Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy roundtable
How do we shape social policy for human thriving?
Speaker
Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Luke Shaefer, Christina Weiland, Sam Bagenstos, Pamela HerdDate & time
Location
Join the Ford School’s Kohn Collaborative—our Kohn Professors and Kohn Scholars—for a roundtable conversation on shaping social policy for a thriving society. Explore bold ideas and insights from leading voices as they discuss what it takes to build communities where everyone can truly thrive.
The Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy rests on three pillars: Kohn Professors, Kohn Scholars, and policy impact. Its mission is to advance interdisciplinary research to promote a more inclusive and just society for everyone.
H. Luke Shaefer, Ph.D. is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and Professor of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. At U-M, he is also the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty.
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 department and the Combined Program in Psychology and Education program. She co-directs the Education Policy Initiative (with Dr. Kevin Stange) and directs the University of Michigan’s Predoctoral Training Program in Causal Inference in Education Policy Research. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Urban Institute.
Samuel R. Bagenstos is the Arlene Susan Kohn Professor of Social Policy. at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.
Bagenstos recently returned from a four-year leave to serve in the federal government. From June 2022 to December 2024, he served as General Counsel to the Department of Health and Human Services. He played a key role in advancing and implementing policies across the Department, including pursuing several initiatives on abortion and reproductive rights; crafting and defending the first-ever Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program; drafting and issuing major rules on civil rights, health privacy, Medicare and Medicaid, drug advertising, the regulation of "lab-developed" medical tests and of food safety, the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children in HHS care, the treatment of LGBT kids in the foster care system, and many other issues; advancing marijuana rescheduling; advising and defending the Food and Drug Administration's tobacco enforcement program; and working with the Department of Justice on litigation involving HHS, including significant abortion rights, free speech, and tobacco regulation cases in the Supreme Court.
Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research Population Studies Center. Her research focuses on inequality and how it intersects with health, aging, and policy. She is also an expert in survey research and biodemographic methods. She is currently one of the Co-Principal Investigators for General Social Survey, an Investigator with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, and Chair of the NIH Data Advisory Board for the National Study of Adolescent Health.
