A lasting impact | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

A lasting impact

A bold vision. A lasting impact.

The Ford School is a top-ranked policy school at the world-class University of Michigan. Our mission is to inspire and prepare our graduates to take on our communities’ and the world’s most pressing challenges.

Ford School attracts donors who are deeply committed to our mission and want to partner with the Ford School to educate and inspire the next generation of public policy leaders. 

 

Meet our donors

The Ford School puts people together—especially in partnerships across the state—and they interact, and the outcome is the betterment of society, giving all people a voice and a path.”

Hal and Carol Kohn
Harold and Carol Kohn

At the center of the Kohn Collaborative are five endowed professorships specializing in social justice, health and aging, early childhood education, disability rights, and economic policy. The Collaborative also supports exemplary graduate students underrepresented in the public policy field with full-tuition fellowships, an endowed infrastructure fund that will be used to foster new initiatives, and a major social policy impact prize.

Read about the Kohn Collaborative

Weill Youth Empowerment

“[Joan and Sanford Weill's] gift will advance U-M and our society by creating opportunities for Detroit high school students and supporting graduate students in the Ford School who seek to study diversity and make a difference in public policy.”

U-M President Mark Schlissel on the Joan and Sanford Weill Youth Empowerment Fund, which will improve education and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth from the Detroit area.
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Weiser Diplomacy Center

"Having young people from the University of Michigan and the Ford School—students who are interested in public service—go out and start to establish those relationships in whatever countries they go to is really important for the future of our nation."

Ambassador Ronald Weiser on the importance of international policy education. The Weiser Diplomacy Center is preparing the next generation of foreign affairs leaders.
Read more about WDC
Rebecca A. Copeland Scholarship

“It is our intention that the fund at the Ford School support students who share Rebecca’s dreams of improving health and health care for everyone through bold policy change and health system reform.”

David and Elizabeth Copeland, Rebecca's parents, in a joint statement on the fellowship established by the Copeland family in fall 2021 in memory of Rebecca Copeland (MPP/MPH ’21).
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Vandenberg Lecture Series

"Hank has written a beautiful biography of Vandenberg, focused on the role of bipartisan compromise essential to the creation of the post-war international order."

Former Dean Michael S. Barr on Hank Meijer's book about U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg. The Meijer Family established the Vandenberg Lecture Series, which focuses on global issues and serves as an intellectual tribute. Their generous gifts also contributed to the Gerald R. Ford Fellowship and the Ford School Leadership Initiative.
Watch Hank Meijer speak about his book "Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century"

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