Past events

This panel discussion focuses on how politics, conflict and oil affect U.S. interests and policies in the greater Middle East region. Current developments in Iraq, Iran and in the Israel-Palestinian peace process will be examined by present and former policy-level officials who have studied and dealt with these issues in both the U.S. Government and in academia. Panelists: Colin Kahl, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, U.S.

Leah Nichols, Postdoctoral Fellow in Science, Technology, and Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Commentator: Jason Owen-Smith, Associate Professor of Sociology and Organizational Studies, University of Michigan Co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute Abstract: For the past thirty years, significant policy attention has been given to improving the transfer of technology from universities to private industry in an effort to improve U.S.

Presenter: Joshua Hyman, Economics and Public Policy CIERS Mission:The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using quantitative research methods.This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

Space is limited, but the event will be available via live webcast (see additional information below). No PowerPoint, no script; just stimulating conversation Nanotechnology has been touted variously as the next industrial revolution and the next asbestos. But where does the hype end and reality begin? And what does this mean for public health?

Free and open to the public. The University of Michigan International Institute will hold a round table discussion to analyze the underlying tensions in the Middle East that have led to widespread unrest and political instability.

Student-alumni networking reception to follow. Join former Ford School dean and current Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce Rebecca Blank for her personal reflections on management at senior levels of government and on the relevance of public policy education for leadership in the public sector. Come and hear from a favorite former professor and dean; join in a lively conversation about policy, politics, and careers; and reconnect with old friends at the networking reception to follow. A large group of current Ford School MPP students will be in DC for the schoo

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. About the speaker Congressman Eric Cantor is the Majority Leader for the 112th Congress and has represented Virginia's 7th district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2001.

Abstract Over the past two decades, many urban school districts have restructured large, traditional high schools into smaller learning communities. The idea behind this movement is that small schools provide a more personalized learning environment that allows teachers to more effectively address the multi-faceted needs of disadvantaged students. Despite mixed evidence on the efficacy of such reforms in practice, Detroit and other high-poverty districts have pressed forward with the creation of smaller high schools.

Terrorism is an inherently social phenomenon. While it is commonly assumed that terrorists kill and die for a cause, they are motivated and strengthened by social connections. This colloquium brings together researchers in this area to discuss terrorism's root causes in the interpersonal relationships between terrorists, competition between terrorist groups within societies, and strategic alliances between organizations. Note as of 10:00am 1/27: Erica Chenoweth and Michael Horowitz will be unable to join us due to inclement weather on the East Coast.

The Program in the Environment Speaker Series and LSA Water Theme Semester Present Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer in Residence; Founder, Emission Blue Dr. Sylvia Earle is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, and the Founder of Mission Blue. She is also the 2011 Goldring Family Distinguished Visiting Lecturer.

Presenter: Brad Hershbein, Economics CIERS Mission:The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using quantitative research methods.This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

Judit Rius,Attorney and Foreign Law Advisor, Knowledge Ecology International With commentary by JESSICA LITMAN, John F. Nickoll Professor of Law Abstract: The current system to finance drug development based on strong intellectual property rights is failing many in both developing and developed countries. The system promotes monopolies that make products unaffordable, and fails to provide incentives for urgently needed diagnostics and treatments for neglected diseases.

Rami Khouri is the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut as well as editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author. The Middle East is defined today by a new set of issues and actors that often seem incomprehensible to both local and foreign observers.

About the lecture With the federal government on the sidelines of immigration reform, several states have passed legislation meant to control and deter unauthorized immigration. Arguably the most restrictive of such efforts is Arizona's 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA), which in part holds employers accountable for verifying worker eligibility. Dr.

Panelists: Tonya AllenVice President, Skillman Foundation Dan DeGrowSuperintendent, St. Clair County RESA and former Majority Leader, Michigan Senate Lou GlazerPresident, Michigan Future, Inc. Sponsored by: the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Association for Public Policy About Learning and Education, (APPLE).

Jeffrey Sachs is one of the world's most influential development economists. He is the author of 'Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet' (2008) and 'The End of Poverty,' his seminal 2005 prescription for ending extreme poverty in the world by 2025.

Sujatha Jesudason is the founder and Executive Director of Generations Ahead (http://www.generations- ahead.org/), an organization that seeks to advance a social justice perspective in the public policy debates on genetic technologies. She began working at the intersection of race, reproduction, and genetics at the Center for Genetics and Society in 2004, and has been active as an organizer, advocate, and researcher in communities of color and on women's liberation issues for over 19 years.

For-profit colleges are under fire. Critics point to students' low earnings and high debt loads as evidence that these schools do not provide a quality education. Defenders of the sector note that the schools serve a population of low-skilled, low-income students that traditional colleges ignore. Congress is now considering legislation that would bar from the federal aid programs any schools whose graduates' earnings fall below a minimum threshold.

John D. Ciorciari, Assistant Professor of Public Policy will discuss his book, published September, 2010 by the Georgetown University Press. His research interests are international politics, law, and finance. From 2004-07, he served as a policy official in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of International Affairs.

Panelists: Martha Darling Commission on Presidential Scholars; Class of 1977-1978 White House Fellow Annie Maxwell Ford School MPP '99; Class of 2009–2010 White House Fellow Regent Katherine E. White U-M Board of Regents; Class of 2001-2002 White House Fellow Founded in 1964, the White House Fellows program is one of America's most prestigious programs for leadership and public service.

America's unmet challenges are huge: from energy policy to nuclear weapons, climate, health care (yes, still), a sagging infrastructure and a soaring deficit. Yet every one of them is eminently solvable. The answers are well known. So what explains, for example, thirty-five years of inaction on energy policy and even longer on health care? Why do we still approach nuclear weapons as though the Cold War continues when it ended 20 years ago? Is the policy gridlock that afflicts us the symptom of a vibrant and engaged - if polarized - society? Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace addresses these critical issues in the 2010 Citi Foundation lecture.

Pablo Suarez is the Associate Director of Programs, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and a consultant to the Environment Finance Group, United Nations Development Programme. His work as researcher and consultant investigates the integration of climate information into decision making for reducing vulnerability, both at community level and through national and global policies.

Susan M. Collins, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, cordially invites you and your fellow alumni to a Ford School alumni reception in conjunction with the annual conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM). Please RSVP to Maryanna Ramirez, [email protected],734-615-3892 by October 25th, 2010. We hope to see many of you there!

PANELISTS: Susan Dynarski Associate Professor of Education, School of Education; Associate Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy | Michael Flanagan Superintendent of Public Instruction, Michigan Department of Education | Brian Rowan Burke A. Hinsdale Collegiate Professor, School of Education; Research Professor, Institute for Social Research | Tyrone Winfrey Director, U-M Office of Undergraduate Admissions - Detroit Admissions Office and Vice-President, Detroit Board of Education | Deborah Loewenberg Ball Dean of the School of Education, will be moderating the panel discussion

Abstract: This paper shows that the mortgage credit boom has significantly affected urban and school racial segregation from 1995 to 2007. We develop a model of urban segregation with credit constraints that shows that easier credit can either increase or decrease segregation, depending on the race of the marginal consumer who benefits from the expansion of credit. We then use school demographics from 1995 to 2007, matched to a national comprehensive dataset of mortgage originations, to document the link between credit supply and schools' racial demographics.

From the Publisher: Vinny DeMarco might be a latter-day Don Quixote except that he tilts his lance at real obstacles to social justice: lobby-locked state legislatures and Congress, stonewalling the public will. And he makes impossible dreams come true. In twenty years of organizing campaigns in Maryland, he has led successful efforts to pass gun control laws (against National Rifle Association opposition), to hike cigarette taxes to prevent youth smoking, and to extend health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers.

The world's response to climate change is deeply flawed. The conventional wisdom on how to deal with climate change has failed and it's time to change course. To date, climate policies have been guided by targets and timetables for emissions reduction derived from various academic exercises. Such methods are both oblivious to and in violation of on-the-ground political and technological realities that serve as practical 'boundary conditions' for effective policy making. Until climate policies are designed with respect for these boundary conditions, failure is certain.

A lecture by Roger Pielke, Jr., University of Colorado, BoulderThe world's response to climate change is deeply flawed. The conventional wisdom on how to deal with climate change has failed and it's time to change course. To date, climate policies have been guided by targets and timetables for emissions reduction derived from various academic exercises. Such methods are both oblivious to and in violation of on-the-ground political and technological realities that serve as practical 'boundary conditions' for effective policy making.

A lecture by the author, Dante Chinni Project Director, Patchwork Nation From the Publisher: 'Our Patchwork Nation' is a comprehensive look at who we are as a country and where we are going using Patchwork Nation's 12 community types and examining what they mean for the the nation's Economic, Political and Cultural future. Our Patchwork Nation has been called, 'a captivating and at times surprising analysis, both rigorous and accessible' by

11th Annual Lent Upson Lecture at Wayne State University – Spring 2010 MPPS fiscal data findings The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is a program of state-wide surveys of local government leaders in Michigan. The MPPS is designed to fill an important information gap in the policymaking process. While there are ongoing surveys of the business community and of the citizens of Michigan, before the MPPS there were no ongoing surveys of local government officials that were representative of all general purpose local governments in the state.