Ford School of Public Policy

Ford School of Public Policy
Name	Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Established	1914 (as Department of Political Science), 2007 (named)
Type	Public policy school
Parent	University of Michigan
Location	Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Director	Michael S. Barr
Campus	Central Campus

Contents

Ford School of Public Policy is a professional school at the University of Michigan located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It offers graduate and undergraduate programs focused on public policy, public affairs, and policy research, and it is named after Gerald Ford following a major gift from the Ford Motor Company Fund and related donors. The school engages with federal, state, and local actors including the United States Congress, Michigan Legislature, and City of Ann Arbor while collaborating with institutions such as the Brookings Institution, RAND Corporation, World Bank, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

History

The Ford School traces its roots to the University of Michigan's Department of Political Science and early 20th-century programs in public administration linked to figures like Woodrow Wilson-era reformers and Progressive Era practitioners associated with the Hull House and the American Political Science Association. In the mid-20th century the program expanded under leaders connected to Franklin D. Roosevelt-era New Deal agencies and postwar policymakers from the Truman Administration, contributing faculty with experience in the Federal Reserve and the United Nations. The school's modern incarnation emerged from a sequence of administrative reforms influenced by alumni engaged with the Ford Foundation, culminating in the naming after Gerald Ford and the establishment of professional degrees modeled on programs at Harvard Kennedy School, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.

The school is housed on the University of Michigan's Central Campus in facilities that adjoin departments such as Economics, Sociology, and History. Facilities include seminar rooms designed for policy simulations inspired by practices at United States Military Academy war games and fellowship offices that host visiting scholars from the Council on Foreign Relations, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the International Monetary Fund. The building supports technology and data labs compatible with collaborations with Google, Microsoft, and the Harvard Dataverse while maintaining proximity to archives like the Bentley Historical Library and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.

Degree offerings include the Master of Public Policy (MPP), Master of Public Affairs (MPA), dual degrees with the Ross School of Business, joint programs with the Law School, and undergraduate concentrations available through the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Course offerings span quantitative methods taught using datasets from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and case-based seminars paralleling curricula at the London School of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Columbia University's public affairs programs. Faculty draw on methodological traditions from scholars affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the American Statistical Association, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, while capstone projects place students in placements with the United States Agency for International Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and state executive offices.

Research units within the school collaborate with external centers including the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, Institute for Social Research, and the Ford Foundation-funded initiatives. Centers focus on areas reflected in partnerships with the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — encompassing health policy, energy and climate linked to the International Energy Agency, criminal justice reform with actors like the Brennan Center for Justice, and labor and inequality studies connected to Economic Policy Institute. Signature initiatives convene scholars and practitioners from the United Nations Development Programme, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Pew Research Center to produce policy briefs, white papers, and evidence syntheses used by legislators, advocates, and administrators.

Admissions draw applicants with backgrounds in fields connected to careers at institutions such as the Department of Defense, Department of Treasury, Peace Corps, and state public service commissions, as well as private sector employers like McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, and Deloitte. Financial aid, fellowships, and internships are often supported through partnerships with the Truman Scholarship, Fulbright Program, and private donors linked to the Annenberg Foundation and regional philanthropic networks. Student life involves policy student organizations modeled on chapters of the American Political Science Association, public service networks tied to the Clinton Foundation, and advocacy groups that collaborate with municipal leaders from Detroit and Lansing.

Faculty and alumni include individuals who have served in senior roles in the Clinton Administration, Obama Administration, and Trump Administration, as well as leaders in international organizations like the World Health Organization and the International Monetary Fund. Alumni have held elected office in state legislatures and the United States Congress, led think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute, and occupied executive roles at non-governmental organizations including Amnesty International and Oxfam. Distinguished scholars associated with the school have received awards from the MacArthur Foundation, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.