Directory

Christina Weiland is an associate professor at the University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education and Ford School of Public Policy (by courtesy), where she is affiliated with the Educational Studies department, the Combined Program in…

Alford A. Young, Jr. is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Sociology and a professor of African and African American studies, with a courtesy appointment at the Ford School. He serves as associate director of U-M's Center for Social…

Scott Atran is an anthropologist who experiments on ways scientists and ordinary people categorize and reason about nature, on the cognitive and evolutionary psychology of religion, and on limits of rational choice in political and cultural conflict.…

Dr. Mara Cecilia Ostfeld is the associate faculty director of Poverty Solutions, the research director at the Center for Racial Justice, and an assistant research scientist in the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. In…

Adediran is an associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law. Her areas of expertise include institutional inequality, race and the law, nonprofits, corporations, and law and social science. She has published articles and essays in leading law review and peer reviewed journals, as well as popular media.

In November 2018, Ohio voters elected Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt to serve on the state's Tenth District Court of Appeals. She previously served on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and as director of legislative affairs and counsel to the Voting Rights Institute for the Ohio Secretary of State.

Stephen E. Biegun is the Weiser International Policymaker in Residence with the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He has more than three decades of international affairs experience in…

William (Bill) Bynum is a Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School and CEO of Hope Credit Union. For more than three decades, Bill Bynum has worked to advance economic opportunity for disenfranchised populations. 

Easter is an award-winning journalist whose writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, KCET, Dance Magazine, Austin Chronicle, Chemical & Engineering News, and more. Her current work features an independent digital publication focused on artists-activists in underreported regions and communities.

Dr. El-Sayed is a public servant, Michigan politician, former public health professor, and a medical doctor. He served as executive director of the Detroit Health Department and Health Officer for the city from 2015 to 2017, before running for governor of Michigan.

Joining the Foreign Service in 2002, Fintor, a UM alumni and Detroit native, served as U.S. Embassy spokesperson in the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. As Diplomat in Residence (DIR), Fintor provides information on State Department opportunities…

The Honorable Sander “Sandy” Levin is a Distinguished Policymaker in Residence at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Pubic Policy, with support from the Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence program. For 36 years, Levin…

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie. he is a writer and filmmaker currently based in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of We Survived the Night and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and more.

Ambassador Mark Pekala (BA Political Science '81) has served as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Paris, DCM in Tallinn, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Senior Director for…

Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel Shields is a visiting policy practitioner at the Ford School's Weiser Diplomacy Center. He consults, teaches courses and conducts simulations relating to diplomacy and U.S.-Asia relations. From 2015-18, while on detail from…

Vieux serves as chief of staff for Kids in Need of Defense’s (KIND), where he aligns vision, strategy, and tactics in an organization dedicated to addressing the legal and psychosocial needs of migrant children. He was previously vice president, legal, at Human Rights First.

Kseniya Yurtayeva a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, with support from the Weiser Diplomacy Center, where she is working on her current research project, “Cyberaggression as a method applied in contemporary warfare.” Yurtayeva is an…

Dr. Adams-Santos is a qualitative researcher who centers questions of sexuality, intimacy, and belonging in the digital era; in particular, how individuals navigate the racial, gender, and sexual politics of digital and urban landscapes in their search for intimacy and community.

Robert Axelrod is the William D. Hamilton Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, having held appointments at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Department of Political Science. His areas of…

Chamberlin taught Statistics, Applied Regression, Values and Ethics, and Nonprofit Policy and Management at the Ford School. His research interests include ethics and public policy, professional ethics, and election methods.

In memoriam—David Cohen passed on September 23, 2020. Read a bit more about his impactful life.  David K. Cohen is the John Dewey Professor Emeritus of Education in the School of Education and professor emeritus of public policy at the Ford…

Mary E. Corcoran is a professor emerita of public policy, political science, and women's studies. Her research focuses on the effects of gender and race discrimination on economic status and earnings, and on professional women's career trajectories.…

Provost Emeritus Courant has authored half a dozen books and more than six dozen papers covering a broad range of topics in economics and public policy. More recently, his academic work has focused on economic and policy questions relating to universities, libraries and archives, and the effects of new information technologies and other disruptions on scholarship, scholarly publication, and academic libraries.

Sheldon Danziger is​ President of the Russell Sage Foundation and ​the Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the Ford School​.​ ​He was also Director of the National Poverty Center at the Ford School.…

Deardorff’s research focuses on international trade. With Bob Stern, he developed the Michigan Model of World Production and Trade, which has been used to estimate the effects of trade agreements. He is also doing theoretical work in international trade and trade policy. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Labor, State, and Treasury and to international organizations including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank.

Goldenberg is a close observer of the electoral process. Her research interests include voting turnout of college students, and in 2017 she founded a Michigan group called Turn Up Turnout (TUT). She served as dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts from 1989-98 and is the founding director of the Michigan in Washington Program.

James S. House is the Angus Campbell Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Survey Research, Public Policy, and Sociology. His research has focused on the role of social and psychological factors in the etiology and course of health and…

In memoriam—Bob passed away on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. Read more about Bob's life. Bob Schoeni is a research professor at the Institute for Social Research and professor of economics, with a courtesy appointment at the Ford School. He is also…

Simon was the founding director of the U-M Center for the Study of Complex Systems. His research centers on the dynamics of covid-19, of crime, of teenage smoking, and of Great Lakes salmon. He was named the 2007 LSA Distinguished Senior Lecturer.

Waltz specializes in human rights and international affairs, with a focus on arms transfer policy and regional expertise on North Africa. She also maintains the website Human Rights Advocacy and the History of International Human Rights Standards, hosted by U-M. For some 15 years she was involved in international efforts to promote an international Arms Trade Treaty and has more recently focused on U.S. firearms export regulations.