Celeste E. Freytes González (born 1950) is a Puerto Rican academic administrator who served as the interim president of the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

in 2013 and again from 2016 to 2017. She has served a commissioner on the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education, is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

Life

Freytes was born in 1950. She completed a Ed.D. at Boston University School of Education. Her 1977 thesis was titled, ''Paired-Associate Learning with Spanish and English Mediation in a Bilingual Population''.

Sue Allen Warren Sue Allen Warren (December 2, 1917 – November 16, 1997) was an American clinical psychologist and educator known for her contributions to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. She retired from Boston University as an emeritu ...

was her doctoral advisor. Her study found that verbal mediation significantly improved paired-associate learning in bilingual children, with English mediation yielding better results than Spanish mediation, regardless of the children's language proficiency. By 1976, Freytes was working in the department of reading and language at the BU School of Education and was a member of ''

The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States ''The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States'' (''MELUS'') is a scholarly society established in 1974. MELUS publishes a quarterly academic journal, ''MELUS''. The aim of the Society is "to expand the definition ...

'' (''MELUS''). The following year she was an assistant professor of education at Boston University. Freytes began teaching at the

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (; UPR-RP, or informally La IUPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the largest campus in the University of Puer ...

in 1979. She has been involved in various projects focused on higher education and the

self-study Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodida ...

process. In 2013, Freytes was a member of Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla's transitional team before he took office as governor; Garcia Padilla contacted her directly about becoming interim president of the

(UPR) before she was named to the position. In January 2016, she began her first term as a commissioner on the

. Freytes has held multiple administrative positions at UPR, including vice president for academic affairs. She first served as interim president from September to November 2013 and was appointed to the position again in February 2016, following the resignation of former president

Uroyoán Walker Uroyoán Ramón Emeterio Walker Ramos (born in Brooklyn, New York) is a mathematician, college professor, and former President of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). He completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, ...

after a controversy regarding the awarding of presidential scholarships for the 2015 to 2016 academic year. During her second term as interim president, Freytes focused on managing the university's financial difficulties, developing a new strategic plan for 2016 to 2021, and ensuring compliance with accreditation standards from the

. Freytes Gonzalez announced on February 16, 2017, that she and other UPR leaders were renouncing from their positions, a move that was investigated by the

Puerto Rican senate The Senate of Puerto Rico () is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control the legislative branch of ...

. She was succeeded by

Nivia Fernández Hernández Nivia Aurora Fernández Hernández is a Puerto Rican dietetics and nutrition professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. She has expertise in nutrition, gerontology, and higher education. She was the interim president of the ...

as interim president of the UPR.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freytes, Celeste 1950 births Boston University alumni Living people 21st-century Puerto Rican women educators 21st-century Puerto Rican educators University of Puerto Rico faculty Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Women heads of universities and colleges American women academic administrators People from Santurce, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican academic administrators 21st-century American women academics Place of birth missing (living people)