Public event

Join us to hear Christopher Hart, former Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board discuss opportunities of autonomous vehicles and the challenges they present to federal, state and local governments.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will deliver opening remarks for a panel discussion on "Communities of Interest" and the important role they will play in Michigan's new redistricting process beginning in 2020.

The Local Voices Network is a community-driven listening network which aims to improve our understanding of one another through communication.  Kathy Cramer, one of the groups' founders, will talk about how it works and what 's coming out of  the chapters in Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, and Alabama.  

We'll be celebrating this fall! Save the date and join us for the Ford School Reunion!

Join Domestic Policy Corps (DPC) and the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) for a panel discussion with a generation of Michigan governor transition leaders from 1991 to today.

Please join the Law School's Environmental Law and Policy Program as we host our first lecture of the 2019-2020 academic year- "A Conversation with Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick."This extraordinarily timely event will include discussion of regional greenhouse gas initiatives, the clean energy revolution, corporate sustainability efforts, and the impact of the 2020 election on climate change and environmental protection efforts.  

Join the students of PUBPOL 750: Renewable Energy Policy at the State & Local Level for a Student Symposium on State & Local Renewable Energy Policy.  Students will share their research on the web of state and local policies facilitating and hindering renewable energy deployment in California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming.

Does Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion have a positive or negative effect on labor market outcomes and household well being in Washington DC?  Hear Dr. Hardy discuss research on how EITC expansions undertaken by the Washington DC affect income and inequality in the city. 

Please join us in a Conversation Across Difference, as Professor Teodoro discusses alternative ownership and management models for water and sewer utilities, as well as the political dimensions of public, private, and public-private partnerships (P3s), and what they mean for cost and quality.

Sports remains a fascination to millions of Americans but also presents a great range of challenging public policy issues at both the professional and collegiate levels.  Please join us for a candid conversation about "Sports in America" with former Los Angeles Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti.

Join the Ford School's Michigan in Politics and Policy class to hear Randy Liepa, Superintendent of Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency discuss the current state of K-12 education in Michigan.  This lecture is free and open to the public!

The Ford School’s Michigan Politics and Policy class (PubPol 475/750) will be joined by Chase Cantrell, Executive Director and Founder of Building Community Value for a discussion about the future of Detroit on Weds Oct 31, 2:30pm. We have moved this class session to the larger Ford School Annenberg Auditorium (1120) so this lecture can be open to the public -- we hope to see you there!

Please join us for a special screening of Michigan Divided, a 48 minute documentary exploring political divisions in the state.  A 30 minute interactive audience conversation will follow.  The event is part of the Michigan Truth Tour provided by Bridge Magazine. Free and open to the public; RSVP here!  

Professor Tuohy will speak about her new book, Remaking Policy: Scale, Pace and Political Strategy in Health Care Reform (University of Toronto Press 2018). The book presents a new theoretical framework for addressing perennial questions about the drivers of policy change. It argues that the scale and pace of major policy change - change that alters the balance of power, the methods of control or the organizing principles of a policy arena – are fundamentally driven by political calculations at the centre of government, as political actors assess their ability to overcome vetoes not only in the present but also over time. The book develops this argument by drawing on ten cases of health policy change across seven decades (1945-2017) and four nations (the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and Canada). In her talk Prof. Tuohy will pay particular attention to the American cases, showing why the US is especially prone to “mosaic” bursts of simultaneous small-scale changes, and why both “big-bang” (large scale, fast paced) and “blueprint” (large scale, slow paced) strategies have proved elusive.

The panel will look at two initiatives on the November 2018 ballot: the Voters Not Politicians initiative to reform redistricting (Proposal 2), and the Promote the Vote initiative to expand voting and registration opportunities (Proposal 3).

Barry Rabe discusses his book Can We Price Carbon? Moderated by John Milewski, Director of Digital Programming; Host and Managing Editor, Wilson Center NOW.

Student panels will discuss the implications of their independent research projects on state and local environmental policy on issues including water, energy, climate change, and land use.This event showcases the work of Ford School BA students enrolled in a section of PubPol 495 that is part of the CLOSUP in the Classroom Initiative. 

Free and open to the public.Students of PUBPOL 456/756 invite the public to join them for a debate featuring candidates for the offices of mayor and city council in Ann Arbor. This event takes place as a product of PUBPOL 456/756. It originated and is planned, organized, and moderated by the students of the Ford School’s Public Policy Course 456/756 under the supervision of their instructor, former Mayor of Ann Arbor John Hieftje. Final details are pending on which candidates will participate, and will be announced here as soon as possible.

Khouri will discuss what it means for the current policy debates in Lansing (including federal tax reform impact on the State).

The U.S. is in the midst of an energy transition. This path toward decarbonization of the energy sector promises many societal benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, technological innovation, and reduced air pollution. The costs of this transition such as price spikes or job displacement, however, are not evenly spread across the population, since some individuals and communities are more vulnerable to the adverse impacts than others. In this presentation, I will introduce a framework for conceptualizing vulnerability and then provide an illustration of its potential application using the case of the renewable portfolio standard. I will also present findings from interviews and focus groups with individuals that reside or work within more vulnerable populations. These findings provide insights about the manner in which communities perceive of the energy transition, and how they cope with changes introduced by the transition.

The United States has seen dramatic growth in energy development with much of it occurring on privately owned lands, creating a unique raft of opportunity and risk for landowners. The presentation reviews research on the nexus of property ownership rights and regulatory policy, with a focus on Shale and Wind Energy. It introduces the concept of 'Private Participation' in the planning and siting of energy projects and discusses how private property ownership will continue to influence the energy revolution. 

Daniel Raimi discusses his book The Fracking Debate, in which he highlights stories of the people and communities affected by the shale revolution, for better and worse.

Vann R. Newkirk, II, Staff Writer at The Atlantic will highlight the ways in which democracy and the ballot have been curtailed historically and in the present for people on the margins of society, including post-Jim Crow and post-Shelby County v. Holder legal developments on gerrymandering and voter ID.

Since the November 2016 elections, issues surrounding the nuts-and-bolts of election administration have risen to the forefront of discussion and debate, both here in Michigan and across the nation. This CLOSUP event begins with Debra Horner presenting new survey data collected by the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) exploring views of Michigan's local government leaders on: confidence in the accuracy of Michigan elections; problems experienced in election administration; plans to update voting equipment; and support and opposition to a host of potential election reforms. Then Christopher Thomas will explore a range of related issues, placing Michigan’s experiences in broader national context, while discussing the past, present and future of election issues.  Thomas will address topics such as voter registration policy and the effects of President Trump's voter fraud commission as well as recent Supreme Court decisions regarding the Voting Rights Act, control of ballots, voting equipment failure, and allegations of Russian interference, ending with thoughts on challenges and reforms going forward.

Vivian Thomson will offer an insider’s account of how power is wielded in environmental policy making at the state level. Drawing on her experience as a former member of Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board, she narrates cases in Alexandria, Wise, and Roda that involved coal and air pollution. She identifies a “climate of capitulation” —a deeply rooted favoritism toward coal and electric utilities in state air pollution policies. Thomson links Virginia’s climate of capitulation with campaign finance patterns, a state legislature that depends on outsiders for information and bill drafting, and a political culture that tends toward inertia. She extends her analysis to fifteen other coal states and recommends reforms aimed at mitigating ingrained biases toward coal and electric utility interests.

Can a carbon price survive in a highly decentralized, fossil-fuel producing nation that is tightly integrated with the economy of the United States? Against the backdrop of worldwide interest in carbon pricing as a way to meet commitments made in Paris, and in the context of a Trump presidency, this talk examines the history, origins and prospects of carbon pricing in Canada. The talk will focus on recent efforts at developing a national carbon price framework at the federal level, the challenges now facing the current federal government as it moves toward implementation, and the prospects for carbon pricing in the future. Specific attention will be paid to the role of recalcitrant provinces, a divided public, and the influence of political developments in the United States. The talk will also explore key controversies over carbon pricing, and highlight potential lessons from the Canadian experience.

With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House following the 2016 elections, Democrats have turned to the states to spur challenges to President Trump’s agenda. Among the most prominent of Trump’s state-level adversaries have been state attorneys general, who in just the first few months of 2017 have challenged federal policy from immigration to the environment. While intergovernmental conflict has continued to deepen, AGs have also found areas of bipartisan cooperation as well. This talk will discuss the role of state AGs during the early months of the Trump Administration. In addition to providing an overview of the various tools AGs have used to gain national prominence, Dr. Nolette will highlight several of the emerging trends in AG activity.

This One-Day Workshop is free and open to the public – but you must register to attend (see below)Space is limited to 50 participants – so register early!Registration/Check-in 8:30am-9:00am Program begins at 9:00am and adjourns at 4:15pmAgenda  http://closup.umich.edu/files/netgains-event-agenda-2017.pdfPresenter bios http://closup.umich.edu/files/netgains-event-bios-2017.pdfIn the environmental realm, people often worry about rebound effects, such that adoption of one pro-environmental behavior will undermine future environmental actions. Others assume that interventions will lead to gateway effects, whereby one pro-environmental behavior leads to others. This workshop will bring together academics, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss behavioral environmental interventions and the complications that arise when multiple behaviors or multiple instances of the same behavior are needed for program success

Student panels will discuss the implications of their independent research projects on state and local environmental policy on issues ranging from recycling and food policy to water and energy.

While much attention has been focused on the threats that hydraulic fracturing poses to water systems—whether by its consumptive use of freshwater or the risk of contaminating ground- and surface waters—the financial wealth that oil and gas development brings to state and local governments may provide opportunities to protect water resources. This diverse group of scholars will discuss their research at the intersection of fracking and water policy, and as a panel explore whether there are particular policies or practices that might be scaled-up or replicated outside their geographical area of study to create more sustainable energy-water systems.