Student Directory
MPP/MPA Degrees
The masters' programs are the foundation of our degree program offerings. Our first master's program was established in 1914, when the University of Michigan founded one of the nation's first institutes for public administration. Today, the Ford School offers the opportunity to participate in a small, diverse community of students and faculty deeply committed to working effectively in the policy world.
WELL-TRAINED GRADUATES, FIRST-CLASS CAREERS
Who chooses to pursue a public policy degree? Our students are passionately interested in public affairs and want to be active participants in public decisions – decisions that affect their neighborhood, their country, and people around the globe. Our students analyze problems, seek solutions, collaborate for change, and advocate for more effective policies.
The Ford School MPP degree provides an exceptionally flexible professional education, preparing students for careers in domestic or international affairs, and allowing them to focus on a specific policy issue such as education, health care, or the environment. Our graduates conduct research on public policy issues, or implement programs, or become advocates for certain issues or legislation. And since our curriculum provides a set of research, analytical, and management skills that are widely transferable across sectors and issue areas, graduates often move back and forth between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors – or between international and domestic work – over the course of their careers. Some pursue elective office in the years after graduation, while others become senior managers or analysts.
ACADEMICS: DEMANDING AND REWARDING
Our Masters level curriculum is designed to train students with a broad set of interests for a wide set of jobs. Core courses develop a foundation of skills in economics, statistics, political analysis, and public management. A particular strength of the Ford School is our requirement that all students receive serious quantitative training in data analysis and cost-benefit analysis. Students then choose from a variety of advanced classes in areas such as social policy, international trade, quantitative analysis, economic policy, and politics. Students often combine their policy courses with electives from elsewhere around the University of Michigan, including its 18 professional schools – such as law, business, education, and urban planning – or one of the top-ranked social science departments. For example, many students come to the Ford School to study social policy issues and take courses from Social Work, Education, or Public Health.
In addition to the rigorous coursework, the Ford School curriculum provides students with hands-on, practical policy experience. We require a policy-related summer internship, giving students the opportunity to develop and enhance their skills in a real-world setting. A week-long, school-wide applied policy exercise is held each January, enabling students to work intensively on a particular policy issue.
Our joint doctoral program offers both the interdisciplinary strength and policy focus of the Ford School and a theoretical grounding from the internationally recognized social science departments of the University of Michigan: Economics, Sociology, or Political Science.
A LIVELY AND ENGAGED ENVIRONMENT
The intellectual environment at the Ford School encourages active engagement with the critical policy issues of the day. Each year we host distinguished policy practitioners who give public lectures, teach a course, or meet with small groups of students to answer substantive or career-related questions.
The activities of our dynamic research centers give students access to policymakers and researchers from around the world. Our centers include the National Poverty Center, the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy Research, the International Policy Center, and the Nonprofit and Public Management Center.
We offer our students ready access to the intellectual, cultural, and social resources of the University of Michigan, one of America 's great public universities. Ann Arbor, a livable college town with a rich cultural life, is easily accessible – just sixty minutes by air from New York and D.C.
DIVERSE, CLOSE-KNIT, AND ACTIVE
With around 85 masters students and fewer than 10 PhD students admitted each year, the Ford School is large enough to offer a wide diversity of intellectual and political interests, but small enough to be friendly and comfortable.
Active student groups include: International Policy Students Association, Women and Gender in Public Policy, Domestic Policy Corps, and the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs. Another student group, the Community Service Organization, leads school-wide public service initiatives, days of service, and fundraising events.
FORD SCHOOL FACULTY
The Ford School is home to an interdisciplinary group of faculty who meet the criteria of academic excellence in the social science disciplines, who are enthusiastic teachers and mentors, and who take seriously the implications of their work for policy problems. Their broad research interests are demonstrated by the wide range of units with which they hold joint appointments – economics, political science, math, history, sociology, business, social work, education, natural resources, information, and urban planning.
Contact Us!
All of us in the Office of Student and Academic Services are available to talk with you, by email or in person, to answer questions and share information about the Ford School . For further information about our Masters program and to be included on our contact lists, please Request More Information. More questions? Please Email Student Services or contact us by phone: (734) 764-0453.
