The Ford School spent the 2022-23 academic year evaluating and learning from our first five-year strategic plan (2016-2022) while keeping our momentum going and this important work moving forward. In collaboration with student leaders, the...
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...
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,...
The Academic Leadership Institute (ALI) Summer Residential Program offered by the University of Michigan (U-M) and Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) equips diverse individuals with the knowledge and management skills required to advance...
The Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes Dr. Moya Z. Bailey, Dr. Angela S. García, Dr. Clarence Wardell III, and Diane J. Wright as Visiting Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Visiting Fellows Program, the signature...
Mo Torres returns to the Ford School (he graduated with his MPP in 2015) as one of six University of Michigan Society of Fellows for a three-year appointment. He will work closely with the Center for Racial Justice. Torres is a historical...
Summer 2023 proved to be eventful and rewarding for the inaugural Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE) cohort. The program, a collaboration between the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Spelman College, provided...
Four U-M faculty members have been named University Diversity and Social Transformation Professors for their exceptional contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion through research, teaching and service.
The Board of Regents approved the...
Three inaugural Center for Racial Justice visiting fellows—Julian Brave NoiseCat, Makeda Easter, and Atinuke (Tinu) O. Adediran—reflect on the work they've pursued during their year at the Ford School.
By Lillian Chen and Rebecca Cohen (MPP...
Dominique Adams-Santos, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, and PhD candidate Kayonne Christy contributed a chapter, "Narratives in Context: Locating Racism and Sexism in Black Women's Health Experiences," to The Routledge Companion to...
Ford School doctoral candidate Shoshana Shapiro (PhD '23) was chosen as one of five 2023-24 National Poverty Fellows (NPF). As part of her postdoctoral fellowship, Shapiro will be in residence in the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the...
In celebration of its 100th anniversary, The Milbank Quarterly published “The Future of Population Health: Challenges and Opportunities,” a special issue of 36 articles by a diverse set of leading and emerging scholars. Edited by Paula Lantz, James...
The lack of stability in housing for Brown and Black communities and barriers to college access for Arabic and Muslim high schoolers have been a focus of Yasmine Elkharssa's studies for several years.
Now, as the newest Truman Scholar, the...
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...
A new massive open online course available on Michigan Online will help STEM and policy professionals, community organizers, and students understand how injustices can become embedded in technology and associated policies. “Justice and Equity in...
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...
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...
In corporate boardrooms, women often face backlash or negative career consequences when they are unable to display both warmth and competence — gendered societal expectations commonly referred to as the ‘double bind.’ Morela Hernandez, the Ligia...
Diversity, equity, and inclusion work continues at the Ford School
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of the Ford School. They’re inseparable from our pursuit of the public good. They’re essential to the character of the...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying who we are
The Undergraduate Students of Color in Public Policy (SCPP) hosted an undergraduate application preparation and panel discussion....
The Ford School and its research centers will be hosting a variety of events during February, Black History Month, examining a range of topics concerning the struggles for racial equity.
The Center for Racial Justice, Weiser Diplomacy Center and...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying who we are
The undergraduate organization, Students of Color in Public Policy (SCPP), hosted an undergraduate application preparation and...
Three Ford School undergraduates have been recognized with Central Campus Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Awards, noting their exemplification of Dr. King’s leadership and vision. The students, Janani Gandhi (BA ‘22), Ayodele Ojo (BA ‘23),...
In a lengthy interview for Essence, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence and Hope Credit Union CEO Bill Bynum spoke about his partnership with Netflix to highlight banking discrimination in a 3-part limited series called Banking On...
By Olivia Bradish (BA ‘23)
Armed with her BA from Rice University, Morela Hernandez entered the corporate finance world. In a setting where nobody looked like her, she pondered a question that was both practical and intellectual: as she puts it,...
By Olivia Bradish (BA ‘23)
From childhood, sociologist and new associate dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes was interested in social justice. She says she is "grounded in an upbringing where she was acutely aware of the consequences of inequality and the...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying what and how we teach
During the November faculty meeting, public policy lecturer Attia Qureshi presented on managing challenges in the...
Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School
Diversifying who we are
Students connected one-on-one with the Ford School of Public Policy and 50 of the top public policy and international affairs...
