Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series

The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd rocked American cities in 2020. The mayors of Chicago and Seattle share their experiences and the lessons of governing during times of crisis. 

Join us for a talk on global vaccine equity and health justice with Fatima Hassan, human rights lawyer, social justice activist, and the founder of the Health Justice Initiative in South Africa; and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Towsley Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Join us for a discussion on elections and campaigns, in 2020 and beyond. The discussion will include Katie Packer Beeson, former deputy campaign manager for the Romney/Ryan campaign in 2012 and founding partner of Burning Glass Consulting, and Greg Schultz, general election strategist and senior advisor for the 2020 Biden campaign. Broderick Johnson, Towsley Policymaker in Residence, will moderate. 

In this conversation, Paul Abbate, Associate Deputy Director of the FBI, and David Levy, Vice President of Amazon Web Services, will discuss some of the challenges in addressing current cybersecurity threats, formulating policy, and calibrating responses. 

This Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture will examine the nexus between labor rights and trade—a crucial topic as U.S. and global trade arrangements are being renegotiated. It will feature a conversation between two experts who have long worked to advance worker’s rights in the context of global trade—Dr. Bama Athreya, a visiting policy expert at the Weiser Diplomacy Center, and Ford School Professor of Practice Sander Levin. 

The panelists will discuss their work in helping to deliver capital to America’s communities, the growth and transformation of the industry,  headwinds the field faces and what’s in store for the next 40 years of community development finance.

Join the Ford School in welcoming back Dr. Ruth Browne, CEO of Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and the 2015 Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence. This event is part of the University of Michigan's 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium.

About the event In a conversation moderated by Susan Waltz, Margo Picken and John Ciorciari will discuss the positive and negative effects of the UN-backed Khmer Rouge trials that began several years ago in "extraordinary chambers" of the courts of Cambodia. Will they bring "closure" to the country's dark past?

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Follow the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks From the speaker's bio: Richard Boucher comes to us following his tenure as Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Prior to joining OECD, Richard enjoyed an extremely successful career with the State Department, becoming the longest-serving Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and serving as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs (2006-2009).

Douglas A. Brook, former Acting Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, is a distinguished graduate of the Ford School (MPA '67) and will be the 2009 Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Alberto Trejos, the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, will focus his presentation on the evolution of Costa Rica's decision to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). In addition to addressing the implications of a Costa Rica-United States free trade agreement, Dr.

Yazier Henry, Director, Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory, Capetown, South Africa; Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Yazier Henry is a former anti-Apartheid activist who, as a teenager, became an officer in Umkhonto We Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress. He is a poet, writer, and peace activist.

Catherine Bertini's career spans public service at international, national, state, and local levels and includes private sector leadership and university teaching.

Barbara Freese, J.D., is an environmental writer and Towsley Policymaker in Residence.

Dr. Namanga Ngongi served as the UN Secretary General’s Chief of Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the chief negotiator for the ceasefire that ended hostilities there in  July 2003.

Catherine Bertini, formerly executive director of the World Food Program, gave this inaugural lecture of the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence.

Towsley Policymaker in Residence Javed Ali will moderate a panel discussion with three leading counterterrorism experts--Peter Bergen, Barbara McQuade, and Chris Costa.