Earlier this afternoon, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved several key faculty appointments at the Ford School, as we continue to grow and strengthen our outstanding faculty.
Shobita Parthasarathy has earned a promotion to professor of public policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and professor of women’s studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
In enthusiastically recommending the promotion, the Ford School and LSA noted that Shobita is an excellent and dedicated educator and a leading scholar of science and technology policy studies. Her most recent book, Patent Politics, sheds new light on how patent systems are shaped by the values and cultures around them. Shobita is a leader within the Ford School faculty, where she has been on the faculty since 2005, and she directs a key research center on science, technology and public policy.
The Regents also confirmed the appointment as full professor of Brendan Nyhan, who is currently Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.
Brendan is widely regarded as one of the leading public intellectuals of his generation. His work combines the very highest levels of both practical policy engagement and academic rigor. He is a leading expert on some of the timeliest and most challenging political issues of our time, including the consequences of misinformation and “fake news,” the role of social media in public life, and the politics of scientific communication. He is a prolific scholar, with dozens of publications in top journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature, Human Behavior, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, Pediatrics, Science, and many more. He also maintains an exceptional scholarly media and social media presence, including regularly contributing to the New York Times “The UpShot.”
Joy Rohde has earned promotion to associate professor of public policy, with tenure, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and associate professor, without tenure, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Joy has been an assistant professor at the Ford School since 2013. She conducts research at the intersection of the history of the social sciences, intellectual history, policy history, and science and technology studies. She’s an outstanding teacher whose course evaluations have consistently earned her a place on the Ford School Honor Roll.
Kristin Seefeldt (PhD ’10, MPP ’96) has earned a promotion to associate professor of social work, with tenure, School of Social Work, and associate professor of public policy, without tenure, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Kristin, who has two graduate degrees from the Ford School, has been as assistant professor at the School of Social Work since 2012. Kristin is an excellent teacher. Her highly policy-relevant research focuses on the ways in which public welfare and employment programs are experienced in the lives of impoverished families.
Last month, the Ford School announced two new faculty hires in the field of international development. Click here to learn more about incoming assistant professors Yusuf Neggers and Eduardo Montero.