2021 YEARBOOK B A | M P P | M PA | P H D SPRING 2021
L to R: Amanda Kaplan (BA '21), Lauren Solomiany (BA '21), Brett Zaslavsky (BA '21), Marty Taxay (BA '21), Bennett Bramson (BA '21), Summer O'Sullivan (BA '21), Ben Gerstein (BA '21), and Simone Jaroslaw (BA '21), Apr. 2021
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GERALD R. FORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
2021 YEARBOOK
TABLE OF CONTENTS Student life............................................................................................... 4 Events........................................................................................................ 6 MPP graduates....................................................................................... 8 MPA graduates.................................................................................... 12 PhD graduates..................................................................................... 13 Student orgs......................................................................................... 14 BA graduates........................................................................................ 16 Thinking globally................................................................................. 20 Acting locally ....................................................................................... 22
DEAR FORDIES: You are leaders grounded in service. This isn’t just aspirational, this is who you are. Amid a pandemic, political conflict, and personal challenges, you revealed yourselves as resilient and strong. You helped vulnerable communities, armed policymakers with facts and tools, worked for nonprofits and small businesses, marched for racial justice, listened and learned and spoke up, protected each other’s health, helped us offer an outstanding education and keep our community connected, turned out the vote, and stood up for our democracy. To our graduates, we are so proud of your achievements, and hope you’ll stay in touch. To our entire community, enjoy this commemorative yearbook, filled with photos submitted by you and your peers, and cherish the memories of your time at the Ford School and Michigan. MICHAEL S. BARR Joan and Sanford Weill Dean; Frank Murphy Collegiate Professor of Public Policy; Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law
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Student life Welcome Week scavenger hunt, August 24, 2020. L to R: Adam Flood (MPP/MPH '22), Miguel Lopez (MPP '22), Michelle Yi (MBA '21), and Jennifer Crist (MPP '22)
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JAMES B. AN G E L L SCHOLARS Angell Scholars are undergraduate students who earn all A’s for two or more consecutive terms in a calendar year. Congratulations to:
Army vs. Michigan football game, Sept. 2019 L to R: Mariam Sayeed (MPP '21), Emma Kern (MPP '21), Steven Garcia (MPP '21), and Danny Rosa (MPP '21)
Impromptu photo booth, Oct. 2019.
Rutgers game, Sept. 2019
Lucia Lopez (BA ’21) and
Ruqayya Ahmad (MPP '21) and Mariatu Santiago (MPP '21)
Magdalena Mihaylova (BA '21)
Fall 2019 incoming MPP/MPA Cohort
September 2020 Annalisa Wilder (MPP/MS '21)
Galentines Day 2020
2021 GRADUATES Hilal Bazzi Anthony Bui Marianna Boully Perez Bennett Bramson Bryce Brannen Sabrina Butcher Connor Cain David Carpenter Miriam Chung Julia Cohn Meredith Days Brady Diller Cydney Gardner-Brown Molly Garyantes Abigail Gawthrop Benjamin Gerstein Leah Graham Maximillian Grahl Arushi Gupta Grace Hermann Dylan Horwitz Jonah Jacobs Amanda Kaplan Daniel Kim Alex Kremer Michael Lovegrove Matthew MacPhail Camille Mancuso Madeline McLaughlin Aaron Mei Karuna Nandkumar Bennett Neuhoff Michael Ocasio Summer O’Sullivan Eric Payerle Connor Reese Julia Scavnicky Julia Siegel Nicholas Silk Zayna Syed Eliza Frances Sykes Martin Taxay Mikaela R. Uddfolk Jacob Alan Viviano Matthew Weiner
Accidental twin day, back in the before times Mathew Rigdon (MPP '21) and Chadd Dowding (MPP '21)
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Events Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a special master class at the Ford School, Oct. 2019
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PHI BE TA KAP PA INDUCTEES Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776, is the oldest scholastic honorary society in America. Congratulations to:
Hillary Clinton event, Oct. 2019 L to R: Maggie Barnard (MPP '21), former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Jonatan Martinez (MPP '20)
“Education of an Idealist” Book tour with the Weiser Diplomacy Center
Policy Talks event with Christopher Hart Avril Prakash (MPP/MBA '21)
Ambassador Samantha Power and
Ambassador Susan Rice on "Tough Love," Jan. 2020 Victor Rateng (MPP '21)
Ruqayya Ahmad (MPP '21)
Discussion on Ta-Nehisi Coates essay "The Case for Reparations," Oct. 2019.
Daily Show star Trevor Noah, Nov. 2020 for a conversation on racial justice and American democracy
J'Taime Lyons (MPP/MBA '22)
L to R top: Dean Michael S. Barr, Trevor Noah, Josiah Walker
Hilal Bazzi Mariana Boully Perez Bennett Bramson Connor Cain David Carpenter Brady Diller Abigail Gawthrop Benjamin Gerstein Leah Graham Maximillian Grahl Grace Hermann Jonah Jacobs Simone Jaroslaw Amanda Kaplan Matthew MacPhail Camille Mancuso Aaron Mei Karuna Nandkumar Eric Payerle Allison Pujol Aleksandra Rzadkosz Jacob Viviano Ryan Woock
L to R bottom: Danny Rosa (MPP '21), Shannon Nulf, J'Taime Lyons (MPP/MBA '22)
Campaigns and Elections, Oct. 2019
Hillary Clinton event, Oct. 2019
James VanSteel (MPP/MURP '21)
Magdalena Mihaylova (BA ’21)
Ambassador Susan Rice on "Tough Love," Jan. 2020
and Finntan Storer (BA '20)
Ambassador Susan Rice and
Credit: Alec Cohen
Vivian Kalumbi (MPP/MBA '22)
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Congratulations,
MPP GRADUATES!
Rebecca Ackerman
Ruqayya Ahmad
Mallak Ali Anani
Monika Anderson
Jonathan Ashken
Leonymae Aumentado
Capri Backus
Maggie Barnard
Aditya Benyamin
Ali M. Berri
Sheron Brown
Chris Campbell
Linnea Carver Dec. 2020
Cristian Casanova Velarde
Sidi Cheng
Alison Christiansen
Samuel Thomas Conchuratt
Rebecca Copeland
oSha Cowley-Shireman
Kellen Datta
Carolina Dominguez
Chadd Dowding
Jerome Durden II
Nishat Farzana
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Kevin Finnegan
Yanjing Fu
Ameya Ganpule
Steven S. Garcia
Eli Gold
Sarah Gruen
Shiyu Guo
Sophia Hart
Wendy Hawkins
Baltazar Hernandez
Samuel Ainsworth Hird
Sungwook Huh
Kseniya Husak
Kyle Douglas Jarrett
Jaclyn Kahn
Maxwell Kaufman
Emma Kern
Jaeyeon Kim
Sunhong Kim
Heather Kiningham Dec. 2020
Andrew Krantz
Jocelyn Kuo
Christopher LeFlore
Barton Linderman Dec. 2020
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Congratulations,
MPP GRADUATES!
Tory Lowy
Dedrick McCord
Safiya Merchant
Erik Muliawan
Landon Myers
Iqra Nasir
Kevin Naud
Meghan Schroeder O’Leary
Nathaniel Ojo
Akinloluwa Olumoroti Dec. 2020
Tanya Omolo
Guy Packard Dec. 2020
Sharanya Pai
Edwin Peart
Lauren Alexandra Peisach
Sacha-Rose Phillips Dec. 2020
Avril Erika Prakash
Karolina Ana Ramos
Victor Ochieng Rateng
Christen Jade Richardson
Sarah Richardson
Mathew Rigdon
Jonathan J. Rodriguez
Danny Rosa
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Hannah E. Rosenfeld
Julie Rubin
Orlando Sanchez Zavala
Mariatu Funna Santiago
Mariam Sayeed
Matt Sehrsweeney
Alex Serwer
Rizki Oddie Putro Sitompul Dec. 2020
Marianna Smith
Thomas Staines
Kai Su
Eleanor M. Sullivan
YaYa Sun
Nida Syed
Jessica Taketa
Kalena Thomhave
Sarah Tresedder
Sarah Truax
Amy C. Turner Dec. 2020
Mai Ze Vang
James VanSteel
Connor Wakayama
Alex Weaver
Michael Hans Weiss
Kelly Wilcox
Annalisa Wilder
Wanzhuo Yang
Triana Yentzen Toro
Mohammad Akbar Zadran
Jingwen Zhang
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Congratulations,
MPA GRADUATES!
Dominic Arellano
Ethan David Baker
Anna Balzer
Karli Boulware
Anne Coglianese
Tom Cruz
Lindsey Dowswell
Stephanie Iovan
Hailey Jures
Raymond A. Kahn
Jamie Lyons-Eddy
Christopher Bryan McClain
Rebekah Ostosh
Julia Rhodes
Anuj M. Sahay
William Scott Selesky Dec. 2020
Lamiya Sharafkhanova
JoMeca L. Thomas
William Whelan
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Congratulations,
PHD GRADUATES!
GERALD R . FO RD PR ESIDENTI A L F ELLOWS Elena Davert (MPP/MS '23) Rebecca Ackerman (MPP '21)
R IECKER F EL LOWS Iqra Nasir (MPP/MS '21) Guy Packard (MPP '20)
Chiara Ferrero Doctor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Economics
Michael Lerner Doctor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Political Science
Stephanie Owen Doctor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Economics
B OHNE TT FE L LOWS Summer 2021 Kristina Curtiss (MPP '22) Adam Flood (MPP/MPH '22) Clare Knutson (MPP '22) Summer 2020 Safiya Merchant (MPP '21) Alyshia Dyer (MPP/MSW '22) Kevin Naud (MPP '21)
Our second Master of Public Affairs cohort, now fully vaccinated, at Allmendinger Park, May 2021
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Student orgs First cuts at SAC's pumpkin carving event L to R: Kellen Datta (MPP '21), Sam Hird (MPP '21), and Meghan O'Leary (MPP '21)
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Global Fordies trivia night
In the news SCPP Hosted Ramón Cruz, President of the Sierra Club, on October 13, 2020 for a policy talk moderated by SCPP Chair Baltazar Hernández
SAC trip to Wiard's Orchard, Oct. 2019
OpEd: Puerto Rico Should Not Hold More Status Referendums Caribbean Business
Michigan Daily
Javi Piñeiro (MPP/JD '24)
Magdalena Mihaylova (BA '21)
This OpEd summarizes the historical ineffectiveness of status referendums in Puerto Rico and points at the use of this mechanism as a failed political strategy. It further calls for a Constitutional Assembly, a UN-recognized mechanism for decolonization, to solve the issue of Puerto Rico's status in a binding process that centers all Puerto Rican voices.
I interviewed seven student-athletes who are women on campus to share their struggles, achievements, and realities as women in the institution of sport. More specifically, looking into how their experiences of reflect broader societal themes and challenges, especially for those who are women and/or POC.
Sex and love: Women at U-M reflect on lessons learned
L to R: Alison Christiansen (MPP '21), Annalisa Wilder (MPP/MS '21), Lauren
Michigan Daily
Peisach (MPP '21), J'Taime Lyons (MPP/MBA '22), Christen Richardson (MPP
Magdalena Mihaylova (BA '21)
'21), Vivian Kalumbi (MPP/MBA '22), and Katherine Cima (MPP/MBA '22).
I interviewed six women at the University to connect anecdotal experiences in love, relationships, and sex with feminist theory and my own narrative as a young woman on campus. The article aims to illuminate and enriched the oftentimes surface-level discussions about hookup and dating culture at colleges.
Constructing a culture: Dilemmas of firstand second-gen Americans SCPP trip to the DIA, Nov. 2019. L to R back: Gerson Ramirez (MPP '20), Baltazar Hernandez (MPP '21), Lankeu Muteleu (MPP '20), Jonatan Martinez (MPP '20), Aloka Narayanan (MPP '20) L to R front: Ruqayya Ahmad (MPP '21), and Mariatu Santiago (MPP '21)
How women student-athletes navigate college life
Michigan Daily Magdalena Mihaylova (BA '21) As a child of immigrants myself, I wove together my own exploration of identity with that of other bi-cultural students on campus. We discuss notions of nationalism and patriotism, quirks in tradition, and how the cross-cultural perspective impacts our worldview.
Latinx heritage month organizers see new opportunities in going virtual Michigan Daily Baltazar Hernández (MPP '21) “One challenge was figuring out what Latinx Heritage Month looks like in a virtual environment and we were grappling with how to celebrate the diverse cultures within the Latinx umbrella so we wanted to incorporate as many different voices as we could,” Hernández said. “We really wanted to emphasize Afro Latinx identity and specifically through music,” Hernández said. “We’re trying to build a mosaic of different stories that these instruments (in the logo) tell and how diverse our narratives are as people from a larger region.”
Ford School undergraduates continue to lead during the pandemic fordschool.umich.edu Mariana Boully Perez (BA '21), Matthew MacPhail (BA '21), David Carpenter (BA '21), and Walter Aguilar (BA '21) The school highlighted four undergraduates who have found ways to lead the way through difficult circumstances and continue to make a positive impact on their communities with student support and outreach, music, and research.
Student-organized tailgate fall 2019 Mariam Sayeed (MPP '21) and Emma Kern (MPP '21)
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Congratulations,
BA GRADUATES!
Bahaa Abazeed Dec. 2020
Leah Adelman
Camryn L. Banks
Hilal Bazzi
Mariana Boully Perez
Bennett Bramson
Mary Bryce Brannen
Anthony Bui
Sabrina Butcher Dec. 2020
Connor Cain
David Carpenter
Damian Chessare
Miriam Chung Dec. 2020
Julia Cohn
Sheridan Jayne Cole
Meredith Winston Days
Samantha Della Fera
Brady Diller Dec. 2020
Lena Dreves
Jack Eichner
Jackie Erlon-Baurjan Dec. 2020
Riston Escher Dec. 2020
Cydney Gardner-Brown
Molly Garyantes Dec. 2020
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Abigail Elizabeth Gawthrop
Benjamin Gerstein
Leah Graham
Maximillian Grahl
Erin Crawford Grant
Arushi Gupta
Grace Hermann
Nora Kate Hilgart-Griff
Dylan Horwitz
Jonah Dylan Jacobs
Simone Jaroslaw
Molly Edersheim Kalb
Amanda Kaplan
Grace Kent
Daniel Kim
Daphne Kreiger
Alex Kremer
Marita Ky
Tal Lipkin
Caroline Logue
Lucía López Olaiz
Michael Elliot Lovegrove
Matthew MacPhail
Camille Liliana Mancuso
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Congratulations,
BA GRADUATES!
Kelli Martin Dec. 2020
Julia Esther Mati
Kerrigan McCabe
Madeline Theresa McLaughlin
Aaron Mei
Magdalena Mihaylova
Katherine T. Miner
Jason Moonka
Karuna Nandkumar
Bennett Neuhoff
Devan O’Toole
Summer O’Sullivan
Michael Antonio Ocasio
Eric Payerle
Angelica Priest
Allison Marie Pujol
Connor William Uan Reese
Aleksandra Rzadkosz
Sarah Sarnak
Julia Scavnicky
Julia Siegle
Nicholas Silk
Maeve Anne Skelly
Lauren Michelle Solomiany
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Trevor Phillip Stratz
Zayna Syed
Eliza Sykes
Martin Taxay
Jacob Viviano
Matthew Weiner
Ryan Woock
Brett Daniel Zaslavsky
Mikaela Uddfolk
Claire Vapnek
#FordSchool21 Magdalena Mihaylova (BA '21) and Lucia Lopez (BA '21)
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Thinking globally Life Monteverde Coffee Farm, Costa Rica L to R top: Connor Cain (BA '21), and Sierra Stephens (BA '20) L to R middle: Maximillian Grahl (BA '21), and Sabrina Butcher (BA '21) L to R bottom: Camille Mancuso (BA '21), Anthony Bui (BA '21), and Leah Graham (BA '21)
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IEDP 2020 visit to Colombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy
Costa Rica Global Engagement Seminar, Mar. 2020 L to R front: Sierra Stephens (BA'20), tour guide, Susan Collins, Leah Graham (BA '21), Cydney Gardner-Brown (BA '21), Aleksandra Rzadkosz (BA '21) L to R back: Arushi Gupta (BA '21), Billy Dering (BA '20), Caroline Logue (BA '21), and Maximillian Grahl (BA '21)
Medellín, Colombia Botanical Gardens, Feb. 2020 L to R: Chadd Dowding (MPP '21), Lauren Peisach (MPP '21), Maxwell Kaufman (MPP '21), Carolina Dominguez (MPP '21), Ashley Nowicki (MPP/MAE '20), and Annalisa Wilder (MPP/MS '21)
Annalisa Wilder (MPP/MS '21) at COP 25 in Madrid, where she delivered a presentation on her climate adaptation research in Seychelles. Dec. 2019.
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Acting locally (L to R) Top Left: It's all smiles under those masks for Celia Sawyerr (MPP '22), Jordan Incorvia (MPP '22), and Kate Randall (MPP '22) after volunteering at the Dearborn vaccine clinic and receiving their covid vaccines. Top Right: The final day at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Aug. 2019. Annalisa Wilder (MPP/ MS '21), Eileen Lo (MS '20), and Kristin Prestel (MPP '20) Bottom: Kate Randall (MPP '22), and Celia Sawyerr (MPP '22)
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Working at the polls L to R: Sadie Marsman (MPP '20), Sophie Hart (MPP '21), and Vivian Kalumbi (MPP/MBA '22)
Walter Aguilar (BA '21)
Fordies celebrating voting in the 2020 Michigan Primary
Leah Adelman (BA '21)
L to R: Lauren Peisach (MPP '21), Rachel Abendroth (MPP/MBA '22), Chadd Dowding (MPP '21), Vivian Kalumbi (MPP/MBA '22), Amy Turner (MPP '21), Danny Rosa (MPP '21), Marianna Smith (MPP '21), and Sarah Richardson (MPP '21)
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WORLDWIDE FORD SCHOOL SPIRIT DAY July 15, 2021 | 4-5:30 p.m. EDT | Zoom RSVP/details: fordschool.umich.edu/events
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy University of Michigan Joan and Sanford Weill Hall 735 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3091 734 764 3490 fordschool.umich.edu
