Some news, bridging the professional and personal

It always seems weird when people post: “some personal news” and then say something like “I will be joining the following organization who will pay me for my labor.” That seems like professional news! But having spent the past few weeks working on finding schools for our kids, selling a house, and planning to move our family, I guess the professional really is personal.

Anyway, here is my news. I will be joining the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan this fall.

Just going to assume the M stands for Moynihan until I hear different

Official announcement here. I am very grateful to some wonderful colleagues, staff and leadership at Georgetown, most notably McCourt School Dean Maria Cancian, Provost Robert Groves and President John DeGioia. My best teaching experiences have been at McCourt, especially classes that have brought together students from all over the world, from all sorts of backgrounds. I learned a lot from those conversations we had, as I’ve previously written:

For example, last summer I had a class that included both a lot of military officers and a lot of first-generation minority students. They generated an incredibly rich discourse, about the role of US power, and issues related to race and tolerance. They not just heard views they would not normally hear from peers, but actually listened. The discussion got better as the class went on, and students trusted each other more. Good discourse comes from a mutual place of trust rather than antagonism.

One thing that many people get wrong is that so much anti-government messaging misses that DC is full of people who genuinely care about making the lives of their fellow citizens better, even as they find themselves battling against inflexible systems and outdated beliefs about how government should work. I hope to continue engaging with the changemakers in government, even if I am no longer in DC.

I’m excited to be joining the Ford School, one of the best public policy schools in the country at the best public institutions in the US. The vision for the School laid out by Dean Celeste Watkin-Hayes is inspiring. Having worked alongside more Michigan grads than I can count, I am also very excited to work with Michigan PhD students. It is understandable that people outside of academia don’t fully appreciate the value of big public institutions, but their scale and depth means they can generate truly impressive science, while being accessible to many more students than smaller private institutions.

Back in 2002, when I finished my PhD at Syracuse University, I packed up a moving truck for then fiancé and I to move to Ann Arbor. I taught at Michigan State for a year, while she worked on a post-doc at the University of Michigan. We got married that year. Since then, we’ve had a big ol’ soft spot in our hearts for Michigan. For both of us to return there as faculty is an extraordinary gift. And having spent 13 years in Wisconsin, going back to the Midwest feels like a little bit of a homecoming. I just regret throwing out all my snow gear.

I started writing this blog after I moved to DC and it very much reflects my interest with the national government. I will continue to keep writing, though am not sure how it will change as my environment changes. This is as good time as any to thank subscribers. Mostly I do this on evenings and weekends, and every so often wonder if it worth doing. But I’ve also had some great interactions with readers that persuade me that it is, in fact, useful to have someone who studies government to write about it for a broader audience. Thank you!