The Weiser Diplomacy Center was established in 2018 at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with a $10 million gift from University of Michigan alumni Ron and Eileen Weiser. We aim to serve as a leading hub for practical student training in foreign affairs and as a bridge for engagement with the foreign policy community. The Center brings leading diplomats and foreign policy experts to campus and offers practical training sessions and simulations. It sponsors a program for Weiser Diplomacy Fellows, supports student internships and other student-led initiatives pertaining to foreign affairs and engages students in research via Diplomacy Lab. The Center also convenes dialogues connecting experts at the Ford School and University of Michigan with the foreign policy community.
To address today’s global challenges, we need professionals who have a strong grounding in history and social science and who can apply that knowledge to complex practical problems.” John Ciorciari, Founding Director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center
When the Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) launched in fall 2019, it made a big splash with incredible speakers that included Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley, Susan Rice, Stephen Biegun, and Samantha Power.
As Haiti continues to face challenges such as the effects of climate change and political turmoil, former Ambassador and Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy Susan D. Page calls for the U.S. to work alongside Haitians to create a more stable and democratic Haiti.
Ford School students take on the EU-sponsored Schuman Challenge and place second. And 16 students participated in the new U.S. Army War College International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise.
"Diplomacy is not just relationships between countries, it's about relationships between people... it can change the direction of a country, affecting tens of millions of people."
Ron Weiser
Former ambassador, founder of McKinley Inc., and a member of the U-M Board of Regents
