Policy Talks @ the Ford School

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.

Severin Borenstein will discuss the economic changes that are likely to occur in the utility business model as renewables expand: how wholesale electricity markets will be affected, the impact on retail electricity distribution, and the incentives created for generators, distributors and consumers of electricity. He will also examine the role of demand response, storage, and transmission in adapting to the new realities of the electricity business. 

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. Continue the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks About the lecture: In the wake of the 2008 crisis, many have concluded that financial crises inevitably lead to prolonged, terrible recessions. But in fact, there have been a wide range of experiences throughout history. How much countries suffer depends crucially on the policies governments adopt.

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).

Join CLOSUP and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy for a Policy Talks @ the Ford School lecture featuring Kevyn Orr, one year after the start of his appointment as Emergency Manager of the City of Detroit.

Alberto Trejos examines ongoing changes within Cuba's government and society and their implications for the future Cuban economy.

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Join the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks About Cecilia Muñoz Cecilia Muñoz (AB '84) is the Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House. Prior to this role, she served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs where she oversaw the Obama Administration's relationships with state and local governments. Before joining the Obama Administration, Cecilia serv

Free and open to the public Reception to follow Join the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks About the speaker: Roberto J. Rodríguez serves in the White House Domestic Policy Council as Special Assistant to the President for Education. Previously, Rodríguez was Chief Education Counsel to United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

With more than three decades of policy experience and knowing how Washington does – and doesn't – work, recently retired U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe has keen and contemporary insights on what Congressional initiatives to look for in the coming year.

Free and open to the public Join the conversation on Twitter: #fordschoolbernanke About the event: Please join us as Chairman Bernanke visits the University of Michigan for a conversation with Ford School Dean Susan M. Collins on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis, and long-term challenges facing the U.S.

Free and open to the public. Join the conversation on Twitter: #twitteratumich About the lecture: Twitter CEO Dick Costolo (BS '85) will discuss how he went from the trenches of computer science at the University of Michigan to leading a world-changing company. He'll discuss Twitter's role in communication and free expression in the modern world.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School Free and open to the public. Lecture by Glenn Loury Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University. From the speaker's bio: Glenn C. Loury is a distinguished academic economist who has contributed to a variety of areas in applied microeconomic theory. He has written over 200 essays and reviews on racial inequality and social policy that have appeared in dozens of influential journals of public affairs in the U.S. and abroad.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Join the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks About the lecture If we maintain our current spending and tax policies, the federal budget deficit will be so large that debt will continue to rise much faster than GDP. That cannot go on indefinitely. We will need at least to stabilize debt as a share of GDP, and we may decide to push debt back down toward the share of GDP it represented during the past several decades.

Free and open to the public. Join the conversation: #fordschoolspellings Lecture by the Honorable Margaret Spellings, Former U.S. Secretary of Education (2005-2009) Abstract: The seminal education law known as No Child Left Behind put critical pressure on our schools to dramatically improve education in America. Through accountability, testing, and consequences for failure, a more targeted focus on our neediest students has translated into measurable success for them.

How is it possible that the United States, which spends more than any other nation on health care and insurance, now has a population markedly less healthy than those of many other nations? Sociologist and public health expert James S. House calls for a complete reorientation of how we think about health.

Avik Roy and Jonathan Cohn debate over the viability of the Affordable Care Act.

Lecture by Alan Bersin, Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.