International Policy Center

Leadership

William Axinn

Professor of Sociology and Professor of Public Policy (by courtesy)

William Axinn is the Ronald and Deborah Freedman Director of the International Hub at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR), Interim Director of the International Policy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy,...

Faculty experts

Megan A. Stewart

Associate Professor of Public Policy

Megan A. Stewart is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her research interests focus on explaining variation in how changes to social, economic, and political hierarchies—esp...

News

University of Michigan to lead landmark global mental health survey consortium, expanding to additional countries

Jan 15, 2026

The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Consortium, which harnesses cross-national data to inform and support policies around education, interventions, and treatment, has now moved to the University of Michigan. This new phase is led by William Axinn, i...

University of Michigan to lead landmark global mental health survey consortium, expanding to additional countries

News

University of Michigan researchers collaborate with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok

Jan 6, 2026

University of Michigan researchers William Axinn and Stephanie Chardoul visited Chulalongkorn University's College of Population Studies in Bangkok to discuss future collaborations in demographic research and innovations in population data survey met...

University of Michigan researchers collaborate with Chulalongkorn University in Nepal

News, State & Hill

Students build career-ready grant writing skills in Aid & Development Workshop series

Dec 8, 2025

Mastering technical and theoretical content is just the beginning for public policy students.Paulo Quequezana Barrientos (MPP ‘26), and 18 of his colleagues recently completed the annual Aid & Development Workshop series, designed to complement their...

Students build career-ready grant writing skills in Aid & Development Workshop series

News

All in the family: U-M expert reflects on 5 decades focused on Nepal, from youth to leading 30-year study

Nov 7, 2025

When Bill Axinn's parents took him to Nepal in 1976 for their own work in agricultural and social development, he was "pretty upset to be missing seventh grade." Axinn's parents brought him to the then-isolated Chitwan Valley, and he went from being ...

All in the family: U-M expert reflects on 5 decades focused on Nepal, from youth to leading 30-year study

News

Axinn and Lantz continue to lead Ford School’s International Policy Center, expanding reach and student opportunities

Aug 27, 2025

William Axinn and Paula Lantz will continue their leadership of the Ford School’s International Policy Center (IPC) for the 2025-26 academic year. Together, they are poised to expand IPC’s impact, foster new global collaborations, and offer students ...

News

Announcing the Ford School Fall Events Schedule

Aug 22, 2025

Ford School fall events will look at the state of U.S. democracy, international crises, and the Abundance debate. The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup of events for the autumn 2025, engaging with our students, faculty, staff, and...

Announcing the Ford School Fall Events Schedule

News

IPC’s Aid and Development Workshop series helps students meet the moment

Aug 11, 2025

Grant writing and proposal development, once useful skills, have become essential for international development professionals, according to Ford School lecturer Amy Beck Harris. “As international organizations undergo sweeping changes, the actual ski...

IPC’s Aid and Development Workshop series helps students meet the moment

News

Remembering Ambassador Melvyn Levitsky

Jun 6, 2025

The Ford School is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Ambassador Melvyn ‘Mel’ Levitsky, esteemed professor of international policy and practice. He passed away on May 17, 2025, at the age of 87. Ambassador Levitsky had a remarkable career in ...

News

Propelling global social science innovations: U-M launches International Research Hub

Jun 5, 2025

The Institute for Social Research’s Survey Research Center and the Population Studies Center are teaming up to launch the International Research Hub. This new resource will support and expand social research worldwide. Located at PSC, the hub will su...

Propelling global social science innovations: U-M launches International Research Hub

News

Ambassador Melvyn Levitsky to retire from the University of Michigan’s Ford School

May 15, 2025

Ambassador Melvyn Levitsky will retire from his position as Professor of Practice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, effective June 1, 2025. When Ambassador Levitsky joined the Ford School in 2006, it was a ...

News

Undergrads meet with global leaders in Brussels, find resolve amid global uncertainty

Mar 28, 2025

When 15 public policy undergraduates touched down in Brussels, Belgium in March, they knew they were visiting Europe’s capital at a pivotal moment. “Our trip to Brussels came at a time of great uncertainty about the future of the transatlantic relati...

State & Hill

Amy Beck Harris helps students understand the “how” of international development

Dec 17, 2024

Before becoming an academic, Ford School Lecturer Amy Beck Harris worked in international development and foreign assistance implementation across Latin America with Chemonics International, the largest international development firm that implements ...

Amy Beck Harris helps students understand the “how” of international development

State & Hill

Faculty Findings, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Mental health and marriage timing Decades of research document powerful associations between parents’ characteristics and children’s marital behaviors. “Parental mental health strongly shapes or disrupts family life and long-term...

News

Hassan awarded U-M anti-racism grant

Sep 10, 2024

Ford School assistant professor Yousif Hassan has been chosen for a University of Michigan research grant for his work that explores how AI innovations and data can center social justice and address racial and economic inequalities in African societi...

News

Axinn and Lantz to lead Ford School’s International Policy Center

Jul 11, 2024

William Axinn will serve as interim director of the Ford School’s International Policy Center (IPC) beginning on August 1, 2024. Paula Lantz will serve as interim associate director of IPC and focus on overseeing and leading a review of the Ford Scho...

Axinn and Lantz to lead Ford School’s International Policy Center

News

Bold AI policy proposals awarded at Ford + Munk case competition

Apr 22, 2024

Fifty-one students engaged on pressing AI-related policy questions during this spring’s Ford+Munk case competition. Held annually, the Ford+Munk conference has students from the Ford School and the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affai...

Bold AI policy proposals awarded at Ford + Munk case competition

News

Javi Piñeiro (MPP/JD’24) participates in Next Milan Forum

Apr 16, 2024

I don't think if you had told me when I was a teenager growing up in a very rural small town in Puerto Rico that one day, still being young and a student, I would be in a position to go to a conference abroad and meet with people from all over the wo...

Javi Piñeiro (MPP/JD’24) participates in Next Milan Forum

News

Amy Beck Harris helps students understand the “how” of international development

Apr 4, 2024

News

Stewart receives prestigious APSA book award

Apr 1, 2024

Associate professor and International Policy Center director Megan Stewart will be honored with the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) 2021-2022 Conflict Processes Section’s Best Book Award for her book, Governing for Revolution: Social ...

Stewart receives prestigious APSA book award

News

China’s 2024 Parliamentary meeting: Ford School experts can discuss

Mar 22, 2024

Ann Chih Lin is an associate professor of public policy at the Ford School of Public Policy and director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies. “Compared to previous years, China’s Two Sessions meetings this year look inward, focusing on...

China’s 2024 Parliamentary meeting: Ford School experts can discuss

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights advocat...

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

News

Ford school faculty available to weigh in on 2024 elections

Jan 28, 2024

The University of Michigan has published an experts guide to the 2024 elections. Ford School faculty are available to offer insights on relevant issues impacting the elections, including the following: Economics Betsey Stevenson, professor of pu...

Ford school faculty available to weigh in on 2024 elections

State & Hill

Meet Megan Stewart

Dec 12, 2023

Expert on inequality and political violence now directs the Ford School’s International Policy Center As an undergraduate, associate professor Megan Stewart took a class on Middle East politics and became interested in how a political movement, like...

State & Hill

Confronting the “Coup Belt” in Africa

Dec 12, 2023

Susan D. Page and Kamissa Camara in discussion An alarming number of countries in Africa have been experiencing coups over the past few years—a total of nine coups in three years—in Sudan, Burkina Faso (twice), Chad, Guinea, Mali (twice), and more r...

News

Ford School’s Ali and Ciorciari warn of escalation after Hamas attack on Israel

Oct 9, 2023

Ford School experts have been commenting on the Hamas attacks on Israel: John Ciorciari is a professor of public policy at the Ford School of Public Policy whose research focuses on international law and politics in the Global South. "The last f...

Ford School’s Ali and Ciorciari warn of escalation after Hamas attack on Israel

In the Media

ASEAN nations need support to counter China - Ciorciari

Sep 13, 2023 VOA

John Ciorciari, VOA: John Ciorciari, associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said in an email to VOA Khmer that ASEAN remains an important forum for diplomacy, but “without consensus on some of the region’s most pressing c...

ASEAN nations need support to counter China - Ciorciari

News

Ciorciari comments on India-Middle East rail link announcement

Sep 12, 2023

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Joe Biden and other G20 leaders announced plans to construct a rail and shipping corridor that would link India with the Middle East and Europe. The Ford School's John Ciorciari, whose research focuse...

Ciorciari comments on India-Middle East rail link announcement

In the Media

Ciorciari on China's reaction to US-Japan-South Korea accords

Aug 25, 2023 VOA

John Ciorciari, VOA: John Ciorciari, professor of research and policy engagement at the University of Michigan, said in an email to VOA Khmer that in the short term, China will likely act assertively to show that closer cooperation among South Korea,...

Ciorciari on China's reaction to US-Japan-South Korea accords