Brief history

1914: U-M launched America’s first

graduate program in municipal administration

for aspiring public servants.

1968: The curriculum was refocused to provide students an analytic toolkit and cutting-edge problemsolving methods, giving way to IPPS, the Institute of Public Policy Studies, the

nation’s first public

policy degree program.

1995: U-M established the School of Public Policy. 1999: Named in honor of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States and a 1935 U-M graduate.

2001: Pioneered a

joint-PhD program, a model that remains shared with just a handful of other universities.

2007: Launched our junior-senior

undergraduate

program with about 60 per class. 2013: Celebrated President Ford’s 100th birthday.

2014: Celebrated our Centennial with a yearlong slate of events around the world. 2019: Launched a new

Master of Public Affairs

degree program. 2020: Launched a new

undergraduate minor.

2021: Celebrated PPIA 40th anniversary.

Weill Hall

Joan and Sanford Weill Hall was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and opened in August 2006. The 85,000-square-foot building offers state-of-the-art classrooms, event spaces, and comfortable niches for student-faculty study and collaboration.