International Policy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apr 4, 2024

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

State & Hill

From grounded to global

May 3, 2023

"One positive international experience can flip a switch, change a student's academic and professional trajectory. You never know what that experience might be," says Dan Ellis, assistant director of the International Policy Center (IPC). He and Zuza...

State & Hill

Forensic anthropology in Guatemala

May 3, 2023

Lessons in restorative justiceBy Miriam Wasserman In spring 2019, Aprisal Malale (MPP '20) found himself at the side of an unmarked grave in Guatemala. Malale, along with Towsley Policymaker in Residence Hardy Vieux (MPP/JD '97), and three classmate...

News

Ciorciari warns on foreign intervention in Haiti

Oct 23, 2022

Haiti has once again found itself in crisis, rattled by an assassination, overtaken by gang violence, and led by an unelected government. Associate dean John Ciorciari recently penned an article in Foreign Policy warning of the consequences of ill-ti...

Info session: 2022 BA Global Engagement Seminar

News

This year in international policy at the Ford School – fall 2022

Sep 27, 2022

An impressive slate of core and visiting faculty help make the Ford School a hub for engagement with the foreign policy community and a national leader in international policy education. The Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) and International Policy Cent...

This year in international policy at the Ford School – fall 2022

News

Ciorciari and Tompkins-Stange promoted; noted expert Megan Stewart joins the faculty

May 19, 2022

On May 19, the Regents of the University of Michigan approved three faculty developments that further strengthen the Ford School faculty. Longtime faculty members John Ciorciari and Megan Tompkins-Stange received promotions: Ciorciari to full prof...

Ciorciari and Tompkins-Stange promoted; noted expert Megan Stewart joins the faculty

In the Media

Ali discusses comparisons of invasions of Iraq and Ukraine

Mar 17, 2022 BBC Brazil

As the war in Ukraine rages on, many are making comparisons between the U.S.'s invasion of Iraq and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Javed Ali, associate professor of practice, discussed the comparison. "It's easy to understand why people think the U....

Ali provides insight into leaked Pentagon documents

News

Ford School Black History Month activities cover a wide spectrum of topics

Feb 2, 2022

The Ford School and its research centers will be hosting a variety of events during February, Black History Month, examining a range of topics concerning the struggles for racial equity. The Center for Racial Justice, Weiser Diplomacy Center and In...

Ford School Black History Month activities cover a wide spectrum of topics

News

Ambassador Levitsky on the Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know

Feb 1, 2022

What is essential to know about the rising tensions in eastern Europe and the Ukraine-Russia crisis? Melvyn Levitsky, professor of international policy and practice at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, shares his insights. He...

Ambassador Levitsky on the Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know

In the Media

Page comments on Biden's first foreign policy speech

Feb 5, 2021 Just Security

After President Biden gave his first major foreign policy speech on Thursday, which focused on repairing America's image across the globe and issues ranging from Yemen and China to global efforts to tackle climate change, Professor Susan D. Page comm...

Page comments on Biden's first foreign policy speech

In the Media

Little promotes greater international collaboration between universities

Feb 4, 2021 News Xperts (India)

In a session on partnership in higher education at the Kerala Looks Ahead Conference (KLA), Professor Daniel Little discussed U.S. universities' interest in greater collaboration with foreign universities, noting that the U.S. "is interested to invit...

Little promotes greater international collaboration between universities

Publication

Policy memo: Ciorciari on "Restoring U.S. credibility in Southeast Asia"

Jan 21, 2021

As the Biden administration embarks on its first hundred days, experts from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy have produced a series of policy briefs on key issues. Download the PDF of this brief or read the web-formatted version below. ...

News

Ciorciari: Simulations help Ford School build bench of foreign affairs experts, especially versed in hot spots

Dec 17, 2020

The globe has no shortage of crises and hot spots. And the need for diverse, disciplined diplomats and other foreign affairs professionals has never been greater. That's the perspective of experts at the Ford School and what's prompting an immersio...

Preventing Cambodia’s genocidal past from becoming Afghanistan’s future

News

Experiential learning opportunities expand for students of foreign policy

Dec 2, 2020

Since its launch in 2019, the Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) has sought to develop new practical student training opportunities in foreign affairs. One key element is to expand the Ford School’s menu of international policy simulations. “Reading ab...

Experiential learning opportunities expand for students of foreign policy

News

Professor Melvyn Levitsky warns that the end of INF treaty “could lead to a new arms race”

Feb 4, 2019

The U.S. and Russia are inciting collective déjà vu. With the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, memories of the Cold War are returning to the zeitgeist. The Mirror’s Oliver Milne highlights some of the most concerning fact...

Still some hope for American prisoners in Russia - Levitsky

News

When interests clash, John Ciorciari says hybrid courts are “prone to crash”

Nov 19, 2018

When done well, international tribunals play an integral role in governmental cooperation and the promotion of human rights. But this is a tricky balance, and the costs—both in financial and human capital—are high. To explore the success of such cour...

News

Melvyn Levitsky tracks parallels between Brazil’s political future and the U.S.

Oct 11, 2018

Ford School Professor Melvyn Levitsky, who previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Brazil, was asked to weigh in on the country’s upcoming election by Folha de São Paulo. Folha, for short, is a nearly century-old daily newspaper in Brazil known f...

Levitsky on the stakes of Biden's Ukraine visit

News

Doctoral students Eitan Paul and Jieun Lee named inaugural IPC Research Scholars

Apr 21, 2017

Doctoral students Eitan Paul and Jieun Lee (MPP ’12) have been named inaugural recipients of the International Policy Center's (IPC) Research Scholar Award. IPC Research Scholar Awards aim to facilitate cutting-edge scholarship and to help doctoral c...