Celeste Freytes

Celeste E. Freytes González (born 1950) is a Puerto Rican academic administrator who served as the interim president of the University of Puerto Rico in 2013 and again from 2016 to 2017. She has served a commissioner on the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Life Freytes was born in 1950. Her 1977 thesis was titled, Paired-Associate Learning with Spanish and English Mediation in a Bilingual Population. 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 in 1979. She has been involved in various projects focused on higher education and the self-study process. In January 2016, she began her first term as a commissioner on the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. 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 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 Middle States Commission on Higher Education. She was succeeded by Nivia Fernández Hernández as interim president of the UPR.