Diana L. Hayes is a Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology at Georgetown University.

Her areas of specialization are Womanist Theology, Black Theology, U.S. Liberation Theologies, Contextual Theologies, Religion and Public Life, and African American and Womanist Spirituality. Dr. Hayes is the first African American woman to receive the Pontifical Doctor of Sacred Theology degree (S.T.D.) from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and has also received three honorary doctorates.

She is the author of several books, including No Crystal Stair: Womanist Spirituality (Orbis Books, 2016,) Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality (Orbis Books, 2012), and Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: A Womanist Theology (Fortress Press, 2010) and over 50 articles.