University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and Provost Teresa A. Sullivan today announced the appointment of Susan M. Collins as the next Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy. The five-year appointment, made in review and discussion with the Board of Regents Personnel, Compensation and Governance Committee, and pending Regents' approval, will be effective September 1, 2007.
Susan M. Collins is Professor of Economics at Georgetown University. She also has a part-time affiliation with the Brookings Institution as a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, which she has held since 1992. Her area of expertise is international economics, including issues in both macroeconomics and trade. Her research interests center on determinants of economic growth, issues raised by increasing cross-national economic integration and exchange rate regimes in developed and developing economies. Her current work explores growth experiences in China and India.
Dr. Collins has published extensively in professional journals and volumes. She recently co-authored the volume: The Economy of Puerto Rico: Restoring Growth (Brookings Institution 2006). Other recent publications include "Sources of Growth in the Indian Economy" (with Barry Bosworth and Arvind Virmani in India Policy Forum vol. 3, forthcoming), "International Financial Integration and Growth in Developing Countries: Issues and Implications for Africa" (Journal of African Economics, 2004, vol.13, no.2), "The Empirics of Growth: An Update" with Barry Bosworth (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2003:2), and "Minority Groups in the Economics Profession" (Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2000). She edited Imports, Exports and the American Worker (The Brookings Institution, 1998) and, since 1999, has been editor or co-editor of the annual Brookings Trade Forum. The 2006 Brookings Trade Forum (co-edited with Carol Graham) focused on Global Labor Markets, while the 2007 issue focuses on Foreign Direct Investment.
Prior to her positions with Brookings and Georgetown, Susan was an associate professor of Economics at Harvard University. She served as a senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers during 1989-90. Susan chaired the American Economics Association (AEA) Committee on the Status of Minority Groups during 1994-98. She is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Among her current professional activities, she serves as members of the Editorial Board of the World Bank Research Observer, and of the Advisory Editorial Staff of Economic Letters. Collins received her B.A., summa cum laude, in economics from Harvard University in 1980, and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984.
Rebecca M. Blank, who has served as the dean of Ford School for the past eight years, will step down as dean effective July 31, 2007.
The U-M began the search for Becky's replacement in January, when U-M Provost Teresa Sullivan announced membership of the search committee. Long-time faculty member John Chamberlin will serve as Interim Dean for the month of August.
Ford School facts: history, size, financial resources, and other Ford School facts are available here.
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