Alumni News | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Alum Kristen Schultz (MPP/MBA '13) profiled in Washington Post story about college graduates in DC

Friday, May 10, 2013

Recent Ford School grad Kristen Schultz (MPP/MBA '13) was profiled in a Washington Post story about college graduates and the choice to live in the Washington, DC region.

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Assuming Success: Grant Erwin (MPP '09)

Monday, April 29, 2013

For seven days in September 2012, thousands of Chicago public school teachers walked off their jobs when contract negotiations with the city ground to a halt. Represented by the Chicago Teacher's Union (CTU), the striking teachers were the first in more than twenty-five years to stage a work stoppage, and their strike affected more than 350,000 school children in America's third largest public school system.

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Alumna combats violence against women with GenderHopes

Monday, April 22, 2013

Knowledge is power for combatting violence against women

"So far, there aren't reliable statistics on domestic violence in Monaco," says Vibeke Brask Thomsen (MPP/MA '06), founder and director of GenderHopes. "It doesn't mean they don't exist, we just haven't found them yet." Finding accurate information–and using it to educate women, policymakers, and the public at large–is one of the central aims of this Monaco-based non-profit dedicated to combatting violence against women.

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Improving urban health through the power of community

Monday, April 22, 2013

Ruth Browne (MPP/MPH '83) just did the happy dance. She's celebrating a gift to the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, an institute she's directed since its founding in 1992 by the legendary African American tennis star and humanitarian. This moment of unguarded delight is particularly endearing in Browne because her public persona is all polish and professionalism. It has to be. As CEO of an internationally recognized nonprofit leader in community-based health interventions, Browne knows how important the institute's work is to economically disadvantaged communities of color and poverty, which suffer a disproportionate share of preventable illnesses like heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.

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It is a big tent after all: Don Borut and the National League of Cities

Monday, April 22, 2013

Public protests were common; drugs and riots weren't uncommon; and crowds of young people spent their summers in tents on city grounds - no jobs, no parents, no plans - simply because Ann Arbor was a happening place to be. "It was a very different time," says Ford School alum Don Borut (MPA '65) of Ann Arbor in the '60s. That's a bit of an understatement.

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A fair day in court: how one alumna works toward an impartial judicial system

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Many Americans believe that justice is for sale—that judges, and their rulings, can be bought by special interests. It's a cynical view of the American judiciary, sure. But according to statistics compiled by Justice at Stake (JAS), a nonpartisan organization that works toward fair and impartial courts, there's good reason to worry.

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The storm after the superstorm: alumna lobbies for forward-thinking relief

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

When Superstorm Sandy struck the northeast coast last October, it struck with a vengeance. It cascaded over seawalls; knocked a roller coaster into the ocean; yanked out chunks of the Atlantic City boardwalk; felled trees and power lines; flooded multimillion dollar homes; lit fires, then blew them from street to street; and shut down public transport systems, schools, airports, and the New York Stock Exchange. Residents in the lower third of Manhattan lost electricity-no lights, no computers, no elevators, no refrigerators-and they weren't the only ones. Altogether, some 8.5 million lost power in the northeastern United States. Worse yet, tens of thousands were left homeless.

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Ford School alum Manny Teodoro to receive 2013 ASPA Book Award

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Ford School alum Manny Teodoro (PhD '07) has been named the recipient of the 2013 Book Award presented by the Section on Public Administration Research (SPAR) of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). The award is given to new works with the potential to make a lasting contribution to literature on public administration. Teodoro's book, Bureaucratic Ambition: Careers, Motives, and the Innovative Administrator, uses case studies and quantitative analysis to advance the view that institutional design can lead to more entrepreneurial public administration executives.

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An alum to watch: Naomi Goldberg (MPP '08)

Monday, January 7, 2013

A Chicago-based policy researcher for think tank Movement Advancement Project (MAP), Naomi splits her time between what she calls "movement" research—analyzing the capability of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) movement to create and effect change—and policy research that provides tools to advocates and organizations working toward LGBT equality.

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Setting priorities: Kim Stone (MS '94, MPP '93)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Kim Stone wants to make life in her community better. That's why she's chosen to run for public office.

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BA alum works to ensure prisoners' civil rights

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

For Gary Graca (BA '09), a degree in public policy was about seeing what happens out of public view. As a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Graca visits the inner workings of state-funded prisons and mental health facilities to ensure compliance with civil rights laws. Much of Graca's work is based on Olmstead v. L.C., a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits states from institutionalizing people with disabilities if they could be accommodated in community care settings. Failure to follow the Court's "integration mandate" would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Everyday innovation

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Ford School alumni 'work smart' on international development at USAID

"Just imagine the communities you came from if, within a six-week period of time, your schools had to double in capacity to take in refugees from a neighboring country," proposed Rajiv Shah (BS '95), Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at a late September talk sponsored by ONE and hosted by the Ford School, "and you get a sense of both the scale of the challenge—and the potential—for real partnership between the United States and Jordan."

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Informed Relief: Andrew Schroeder (MPP '07)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Part of what can make a hurricane deadly is the storm surge that follows: high winds that cause the sea level to rise significantly above the average high-tide line. Storm surges caused devastation in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and, most recently, during Hurricane Sandy, when more than 8,000,000 East Coast residents lost power.

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Two Ford School alumni awarded Strong Cities Strong Communities Fellowship

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Ford School alumni Chris Dorle (MPP '07) and Betsy Palazzola (MPP '12) are recipients of the inaugural Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2) Fellowship, which places highly-skilled professionals in U.S. cities to assist with planning and implementing socioeconomic policies.

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Crain's Detroit Business selects Lisa Katz (MPA '01) as a "40 Under 40" for 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

Crain's Detroit Business profiled Ford School alumna Lisa Katz (MPA '01), a 2012 recipient of its "40 Under 40" award. The award honors individuals under the age of 40 with an exceptional record of business achievement and social impact in Southeast Michigan.

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Everyone Loves a Comeback: How Two Alums are Successfully Selling Detroit

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Most experts agree that Detroit is undergoing a nascent revitalization, but the city still needs to continue attracting new business to the region. Positive shifts are clearly visible, however, with business and non-profit sectors leading the way. Several Fortune 500 companies have relocated their headquarters to the central business district. Venture capitalists and non-profit interests have virtually transformed the downtown and midtown districts, ushering in technology companies, putting much-needed dollars into real estate development, and even providing seed money to entrepreneurial upstarts with bright ideas.

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Chris Crachiola (BA '12) featured in USA Today article on U.S. students interning abroad

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Recent Ford School graduate Chris Crachiola (BA '12) was featured in a USA Today Education article highlighting the value of international work experience to recent college graduates in today's job market.

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Raising HIV/AIDS awareness: alum continues dedication as White House intern

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dilara Üsküp (BA '11) put in a lot of hard work in her final semester as a Ford School student—just not at the Ford School. The new alum spent her final semester as a White House intern in the Office of National Aids Policy (ONAP). While there, she helped co-author a presidential memo "Establishing a Working Group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender-related Health Disparities"—another step in President Obama's National HIV/AIDS Strategy to organize federal departments and agencies around a disease that is still widespread and disproportionately affects women of color.

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Annie Maxwell: A lifetime of engagement

Sunday, May 13, 2012

From hosting summer interns to hiring quality Ford School graduates, Annie Maxwell, Chief Operating Officer of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, has made a steadfast commitment to the success of current Ford School students and shows no signs of stopping. While an MPP student, Annie interned with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. When she needed support for everything from resume writing to identifying career goals, she got the help she needed from Graduate Career Services.

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Making a mark: Taurean Brown (MPP/JD '11)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Taurean Brown figured out early on that the best policy often starts with one good idea. Add hard work, the commitment to see it through, stir, repeat. During her first year as a Ford School student, Taurean founded Public Policy Connects (PPC), a program that introduces southeast Michigan students from diverse backgrounds to the field of public policy. Now in its fourth year at the Ford School and well on its way to becoming a school tradition, this one-day conference teaches students what public policy is, its impact on their lives, and how they can make a difference in their communities.

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