Policy Talks @ the Ford School

Join the Ford School for a conversation with Michigan Supreme Court Justice, Kyra Harris Bolden, the first Black woman to serve on the state’s highest court. Laurel Beatty Blunt - a Towsley Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School and a judge in Ohio's Tenth District Court of Appeals - will lead the conversation with Justice Bolden on her journey to the Michigan Supreme Court, and the intersection of race and the law in the past and present.

Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Paula Lantz discuss the devastating structural inequities exposed by the COVID pandemic—and why all policymakers must now be equipped with a toolkit for navigating pandemics. 

Join for a conversation around gun violence, and policies that can help prevent it. 

Reginald M. Turner (JD '87) will visit the Ford School to share more on his leadership at the ABA, and his work on some of its most pressing issues like access to legal services, judicial reform, election integrity, and the eviction crisis.

Join us for an important discussion between University of Michigan Ford School Dean Michael Barr with Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, to discuss his work to revive the economy while combating the racist systems embedded within it.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss explores the rise in far-right radicalization through the physical and virtual spaces where hate is cultivated while discussing her new book Hate in the Homeland.

Amid continuing uncertainties around the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, journalists Robin Wright and Jawad Sukhanyar will give their perspectives on the evolving situation, in conversation with Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.

The attacks on September 11, 2001 irrevocably changed how the United States conducts counterterrorism and national security operations. Join our expert panelists for a discussion of 9/11 and how it has shaped our international affairs landscape over the past 20 years.

Join us for a conversation on current relations between the United States and China and possible paths forward given COVID and the upcoming U.S. elections. Panelists will include Kenneth Lieberthal, senior fellow emeritus at Brookings, Mary Gallagher, professor of political science, and Ann Lin, associate professor of public policy. Ford School Dean Michael Barr will moderate the discussion. 

Join the Weiser Diplomacy Center and the Ford School for a discussion with David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee and former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. 

Please join us for a talk with Denis McDonough, former White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, in conversation with Associate Professor John Ciorciari, director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice will reflect on her career and on her new memoir, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Inaugural Weiser Diplomacy Center lecture.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power will reflect on her career and on her new memoir, Education of an Idealist (Harper Collins, September 2019): the third annual Vandenberg Lecture.

Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (LSA '86) discusses U.S. policy and strategy for achieving the denuclearization of North Korea and the transformation of U.S.-North Korean relations.

A conversation with Dean Michael S. Barr and Ambassador William J. Burns.