Policymakers in residence

Real-world leaders, teaching and mentoring Ford School students

A diverse array of policy leaders and practitioners join our faculty to teach and mentor students through the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence and Weiser International Policymaker in Residence programs, among others. These visiting faculty bring significant policy and leadership experience from government, nonprofits, industry, the arts, diplomacy, advocacy, and beyond. They enrich the breadth of our course offerings and connect students and faculty with policymaking communities across sectors.

"Our policymakers in residence help students see ideas tested in public and leadership practiced in real time. Through shared learning and candid conversation, they bring the work of public service into the heart of the Ford School community."
— Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy

2026

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Towsley Foundation Policymakers in Residence

Since 2002, the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Program has brought distinguished leaders and practitioners to the Ford School to share real-world policy experience with students and the broader U-M community. Through half-term and full-semester courses, public lectures and events, and advising and mentoring, Towsley residents enrich learning in and beyond the classroom.

Past Towsley Foundation Policymakers in Residence

Holly Bass (2026), Award-winning artist, choreographer, and writer
Kara Swisher (2025), Technology journalist
Lori Lightfoot (2024 - 2025), former mayor of Chicago, 2019-2023
Bill de Blasio (2024), former mayor of New York City, 2014-2021
Laurel Beatty Blunt (2022-2023), judge for the 10th District Court of Appeals for the State of Ohio
Abdul El-Sayed (2021, 2022), public servant, Michigan politician, former epidemiology professor, and medical doctor
Hardy Vieux, MPP/JD '97 (2017-2022), chief of staff, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); former senior vice president, legal, at Human Rights First
The Honorable Sander “Sandy” Levin (2019-2022), former U.S. Congressman
Bill Bynum (2021, 2022), CEO of Hope Credit Union
Broderick Johnson (2020), senior of counsel at Covington & Burling and former assistant to the president and cabinet secretary (Obama White House)
Javed Ali (2019-2021), former senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council
Adrienne Harris (2019), superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services and former chief business development officer and general counsel at States Title, Inc.
Gail Wilensky (2019), economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE
Phyllis Meadows (2019, 2021), senior fellow at the Kresge Foundation
Dudley Benoit, MPP '96, (2017-2018), former director of community development finance at Santander Bank
James Kvaal (2016), Undersecretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education; former deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council
Harold Ford, Jr. (2015), former Member of Congress from Tennessee
Gretchen Whitmer (2015), 49th Governor of Michigan and former Michigan Senate Minority Leader
Ruth Browne, MPP/MPH '83, (2015), former CEO Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
Margo Picken (2014), former director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia at the United Nations
Richard Boucher (2014, 2016), former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and former Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Yazier Henry (2007) former director of Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory
Cecilia Muñoz (2007), former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Obama Administration
Namanga Ngongi (2003), former UN Secretary General's special representative to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Catherine Bertini (2002), former executive director of the World Food Program

Weiser International Policymakers in Residence

The Weiser Diplomacy Center hosts Weiser International Policymakers in Residence, bringing leading experts and decisionmakers, with deep experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs, to the Ford School.

Daniel Shields

Visiting Policy Practitioner

Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel Shields is a visiting policy practitioner at the Ford School's Weiser Diplomacy Center. He consults, teaches courses and conducts simulations relating to diplomacy and U.S.-Asia relations.

Read Shields's profile

Stephen Biegun

Weiser International Policymaker in Residence

Stephen Biegun has more than three decades of international affairs experience in government and the private sector, including high-level government service with the Department of State, the White House, and the United States Congress. In 2021, he concluded his most recent government service as the Deputy Secretary of State. Prior to that role, he served as U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, directing all U.S. policy on North Korea, leading negotiations, and spearheading U.S. diplomatic efforts on behalf of the Secretary of State.

Read Biegun's profile

Visiting policymaker impact

Impact

Governor Gretchen Whitmer

"Four years ago, I also headed to Ann Arbor, to teach a course at the Ford School...and here I experienced my own version of the Michigan Difference. I got to engage with students both undergraduate and graduate, who were so thoughtful and smart. Students who were passionate and eager to learn and full of big ideas."

University of Michigan Commencement Address