Photo of Stephen Biegun (right) speaking with Ambassador Mel Levitsky (left) at a reception in the Rackham Building

A hub for international policy studies

The Ford School's Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center have attracted a cadre of respected scholars and diplomats, established strategic partnerships across the globe, and developed programming and simulations make the Ford School a dynamic hub for training the next generation of foreign policy leaders..

Photo of homes in Detroit's Chaldean Town neighborhood

Mapping well-being

A new Michigan Poverty & Well-Being Map, created by the Ford School's Poverty Solutions, provides a nuanced look at the dynamics affecting different regions of the state and can inform how policymakers prioritize funding for services such as child care, health care, transportation, and housing. More »

Photo of kids running outside a school bus

Public school ROI

Researchers at the Education Policy Initiative used longitudinal data to analyze the return on investment in public schools. They found that students who attended better resourced elementary schools had better academic outcomes and were less likely have contact with the criminal justice system. More »

Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program managing director Molly Kleinman in conversation with Kade Crockford, the director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, about data science and policy reform. Watch »

In the news

"In my career, I've never seen anything so dramatic as the shift in resources to families with kids during the pandemic. Now we have much more evidence that these types of provisions can really work, and almost all of it is going away." Luke Shaefer on why federal spending on children should continue.

The New York Times

"There are people on a spectrum of how much they trust elections; for those who understand how elections are run and how committed our election officials are to running elections with integrity, I think the more people who can see that the better." Tom Ivacko on the need for transparency in the election process.

Michigan Advance

"We would have had 5 million more jobs, not 500,000 more jobs. A lot of our job growth prior to the pandemic came from education and health services." Betsey Stevenson on the 'what-if' job market.

NPR Marketplace

"That's a very different picture of school districts and school boards than, 'They're only focused on political partisanship.'" Brian Jacob on new research that found school district leaders acted rationally during the pandemic.

Chalkbeat