Associate dean for academic programs. As many of you know, Kathryn Dominguez, the Ford School’s associate dean for academic programs, was nominated for a position on the Federal Reserve Board last summer. While Congress has not yet held hearings on her nomination, there is a possibility that it will be revisited at the end of President Obama’s term. Regardless, Dominguez is due for a sabbatical in 2017, so felt it would be best to step down from her role as associate dean for academic programs before the start of the next academic term. The Ford School is deeply appreciative of her leadership and service.
Pending approval by the Regents, Paula Lantz, who initiated the Ford School’s new role of associate dean for research and policy engagement last September, has agreed to take on the academic affairs portfolio beginning August 1 with course-scheduling assistance from Professor Ann Lin. Lantz is also working to establish the University of Michigan’s new Policies for Action research hub, dedicated to health equity, with a three-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and she is serving as faculty lead of the Ford School’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives for the coming year.
Associate dean for research and policy engagement. We are delighted to announce that Elisabeth Gerber, the Jack L. Walker Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, has agreed to take on the role of associate dean for research and policy engagement beginning September 1. Gerber joined the Ford School in 2001 as founding director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) and was instrumental in establishing the center’s immensely successful trajectory. She is a professor of public policy and political science whose work focuses on regionalism and intergovernmental cooperation and on state and local policy in a number of important areas including land use, transportation, and economic development.
Gerber is deeply committed to helping communities promote positive change and to providing the Ford School’s aspiring public servants with unparalleled engaged learning opportunities. She has done a tremendous job of leading the Ford School’s annual Applied Policy Seminar, now called Strategic Public Policy Consulting or SPPC, and Integrated Policy Exercise and is now in the process of launching, with Jeffrey Morenoff and Conan Smith, an exciting new Detroit survey. The Detroit Metropolitan Area Communities Survey (DMACS) will provide academics with valuable research information, give graduate students practical experience in survey methodology, and help Detroit-area policymakers guide place-based investments, policies, and programs in a way that more closely aligns with what metro Detroit citizens want and need.
Please join us in welcoming Professors Gerber, Lantz, and Lin to their new and well-deserved leadership positions and in thanking Professor Dominguez for her exceptional service.