alumni impact | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
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Alumni spotlight

City streets in San José

May 9, 2025
Rick Scott’s (MPA ’12) journey into public service was inspired by the events of September 11, 2001. “I just remember feeling like I wanted to do something,” he recalls of his high school senior year. This feeling led him to an ROTC scholarship,...
Rick Scott (MPA ‘12)
Alumni spotlight

Jessica Gillooly helps cities reimagine 911 responses

May 9, 2025
Sociologist Jessica Gillooly (PhD ’20) has used her deep knowledge of call taking and dispatching, along with some compelling new theoretical ideas, to become one of the leading experts on this issue. Her expertise is helping inform and shape the...
Collage of Jessica Gillooly with a smartphone dialing 911
Alumni spotlight

Improving legislative oversight, improving lives

May 9, 2025
You can’t get good government without good oversight.” That quote from U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) is a touchstone for the work of Ben Eikey (MPP ’19) and that of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, where he serves as a manager for the...
Collage of Ben Eikey with West Virginia’s State Capitol building
Alumni spotlight

Building futures in the regional economy

May 9, 2025
As vice president of regional initiatives for the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, Tayrn MacFarlane (MBA/MPP ’08) unites local officials, business leaders, educational institutions, and community organizations from northern Indiana and...
Collage of Taryn Macfarlane with an outlined map of select Michigan and Indiana counties, a saxophone, and a turbine
Alumni spotlight

Strange bedfellows for a cleaner NYC

May 9, 2025
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...
Collage of Emma Renzi Wise with an oyster shell, manhole cover, and recycling bin
State & Hill

Jim McIntire: He answered the call to serve

Dec 17, 2024
James McIntire leaves a legacy of policy for the public goodThis year, the Ford School Alumni Board honored James L. McIntire (MPP ’78) with the 2024 Neil Staebler Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding professional achievement in...
Jim Mcintire
State & Hill

Class notes, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024
David Rivait (MPP ’84) was appointed by Governor Pritzker to the State of Illinois’ eight-member Budgeting for Results Commission. The Commission advises on an annual performance-based budget and provides oversight and guidance for assessments of...
Top row (from left to right): Laura Bishop (MPA ’99), Tyler (BA ’19) and Meghan Coady, Cristian Casanova (MPP ’21). Bottom row (from left to right): Jim Hudak (MPP ’71) with Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (MPP ’02), Eric (MPP ’87) and Kaye Norenberg.
Alumni spotlight

Stacy Dean (MPP '92) tackles food insecurity

Jul 10, 2024
Stacy Dean (’88, MPP’92), admits that the decision to attend the University of Michigan wasn’t the most thought-out process. Coming from a small town in New York, she simply wanted to go somewhere new.“It was the school that was furthest away from...
Photo of Stacy Dean (MPP '92)
State & Hill

Nicole Fernandes: Public servants advancing the public good

Apr 24, 2024
NOAA provides authoritative data, tools, products, and services to build a more weather-ready and climate-ready nation. My job is to understand the policy, political, environmental, and social landscape across the U.S. and try to take a holistic...
Nicole Fernandes and her two kids
State & Hill

David de Voursney: Public servants advancing the public good

Apr 24, 2024
David de Voursney implements the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Program (CCBHC) to increase the accessibility of comprehensive mental health and substance use disorder services across the United States. Since 2017, he’s worked with...
Headshot of David deVoursney
State & Hill

Public sector consulting fills government workforce demand

Apr 24, 2024
A growing number of public policy graduates are opting to work in public sector consulting—public arms of larger firms such as EY or Deloitte, or advisory consulting firms such as Guidehouse, Huron Consulting Group, or Booz Allen. For many years, a...
Headshots of Fritz, Zinkel Walters, and Sernick
Alumni spotlight

Lishaun Francis (MPP ‘09) on her journey into child advocacy

Nov 2, 2023
Upon graduating from the Ford School, Lishaun Francis (MPP ‘09) headed to DC to work as a Management and Program Analyst at the United States Department of Education (DoE). Although she felt she was making an impact on public education, working at...
Portrait of Lishaun Francis (MPP ’09)
Alumni spotlight

Sandy Su (MPA '20) on charting her career path

Oct 10, 2023
Sandy Su (MPA ‘21) was an experienced non-profit professional working in the humanitarian and development sectors in her home country of Myanmar. With aspirations to work internationally, she needed to expand her resume beyond her localized...
sandy-su-alumni-impact-1090x681.jpg
Alumni spotlight

Tara Lanigan (MPA '21) on her pivot to the public sector

Oct 3, 2023
Tara Lanigan (MPA ‘21) was working for a mobility start-up and wanted to focus more intentionally on transportation or sustainability policy. She was awarded a Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) in 2022 and serves as a policy advisor for the...
tara-lanigan-alumni-impact-1090x681.jpg
Alumni spotlight

Egle Klekere (MPA '21) on taking her firm to the next level

Oct 3, 2023
Egle Klekere (MPA, '21) is the founder of her own communications consulting firm in Latvia. She was looking for a program to help deepen her knowledge and gain new energy for her own and her company's performance. How has your work been...
egle-klekere-alumni-impact-1090x681.jpg
Alumni spotlight

William Selesky (MPA '20) on value unlocked at the Ford School

Oct 3, 2023
William Selesky (MPA ‘20) was a practicing attorney in state government who wanted to expand his policy skill set and network beyond the legal profession. He now serves as corporate counsel for Amazon. What do you do for Amazon? I'm an...
william-selesky-alumni-impact-1090x681.jpg
Alumni spotlight

Inés Llorente (MPA '20) reflects on her time at the Ford School

Oct 2, 2023
Inés Llorente (MPA '20) was working for a human rights organization when she realized she wanted to go back to school to focus on immigration policy and refugee integration. She is now the outreach and content manager at the International Rescue...
inés-llorente-alumni-impact-1090x681.jpg
State & Hill

Celebrating 40 Years of PPIA

Dec 13, 2021
For 40 years, the Ford School's Public Policy & International Affairs Junior Summer Institute fellowship (PPIA JSI), previously known as the Sloan or Woodrow Wilson fellowship, has helped launch promising undergraduate students on a path toward...
Photo of a group of PPIA students