Dear Alumni and Friends:
At the end of May, I travelled with the eighth annual University of Michigan delegation to China and South Korea to meet with alumni, newly admitted students, and journalists. During the eight-day whirlwind visit, I spoke with the mediaabout the ongoing Eurozone crisis and the Chinese economy and sat on a panel discussing U.S.-China relations sponsored by the U-M Alumni Association. A highlight of the trip was the alumni/student reception in Shanghai, where I had the pleasure of talking about the Ford School and fielding questions from nearly two hundred newly admitted U-M students. The visit was all too brief, but I hope that many of these students will choose to join us in Ann Arbor in the fall. Bravo to our alumni throughout Asia; your engagement and leadership in support of the Ford School mission is inspiring.
Back at home, we launched the first phase of a complete website redesign; the cosmetic refresh of www.fordschool.umich.edu went live earlier this week. The website is the most widely read of all Ford School publications, serving more than 163,000 unique visitors with over 949,000 page views each year. The elegant enhancements to the site’s appearance put us well on our way to developing a comprehensive online presence that will support a more intuitive and efficient user experience. We’ll keep you updated as the site renovation continues. Please visit the site and have a look around. We welcome any thoughts you have on how we’re doing.
In April we bid farewell to another terrific group of future policy leaders, the Classes of 2012! We were thrilled to welcome Carol Bellamy, Chair of the Global Partnership for Education Board of Directors, who delivered the Charge to the Class at our commencement.
Our wistfulness at seeing another class depart is tempered, however, by recalling the energy and thoughtfulness they brought to the school, particularly during this past year. At the annual auction, students raised more than $15,000 for Detroit-based nonprofit Alternatives for Girls. And student organizations once again reinvigorated the intellectual, professional, and social life of our community—including such groups as the SAC, the Undergrad Council, Out in Public, Women in Gender and Public Policy, and the Domestic Policy Corps.
This edition of ‘the Ford School feed’ features several items of exciting faculty news: distinguished U-M political science professor Allan C. Stam will join the Ford School this fall and take over the direction of the International Policy Center in July. David Harding received the ASA Outstanding Book Award, and James S. House was awarded the 2013 Henry Russell Lectureship. In so many ways our outstanding faculty show their dedication to public policy scholarship and engagement with policy issues.
Please stay in touch , and I thank you for your continued commitment to the Ford School.
Sincerely,
Susan M. Collins
Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy