A powerful network, a shared vision
Whether you're closing achievement gaps, improving water quality, reinvigorating struggling communities, or streamlining government services, there's a place for you here.
Ford School alumni address an...
Ford School gatherings
Each year, the Ford School and its alumni host events around the country (and even the world) to gather, network, and socialize. Whether hearing about a Ford School faculty member's latest research, connecting with a...
Upon graduating from the Ford School, Lishaun Francis (MPP ‘09) headed to DC to work as a Management and Program Analyst at the United States Department of Education (DoE). Although she felt she was making an impact on public education, working at...
The Ford School of Public Policy recognizes state Senator Stephanie Chang (MPP/MSW '14) with the Neil Staebler Distinguished Service Award, the school’s top alumni award for dedication to excellence in public service.
Senator Chang will be...
Six Ford School alumni have been elected by their peers to serve on the Alumni Board. The newly elected members bring experience in finance, consulting, government, and more. The elected members are:
Alli Berry (BA '19)
Brenda Duverce (MPP...
From an initial pool of nearly 3,000 applicants, 151 Schwarzman Scholars were selected from 36 countries and 121 universities. We're incredibly proud to have two U-M wolverines in this elite cohort. The Schwarzman Scholars Program aims to prepare...
An online pop-up store is now open, featuring Ford School-branded apparel arriving in the new year. Fordies and friends can place orders through midnight EST on December 27, 2022.
Items include short- and long-sleeve tees, hooded...
Ford School alumna Jessica Gillooly (PhD ‘20) has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Raymond Vernon Memorial Award by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM). Gillooly was recognized for her research, “Lights and...
On July 14, hundreds of alumni, students, and their families gathered in Washington DC, Detroit, Raleigh, Ann Arbor, and online to celebrate the Ford School’s shared community and enjoy trivia and conversation.
Grace Evans (MPP ‘16),...
Government consulting, examining the effects of free tuition, teaching sociology – all are activities that recent graduates who worked with the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the University of Michigan are pursuing, putting their research and...
Ford School graduates help shape the policy decisions that affect their neighborhoods, their countries, and people around the globe. Launched in 1997, the Neil Staebler Distinguished Service Award recognizes a select few for their outstanding...
The Fulbright Alum of the Year Award in Sweden for 2022 goes to Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, who received his Master's of Public Policy in 2008 from the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy.
Hatzigeorgiou is currently the CEO of the...
When the global pandemic locked down international travel and postponed her fellowship in 2020, Sierra Stephens (BA ‘20) took time to reflect on her long-term goals. She turned her car into a camper and set out to explore national parks in the...
After Katie D’Hondt Brooks (BA ‘12) graduated from the Ford School, she worked at Partnership for Public Service where she managed a set of programs meant to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in public service. She thought she would work...
Ford School alumni have opportunities to reconnect -- physically! -- with the school and with each other at upcoming events.
Classes of '20 and '21: please save the date for September 23-24, 2022, which is the U-M's Homecoming weekend, for a...
The Ford School will be celebrating the graduating Classes of 2022 on Saturday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. at an outdoor commencement ceremony at the iconic Elbel Field.
Just down the road from Weill Hall at the corner of S. Division and Hill, Elbel...
In the summer of 1999, Laura Rivera-Carrion (MPP ‘02, PPIA ‘99) attended the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute. The program gave her the necessary skills, knowledge, and confidence to pursue a master’s degree in...
The Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University has awarded Ford School alum Cydney Gardner-Brown the 2022 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship following a highly competitive nationwide selection process. The...
For more than 25 years, the Ford School’s top-notch Graduate Career Services and Alumni Relations offices have organized an intensive two days of career panels to connect current students to the school’s powerful alumni network. The annual event has...
Vanessa Castro (MPA/MPH ‘20) landed her dream job right out of the Ford School — Associate Director of HIV and Health Equity at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
“HIV work and working with the LGBTQ community has been something I’ve always been...
Dear friends,
Best wishes to you as we start 2022 with great hopes for the coming year, but also with significant uncertainty—a global pandemic, a growing awareness of the urgent need to defend our democracy, and our imperative struggle for...
Beza Merid was a faculty affiliate with STPP when he became a research fellow in cardiology at Michigan Medicine. Now at Arizona State University, he appreciates how influencing innovation policy can create better health outcomes for underserved...
Six Ford School alumni have been elected to serve on the Alumni Board by their peers. The newly elected members are all engaged alumni, bringing experience from numerous fields, including environmental work, philanthropy, consulting, government, and...
A new $5 million gift from Joan and Sanford “Sandy” I. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan will provide endowed support for three graduate fellowships in perpetuity. The...
Since 2001, nearly 100 students have earned a doctoral degree from the Ford School's pioneering joint PhD program. Students receive grounding in their discipline of choice from Michigan's top-ranked social science departments—economics, sociology,...
Frank Spence (MPA '60) was elected president of the Port of Astoria Commission, the only deep water port in Oregon to accommodate Alaskan cruise ships.
Kaoru Mamiya (MPA '73) celebrated his 77th birthday on September 3, 2020, a very special...
For 40 years, the Ford School's Public Policy & International Affairs Junior Summer Institute fellowship (PPIA JSI), previously known as the Sloan or Woodrow Wilson fellowship, has helped launch promising undergraduate students on a path toward...
Expert mentors are a distinguishing aspect of Professor Elisabeth Gerber’s Strategic Public Policy Consulting course. The consulting course gives graduate students the opportunity to help clients such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO),...
Effective leadership always requires the ability to adjust to changing circumstances. The massive disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected both how people were able to do their jobs as well as how they could accomplish their professional...
Nick Occhipinti (MPP ‘08) describes himself as “your friendly neighborhood lobbyist” — but, his job entails so much more than that.
“When I win, nobody makes any more money, nobody gets a raise, but Michigan’s air, land and water get a little...
