Cindy Galway Buys is the Interim Dean and Professor of Law at the Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Law, where she teaches Immigration Law among other courses. She joined the Board of the Immigration Project in 2019.

Dean Buys directs the Immigration Detention Project at SIU Law which provides legal information to immigration detainees at the Pulaski County Detention Center. She is a past chair and current member of the International and Immigration Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) and has served on the Illinois Task Force on Human Trafficking. She also is a member of the Illinois Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. She engages in pro bono service by representing asylum clients and providing research and advice to nonprofit organizations on asylum and refugee issues. Dean Buys has held leadership positions in several organizations in addition to the ISBA, including the American Society of International Law and the American Association of Law Schools.

Prior to joining the SIU School of Law faculty in 2001, Professor Buys spent ten years in public and private practice in Washington, D.C. She has an LL.M. from Georgetown University School of Law in International and Comparative Law; a J.D. degree and a M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University, and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany.