Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people, regardless of racial background, that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone.We seek a world in which people are able to achieve their full potential in life,...
The Center for Racial Justice hosts programs and events open to the Ford School community and the public.
The Masterclass in Activism is a widely advertised event series in which the center's director will be in conversation with noted activists...
The multidisciplinary approach of the Center for Racial Justice will allow students to complement their curriculum with research- and action-based opportunities to understand and address racial inequity. The center will give us the tools,...
The visiting fellows program will become the center’s signature initiative, offering social justice changemakers (activists, artists, advocates, and scholars) a prestigious, highly competitive award designed to recognize their transformative...
From informing how the U.S. Census estimates populations to reimagining land contracts as a path to homeownership and inspiring state legislation that would aid homeless youths, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan continued to tackle the...
Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students.
Fifteen members of the Michigan State...
With the guidance and support of the Ford School’s research centers, graduate and undergraduate students are creating a real-life impact in a range of areas by working with external partners. The Ford School is deeply integrated with a wide range of...
The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the winter 2023 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus.
Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...
Mara Ostfeld, PhD, associate faculty director at Poverty Solutions, assistant research scientist at the Ford School of Public Policy, research director at the Center for Racial Justice, and faculty lead for the Detroit Metro Area Community Study,...
The theme of the 37th University of Michigan Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture is “The (R)evolution of MLK: from Segregation to Elevation,” which will explore King’s activism after 1964, highlighting the evolution of King’s primary...
Passing the baton
A June gathering with faculty and staff celebrating Michael Barr’s first term as dean—and this photo with then-associate dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes—took on new meaning a couple of weeks later when the U.S. Senate confirmed Barr...
Distinguished sociologist
Celeste Watkins-Hayes works at the intersection of inequality, public policy, and institutions, with a special focus on urban poverty and race, class, and gender studies. She’s particularly interested in the lived...
The University of Michigan is currently in an interim period between its strategic plans for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with the next plan set to launch in early fall 2023. The Ford School community did not pause, however, and is hard...
In an event on December 5, 2022, Ford School interim dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes told a group of Capitol Hill staffers and other DC professionals that a public policy education can lead to community impact.
“I'm a firm believer in the idea that...
In October 2022, students from the Ford School and members of the greater University of Michigan community gathered together to hear “Racial Justice Changemakers”—social justice leaders, artists, and advocates—share their diverse journeys into...
Political scientist Dr. Mara Celicia Ostfeld has been named the inaugural research director of the Center for Racial Justice (CRJ) at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. In this role, Ostfeld will lead the development of the...
Detroit residents say the quality of K-12 schools is their top priority for the November elections, followed closely by inflation, affordable housing, affordable health care, and crime.
That's according to a new representative survey of...
While most Detroiters intend to vote in the November midterm election, those who are uncertain about voting or unlikely to vote could be motivated to cast a ballot by a candidate's support for reparations, according to a new survey from the...
Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes, DEI Officer Stephanie Sanders, and Associate DEI Officer Dominique Adams-Santos provide an update on how the Ford School is examining, learning, and connecting with our community to further Diversity, Equity, and...
Julian Brave NoiseCat, The Robesonian: "Because in the strange racial politics of the United States, the Lumbee htave to dance hard. The tribe has been seeking federal recognition through various means since 1888, when they first petitioned the...
The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the fall 2022 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. We are hosting distinguished policymakers, scholars,...
This fall the Ford School welcomes a terrific group of new faculty members and visitors who will strengthen the connections between student education, rigorous academic research, and real-world policy impact.
Sam Bagenstos has been appointed the...
The Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes Atinuke (Tinu) Adediran, Makeda Easter, and Julian Brave NoiseCat as inaugural Visiting Fellows for the 2022-23 academic year.
The visiting fellows program recognizes and supports the...
The Anti-Racism Collaborative, administered by the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), has awarded summer research grants to 26 University of Michigan (U-M) graduate students. The Rackham Graduate School and the Center for Racial...
Weill Hall buzzed with excitement this week as the Ford School kicked off the 41st year of its Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute – a program designed to build diversity in public service. Hailing from coast to...
The Center for Racial Justice has opened applications for the inaugural cohort of the Visiting Fellows Program for the 2022-23 academic year.
The program is a nine-month, non-residential fellowship that offers social justice leaders, activists,...
Michael S. Barr’s first term as dean
By Laura K. Lee
In October 2021, the Regents of the University of Michigan approved Provost Susan M. Collins’ recommendation to reappoint Michael S. Barr as Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the Ford School...
The Ford School will participate in a cross-campus University of Michigan initiative to address environmental racism and promote health equity. Three tenure track faculty positions will be hired, one each in the Ford School, the School for...
In the aftermath of the racially-motivated shooting spree in Buffalo that left 10 people dead, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Ford School associate dean for academic affairs and director of the Center for Racial Justice, and professor of practice Javed Ali,...
Ford School experts are available to comment on the racially motivated massacre over the weekend at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Celeste Watkins-Hayes
Celeste Watkins-Hayes is the associate dean for academic affairs and...