Donald Moynihan, J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy and co-director of the Better Government Lab, has been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow.
For 101 years, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has recognized over 19,000 exceptional scholars. This year, 223 scholars across 55 disciplines were chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants.
"Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world's best thinkers, innovators and creators in art, science and scholarship," said Edward Hirsch, president of the Guggenheim Foundation. "We are honored to support their visionary contributions."
Each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under "the freest possible conditions."
Moynihan's project seeks to explain how the Trump administration's management of public services is affecting both the government's ability to deliver key services and meet democratic accountability.
"I'm incredibly excited and a little stunned," he said. "It is an amazing honor."
As a scholar of public administration, Moynihan said it's rare for this type of research on the inner workings of government to receive such an extraordinary honor.
"I think the award reflects the growing recognition of how critical a functional government is to society, and to a healthy democracy," he said, noting that his research and public writing meet an obligation not just to criticize, but also to provide solutions for American governance.
Moynihan is the 100th U-M faculty member to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship. Ford School professor Sheldon Danziger won the award in 2008 for his work on antipoverty policy.
Three other U-M faculty members were named 2026 Guggenheim Fellows—Regina Baucom, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; Daniel Forger, professor of mathematics; and Raven Garvey, associate professor of anthropology.
This story used excerpts from Jared Wadley's story for the University of Michigan News.
