Celeste Atkins

Director, Student Engagement and Recruitment

Director, Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD)

Co-Director, Graduate Communities for Academic Fellowship & Efficacy (Grad CAFE)

Pronouns:

she, her, hers

Celeste Atkins, PhD, is a sociologist by training, an educator by calling, and a single mother by choice who enjoys crochet and party planning. She is the Director of Student Engagement and Recruitment in the UA Graduate College Office of Diversity and Inclusion and has been with UA since 2017. Dr. Atkins has over a decade of teaching experience and has been honored with various awards for teaching and diversity work, including the 2019 Pacific Sociological Association Early Career Award for Innovation in Teaching and the 2021 Arizona Women in Higher Education Emerging Leader Award. Dr. Atkins directs the Initiatives to Maximize Student Development (IMSD) program and co-founded the Graduate Communities for Academic Fellowship & Efficacy (Grad CAFE) program (now funded by an NSF Innovations in Graduate Education grant). Both programs provide holistic support to underrepresented graduate students, supporting her passion for increased equity and inclusion in academia. To learn more about Dr. Atkins’ publications, public speaking, and teaching, visit her website.