Ford School

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Kalena Thomhave (MPP ‘21) awarded the Peter Eckstein Prize

May 10, 2021

Recent Ford School graduate Kalena Thomhave (MPP ‘21) is the 2021 winner of the Peter Eckstein Prize for Interdisciplinary Research for her comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by the U.S. Unemployment Insurance (UI) system during the...

News

Master’s applications are now open for fall 2021

Sep 30, 2020

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy has opened applications for fall 2021 for our top-ranked graduate programs: Master of Public Policy (MPP) and Master of Public Affairs (MPA). The Ford School community is engaged in public policy at a...

Weill Hall entrance with "Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy" etched into the glass

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Kohn gift establishes two new social policy professorships at the Ford School

Sep 17, 2020

The Karl and Martha Kohn Professorship of Social Policy will advance societal equity and inclusion in the United States. The Arlene Susan Kohn Professorship of Social Policy will address the rights of the disabled in the United States. With a $5...

Karl Kohn, Martha Kohn, and Arlene Susan Kohn

News

Dean Barr welcomes the Ford School community to an unprecedented year

Aug 31, 2020

A letter from Dean Michael S. Barr to the Ford School community Dear friends, I know this continues to be a time of great uncertainty. For many, a time of fear. That is real. At the same time, I’m so excited to be getting started tomorrow...

News

Ford School students gain insight through Gulf International Forum

Aug 3, 2020

The Persian Gulf region represents one of the most geopolitically and strategically important parts of the world. Among other attributes, the nine Gulf nations hold 55 percent of the world’s oil reserves. However, tensions among and between the...

News

Ali launches national security-themed podcast with Ford School alumni

Jul 30, 2020

Javed Ali, Ford School Towsley Foundation policymaker in residence, launch "The Burn Bag" podcast. The podcast is produced in partnership with two Ford School alumni - A'ndre Gonawela (BA '19) and Ryan Rosenthal (BA '19). The first two episodes...

News

New Faculty Funding Opportunity for Action-Based Research to Combat and Confront Racism

Jul 30, 2020

Poverty Solutions and the Center for Social Solutions announce the inaugural faculty grants competition to pursue action-based research aimed at ending systemic and institutional racism. The awards, which range from $10,000 to $50,000, are open to...

News

Some Detroit suburbs reckon with history as anti-Black ‘sundown towns’

Jul 20, 2020

An article in Bridge Detroit on July 9 looked at suburbanites engaging with the history and policies of their communities in the wake of Black Lives Matters demonstrations. Some of these suburbs were developed as anti-Black "sundown towns". Ford...

Among the houses in this residential neighborhood, a wall wall erected to segregate by race has been reclaimed and turned into a large community art project.

News

Ford students assist Detroit small business owners with re-opening challenges

Jun 29, 2020

The economic havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially disruptive to small businesses, which often depend on foot traffic and operate on smaller profit margins than their larger counterparts. As Michigan prepares to reopen its...

Rick Hall wins APSA Barbara Sinclair award

Jun 26, 2020

Public policy and political science professor Rick Hall has been recognized for his career contributions to the understanding of legislative politics by winning the American Political Science Association's 2020 Barbara Sinclair Lectureship. Hall is...

News

Barr: Dodd-Frank strong foundation, more financial reforms needed post-pandemic

Jun 26, 2020

Political and policy leaders will examine the impact one decade later of the Dodd-Frank Act, the legislation that aimed to reform Wall Street and protect consumers in the wake of the Great Recession. The Federal Reserve’s latest stress tests, one of...

News

Sanders works to create inclusive spaces for students of color

Jun 26, 2020

Ford School lecturer and diversity, equity, and inclusion officer Stephanie Sanders offers lessons about creating inclusive spaces in an essay published in Higher Education Today. As part of a project run by the National Center for Institutional...

Ford School’s Paula Lantz leads amicus brief that states 3,500 COVID-19 deaths prevented by Whitmer’s actions

Jun 25, 2020

A distinguished group of Michigan public health experts has filed in several courts an Amicus Curiae brief defending Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders. Represented by lawyers from Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP in New York City, the...

Shaefer named associate dean for research and policy engagement

Jun 25, 2020

H. Luke Shaefer, the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, has been appointed the associate dean for research and policy engagement. He will begin his three-year term on...

Luke Shaefer delivers a talk at the Ford School

News

Future presidential climate change actions are limited, Rabe argues

Jun 25, 2020

In a FixGov blog for the Brookings Institution, Ford School professor Barry Rabe argues that environmental policy has been shaped for too long by executive order and administrative powers rather than more enduring legislation. "So should the 46th...

Detroit students take on robotics challenges with University of Michigan virtual mentoring

Jun 25, 2020

The Ford School and the College of Engineering Michigan Engineering Zone (MEZ) launched a STEM Summer Camp on June 24. Fifty-five Detroit high school students will study robotics and other STEM subjects this summer as part of an expansion of...

Student participants in the Michigan Engineering Zone

CLOSUP finds Michigan local government leaders report widespread crisis-level impacts from COVID-19 pandemic

Jun 24, 2020

Leaders across Michigan have reported problems supporting their communities in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic—with many saying they failed to get needed health or financial help in one of the hardest-hit states, according to a survey by...

News

A virtual warm welcome to the 2020 PPIA fellows!

Jun 23, 2020

The Ford School Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI) normally takes place on campus in Ann Arbor for an intensive six-week program. In its 39th year, the University again welcomes 24 undergraduate students for...

Deardorff fact-checks President Trump on USMCA trade deal

Jun 22, 2020

A June 19 CNN story looked at recent public statements made by President Trump regarding the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement known as USMCA, among other issues. Ford School economics professor Alan Deardorff commented on Trump’s claim that “USMCA is...

Ali says “Boogaloo” movement is disparate and dangerous

Jun 22, 2020

A June 19 ABC News report about the murder of a Federal Protective Service officer in Oakland in May highlighted the suspects’ ties to the “Boogaloo” movement, which has been linked to other violent attacks. Ford School Towsley Foundation...

“Trust in public health is essential amid COVID-19 pandemic” write Udow-Phillips and Lantz in Journal of Hospital Medicine

Jun 19, 2020

“Trust in public health is essential amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” write Marianne Udow-Phillips and Paula Lantz in a new Journal of Hospital Medicine Perspectives piece. With more than two million cases of COVID-19 in the United States to date,...

Marianne Udow-Phillips and Paula Lantz headshots

Lantz discusses COVID-19 health inequity

Jun 19, 2020

Paula Lantz, associate dean of the Ford School and James B. Hudak Professor of Health Policy, and Michael S. Barr, dean of the Ford School, discussed the emerging social epidemiology of COVID-19 and current understanding regarding public health and...

In the Media

Morenoff details How COVID-19 is Impacting Detroit Residents

Jun 19, 2020

The Detroit Metro Area Communities Study (DMACS) is a University of Michigan initiative that regularly surveys a representative group of Detroit residents about their communities, asking about their experiences, perceptions, priorities, and...

Ford School's Lin on DACA decision: "The law is higher than the president."

Jun 18, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled June 18 that the Trump administration could not shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The ruling was 5-4, with the court's four liberal justices agreeing with Chief Justice John Roberts and the...