The Ford School successfully grew our faculty in 2024, bringing in experts to deepen our focus on early childhood education, health and aging, better government, and criminal justice policy. Additionally, we welcomed distinguished policymakers in...
Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio will join the Ford School faculty for winter 2024 as a Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence. De Blasio will teach a course open to all on “When Policy Met Politics: How Real...
Ohio Court of Appeals Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt, who will be returning to the Ford School as a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, was saluted by her hometown YWCA as a 2023 Woman of Achievement. Beatty Blunt, the first Black woman to serve...
New Ford School Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt is a distinguished litigator, legal expert, and public servant. After serving many years as a litigator and judge, in 2018, Judge Beatty Blunt became the first...
Abdul El-Sayed, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, has been sought out by the media to discuss a plethora of issues, from climate policy to the upcoming midterm elections. Additionally, El-Sayed regularly contributes to political discourse...
Distinguished litigator, legal expert, and public servant Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt (Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals) will join the Ford School faculty for fall 2022 as a Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence....
President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law on June 25—the first major gun reform bill in three decades. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Abdul El-Sayed explained it's also the biggest expansion of Medicaid since...
On May 12, Abdul El-Sayed, the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, testified before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing titled “Medicare for All: Protecting Health, Saving Lives, Saving Money.” El-Sayed was...
The 2022 winter semester will look a little bit different for two second-year Ford School graduate students. Bethany Haddad (MPP ‘22) and Kate Randall (MPP ‘22), were selected from a very competitive pool of applicants for the prestigious Riecker...
This week, the Heinz Family Foundation honored William (Bill) Bynum, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School, as one of six recipients of the 26th Heinz Awards. This prestigious award recognizes his "outstanding contributions...
After the CDC rolled back its guidance that vaccinated people could unmask, many were left confused and unsure of what to believe. Abdul El-Sayed, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, explained the logistics behind the new guidance.
"What...
How can we get more people vaccinated? Abdul El-Sayed, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, explained that simply yelling at people to get them vaccinated won't work, comparing it to yelling at his toddler to "Go to...
Progressive political leader and public health policy expert Abdul El-Sayed, MD, PhD will join the Ford School faculty in fall 2021 as a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence. Dr. El-Sayed is a public servant, Michigan politician, former...
With a $750,000 grant from the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation, the Ford School will grow its innovative Leadership Initiative.
Launched as a pilot in the 2019-2020 academic year, the Ford School’s Leadership Initiative offers...
The Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Program, established in 2002, pops the academic bubble in its promotion of student, faculty, and policymaker exchange by bringing individuals with significant national and...
Broderick D. Johnson (JD '83) will join the Ford School as the winter 2019 Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, teaching a course on "Lobbying and Mass Incarceration." He follows Dudley Benoit (MPP ‘95) who taught...
Sam Geller (MPP '17)
For Sam Geller (MPP '17), the Riecker Michigan Delegation Fellowship offered an opportunity to see the full scope of Congressional responsibility.
Geller spent the first six months of this year in the Washington, DC...
Adrienne Harris will moderate a discussion regarding the impressive growth of the fintech industry across the African continent and the benefits as well as challenges for economies, governance, and society. Participants will include thought leaders from industry, government, and higher education.
Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series,
Policy Talks @ the Ford School
Join us for a discussion on elections and campaigns, in 2020 and beyond. The discussion will include Katie Packer Beeson, former deputy campaign manager for the Romney/Ryan campaign in 2012 and founding partner of Burning Glass Consulting, and Greg Schultz, general election strategist and senior advisor for the 2020 Biden campaign. Broderick Johnson, Towsley Policymaker in Residence, will moderate.
Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series,
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
STPP Lecture Series
In this conversation, Paul Abbate, Associate Deputy Director of the FBI, and David Levy, Vice President of Amazon Web Services, will discuss some of the challenges in addressing current cybersecurity threats, formulating policy, and calibrating responses.
Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series,
Weiser Diplomacy Center Series
This Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture will examine the nexus between labor rights and trade—a crucial topic as U.S. and global trade arrangements are being renegotiated. It will feature a conversation between two experts who have long worked to advance worker’s rights in the context of global trade—Dr. Bama Athreya, a visiting policy expert at the Weiser Diplomacy Center, and Ford School Professor of Practice Sander Levin.
Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series,
Policy Talks @ the Ford School
A conversation with LTG James Clapper (USAF, ret.), LTG Michael Nagata (USA, ret.), and Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) on national security, service, and policy.