As the start of the fall semester approaches, dean of the Ford School of Public Policy Michael Barr has a reminder for everyone: while this won’t look like a typical year, Ford School faculty are committed to delivering a first-rate public policy education to all students in a safe and flexible manner.
“We’re hard at work, making sure we can open in a safe, public health-informed manner, and thinking creatively about how to build community among faculty, staff, and students in this new environment. We’re engaging our community in all of our plans,” he says in this episode of Michigan Minds.
Barr explains that some courses will be fully remote while others will include varying degrees of safe, in-person interactions.
“In this new environment, strong communication between students and the faculty will be key to make this all work smoothly,” Barr says. “The supportive dynamic work that typically happens outside the classroom at the Ford School will continue in an online format—and where safe and practical, in person at Weill Hall as well.”
The Ford School is planning a series of virtual events for the fall semester as a part of the Democracy & Debate Theme Semester. Barr shares details of the planned events—which will include speakers from federal and state government, a New York Times columnist, and more—and says they hope to spark constructive conversations across the U-M community on topics that will likely play a role in the broader national conversation during the 2020 presidential election season.
He encourages everyone to work together throughout the fall semester as the campus navigates this new and difficult time, and to remember that the Ford School is a tight-knit community dedicated to the public good.
Learn more in this episode of Michigan Minds.
