When Emma Renzi Wise (BA ’19) got hooked on learning about environmental policy at the Ford School, she never imagined working for the New York City Department of Sanitation. But nearly six years after leaving Ann Arbor, Wise is the community...
When Congress passed the Financial Data and Transparency Act (FDTA) in 2022, it required all municipalities in the U.S. to modernize and digitize their financial reports. This is a heavy lift for small towns and school districts, most of which still...
Susan M. Collins, former dean of the Ford School and now president & CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, made a welcome return to Weill Hall in November for a public event and lunch with students. During her visit, she shared insights into...
Have you ever disassembled a broken coffee maker or a sink, convinced you could fix it, only to end up with a jumble of parts? As a child, Terry Nguyen’s (BA ’25) curiosity about how things worked led to a broken fan, a pile of parts, and no idea...
In his last public event as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg visited the Ford School for a conversation on investments in infrastructure. Below is an excerpt from an interview with S&H....
Dean Watkins-Hayes, at the Congressional Breakfast in DC, with Michigan in Washington undergraduates Ajay Morelli, Malinda Brunk, Rachel Ellisen, and Isaac Davis, and Riecker Fellow Hope Wang (MPP...
Gerald R. Ford once said, “The global economy requires an unprecedented grasp of diverse viewpoints and cultural traditions.” This sentiment is woven throughout and embedded in who we are and what we do at the Ford...
In an effort to spark democratic engagement on college campuses, the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy co-hosted the Big Ten Democracy Summit in February. More than 150...
Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lack access to reliable transportation, making it one of the country's most common forms of material hardship, say University of Michigan...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly defining force, shaping global advancements and influencing crucial aspects of society. Assistant professor Yousif Hassan’s research examines the social, economic, and political implications of...
In the first 100 days of his second term, President Donald Trump has unleashed a whirlwind of policy shifts that have sent ripples across the globe. The responses to his administration's actions have ranged from applause to skepticism.Ford School...
Ford School professor Betsey Stevenson has been widely sought for her insights, and concerns, about the implications of the Trump administration's proposed tariffs. Here are some of the notes Stevenson has shared with news outlets over the past few...
Five University of Michigan professors distinguished in psychology, history, life sciences, public policy and sociology are among the nearly 250 scholars chosen for the 2025 class of the American Academy of Arts and...
The Michigan Public Policy Survey, conducted last spring by U-M’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, found most officials are unsure about the accuracy of public safety risk assessments made by automated tools such as AI. However, sheriffs...
Franshelly Martinez Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in political science and public policy at the Ford School, recently wrote a blog post, "In Michigan, conspiracy thinking can be rooted in real historic harm" for U-M's Center for Political Studies...
Former Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo shared his positive outlook for the future of transatlantic relations, despite stirred uncertainty from the Trump Administration in a community-wide discussion at the Ford School on April 15th, 2025,...
Christina Weiland, co-director of the Education Policy Initiative and professor at the Ford School, delivered her inaugural lecture as the Karl and Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy. Weiland, who is also a professor at the Marsal Family School...
Through an executive order, President Trump intends to reclassify hundreds of thousands of federal civil servants' job titles as "schedule policy/career" positions. Don Moynihan from the Ford School told Reuters,"By deeming anyone involved in...
"Whether by purchasing equipment, hiring contractors or training early career researchers, universities are a source of everyday economic and social benefits to communities in every congressional district in the country," said Jason Owen-Smith, from...
Five faculty-led research projects from across the University of Michigan have received Presidential Awards for Understanding Democracy to enhance understanding of democracy’s operation and promise. The awards are part of the universitywide Year of...
As the stock market faces shocks and falls from Trump's tariff policy, Marketplace has turned to the Ford School's Betsey Stevenson for an explanation of what this could mean for American workers. Stevenson told the network, “Layoffs are not the...
As low-cost sources of renewable energy transform the U.S. electricity grid, the transmission grid is increasingly strained. New solar and wind generation resources are not built in areas of high demand. Better geographic integration would result in...
Marianne Udow-Phillips, a senior adviser to the Center for Health and Research and member of the Ford School faculty shared the promising future for a new orally ingested weight-loss pill by Eli Lilly. "The demand is great, and it would be so much...
The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) has elected Celeste Watkins-Hayes as the 2025 Sara McLanahan Fellow, recognizing her outstanding contributions to social science research and her role in deepening public understanding of...
Reflecting on recent stock market instability, the Ford School's Betsey Stevenson told Bloomberg in an interview that, "I do think that he [Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chairman] is going to reassure financial markets that we have a strong and...
“The government gets to basically treat a generally decentralized national system of universities as a pay-as-you-go resource to get problems solved,” the Ford School's Jason Owen-Smith told the Associated Press. Owen-Smith discussed ways that the...
Seeking insight on climate and energy policy, Thumbwind interviewed Dr. Jennifer Haverkamp, from the Ford School, to ask about recent support for clean energy initiatives. “This isn’t just about climate anymore,” said Dr. Haverkamp. She added that...
