Faculty expertise

Shape your future alongside dedicated mentors and world-class scholars who are redefining public policy.At the Ford School, you’ll connect with extraordinary faculty who do more than teach—they challenge, inspire, and champion the next generation of ...

News

Katherine Michelmore to help new journal bring timely research to real-world policy decisions

Oct 23, 2026

Ford School scholar joins the inaugural editorial team of APPAM’s Journal of Policy Implementation & Evaluation, launching in summer 2027.

News

Expanded Earned Income Tax Credit improved housing security for childless young adults

Oct 19, 2026

A temporary expansion to the Earned Income Tax Credit improved housing security for young workers who don't have children, a new study shows.

Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore

News

Lessons from Maine: What it takes to implement aligned P-2 curriculum

Oct 12, 2026

U-M research provides insights to help localities adopt and implement high-quality, open access curricula in Pre-K and early elementary grades

children raising their hands in a classroom

Publication

What does it take to reshape society?

Oct 12, 2026

In a recent International Organization article, Ford School professor Megan Stewart examines changes to the social order during the French Revolution to show how "symbolic programs" can produce lasting and sometimes unintended effects.

News

Better Government Lab receives more than $2 million from the Walmart Foundation to support SNAP administration, accuracy, and access

Oct 2, 2026

BGL will help state agencies analyze payment-error patterns and prioritize quality-assurance efforts while supporting timely access for eligible people.

Empty shopping cart in a brightly lit grocery store aisle lined with stocked shelves.

News

Holly Bass discusses art, memory, and the nation’s unfinished story

Sep 28, 2026

Holly Bass, the Ford School's fall 2026 Towsley Policymaker in Residence and U-M's 2026 Roman J. Witt Artist in Residence, explored these questions and more as part of a special Penny Stamps Speaker Series during the University of Michigan's Democrac...

A smiling person wearing white-framed glasses and a light-colored button-up shirt stands in front of a vibrant green, pink, and multicolored graffiti wall.

Publication

A bright future for long-term care lies ahead

Sep 25, 2026

Pamela Herd's review of long-term care policy approaches and their impact on access provides insights for state lawmakers hoping to help elderly residents.

Publication

Parthasarathy: Restoring trust in science requires public accountability, not greater industry control

Sep 18, 2026

In her fourth Expert Voices column for Science, Shobita Parthasarathy, Ford School professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program, discusses the Trump administration's new science policy strategy,...

News

Pamela Herd named 2026 NIH Matilda White Riley Honoree

Sep 17, 2026

Pamela Herd, Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Ford School of Public Policy, has been named the 19th National Institutes of Health (NIH) Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer.

News

Michigan voters really ‘just want results’ from Washington, says U-M political expert

Sep 15, 2026

Most voters really just want results—and maybe some relief—from Washington, according to political expert Rusty Hills. Frustrations are shaping the debate as the pivotal state and nation overall barrel toward another midterm election.

Rusty Hills teaches "Campaigns and Elections" to a class of graduate and undergraduate students

News

U-M project to study links between free school meals, student performance and well-being

Sep 10, 2026

Ford School researchers will examine whether Michigan's statewide free school meals program is linked to improvements in students' academic performance, attendance, graduation or progression, and discipline outcomes.

News

Ford School faculty awarded U-M Strategic Initiative Fund grants

Aug 26, 2026

Ford School faculty to lead on: a new center for democracy, a Detroit-centered civic engagement platform, a food hardship tracker, practical insights about Michigan's clean energy and mobility transition, and shipbuilding revitalization.

University of Michigan flag flying over the Michigan Union

News

Ford School celebrates faculty appointments and promotions

Aug 26, 2026

The Ford School is welcoming new and returning scholars, artists, and policy experts in 2026, while celebrating the promotion of three accomplished faculty members and new roles for longtime members of the school community.

News

Nicole Sherard-Freeman to join Luke Shaefer for featured keynote conversation at Kohn Social Policy Conference

Aug 20, 2026

The conversation will explore how leaders across sectors can work together to strengthen the systems that shape opportunity, stability, and well-being. It will connect directly to the conference's central question: What can a city do to promote human...

Portraits of Nicole Sherard-Freeman and Luke Shaefer.

News

Beyond India-Pakistan: What the Mecca defense pact reveals about a changing security order

Aug 14, 2026

Javed Ali discusses what the new Mecca defense agreement could mean for India, Pakistan and the wider region, and why the relatively restrained responses from both New Delhi and Washington are worth watching.

News

Shobita Parthasarathy named president-elect of Society for Social Studies of Science

Jul 31, 2026

Shobita Parthasarathy has been elected incoming president-elect of the Society for Social Studies of Science, an international nonprofit association for researchers in science and technology studies.

Publication

Who holds power? Puerto Ricans' distrust runs deep

Jul 24, 2026

New findings from U-M's Laboratorio Puertorriqueño de Opinión Pública (Puerto Rican Opinion Lab) show a profound disconnect between residents and their government.

News

Rethinking bureaucracy: Study finds overloaded officials–not corruption–can slow public benefits

Jul 22, 2026

University of Michigan research in India shows that giving bureaucrats better access to information can speed payments to millions of workers.

News

U-M economist Dean Yang named founding president of new international development economics association

Jun 24, 2026

A new global association led by University of Michigan economist Dean Yang aims to strengthen the field of development economics.

News

Paula Lantz receives IAPHS J. Michael McGinnis Leadership Excellence Award

Jun 11, 2026

Epidemiologist and social demographer Paula Lantz has been named the recipient of the J. Michael McGinnis Leadership Excellence Award from the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science.

News

Hausman, Michelmore, and Pilkauskas promoted to full professors

May 22, 2026

The Regents of the University of Michigan approved promotions for Catherine Hausman, Katherine Michelmore, and Natasha Pilkauskas—all to professor of public policy, with tenure.

News

Don Moynihan wins prestigious George Fredrickson Award for Career Contributions

May 19, 2026

Dr. Donald Moynihan, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy, has received the 2026 George Fredrickson Award for Career Contributions from the Public Management Research Association (PRMA) in recognition of his valuable contribu...

News

Herd and Moynihan win 2026 Riccucci-O’Leary Award

May 19, 2026

Pam Herd and Donald Moynihan have been recognized with the 2026 Riccucci-O'Leary Award for the best article on diversity in public management, conferred by the Public Management Research Association (PRMA).

Headshots of Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan

News

Justin Wolfers launches Platypus Economics to bring economic thinking to everyday life

May 12, 2026

Justin Wolfers Q&A about the urgent need for economic literacy, the meaning behind his new platform, Platypus Economics, and how it aims to help people make sense of today's economy and political climate.

Publication

Large, profitable oil and gas companies pass environmental risks to smaller, undercapitalized firms

May 11, 2026

Oil and gas companies use wells to extract the raw materials eventually sold to consumers as everyday goods. But what happens when wells begin to yield less product? Large oil and gas companies transfer low-value wells to companies with smaller po...

Publication

U-M and MSU team partner to study impact of prenatal and infant cash prescription program in Flint, Michigan

May 11, 2026

A new peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Pediatrics provides rigorous, population-level evidence that the Rx Kids program, the nation’s first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program, is associated with substantial reductions i...

News

"Trump thought Iran would fold. That’s how Vietnam started." —Hills

May 8, 2026

Read the analysis: Ford School Lecturer Rusty Hills, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, in the Detroit Free Press.

State & Hill

Faculty news, spring 2026

May 7, 2026

Ford School experts are publishing research, sharing their knowledge, and getting recognized.

A series of six headshots of people smiling

Publication

What really wins wars? Atran weighs in

Apr 30, 2026

In a recent opinion essay, anthropologist Scott Atran argues that the decisive factor is often not superior firepower, but the presence of “devoted actors,” people whose personal identity is fused with a group’s collective identity and anchored in no...