Tour of Weill Hall

Hi everyone. Thank
you for joining us

this afternoon for the
live Instagram tour

of the Ford School.

My name is Moriah and
I'm a second year MPP.

I'm originally from
the Los Angeles area.

I'm doing an international
policy concentration

here at the Ford School.

I'm involved in the International
Policy Student Association

in the Ford Munk conference.

And I'm excited to
show you around.

If you have any questions

as we're going
through the building,

please let us know and
I'm excited to introduce.

Yeah. Hi everybody. I'm Alhan.

I'm what they call a dinosaur

here because I'm a third year.

So I'm a dual degree
Ford and Ross student.

So I'm an MPP MBA
student like Moriah.

I've also been at the, sorry,

I lost my chain of thought.

I was trying to say
was that I'm also

an international policy
concentration or whatever.

And Moriah and I funnily enough

met when we were doing
the Ford Munk Conference,

which Moriah was the
director for this year.

I was the Director for
the previous year.

We can talk more
about that as well as

the International Economic
Development Program.

And we hope you join us

at the Ford School or
join your own cohort.

And we will see you on
the other side perhaps.

Great.

So we're going to start right
now with the great hall.

This is on the first
floor of the building.

This is an area where a
lot of students are in

between classes doing
work in between classes.

A lot of students will just
like congregate in this area.

Also, we have our annual
Christmas party here.

That's a really fun time for

the community to come together.

We have an acapella
group, snacks.

Also, we have
someone to introduce

you to in relation to what
Alhan was talking about.

The International Economic
Development Program,

which is one of the programs

that's offered here
at the Ford School,

through the International
Policy Center.

And Alhan and I did

the trip together
last year to Chile,

and this year's group
went to Colombia.

And right now, they are
hosting a bake sale for

donations for the
nonprofits that

the cohort worked with in
Colombia over spring break.

So I'll pass it over to
Sarah really quickly.

Hi, everyone. My name is Sarah.

I'm here representing

the International Economic
Development Program.

As Moriah said, we are
here to raise money for

five Colombian
organizations that we

worked with over spring
break in Bogota.

Each of these organizations
helped support

Venezuelan migrants
coming to Colombia.

Awesome, thanks Sarah.

And there's a lot
of yummy things

like conchas, cookies, cupcakes.

And I will be stopping
by later to buy one.

Now, we're going to
walk over to one of

our study areas here
on the first floor.

These two rooms. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. We'll talk
about these too.

I'll talk a little bit about
these classrooms right here.

Sure. This is the
Annenberg Auditorium,

and this is the Betty
Ford classroom.

But we just called the Betty
and Annenberg for short.

What's important about
these rooms is this is

where you will begin with
your core curriculum.

So if you're doing
microeconomics or stats,

most people have to do
it unless you waive out of it.

That's usually Micro
is going to be in

this bigger Annenberg and

then folks in Stats
are going to be split.

It's really interesting because

I also started out in this room,

and now it's my third year, and

my final Ford class
is also in this room.

So it's a weird full circle.

But these two rooms
represent the heart of

the Ford School in terms of
events and core classes.

Yeah, definitely.
As Alhan mentioned,

there's also events there.

We actually went to an
event about two weeks ago

with former Dean Michael
Barr who was speaking,

who's now on the
Federal Reserve Board.

On the governance board.

Yeah. We'll now
walk down this way.

Again, just as a reminder,

feel free to drop any
questions that you

might have into the chat as

we're mentioning things
that might be of interest

or as you're seeing
things on the tour.

One more classroom, one more.

We're walking back.

Yeah. These are some study desks

that we have here at
the Ford School,

and there are a lot
of different areas

for students to study
in between classes.

I know that when I have like

an hour or two and I don't
want to leave the building,

that'll look for one
of these open tables.

Do you have anything else
say about like study spaces?

Yeah, sure. I think
the key thing about

this floor is that
we have most of

our classrooms on this
space. You all can pass.

It's fine just last time,

but besides that, it's
usually pretty busy.

We have classrooms behind us,

so we probably don't
want to be too loud.

But what's interesting
about this hallway as well,

is there's a lot of memorabilia
from President Ford.

So I believe that is, um,

his speech from the
Ford School dedication,

which is really
interesting. I forgot.

It's a pretty moving speech.

And there's several
aspects of it

where he talks about his time at

Michigan and how that led
him over to his presidency.

And then there's a
lot of memorabilia

down this hall as well.

But for the most part,
this particular part

of the Ford School is
mostly a quiet zone.

It usually going to classes.

And in the great hall is where

we think of as the
main social space.

As people are coming out of

various classrooms and
thinking about, okay,

how are we doing on the exams

or how's lecture
today, et cetera,

Definitely as Alhan mentioned,

and we'll see as we're walking
back through this way,

we have a lot of photos from

the Ford administration
of key moments.

And then also like the
groundbreaking ceremony

and other things about

when Ford came to

the Ford School when it
was named after him.

These are cool things
that remind you

of public service and

different core values that
the Ford School stands for.

Now we are going to be heading
up to the second floor.

On the second floor,

we'll be visiting our
graduate career services

and also student
academic services,

and also a quick cameo
from Ford himself.

Any words for our
admitted MPP students

Come to the Ford School!

It's great. Okay.

Yeah, I think that some students
have like traditions or

maybe they like rub the head of

Ford for good luck before tests.

Also, one time during Christmas,

I saw someone put a little
Christmas hat on Ford.

Do you want to
talk about the IEDP?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think one

of the things that
we just showed

you was that bake sales.

Moriah and I both did

the International Economic
Development Program.

Maybe we can talk a bit about
it just really quickly.

In terms of the IEDP,

which is short for

the International Economic
Development Program,

every year the student
cohort chooses a country,

then a group of students is
selected to run the program.

That's about five people
who comprise the board,

and then another 15 students

who are enrolled in the class,

and usually during spring
break or winter break,

whatever you want to call it.

Depending on climate change,

we go travel to

the country that the student

body has collectively chosen.

Moriah and I went
to Chile together.

The year before that, the
cohort went to Puerto Rico,

and this past year they went
to Colombia, I believe.

Now, when you come to
the Ford School,

you will hopefully be
part of the process that

chooses the country that the

next cohort studies
for the year.

And that's definitely
been one of

my favorite things
that I've done at

the Ford School is
the IEDP program.

And was actually one of

the reasons why I
chose the Ford School.

I think I mentioned it
in my application essay.

So it's really cool that I was

able to participate in
that in my first year.

Now we are about to head into

the graduate career
services office.

So one of my favorite
things about

the graduate career
services office

is the endless supply of

candy that we have
here at the front

that Eric always stocks
and is really wonderful.

I don't know if
you want to say hi

to some of the admitted.

Yeah. So yeah,

We also have our Director of

Graduate Career
Services, Peter Vasher.

He can say a little
bit about Yeah.

About the office.

Yeah. We're excited
to see you all.

Welcome you to the Ford School,

but our office works one on one

with all of our Ford
school graduate students.

We're a small but mighty team

that offers a lot of
individual attention,

one on one counseling
opportunities to engage with

employers and alumni
through events workshops.

We have north of 125
events in a given year,

both in person and virtually

excited to see you
all in the fall.

Yes. Awesome. Thanks Peter.

Do you want to
talk about some of

the services that Peter

mentioned that you've
taken advantage?

Yeah, I can talk about
I was going to say

welcome to the Career
Development Center.

And there's always Eric here.

But in addition to the candy,

I think there's a lot of
other services as well.

For example, right when you
come to the Ford School,

you can begin and there's
an elaborate resume review.

And you're encouraged to kind

of speak to the
team from day one.

And from there on,
we actively have

appointments as many as
you want to schedule,

and people are generally
just readily available.

I think what I found
really special is,

especially because I am at
another school as well,

at the University of Michigan.

Just the personal touch
that the Ford School ads

so, May, whose desk
we see behind us.

Anytime there's an interview
and she knows about it,

she will always follow through.

Even if I haven't
mentioned that,

hey, this is when the
interview is happening.

And it's just very nice
because I think it

speaks to the community
at the Ford School

and the importance that

everyone gives to each
individual student.

So I think we'll keep on going

towards the student
academic services.

That's where
we'll go next.

I just wanted to quickly mention

that one of the things I really

enjoyed about this is an

internship search
group that I did.

And throughout the
internship process,

this office is really

supportive with helping you
with your cover letters,

with statements of
interest, with resumes,

as Alhan mentioned, And also was

really supportive as I'm going

through the job
search right now.

Yeah, so now we will

be in the Student
Academic Services Office.

I also work at the
front desk here.

I'm excited to introduce
you to some of

my colleagues and the people who

work here and make
it so special.

Fancy seeing you all here.

Yeah. If you could maybe
say your name and your role

here in the office
and any message that

you might have for admitted
MPP students. Okay.

I'm Patrick Lyle.
I'm the Registrar,

and welcome to
Ford.

Hi, everyone. My name is Dustin. I oversee
recruiting and admissions.

So welcome to the Ford School

and we hope to see you here.

Awesome.

I'll just kind of
go through here.

Hi, everyone. My name is Zach.

I'm an admissions Officer
here at the Ford School.

I'm very excited to welcome
you all and go blue.

Okay. Let us make my way.

Hey, everybody. I'm Jordan Long.

I'm the Academic Advisor here at

the Ford School for
the Master's Programs.

But yeah, welcome
to the Ford School.

Happy to meet all
of you and go blue.

Yeah.

Starting this year, we
have a tradition of

the Jordan Long song
that was performed at

the talent show that Jordan
does not want disclosed.

It's a song about Jordan.

You will see why when you
come to the Ford School,

Jordan is amazing and such a
great resource to students.

He covers both cohorts.

Yes. And a great team.

Yes. So thank you all for

introducing yourselves and Yeah.

I spend a lot of time here
working in the front,

and I've really enjoyed, Yeah.

My time being in the office.

And there's also candy here,

so go Blue. Great bye.

Next we are walking into
the student lounge.

I would say the great hall

and the student lounges were in

a lot of the social activity

happens at the Ford School.

It's like the heart
of when you're

going to run into
other students and

it seems like it's
pretty packed right now.

We'll go ahead and walk in.

Yeah, we are in the
student lounge and this is

a really nice area
for students to just

be together to work on

like maybe stats
problem sets together,

micro problem sets just to
talk when you're having lunch.

We have refrigerators here for

students to be able
to store their food.

Then we also have microwaves,

that's really nice to
reheat your lunch.

Then we also have our
nice little coffee corner

where we have a Keurig.

People will just like
stock this with tea and

other things for students
to be able to use.

Then we also have
lockers over here

that our students can
keep their belongings

throughout the day and that's

something that's nice
for students to do.

Alhan, do you have
anything to say

about the student
lounge? Not at the moment,

but Tyler was

going to make a cameo,
but he decided not to.

Oh, no. Okay. Yeah. No.

Students are hard
at work right now,

so we won't bother them.

We'll make our way
to the third floor now.

Awesome. Yeah, We're going
to go up to the third floor.

As we mentioned, most of

the classrooms are
on the first floor.

On the third floor is
where we have a lot of

faculty offices and we also
have conference rooms.

The graduate student instructors

for the Ford School
have their offices.

I don't know if you want
to talk a little bit,

Alhan is a graduate student instructor,
not for the Ford School,

but maybe he can share a bit

more about what that looks like.

Sure, graduate
student instructors

are responsible for teaching,

assisting with most parts
of the core curriculum.

What that means is that, for

example, that the
Ford School,

we will have microecon
statistics program evaluation

and a number

of courses such as the
politics of public policy,

or values and ethics,

you'll always have a graduate

student instructor for that.

That usually means somebody
who is a graduate student

themselves who has taken
this class before.

They are usually a resource,

either running section or they

can review some of your material
or hold tutoring hours.

We also talked about the
GSI program quite a bit,

is because it comes with
a full tuition waiver

for that semester,

as well as health insurance.

In addition to that,
we also get a stipend.

It's definitely a
competitive program,

but it's one that
can help you support

your graduate education
and one that truly is

the hallmark of a Umich education

just really quickly in terms
of where we are right now.

Behind us we have the
International Policy Center

which is the hub of most
international events.

At least I'm being organized,
I don't think we should.

I don't think we need to go inside,

but that's a quick
preview of where it is.

And these are several professors'
offices which begin now.

And we can take you throughout
this floor as well.

Would you like to
add something to

the GSI part or any other?

I think you covered most of it.

Yeah. And then also here we have

our conference room and a lot of

student organizations
will host events there.

We have a few of those
conference rooms

throughout the building,
which is really nice.

Yeah. All these
doors that you're

seeing as we're walking
through all belong to faculty,

also to our amazing like
writing center staff.

I think that's another
really great thing that

the Ford School offers is

having writing instructors
who teach classes on policy

memo writing, on writing

op Eds, other things.

But also you can schedule
appointments with them

and you can show them
your work for a memo,

for class, a cover letter,

really anything and they
will help you with that.

That's really great.

These are the graduate
student instructor offices.

Do you mind saying hello to

the Instagram live
people really quick?

I'm not repping Ford.
Oh, no, It's okay.

But you're also another
dual student. Hi there.

My name is Javi I'm

a fourth year dual degree in law

and public policy

I'm the GSI for budgeting
and financial planning,

which is an MPP class,

mostly second years
are taking this class.

We have two sections,

one is in person and the
other one is like hybrid.

We have like people
taking classes online for

one of the sessions and then

the other section is on Zoom.

Awesome. Yeah. Yeah,
of course, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Next we're heading
into the reading room,

which is probably my

favorite study spot
in the Ford School.

It has a lot of really
great natural lighting.

It's also just like
very open and cozy.

I think whenever I really

need to be focused
and like in the zone,

I like to come here.

We have all of these study
desks, and as you can see,

a lot of Ford students
hard at work,

it's typically a quiet zone.

But we had permission
before this.

Now, we're just going to
walk through this way.

This is another part
of the study room

where there are study carols.

There are armchairs.

Yeah. And then now

we are going to walk
into the computer lab.

Yeah. We're getting to

see a lot of Ford
students at work today.

The computer lab, right now,

there's not a class, but
there will be classes here.

R for Public Policy, STATA,

for Public Policy, Excel for

public policy, data
visualization.

This is also like when
there aren't classes,

Students come in here to
work on problem sets,

especially for program
evaluation or statistics.

All of these computers
have STATA on them.

They also have ArcGIS

It's a nice resource
for students

if you don't want to download

those things on your computer.

And you can always come
in here and there will be

other people doing
work and so you

can be in together. Is there
anything you want to say?

Yeah, sure. I can
talk a bit more,

I think to the culture
at the Ford School.

So what you see, besides Sam,

are a number of groups that are

working on various projects.

I think the reason
for that is that

group study is really
encouraged at the Ford School.

We do believe that if you
work on things together,

you're able to learn
in a better manner.

That's what the school
really emphasizes.

And people or
individuals who maybe in

your first year study group
may end up being some of

your closest friends
at the Ford School.

Sorry, that is also
something that's important

to take seriously perhaps
or to pay attention to.

Yeah. Awesome.

Thanks for mentioning that Alhan

I think some of the
people that were in

my study groups in statistics in

my first semester are now
some of my best friends.

Yeah, it's really bonding
through those moments.

So now we are walking
up to the fourth floor.

There are five floors here at

the Ford School, so
some stairs today.

On the fourth floor there
are more faculty offices.

But there are also,

there's the Poverty
Solutions Lab,

there's also the Education Policy Initiative,

Youth Policy Lab, Center for
Local and Urban Policy.

All of these research centers

have different research
assistant positions open.

So students are
able to work there.

A lot of faculty are

associated with the
different institutes,

Is anything you
want to talk about?

I think people also
usually like this spot.

As you can see,
somebody is there as

well just as a quiet place
to reflect or study.

We believe that in
addition to that,

we also have an
embedded counselor at

the Ford School
with the CAPS Services.

We have that on the
fourth floor as well.

I'm trying to recall
a couple of things.

There's also like
the Center for Law,

Business, and Policy,

I believe is also on
the fourth floor.

They're split between the
fourth and the fifth floor.

The fifth floor, which we
will go to momentarily.

And again, there's also
faculty lounges up there.

But long story short,
as we progress,

it's more faculty offices
as you move upwards,

and as you go downwards,

there's more classrooms
and communal spaces.

Yeah.

Awesome. Then I think

what we can do really
quickly is maybe go

yeah, we can go up to the fifth
floor and we can show you

a really cool view up there
as well.

Yeah. Yeah. So you can
see the Big House,

so Michigan Stadium from here.

Oh, we're going to continue
on the fourth floor.

Looks like we might
have some people

that will talk to us. Oh, okay.

Amazing. Another like program

and office that we have
here is the Science,

Technology and Public
Policy program.

It's a certificate program
for Ford School students and

also any other graduate students

here at the University
of Michigan.

I'll let Julie talk a little
bit more about the program.

Hi, I'm Julie Berson Grand.

I'm the Education
Manager here for STPP.

I help manage

the graduate certificate program

that you might be interested

in and try to arrange new
educational opportunities.

A lot of them experiential
within our space.

We're excited to
welcome you to Ford.

Awesome. Would you like
to introduce yourself?

Yeah. My name is
Kristin Burgard.

I work on the
Community partnership,

So we work with groups like
the Detroit Disability Power,

Detroit Justice Center,
We the People Michigan,

and help provide them
with advocacy material.

Awesome. Thank you guys.

Yeah, that's just one of

the many wonderful offices

that we have here on the fourth
floor. So, thanks again.

Yeah. Now we will
walk up to here.

Okay. Yeah. We have a
professor who

These are admitted students. Do you

want to introduce yourself?

What am I saying? Your name?
Courses that you teach.

Oh boy, I don't know
that I'm prepared

for this.

I just hold it. What
do you want me to say?

You want me to say my name?
Yes. And I teach some stuff.

What do I teach?

The International Economic
Development Program

that we mentioned. Okay.

You want me to mention that one?

It's already happening.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no.

Hi. I'm Amy Beck Harris.

I am on faculty at
the Ford School.

I teach a number of
different classes here,

including what they
had mentioned is

the International Economic
Development Program.

This year we went to Colombia,

the previous year
we went to Chile.

I also teach public management.

I teach public management

generally in an
international context.

This coming year,
I'll be teaching it

in the context of
international development.

So that's a lot about
thinking about,

we see a problem out
in the world that

we care about that we want
to do something about.

How do we actually design
interventions or activities,

or approaches that
are specifically

designed to actually generate
the impact we care about.

I teach other things as well,

but now I'm going on too long.

So, I'll pass the microphone
back. Thank you, Amy.

We appreciate it.
See you later.

So now we are heading
up to the fifth floor

Some wonderful
surprise guests.

As we mentioned, there's a
view of the Michigan Stadium,

also known as the Big House.

I will say that I've gone to

almost every home
game, football game.

Being originally
from Los Angeles,

I was actually able to go to

the Rose Bowl game that

Michigan played against
Alabama this year.

That was really cool
and special.

Actually, both of my parents
went to the Ford School,

and that's one of
the reasons

Here, we will show the view. Great.

Sorry, I'm just trying
to catch my breath.

We've been walking
up a lot of stairs.

Do you want me to
take over for this?

Oh, yeah. We;ll
just want to talk a

little bit more
about why we decided

to come to the Ford School

And maybe you could
talk a little

bit more about Ford Munk because
we talked about IEDP. Sure.

You're also on the student
affairs committee.

Sure. So if you want
to get involved,

there's always a lot of options.

The first of which of course,

is the Student
Affairs Committee,

which you can think
of, broadly speaking,

as our student council
or student government.

Usually through that, you can

think of it as a funding body,

but also a body that
can use advocacy

to get the administration
to move on a few things,

and some of the initiatives we

worked on were
reflection spaces,

more funding for different
types of organizations,

some type of movement on certain

policy talks from the school.

And the administration
is always very

open to hear any
feedback that we have.

Um, so that was one.

And then another organization
that both Moriah and

I work on or worked

on previously was the
Ford Munk Conference.

So this is a policy conference

we co-host with the
University of Toronto.

The Munk School of Global
Affairs, I believe,

which is their version of
a public policy school.

And I think it's perhaps one of

the only international
conferences co-

organized by policy
schools across borders.

And one year it's hosted by

the Munk School, and the
following year it's

hosted by the Ford School.
We hosted this year.

Therefore, they're going
to host next year.

It's always a very
exciting time and

each year the topic
changes as well.

But I don't think we
need to talk about that.

What we can get into

as right as we wrap up
is that if you have

any questions or if

future Fordies have
anything they want us

to talk about or want to be

connected with us
or any professors,

please email [email protected]

if you have any questions.

And please just a quick reminder

as well that if you have
the offer of admission,

please accept it by the deadline
which is April 15.

April 15, two weeks.

Yes. Thank you, Alhan,

for talking more about
that as we wrap up.

I just wanted to share briefly
why I decided to come to

the Ford School. As
Alhan had mentioned

Actually, both of my parents
went to the Ford School.

My mom graduated
in '89 and my dad

graduated in '95 with his MPP JD.

So I've been a long
Wolverine fan,

but besides that, I've

been interested in
international policy.

And I was working at an
international policy nonprofit

for a few years before I

decided to go back
to grad school.

I wanted to make a pivot into

government work and more
policy-oriented things.

And I really loved Ford's
emphasis on public service.

And I knew that I
wanted to be in DC,

Had seen alumni and

just the graduate profiles from

the Ford School and thought

that this was the
right place for me.

I feel like that has just

been confirmed since
I've been here.

I know it might sound
a little cliche,

but I think it's
because it's true.

And I think Alhan can
attest to this as well,

that one of the best things

about the Ford School
is the community,

So the friends that I've made,

like Alhan and other people in

my cohort and just faculty
like Amy who we talked to,

everyone is so supportive and I

hope that you can experience
this community as well.

I don't know if you
want to add anything.

Sure. I'll just echo
everything that was said.

I am also part of another school

which is the business school.

And over there, each
graduating class is about 400.

I think what's really
interesting about

the Ford School is that
you get this much smaller,

tightly knit community
because every cohort

is about around 100, 150.

ballpark. That really allows

for a lot of friendships
to be fostered.

And Moriah and I actually
also going to a wedding

this September for one of

our friends which we're
really excited about.

And Maria also
landed a job in DC.

So if you're coming
with some hard

and fast calls with
regards to where you

see yourself or whichever pivot

you want to make
the Ford School,

is the place to come
for much of that.

So if you have any questions,
feel free to write us.

I'm available at [email protected]

I don't know if Moriah
wants to give her email,

so I won't put her on the spot.

But if you have any
questions or connect with us

on LinkedIn or email us and
we'd be happy to help out however we can.

Go blue and Yeah.

See you, See you in
the Ford School.