Our commitment
Our commitment to the public good is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We value community, integrity, respect, service, inclusion, diversity, and equity. We aspire for our work to be excellent,...
A five-year plan, launched in October 2016
In October 2016, the Ford School released a five-year strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion that builds on the school’s long-standing strength and commitment in this area. Developed through...
The Ford School’s plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion is a living document. Each year, we review our progress on actions and prioritize efforts to address the DEI plan’s four central goals.
Read this year’s full plan here.
Below, we...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying who we are
This fall, the Ford School welcomed several new faculty with expertise in education and social policy, national security, and...
The University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy is launching a new Center for Racial Justice designed to expand knowledge about the complex intersections between race and public policy and create a community of leaders, scholars and students...
By David Pratt
Paula Lantz completes remarkable term as associate dean
Diversity, equity, and inclusion. Curricular overhaul and creation of a new master’s program. A leadership initiative. Helping students, faculty, and staff through a...
This spring, the Ford School finishes the implementation of our 5-year strategic plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), launched in 2016 in concert with a University-wide set of coordinated DEI plans. This summer we will develop strategic...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
The Ford School launched a new predoctoral program — in partnership with a consortium of leading policy schools — that...
In his Blevity op-ed, PhD candidate Matthew Alemu wrote about two concerns that turn Vice President Kamala Harris' election as "the first" into a curse.
"First, Harris must perform well because more is at stake....[If she performs poorly] her...
Eight new University of Michigan faculty positions have been selected for funding in the first round of hires that will be a part of the Anti-Racism Faculty Hiring Initiative.
One of those new hires will be at the Ford School, with a focus on...
Pilot pre-doctoral program prepares policy school graduates to pursue academic careers, broadening and diversifying pipeline for future faculty
The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy is launching a new pre-doctoral research program — in...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
Morela Hernandez adds leadership and diversity expertise to Ford School faculty. The University of Michigan Regents...
On February 25, Shobita Parthasarathy testified before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies. The hearing included four invited experts to speak about energy and climate innovation issues....
Earlier today, the University of Michigan Regents approved the appointment of Morela Hernandez as professor of public policy with tenure at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, effective August 31, 2021. She will also hold a collegiate chair...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
Parthasarathy profiled: why we need to diversify expertise. In a Public Books Public Thinker profile, Shobita...
Three Ford School undergraduate students, Julianna Collado (BA ‘22), Cydney Gardner-Brown (BA ‘21), and Mariana Boully Perez (BA ‘21), were among the honorees who received the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Spirit Award. The MLK Spirit Award...
Read Celeste Watkins-Hayes' op-ed in the Detroit Free Press below. In winter 2021, Watkins-Hayes will teach a graduate course, PubPol 750: Interview Methods, and an undergraduate course, SOC 295: Pandemics: Social Dimensions of HIV and...
In a Public Books Public Thinker profile, Shobita Parthasarathy discusses what drew her to science and technology policy, gene patents and testing, COVID-19, and the role of diversity and activism in science/technology to regain public trust.
In...
New Ford School 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. Her most recent book Remaking a Life: How Women...
What do Kant, Hobbes and Ice Cube have in common? And what can they tell us about racial injustice in America? The answers can be found in a new podcast series featuring Christian Davenport, Ford School professor of public policy by courtesy. In A...
By Rebecca Cohen (MPP ‘09)
There are more than 3 trillion Google search results for “leadership.” Articles about the “7 leadership mistakes you’re probably making” and “Why You Can’t Teach Leadership” and “11 leadership characteristics”...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
Ford School professor of Economics, Betsey Stevenson, speaks on three reasons companies are now showing support for...
The field of Public Interest Technology is growing — putting technology to the use of social justice, the common good, and the public interest.
Ford School professor Robert Hampshire has just received his second grant from the Public Interest...
Ford School Dean Michael Barr and professor of practice Adrienne Harris say the technologies of the “payments revolution,” which enable people to make payments and access bank accounts more easily, can also lead to greater financial...
The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) has awarded the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with its 2020 Social Equity Award, which honors a public policy, affairs, or administration program that exemplifies...
Now that Genesee County has declared racism a public health crisis, what role can residents play in guiding the county’s efforts to eliminate racist policies and practices?
That’s one of the research questions University of Michigan faculty will...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) awarded the Ford School its 2020...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
Based on a generous gift from Hal and Carol Kohn and the Kohn Charitable Trust, the Ford School will establish...
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed policymaking biases that have ignored poor and marginalized communities, argues Ford school professor Shobita Parthasarathy. In a paper, Innovation Policy, Structural Inequality, and COVID-19, published in the...
Today the University of Michigan Regents approved the appointment of professor Celeste Watkins-Hayes as the Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy for a five-year renewable term.
The Fairfax Collegiate Professorship was established...
