1914: U-M launched America’s first graduate program in municipal administration for aspiring public servants.
1968: The curriculum was refocused to provide students an analytic toolkit and cutting-edge problemsolving methods, giving way to IPPS, the Institute of Public Policy Studies, the nation’s first public policy degree program.
1995: U-M established the School of Public Policy.
1999: Named in honor of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States and a 1935 U-M graduate.
2001: Pioneered a joint-PhD program, a model that remains shared with just a handful of other universities.
2007: Launched our junior-senior undergraduate program with about 60 per class.
2013: Celebrated President Ford’s 100th birthday.
2014: Celebrated our Centennial with a yearlong slate of events around the world.
2019: Launched a new Master of Public Affairs degree program.
2020: Launched a new undergraduate minor.
2021: Celebrated PPIA 40th anniversary.
Joan and Sanford Weill Hall was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and opened in August 2006. The 85,000-square-foot building offers state-of-the-art classrooms, event spaces, and comfortable niches for student-faculty study and collaboration.
class: 80
Students of color (U.S. only): 28%
Female: 65%
Male: 35%
BA minor
Incoming class: 25
Students of color (U.S. only): 44%
Female: 68%
Male: 32%
MPA
Incoming class: 11
Average age: 35
Age range: 28-50
Non-U.S: 9%
Students of color (U.S. only): 20%
Female: 64%
Male: 36%
Years of work experience: 11
Countries of origin: 2 (including U.S.)
demographics; Aug. 2022)
Incoming class: 121
Average age: 28
Age range: 22-58
Non-U.S: 30%
Students of color (U.S. only): 26%
Female: 63%
Male: 37%
Years of work experience: 4
Countries of origin: 13 (including U.S.)
PhD
Current students: 38
Non-U.S: 11%
Students of color (U.S. only): 32%
Female: 47%
Male: 53%
Ford School’s faculty is an interdisciplinary group, boasting 12 named professorships and holding joint appointments with a wide range of schools and units including economics, political science, sociology, math, information, law, business, social work, history, education, environment and sustainability, social research, and urban planning. Learn more at fordschool.umich.edu/faculty
director,
director,
dean,
Member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve, ‘97-05
IPPS director,
IPPS director,
Provost, ‘02-05
University
and Dean of Libraries, ‘07-13
U-M Interim Provost, ‘16-17
• IPPS director, ‘87-89
• LSA dean, ‘89-98
• Michigan in Washington program founding director
• SPP interim dean, ‘97-99
• Founder, Center for Ethics in Public Life
• SPP/Ford School dean, ‘99-07
• Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce, ‘12-13
• Chancellor, UWMadison, ‘13-present
• Ford School dean, ‘07-17
• APSIA president, ‘13-15
• Board member of the Chicago Fed, ‘16-present (Detroit Branch, ‘12-15)
• U-M Provost, ‘20-22
• Boston Fed President ‘22-present
• Ford School dean, ‘17-’22
• Asst. Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Dept. of Treasury, ‘09-10
• Key architect of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act
Celeste WatkinsHayes
• Ford School interim dean, ‘22-present
• Founding director, Center for Racial Justice
• Assoc. VP for research at Northwestern University, ‘18-’20
Distinguished Book Award, ASA Section on the Sociology of Sex and Gender (2020)
U-M President’s Award for Public Impact (2021)
Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award (2022)
Rackham Faculty Recognition Award (2021)
Brian Jacob
Rackham Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2021) Betsey Stevenson
Elected to National Academy of Social Insurance (2022)
Source: 2023 U.S. News & World Report, ranked in 2022
Ford School
of
home to
co-sponsor
research centers and
that focus on a range of pressing policy
engaged across all levels of governance: local, state, national, and international.
Centers, initiatives, and more
Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy
Center for Racial Justice
Center on Finance, Law & Policy
Detroit Metro Area Communities Study
Education Policy Initiative
International Policy Center
Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy
Poverty Solutions
Program in Practical Policy Engagement
Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Weiser Diplomacy Center
Youth Policy Lab
more
The Ford School’s major in public policy is a liberal arts degree, based in the social sciences, that gives students the knowledge and skills needed to analyze policy problems, understand the stakes, and create viable solutions.
• Big university resources, small-school connectedness and flexibility.
• Incoming class of 80, with an average classroom size of 24.
• Ford School scholarship assistance available. Other financial assistance available for unpaid internships.
• Alumni working at the Obama Foundation, Google, Urban Institute, Booz Allen Hamilton, U.S. Department of Justice, Michigan Department of Community Health, political campaigns, law firms, and more.
Sophomore year at U-M
→ fordschool.umich.edu/admissions/ba
Our minor in public policy is a competitiveadmissions program designed to make the critical thinking and analytical skills taught at the Ford School available to more Michigan undergraduates.
• 16 credits
• Open to students (sophomore status at application) in LSA, Engineering, Business, Information, and Public Health.
• The ideal student for the Ford School minor will be committed to some other important discipline—engineering, sociology, business, or organizational studies, for example— and seeking to layer their education with perspectives from the lens of public policy.
Sophomore or junior year at U-M
→ fordschool.umich.edu/admissions/ba
• 9-month MPA for professionals with at least five years of work experience in a policyrelated field.
• Carefully designed, challenging coursework in public policy creation and analysis; public sector and nonprofit leadership; economics; policy writing; and the social, political, and ethical aspects of public policies and programs—all crafted to meet the needs and goals of experienced professionals.
• Graduates are prepared for senior roles in a variety of governmental institutions and public agencies, in the nonprofit sector, and in the private sector.
• 2-year MPP with required internship.
• Provides an analytic toolkit that is highly transferable across a broad range of policy areas, sectors, places.
• Interdisciplinary, applied nature; flexibility in electives.
• Collaborative work environment at the Ford School, within the greater U-M, which offers a broad range of resources and networks.
• Alumni working at USAID, World Bank, GAO, UN Refugee Agency, Human Rights First,
MPP
Direct Relief, EPA, Detroit Mayor’s Office, Federal Reserve Board, OMB, Deloitte, and more.
→
PhD in public policy and economics PhD in public policy and political science PhD in public policy and sociology
In our joint doctoral programs, candidates combine their public policy studies with disciplinary work at one of the U-M’s top-ranked social science departments. Alumni have gone on to receive prestigious postdocs and work at Cornell, Duke, Penn State, Minnesota, Mathematica, the Gates Foundation, the Federal Reserve Board, and the U.S. Department of State, and more.
→
Our commitment to the public good is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We value community, integrity, respect, service, inclusion, diversity, and equity. We aspire for our work to be excellent, relevant, rigorous, collaborative, engaged, and impactful.
We’re evaluating and learning from our first 5-year strategic plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion and at the same time, we’re keeping this important work moving forward, infused in everything we do. Learn more: fordschool.umich.edu/dei
curriculum and co-curricular
research and policy engagement that pursues just, equitable, and inclusive public policy for diverse
that advance social
Tuition and fees
Housing and food Books and supplies Personal and misc.
Total cost
Tuition and fees
Housing and food Books and supplies Personal and misc.
Total cost
$18,836 $13,170 $1,092 $2,557 $35,655 $26,226 $17,780 $1,242 $6,850 $52,098
$59,212 $13,170 $1,092 $2,557 $76,031 $52,456 $17,780 $1,242 $6,850 $78,328
Full-time enrollment per academic year, AY 2022-23
our PhD students receive funding from the Ford School
our incoming MPP/MPA students received fellowship support from the Ford School in 2022-23
In 1960, state support made up 78 percent of the University of Michigan’s General Fund; today, it has dwindled to 13 percent in 2023.
To remain affordable, U-M is committed to keeping its costs low, limiting tuition increases, and investing heavily in financial support for students. Donor-named endowments and expendable gifts for student support are vital.
At the Ford School, student support is our top funding priority, along with gifts to faculty research and policy engagement.
The Ford School trains our world’s most promising future policy leaders. Donor support helps students from all backgrounds gain access to a Ford School degree.
Students who choose the Ford School are diverse and talented, active and engaged, creative and passionate, and eager to find innovative solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. Too often, our students graduate with a debt burden that limits their choices and hinders potential. Giving to the Ford School opens opportunities for engaged learning that translate into practical policy action leaving a lasting impact on our world. The reach of a gift to the Ford School, like the reach of our students, extends beyond campus to serve the greater good. Contributions to the Ford School have a lasting impact. Gifts enable us to:
• train and inspire exceptional citizens, public servants, and leaders.
• launch and lead game-changing research projects that transform how we address society’s most intractable challenges.
• equip policy communities in the state of Michigan, in Washington, DC, and around the world with first-rate academic insights and discoveries.
Our mission
The Ford School at the University of Michigan is a community dedicated to the public good. We inspire and prepare diverse leaders grounded in service, conduct transformational research, and collaborate on evidencebased policymaking to take on our communities’ and our world’s most pressing challenges.
Our values
We value community, integrity, respect, service, inclusion, diversity, and equity. We aspire for our work to be excellent, relevant, rigorous, collaborative, engaged, and impactful.
© 2022 The Regents of the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan is a non-discriminatory, affirmative action employer. Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109