Core faculty

Melvyn Levitsky

Professor of International Policy and Practice (on leave)
Levitsky serves as senior associate of the school's International Policy Center, and senior advisor to the Weiser Diplomacy Center. During his 35-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Levitsky was ambassador to Brazil from 1994-98 and held such senior positions as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, ambassador to Bulgaria, deputy director of the Voice of America, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.
Core faculty

Brian A. Jacob

Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy; Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Education
Jacob is co-director of the Youth Policy Lab. His primary fields of interest are labor economics, program evaluation, and the economics of education. Jacob's current research focuses on urban school reform, with a particular emphasis on standards and accountability initiatives.
Faculty by courtesy

Charles R. Shipan

J. Ira and Nicki Harris Professor of Social Sciences
Shipan teaches and conducts research on political institutions and public policy. Current projects focus on the president's ability to change policy, whether elections can cause politicians to avoid passing good policies, and the effect of bipartisanship on public policy. His most recent book is Why Bad Policies Spread (and Good Ones Don’t).
Core faculty

Yazier Henry

Teaching Professor in Public Policy
Henry has written and published on the political economy of social voice, memory, trauma, identity, peace processes, Truth Commissions, international transitional justice and international humanitarian law. His research and writing projects focus on how structural and administrative violence come to be institutionalized during post-colonial transitions. His current work is on the discourse of human rights, structural violence and the politics of official voice.
Adjunct faculty

John J. Schwarz

Lecturer in Public Policy
John J.H. "Joe" Schwarz is a lecturer at the Ford School. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1959, and his medical degree from Wayne State University in 1964. Dr. Schwarz served his residency in…
Core faculty

Susan M. Collins

Edward M. Gramlich Collegiate Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Economics
Collins is on extended leave to serve as the president and CEO of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. At U-M, she served as provost from 2020-22. At the Ford School, she is the Edward M. Gramlich Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, professor of economics, and former dean of the Ford School (2007-17). She is an international economist whose research interests center on understanding and fostering economic growth in industrial, emerging market, and developing countries.
Emeritus faculty

James S. House

Angus Campbell Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Survey Research, Public Policy, and Sociology
James S. House is the Angus Campbell Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Survey Research, Public Policy, and Sociology. His research has focused on the role of social and psychological factors in the etiology and course of health and…
Faculty by courtesy

Helen Levy

Research Professor
Helen Levy is a research professor at the Institute for Social Research and the School of Public Health, with a courtesy appointment at the Ford School. She is a co-investigator on the Health and Retirement Study, a long-running longitudinal study of…
Adjunct faculty

Neel Hajra

Lecturer in Public Policy
Neel Hajra is a lecturer at the Ford School and the CEO of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Most recently, he served as CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF), which under his leadership received national and local awards for its…