Ford School Public Events

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of President Gerald R. Ford's birth. To honor President Ford's legacy, the Charge to the Class will be delivered by Paul H. O'Neill, 72nd U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and deputy director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under President Ford.

From the speaker's bio

Paul H. O'Neill was the 72nd Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, serving from 2001-2002.

Prior to his tenure at the Department of Treasury, O'Neill was chairman and CEO of Alcoa from 1987 to 1999, and retired as chairman at the end of 2000. Prior to joining Alcoa, O'Neill was president of International Paper Company from 1985 to 1987, where he was vice president from 1977 to 1985.

He worked as a computer systems analyst with the U.S. Veterans Administration from 1961 to 1966 and served on the staff of the Budget Bureau from 1967 to 1977. During this period, the Nixon administration reorganized the Budget Bureau into the Office of Management of Budget. President Gerald R. Ford nominated O'Neill to serve as deputy director of OMB from 1974 to 1977.

He received a bachelor's degree in Economics from Fresno State College in
California, and a master's degree in Public Administration from Indiana University.

The Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) will discuss findings from the Michigan Public Policy Survey, which asked leaders from 1,329 of Michigan's local governments to report on the future of public services in their jurisdictions in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Each spring, Ford School faculty and staff nominate dozens of outstanding student research and service projects for recognition at the Gramlich Showcase of Student Work. Established in 2008 to honor internationally renowned economist and former Ford School dean, Ned Gramlich, this event features exceptional student work on a broad range of local, national, and international policy challenges.

Helene D. Gayle is president and CEO of CARE USA. An expert on humanitarian issues, Dr. Gayle previously held senior positions with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Gayle serves on several boards, including the Rockefeller Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive, ONE and the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chaired the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and currently serves on the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.

This Ford Policy Union event will feature a debate on the effectiveness of international agreements on cyber security. Professor John Steinbruner, a noted international security scholar, will argue that the U.S. interest in prohibiting destructive attack on critical infrastructure assets is evident and urgent, and that direct multilateral negotiations are necessary to pursue that objective. Dr. Steven Bucci, a former military officer and government official, will argue that only after the U.S. establishes how to best address cyber security from the standpoint of purely American interest, should the U.S. push for international agreements on cyber security.

Free and Open to the Public

Frank J. Thompson, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark. Author of Medicaid Politics: Federalism, Policy Durability, and Health Reform

With Commentary provided by:
Scott L.Greer, Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy at the Univeristy of Michigan School of Public Health, and Senior Research Fellow at LSE Health, London School of Economics

Please join us as Kenneth Lieberthal returns to the University of Michigan for a lecture on current U.S-China relations under President Obama's new foreign policy team.

Join us for an interactive panel discussion featuring Rick Lord, President and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts; Michael Widmer, President of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation; Thomas Buchmueller, Waldo O. Hildebrand Professor of Risk Management and Insurance, U-M Ross School of Business; and Helen Levy, Research Associate Professor, U-M Ford School of Public Policy

A conversation with Ted Truman, Marina v.N. Whitman, and Susan M. Collins as part of the Ford School's annual DC event/reception on Feb. 7. Alums, RSVP by Feb. 5.

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Center for Public Policy in Diverse Societies will host a screening of the documentary titled Black and Blue: The Story of Gerald Ford, Willis Ward, and the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech Football Game, followed by a panel discussion featuring former Senator Buzz Thomas (grandson of Willis Ward) and Steve Ford (son of President Gerald R. Ford) on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Day events.

Please join us as Chairman Bernanke visits the University of Michigan for a conversation with Ford School Dean Susan M. Collins on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis, and long-term challenges facing the U.S. economy.

Chairman Bernanke will also take questions from the audience and from Twitter.

Teachers are the most important in-school contributors to student achievement, but there is widespread concern that the rigidities of the public school system make it unresponsive to teacher quality. In this lecture Dr. Chingos will discuss three studies of how schools respond to differences in teacher effectiveness (as measured by value-added to student achievement), all of which are based on administrative data from the state of Florida.

Free and open to the public.

Thomas Mann (MA '68, PhD '77) and Norman Ornstein (PhD '74) will discuss their most recent book, the New York Times bestseller, It's Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. The book takes a comprehensive approach to understanding the current dysfunction in Congress, and provides pragmatic recommendations to remedy it.

From the speaker's bio: A University of Michigan alumnus with an early career in improvisational comedy, Dick Costolo (BS '85) is the the chief executive officer of Twitter. Costolo first gained renown in the web development world in 2004, when he co-founded FeedBurner, a web feed management provider eventually acquired by Google. Since he took the helm at Twitter, the online social networking service has amassed over 140 million users across the globe, has grown the company to over double the size than when he came in, and recently completed a move into the new company headquarters.

A Rackham Centennial Lecture featuring Angel Harris, Princeton University Associate Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy Alumnus.

A trailblazing First Lady who brought candor and integrity to our national conversation. A passionate advocate of women's rights, Mrs. Ford engaged challenging social issues at great political risk and with a rare personal vulnerability. Her considerable impact on American life and culture has only deepened with time.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School

Lecture by Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

Despite our sluggish economy and the global economic uncertainty, building lifelong financial security is not a pipe dream in 21st century America. But for most Americans, it's become a do-it-yourself proposition, as a result of the decline of traditional pension plans in the private sector.

TIAA-CREF's CEO Roger Ferguson will look at the current retirement landscape, discuss how it has changed over time, and consider some of the challenges we now face as a nation in funding retirement.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School

Doug Elmendorf is the eighth director of the Congressional Budget Office. Before he came to CBO in January 2009, he was a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. As the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar, he served as co-editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and the director of the Hamilton Project, an initiative to promote broadly shared economic growth.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School

A 2012 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture

Lecture by General Michael Hayden, retired United States Air Force four-star general and former Director of the CIA and NSA. View the Web stream

The Ford School of Public Policy will host a special showing of The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets. Producer Michael Heaney will lead a post-film discussion, looking for feedback to assist in the development of the film.

The Charge to the Class will be delivered by Carol Bellamy, Chair of the Global Partnership for Education Board of Directors.

From the speaker's bio: Carol Bellamy presently serves as the Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, whose goal is to help every child get a good education, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable. Prior to this, Ms. Bellamy served as President and CEO of World Learning, a private, non-profit organization promoting international understanding through education and development in over 70 countries. Bellamy previously served 10 years as Executive Director of UNICEF, the children's agency of the United Nations. She was also the first former volunteer to become Director of Peace Corps.

Lecture by the Honorable Margaret Spellings, Former U.S. Secretary of Education (2005-2009)

The seminal education law known as No Child Left Behind put critical pressure on our schools to dramatically improve education in America. Through accountability, testing, and consequences for failure, a more targeted focus on our neediest students has translated into measurable success for them. Since the law's passage ten years ago, we've learned much, including that more progress won't be made until we, as a nation, tackle the toughest issues: the use of people, time and valuable taxpayer dollars in more strategic and effective ways. Therein, lies the rub; will adults—policymakers, educators and parents—put the needs of students before their own? You be the judge as we discuss these urgent policy matters and the political dynamics at play.

Michigan's new "Emergency Manager" law (Public Act 4 of 2011, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act) has garnered national attention and ignited debate on fundamental issues of democratic governance. Among the law's most controversial aspects is the transfer of power from local elected officials to unelected Emergency Managers, providing them the ability to make sweeping changes to local government, including the power to terminate collective bargaining agreements. Proponents of the law argue that it encourages local actors to make difficult decisions themselves, negotiating local agreements in order to avoid a state take-over. In cases where that fails, proponents argue that the law provides critical alternatives to municipal bankruptcy. Opponents argue that the law is undemocratic and unconstitutional, and they have launched efforts to overturn the Act.

An evaluation of the Affordable Care Act and its effects for the poor. An analysis of carbon taxation using the case study of British Columbia. A study of the risks that divorce poses to women's ability to afford health insurance. An analysis of efforts to contain Somali-based pirates. An appraisal of Grenada's waste management systems.

Each spring, Ford School faculty and staff nominate dozens of outstanding student research and service projects for recognition at the Gramlich Showcase of Student Work. Established in 2008 to honor internationally renowned economist and former Ford School dean, Ned Gramlich, this event features exceptional student work on a broad range of local, national, and international policy challenges.

John D. Dingell proudly represents Michigan's Fifteenth Congressional District, which includes parts of Wayne and Washtenaw County and all of Monroe County

About the lecture: Compared with any other nation, the U.S. spends far more on medical care and seemingly gets far less in return than other nations (as measured by such things as infant mortality and longevity). We also have abundant evidence that much of our spending is wasteful, in the sense that regions within the U.S. differ by a factor of two or more (for example) in Medicare spending per enrollee, with no discernible differences in health outcomes.

About the speaker: Congressman Eric Cantor is the Majority Leader for the 112th Congress and has represented Virginia's 7th district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2001. During his first term, Cantor was Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. He has also served on the House Financial Services Committee and on the House International Relations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Leszek Balcerowicz graduated with distinction from the Foreign Trade Faculty at the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw, earned an M.B.A. at St. John's University in New York, and a Ph.D. in economics from the Warsaw School of Economics. Having served as both finance minister and deputy prime minister of Poland during key transitional years, as well as president of the Polish National Bank, he oversaw a sweeping program of economic reform as his country successfully transitioned to a market economy. In 2005, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski awarded Balcerowicz with the country's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, for his contribution to Poland's economic transformation. He is currently a member of the group of trustees of the Institute of International Finance and professor of economics at the Warsaw School of Economics.

About the speaker: Robert B. Zoellick became the 11th president of The World Bank Group on July 1, 2007. Prior to joining the Bank, Zoellick served as Vice Chairman, International of the Goldman Sachs Group. He served in the President's Cabinet as the 13th U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005 and as Deputy Secretary of State from 2005 to 2006. From 1985-1993, Zoellick served at the Treasury and State Departments, as well as briefly in the White House.

About the Speaker: Mark R. Jacobson recently left the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan where served from August 2009-July 2011 as the Deputy NATO Senior Civilian Representative, and ISAF Director of International Affairs. In this capacity, Jacobson represented ISAF as part of the international diplomatic community in Kabul, helped to bring cohesion to a coalition of over 50 nations and international organizations, and served as the principal foreign policy advisor to the Commander, ISAF.

Sultan Al Qassemi is a 33-year-old scholar, columnist, and influential Twitter commentator. TIME magazine says he's 'shaping the conversation' on events unfolding in the Middle East. NPR says he 'wrote the first draft of Middle East history in short sentences tapped out on his computer and his cell phone.'

The U.S. high school graduation rate rose markedly during the first 70 years of the 20th century. This contributed to the human capital development that fueled economic growth and increases in standards of living. Since 1970, the U.S. high school graduation rate has stagnated, while those of other industrialized nations have risen. Do the patterns differ by gender, race, or ethnicity? Why should we care about these trends and patterns? Why did they occur? What is the evidence on strategies that are effective in increasing the high school graduation rate and the skills of American students? This talk addresses these questions, using evidence from several national and state data sets.

The University of Michigan is proud to welcome the political networks community to Ann Arbor for the 4th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops. The study of political networks serves a key role in understanding governance, as politics is largely driven by relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions.

The University of Michigan is proud to welcome the political networks community to Ann Arbor for the 4th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops. The study of political networks serves a key role in understanding governance, as politics is largely driven by relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions.

The University of Michigan is proud to welcome the political networks community to Ann Arbor for the 4th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops. The study of political networks serves a key role in understanding governance, as politics is largely driven by relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions.

The University of Michigan is proud to welcome the political networks community to Ann Arbor for the 4th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops. The study of political networks serves a key role in understanding governance, as politics is largely driven by relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions.

The University of Michigan is proud to welcome the political networks community to Ann Arbor for the 4th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops. The study of political networks serves a key role in understanding governance, as politics is largely driven by relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions.

The Charge to the Class will be delivered by journalist, foreign policy analyst, and author Robin Wright. Wright currently has a joint senior fellow appointment at the United States Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Thai politics has been in turmoil for five years. Politics has overflowed into the streets. Violence has increased. The army has regained a position of dominance. In this talk, Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker set these events into a context of long-run changes in Thai society.

Spring Preview is a weekend designed to give newly admitted students all the information they need to make a decision about pursing a Ford School MPP degree. Admitted students have the opportunity to meet with Ford School faculty, students, staff, and alumni, and get a chance to tour the University of Michigan campus and city of Ann Arbor.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted as a potential salve for the ailing U.S. health care system. It has quickly become a great challenge for states reacting to its provisions, and a target for legal objections likely to reach the Supreme Court. Join us as members of an expert panel share their views on logistic and legal realities of the ACA and answer your questions.

This event is the public keynote lecture for a student-led, invitation-only conference organized by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the University of Toronto's School of Public Policy and Governance.

The U.S.-Canada Conference 2011, 'Looking to 2020: Eroding North America's Borders,' will bring together future policy leaders from Canada and the United States to encourage open dialogue on the similarities and differences among public policy in these bordering nations. Conference attendance is limited to members of the Ford School community and application is required.

Leadership has changed in Michigan and many other jurisdictions in the Great Lakes Basin. One immediate challenge for incoming governors and premiers will be deciding how to proceed with existing state, provincial and regional commitments in climate and energy policy. This panel will review current policy commitments and provide an overview of public opinion on climate change and public policy options. This analysis will consider survey samples from national audiences in the United States and Canada as well as more localized audiences in Michigan and Ontario.

Over the past two decades, many urban school districts have restructured large, traditional high schools into smaller learning communities. The idea behind this movement is that small schools provide a more personalized learning environment that allows teachers to more effectively address the multi-faceted needs of disadvantaged students. Despite mixed evidence on the efficacy of such reforms in practice, Detroit and other high-poverty districts have pressed forward with the creation of smaller high schools. A recent study of small high schools in NYC shows positive results, but also raises additional questions about small schools. In this panel, speakers will discuss the new results of the NYC study as well as the ongoing efforts among the small school community in the Detroit area.

Terrorism is an inherently social phenomenon. While it is commonly assumed that terrorists kill and die for a cause, they are motivated and strengthened by social connections. This colloquium brings together researchers in this area to discuss terrorism's root causes in the interpersonal relationships between terrorists, competition between terrorist groups within societies, and strategic alliances between organizations.

Rami Khouri is the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut as well as editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author.

Panelists:
Tonya Allen
Vice President, Skillman Foundation

Dan DeGrow
Superintendent, St. Clair County RESA and former Majority Leader, Michigan Senate

Lou Glazer
President, Michigan Future, Inc.

The United States and Global Sustainable Development: Politics, Policy, and Priorities

Jeffrey Sachs is one of the world's most influential development economists. He is the author of 'Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet' (2008) and 'The End of Poverty,' his seminal 2005 prescription for ending extreme poverty in the world by 2025.

America's unmet challenges are huge: from energy policy to nuclear weapons, climate, health care (yes, still), a sagging infrastructure and a soaring deficit. Yet every one of them is eminently solvable. The answers are well known. So what explains, for example, thirty-five years of inaction on energy policy and even longer on health care? Why do we still approach nuclear weapons as though the Cold War continues when it ended 20 years ago? Is the policy gridlock that afflicts us the symptom of a vibrant and engaged - if polarized - society? Or is it the sign of an aging power that has lost the will to combat its problems? What can be done to recapture the will to act?

David R. Harris is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He leads the Office of Human Services Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).

Marek Belka is President of the National Bank of Poland and former Director of the IMF's European Department. He was previously Under-Secretary General at the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. Belka served as the Prime Minister of Poland from 2004-05, and was Poland's Deputy Prime Minister in 1997 and Minister of Finance from 2001-02.

Admission is free.

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan will host a special showing of Gerrymandering: The Movie. Writer/director Jeff Reichert will be present to talk about the film and answer questions. The movie addresses the issue of gerrymandering of political districts and the effects it has on the American political scene.

José Zalaquett is one of Latin America's leading authorities on human rights. He is an international human rights lawyer, Professor at the University of Chile School of Law, and co-Director of its Human Rights Center.

He will speak about accountability for human rights abuses, drawing significantly on his own experiences in a wide range of countries, including Chile.

Ambassador Richard Solomon is President of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and has held this position since 1993. USIP provides the analysis, training, and tools to prevent and end conflicts; promotes stability; and professionalizes the field of peacebuilding. It is an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress.

Ebonya Washington is the Henry Kohn Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University. She specializes in public finance and political economy with research interests in the interplay of race, gender and political representation; the behavioral motivations and consequences of political participation; and the processes through which low-income Americans meet their financial needs. Her work has appeared in journals including the American Economic Review and Quarterly Journal of Economics. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Matthew Springer, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Director of the National Center on Performance Incentives Vanderbilt University.

Free and open to the public.

Bill Ballenger - Editor and Publisher, Inside Michigan Politics

Organized by: Chuck Wilbur

Sponsored by: the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP); the Ford School of Public Policy; and the Association for Public Policy About Learning and Education (APPLE)

For more information: 734-647-4091

Lord John Alderdice is an appointed life Member of the British House of Lords of the British Parliament at Westminster. Recently the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords elected him as its new Convener (Chair) and in this position Lord Alderdice will provide an essential link between backbench Liberal Democrat peers and Liberal Democrats in Government. He is also a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Centre for Psychotherapy which he established in Belfast, United Kingdom. He is a Visiting Professor in Psychiatry and Joint Chairman of the Critical Incident Analysis Group at the University of Virginia.

The Charge to the Class will be delivered by Michael Pan (MPP '99), Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice. As a member of the Ambassador's personal staff, he is responsible for providing advice on U.S. policies at the United Nations on human rights, peacekeeping, development, and management issues. During last year's meeting of the UN General Assembly, he served as the control officer for President Obama's first visit to the United Nations.

Prior to joining the Administration, he served on the Obama-Biden Transition Team and was the Deputy Director of the Washington Office of Human Rights Watch. From 2005 to 2008, he served as the First Officer for Human Rights in the Executive Office of the Secretary- General at the United Nations, where he was the primary staff aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for issues pertaining to human rights, transitional justice, and the rule of law. Also during his tenure at the United Nations, he served on the transition team for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and was a Political Advisor in the Office of Legal Affairs, specializing on the UN's assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia.

Harold Ford, Jr. is Executive Vice Chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

From his bio:

Previously, Ford served Tennessee in the United States Congress for 10 years. Described by President Bill Clinton as 'the walking, living embodiment of where America ought to go in the 21st century,' Ford is now chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, a news analyst for NBC and MSNBC, and a distinguished practitioner in residence at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU.

It is stunningly difficult to transform the way a state government carries out a major function, but that is precisely what the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative (MPRI) has set out to do. The MPRI is an ambitious effort to improve public safety by reducing the likelihood that prisoners returning to communities will commit crimes. Based on two decades of national research, it focuses on identifying prisoner characteristics that predict recidivism and then addressing those risks both during and after incarceration. The initiative is transforming the Michigan Department of Corrections and the way in which it connects with communities. Widely regarded as one of the most effective reentry initiatives in the country, the MPRI is entering its seventh year of development and implementation and is operating statewide.

U-M will mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with a Teach-In to address critical issues affecting the planet and give voice to the university's new sustainability initiative.

'Our 40th Anniversary Earth Day Teach-In provides a good example of the University of Michigan's strong commitment to sustainability,' says Don Scavia, special counsel to the president on sustainability. 'Engaging the community and building public awareness at a local level is essential for positive progress toward sustainability on a global scale.'

Refreshments served.

Join us as we highlight and celebrate the intellectual achievements of graduate and undergraduate students at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Ford School faculty will nominate students for inclusion, and the posters on display will represent a wide range of student work: from local issues to foreign policy, from social welfare policy to health care reform, from undergraduate work to dissertation research. Students will be on hand to describe their projects and answer questions.

Free and open to the public.

Panelists:
Thomas Buchmueller, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business
John J. H. (Joe) Schwarz, Former U.S. Representative and Visiting Lecturer, University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Marianne Udow-Phillips, Director, Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT), located at the University of Michigan

Sponsored by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Scott E. Page is Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science and Economics and the Director of the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that 'our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.' That insight rings especially true in the context of policy making, where diverse thoughts, experiences, beliefs and models prove critical to the process of constructing good policy. As policy problems grow more difficult and as the coupling of policy interactions produces greater complexity, the benefits of diversity become even more pronounced, provided that we agree on fundamental ends.

In 2004, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm charged the Lieutenant Governor's Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth with identifying strategies to improve postsecondary attainment and completion in Michigan.

To mark the five-year anniversary of the Cherry Commission, leaders of the education and business communities in Michigan will address the past, present, and future of higher education and economic growth in Michigan.

Immigration is increasingly changing the composition of the American population. From 1970 to 2003, the foreign-born share of the U.S. population increased from less than 5% to more than 12%. Though this dramatic increase has occurred disproportionately in a few regions, the effects of immigration are increasingly felt across the country. Alongside this rapid increase, debate regarding the effects of immigration has also ramped up. Key issues in this debate include the possible economic impacts of low-skill immigration on the low-skill native population, and the potential benefits of selective or high-skill immigration to fill key employment gaps.

Experts differ markedly in their beliefs regarding the effects of immigration (economically and culturally) and the appropriate goals of U.S. immigration policy. In Immigration, Public Policy and the Skills Debate two distinguished scholars will present work addressing this important topic. The Ford School engages in this conversation with the goal of furthering a balanced and thoughtful U.S. immigration policy.

Paul Krugman is an economist and prolific writer who divides his energies among many pursuits: he is professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, a centenary professor at the London School of Economics, and, perhaps, his best-known job, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

Krugman was recently honored for his work on global trade patterns by winning the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. In recognition of his influence The Washington Monthly called him 'the most important political columnist in America.'

Dallas Burtraw is Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that conducts independent research - rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences - on environmental, energy, and natural resource issues. He is a 1986 alumnus of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and received his BS in 1980 in community economic development from the University of California-Davis. Burtraw earned his PhD in economics at the University of Michigan in 1989.

Burtraw's research interests include the design of environmental regulation, the costs and benefits of environmental regulation, and the regulation and restructuring of the electricity industry. Recently, Burtraw investigated the effects on the value of assets of electricity generation companies of alternative approaches to implementing emissions permit trading programs. He is evaluating the use of emission trading to achieve carbon emission reductions in the EU. He also has helped to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of trading programs for nitrogen dioxide in the eastern United States and sulfur dioxide trading programs under the Clean Air Act Amendments. He also contributed to the valuation of the benefits of ecological improvements due to reduced acidification in the Adirondacks.

featuring William Julius Wilson, Harvard University

Keynote speaker for the Interdisciplinary Group on Poverty and Inequality conference 'Emerging Issues in Poverty and Inequality'

Reception to follow.

Allan Stam, U-M Professor of Political Science and Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies, will discuss the genocide, civil war, vendetta killings and random violence that took place in Rwanda in 1994.

Reception and booksigning to follow.

Kristin Seefeldt, a Research Investigator at the Ford School and Assistant Director of the National Poverty Center, will speak from her new book, published December, 2008 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute.

Panelists: John C. Austin, Director, New Economy Initiative & Vice President, Michigan Board of Education, State of Michigan.
Charles L. Ballard, Professor of Economics, Michigan State University & Director of the MSU State of the State Survey
Kim Hill, Director, Automotive Communities Program and Associate Director, Economics and Business Group, Center for Automotive Research.
Christopher Hayter, Program Director, Economic Development Program, National Governor's Association
Moderator: Paul Courant, Dean of Libraries and Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan

Hosted by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. Co-sponsored by the Ford School of Public Policy. [Details]

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy's 2009 Citigroup Foundation Lecture. Co-sponsored by the National Poverty Center and the Students of Color in Public Policy.

Hosted as part of the University of Michiga's 2009 Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium.

Marian Wright Edelman will speak from her new book, The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, which she wrote as a call to action for all Americans to address the urgent needs of our country's youth.

Alberto Trejos, the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, will focus his presentation on the evolution of Costa Rica's decision to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). In addition to addressing the implications of a Costa Rica-United States free trade agreement, Dr. Trejos will share his insight on how political strategy and drama influenced Costa Rica's adoption into CAFTA, which followed a national referendum.

Co-sponsored by LACS and the International Policy Center at the Ford School of Public Policy.

This panel discussion will feature experts in the environment, energy, and economics for a discussion on how the policies of the presidential candidates will impact Michigan. They will be joined by advocates for both the Obama and McCain campaigns. Listen to the discussion, and ask your questions. Click here to read more and register to attend.

Kerwin Kofi Charles Lectures
Steans Family Professor at the Harris School, University of Chicago
Scholar in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Lectures are co-sponsored by the National Poverty Center.

David Marash has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast journalism. Most recently, he anchored news from Washington for the global news channel, Al Jazeera English and he served for 16 years as the chief international correspondent for ABC News Nightline.

Read an April 2008 Columbia Journalism Review interview with David Marash about his experiences at Al Jazeera.

A Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture

CLOSUP's new education policy seminar series, a core component of the Education Policy Initiative, continues with a panel session entitled 'The Role of the Private Sector in K-12 Public Education.'

Marc Spitzer, Rob Gramlich, Barry Rabe, Meredith Fowlie, and David Uhlmann. Co-sponsored by the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Law School.

Martin Palous, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations; Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Katherine Newman, Princeton University. Co-sponsored with the National Poverty Center

In Scott Atran's most recent book, The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature (MIT Press, March 2008) Scott Atran and Douglas Medin trace the cognitive consequences of many people's diminishing sense of human contact with nature. Reception to follow. Free and open to the public.

Hosted as part of the University of Michigan's 2008 Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium.

Reception to follow. Free and open to the public.

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy will host an afternoon of activities celebrating the life and legacy of the University of Michigan's most famous alumnus.

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy will host an afternoon of activities celebrating the life and legacy of the University of Michigan's most famous alumnus.

Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.

Co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the International Policy Center.

Interviews with and articles by Larry Cox are available via the Amnesty
International website.

Professor Shobita Parthasarathy will be speaking from her forthcoming book, to be published by MIT press in April, 2007. Reception to follow.

Yazier Henry, Director, Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory, Capetown, South Africa; Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, National Council of La Raza; Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Catherine Bertini, Professor of Practice in Public Administration, Syracuse University Maxwell School of Public Affairs; former Under-Secretary General for Management, United Nations and Executive Director, World Food Program; former Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Ron Haskins, The Brookings Institution.

Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme.

Co-sponsored by the U-M Ethics in Public Life Initiative.

Juan R.I. Cole, Professor of Middle East and South Asian History, University of Michigan, has written extensively about modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. Since the 2002 launch of his weblog, 'Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion,' Cole has become a prominent media commentator and has published political writings in The Guardian, the San Jose Mercury News, Salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Nation. His books include 'Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam' (I.B. Tauris, 2002.)

Lieutenant General David Petraeus, Commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth. General Petraeus served in Iraq as the first commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command – Iraq from June 2004 to September 2005, during which he was responsible for helping organize, train, and equip Iraq 's security forces. He previously commanded the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Aaron David Miller is currently a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, where he is writing a book about America and the Arab-Israeli conflict.Between 2003 and 2006 he served as president of Seeds of Peace, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance coexistence and reconciliation.

Prior to his position at the EBRD, President Lemierre was Head of the French Private Office of the Minister of Economy and Finance and Director of France's Treasury. This Citigroup lecture was presented in conjunction with the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the International Policy Center.

Former President of MIT Charles M. Vest will deliver the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation lecture, 'Improving the U.S. Intelligence Community – Lessons from Iraq, Libya, and Elsewhere.' The lecture is part of Dr. Vest's visit to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he is the Towsley Policymaker in Residence.

As the Debate on Social Security reform goes forward the focus on private accounts remains at its forefront. We invite you to join the discussion with keynote speaker Edward Gramlich. Edward Gramlich is the Interim Provost at U-M and the Richard A. Musgrave Professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Senator Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) discusses 'New Directions in National Security' at the 2005-06 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture. This lecture commemorates the life and work of Josh Rosenthal, a 1979 University of Michigan graduate who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and seeks to encourage public discussion of the changes in the world since 9/11.

This lecture was the keynote address for the conference, 'Changing Social Policies for Low-Income Families and Less-Skilled Workers in the EU and the U.S.,' jointly sponsored by the National Poverty Center and the European Union Center, University of Michigan.

Washington Post Columnist E. J. Dionne writes about the strengths and weaknesses of competing political philosophies. His analysis of American politics and trends of public sentiment is recognized by the public and private sectors as among the most reliable in the business.

Professor of Economics at Columbia University and Nobel Laureate for Economics in 2001, Joseph Stiglitz is internationally recognized as one of the leading economic educators of our time. Stiglitz is credited in creating a new branch of economics, 'The Economics of Information,' and his work has dealt extensively with growth and development in the Third World.

Jessica Stern is a nationally recognized expert on the motivations and causes behind terrorist movements. She is the author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill , based on years of interviews with members of extremist organizations around the world.

On November 12, 2004, alumni, friends and donors attended the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new home of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall (see photo). Construction of the $34 million building is now officially underway– and the promise of a magnificent academic facility is literally coming to life.

Rebecca Blank interview with President Ford.