Directory

Levitsky serves as senior associate of the school's International Policy Center, and senior advisor to the Weiser Diplomacy Center. During his 35-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Levitsky was ambassador to Brazil from 1994-98 and held such senior positions as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, ambassador to Bulgaria, deputy director of the Voice of America, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.

Earl Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy, and the founding director of the U-M Center for Social Solutions. From March 2013-2018, he served as president of The…

Lin, a political scientist, studies how people experience policy implementation. Her current work examines racial and ethnic difference in the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic; bias reduction against Muslims; national security scapegoating of immigrant groups; conservatism among immigrants; and subnational labor migration policy.

Michelmore is a leading scholar and educator on the social safety net, education policy, labor economics, and economic demography. She is a recognized expert on the efficacy of the Earned Income Tax Credit and its impact on children.

Morenoff's research interests include neighborhood environments, inequality, crime and criminal justice, the social determinants of health, racial/ethnic/immigrant disparities in health and antisocial behavior, and methods for analyzing multilevel and spatial data.

Donald Moynihan is a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Previously he served as Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Chair of Public Policy and the director of the La…

Neggers's research examines questions at the intersection of development economics and political economy, with a focus on state capacity and the delivery of public services. He has studied the effects of caste and ethnicity on election processes in India.

Page applies her vast foreign policy experience to the Weiser Diplomacy Center. She has served the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations in senior roles for decades, across East, Central, and Southern Africa, and in Haiti and Nepal. Page was the first U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan and served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations in Haiti.

Parthasarathy studies the governance of emerging science and technology and the politics of evidence and expertise in policy in comparative and international perspective. Her current research focuses on equity in innovation and innovation policy. She co-hosts The Received Wisdom podcast.

Pilkauskas is a social demographer who studies the social safety net, children's living arrangements, and economic insecurity. Pilkauskas' work considers how social policy might improve the developmental and life trajectories of children living in poverty.

Attia Qureshi is a lecturer in negotiations at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and in communications at the Ross School of Business. An organizational culture consultant, she lays the groundwork for progress and…

Rabe examines the political feasibility and durability of environmental and energy policy, with a particular emphasis on efforts to address climate change in the U.S. and other federal systems. His most recent books examine the politics of carbon pricing and the limitations of unilateral executive branch policy actions. Current research explores the politics of intensive but short-lived greenhouse gases, such as methane and HFCs. Recent policy engagement includes work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Raimi is a social psychologist focused on climate change beliefs and policy support. She studies how people compare themselves to others, how adopting one pro-environmental behavior affects later action, and how communication affects understanding and support for climate policy and technology.

Alex Ralph is a teaching professor and writing instructor at the Ford School, where he teaches expository writing and courses on storytelling through public policy. Prior to the Ford School, he taught for over a decade in the Sweetland Center for…

Rohde is historian who specializes in the relationship between policy knowledge, technology, and American democracy. At Michigan, she is also affiliated with the Department of History, the Science, Technology, and Society Program, and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program.

Stephanie L. Sanders is a lecturer and diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at the Ford School. Through the lens of critical race theory, Sanders' research agenda examines students who transition from urban environments to rural, predominantly…

Luke Shaefer serves as the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative at U-M that seeks to partner communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty.

Silva studies the mechanisms that perpetuate (or mitigate) group-based labor market inequality, with a focus on social networks and employer discrimination. She examines how employers reward the referrals of black and white job applicants, the relationship between employers' racial attitudes and their hiring behavior, and the determinants of how people are racially classified by others. She also investigates how different ways of framing immigration affect attitudes towards immigration policy.

Molly Spencer is a writing instructor, the author of two poetry collections, If the House (U. of Wisc. Press) and Hinge (SIU Press), and many essays and book reviews. Prior to her writing career, she worked in public sector project management and legislative relations. She holds degrees in economics, public policy, and writing.

Stange's research lies broadly in empirical labor and public economics, with a focus on education and health care. His prior research includes studies of college enrollment and persistence, the effect of resources and peers on community college students, the importance of amenities in college choice, and the effects of different pricing structures on major choice and student credit load.

Stevenson is a labor economist who publishes widely about the labor market and the impact of public policies on outcomes both in the labor market and for families. Her research explores women's labor market experiences, the economic forces shaping the modern family, and how these experiences and forces influence each other. She served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2010 to 2011, participating as the secretary's deputy to the White House economic team.

Megan A. Stewart is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her research interests focus on explaining variation in how changes to social, economic, and political…

As an associate professor of public policy and urban planning, Thacher’s research draws from philosophy, history, and the interpretive social sciences to develop and apply a humanistic approach to policy research. Most of his work has focused on criminal justice policy, where he has undertaken studies of order maintenance policing, the local police role in homeland security, community policing reform, the distribution of safety and security, prisoner re-entry, and criminal justice discretion.

Tompkins-Stange is a scholar of education policy and philanthropy, focusing on the influence of private foundations on the politics of K-12 school reform.

Torres is a historical sociologist who researches urban political economy and race-class inequality. His current work includes research on urban fiscal crisis, state-local politics, and the sociology of race and racism.

Watkins-Hayes is an internationally-recognized scholar and expert widely credited for her research at the intersection of inequality, public policy, and human service institutions, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS; poverty; and race, class, and gender studies. Dr. Watkins-Hayes has published three books, numerous articles in journals and edited volumes, and pieces in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Chicago Magazine.

Christina Weiland is Professor at the Marsal Family School of Education and the Karl and Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, where she is affiliated with the Educational Studies…

Wolfers is an economist with broad policy-related interests and experience. He is also affiliated with the NBER, Brookings and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a contributing columnist for the New York Times and host of the “Think Like An Economist” podcast. He is a popular teacher and author of a leading economics textbook.

Alton Worthington is a lecturer in public policy at the Ford School, where he teaches on statistical computing and data visualization. His core research is on topics of international political economy, with a focus on the intersection of global…

Yang's research is on the economic problems of developing countries. His specific areas of interest include: international migration, microfinance, health, corruption, political economy, and the economics of disasters. He teaches a Ford School course on the economics of developing countries, as well as a PhD course in development economics.