American women infected with HIV/AIDS. By exploring a range of domains in the women's lives, the study seeks to specify some of the ways in which HIV/AIDS impacts their daily living, life chances, and social outcomes. Areas of focus include women’s labor force participation, social network formation and maintenance, intimate relationship dynamics, and child rearing practices following an HIV diagnosis. The ultimate goal of the study is to highlight some of the social consequences of HIV/AIDS for this population by exploring the short- and long-term effects of the disease on the economic and social well-being of the women and their families. This project has received support from the National Institutes of Health (through the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California – San Francisco) and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 0512018).

Recent Awards:

Recent Grants

National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 2005-06 & 2007-08 (2-year award served consecutively)

Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, HIV-Prevention Research in Minority Communities Collaborative Program Pilot Study Grant, 2004-2008

Northwestern University Faculty Research Grant, 2005-2006

Northwestern University Department of African American Studies Research Grant, 2005-2006

Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, declined, 2005-2006

Other Awards

Department of African American Studies Teaching Award, Northwestern University, 2004, 2007

Student-Selected Faculty Honor Roll, Northwestern University, 2004-2005

Robert W. Hartley Dissertation Fellowship, The Brookings Institution, in residence 2001-2002

Recent Publications:

Books

Watkins-Hayes, Celeste.  The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Expected spring 2009.

Articles and Book Chapters

Watkins-Hayes, Celeste.  “Race-ing the Bootstrap Climb: Black and Latino Bureaucrats in Post-Reform Welfare Offices.” Accepted at Social Problems/56(2) : 285-310   

Watkins-Hayes, Celeste.  “The Social and Economic Context of Black Women Living with HIV/AIDS in the US:  Implications for Research.”  In Sex, Power, and Taboo: Gender and HIV in the Caribbean and Beyond.  Rhoda Reddock, Sandra Reid, Dianne Douglas, and Dorothy Roberts (Editors). Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.

Watkins-Hayes, Celeste. “Human Services as ‘Race Work’? Historical Lessons and Contemporary Challenges of Black Providers.” In Human Services as Complex Organizations, 2nd edition. Yeheskel Hasenfeld (Editor). Sage Publications. Expected 2009.

Domínguez, Silvia and Celeste Watkins.  2003.  “Creating Networks for Survival and Mobility: Social Capital Among African-American and Latin-American Low-Income Mothers.”  Social Problems. 50(1): 111-135. 

-Awards:  Finalist, Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research, Center for Families at Purdue University and the Boston College Center for Work and Family, 2005.  Honorable Mention, Section on Race, Gender, and Class Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award, American Sociological Association, 2005.

Watkins, Celeste.  2001. “A Tale of Two Classes: Socio-Economic Inequality Among African-Americans Under 35.”  The State of Black America 2001.  New York: National Urban League. 

Watkins, Celeste. 2000.  “When a Stumble is Not a Fall: Recovering from Employment Setbacks in the Welfare to Work Transition.”  Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy.  6(1): 63-84.

Selected Service

Trustee, Spelman College Board of Trustees, 2009 - present

Website Co-Organizer, Urban Orgs: New Thinking on Organizations, Inequality, and Urban Conditions (www.urbanorgs.org), Co-Organizer: Mario Small, 2007 - present

Secretary-Treasurer, Community and Urban Sociology Section, American Sociological Association, 2008-2011

Member, National Advisory Board, Women’s Research and Resource Center, Spelman College, 2008 – present

Member, Power Girls Advisory and Mentoring Council, Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & Inclusion Institute, Bennett College for Women, 2007 – present

Member, Board of Directors, Test Positive Aware Network, an HIV/AIDS service and advocacy organization, 2007 – present