Laura K. Lee

An alum of the Ford School (MPP '96), Laura has decades of experience in strategic communications, public sector and academic advocacy, crisis communications, digital strategy, and leadership. 

Laura was the Ford School's first director of communications, and she built and led that function for the school for 17 years. 

As director of public affairs, she leads a team that is responsible for connecting members of the Ford School with key audiences and with each other. The Public Affairs team brings policy leaders and thinkers to the Ford School to exchange insights and ideas with our students, faculty, staff; deepen the impact of the school’s work; and strengthen relationships for the benefit of learning, careers, and research.

Prior to her current role at the Ford School, Laura provided organizational and administrative leadership to fulfill the research, mentoring, and dissemination goals of the National Poverty Center (NPC), a nonpartisan, academic research center housed at the Ford School.

In addition to her masters degree in public policy from the Ford School, Laura earned her bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan.