Seeking inspiring scholar and changemaker—please apply

December 15, 2022

The University of Michigan has officially launched its invitation to apply to be the next Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The job description calls for “an experienced and inventive scholar/administrator.”

“Perhaps never before has an accurate understanding of policy choices and consequences been more crucial to the welfare of the immediate community, the State of Michigan, the nation, and the world,” it states.

Details of the posting can be found here.

The school is ranked number one in social policy and number three in both policy analysis and health policy by U.S. News & World Report. It is also ranked highly in environmental policy, urban policy, and international and global policy, reflecting its breadth of topical coverage and excellence.

Previous deans have included Michael S. Barr, currently vice chair of the Federal Reserve; Susan M. Collins, president of the Boston Fed; Rebecca Blank, until recently chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Ned Gramlich, who left to serve on the Fed as well.

The process has already included town hall meetings of Ford School faculty, students, and staff. The advisory committee is chaired by Ford School Associate Dean John Ciorciari. Others from the Ford School include faculty members Catherine Hausman, Ann Chih Lin, Shobita Parthasarathy, Natasha Pilkauskas, Kaitlin Raimi, and Dean Yang, Chief Development Officer Susan Johnson, lecturer Stephanie Leiser, and  Diversity and Inclusion Officer Stephanie Sanders, as well as students Huda Bashir (MPP ‘23) and Michael Deeter (BA ‘23). Broderick Johnson, executive vice president at Comcast and former White House Cabinet Secretary for President Barack Obama, and Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability are also on the committee.

The university has engaged the search firm Isaacson, Miller to assist with the recruitment.