Cindy Buys | SIU

Professor Buys joined the SIU Simmons Law School faculty in 2001 and has served as a Professor, Director of International Law Programs, and Interim Dean. She has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Lithuania and a Visiting Professor at both Bangor University in Wales and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland. She is the recipient of both the Outstanding Teacher of the Year and the Outstanding Scholar of the Year Awards, as well as other state and national awards for her work and her service.

Professor Buys holds leadership positions in the American Association of Law Schools, the American Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association. She is a Commissioner and Chair of the Legal Committee of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. She also is a panelist for NAFTA/USMCA trade disputes.

Prior to academia, Professor Buys spent ten years in public and private practice in Washington, D.C. She was an international attorney-advisor with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Import Administration, where she had the privilege of representing the United States before the World Trade Organization as well as in U.S. courts. Previously, Professor Buys was in private practice with a Washington, D.C., law firm that specialized in international transportation law.

Professor Buys holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University School of Law in International and Comparative Law, a J.D. degree and an M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Albany.

Professor Buys teaches International Law, International Business Transactions, Constitutional Law, Immigration Law, and a variety of other related courses. She has published a book, International Law: A Contemporary Approach (West Academic 2025), along with numerous articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics including economic sanctions, shipping law, trade law, international arbitration, immigration and refugee law, consular relations law, U.S. treaty law and practice, and the intersection between U.S. constitutional law and international law.