100 Minds

Aus der ganzen Welt

Susan Collins

Dean of Public Policy,
University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, United States

For me, simple pleasures are what most make life worth living.

I dream of a world in which we work together to craft just, equitable and diverse societies where all people thrive. Our societies today confront challenges that are complex and evolving – economic stagnation, violent conflict, famine and more. Many of these are of our own making. However, we have also seen areas of significant progress – notably with economic growth pulling hundreds of millions of people from extreme poverty. Clearly, much remains to be done. As a social scientist, my life’s work focuses on designing and implementing public policy – both to address the problems facing us, and to seize the myriad opportunities. Success will require us to harness the power and potential of collaboration, to marshal our creativity and ingenuity, to respect our differences, and to steward natural resources and the environment. For me, simple pleasures are what most make life worth living. And so, I look forward to traversing a world filled with the joy of children laughing.

Susan Collins Bio:

Susan M. Collins is the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the Ford School and a professor of public policy and economics. Before coming to Michigan, she was a professor of economics at Georgetown University and a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, where she retains a nonresident affiliation.

Her area of expertise is international economics, including issues in both macroeconomics and trade. Her current work explores understanding the recent financial crisis, as well as growth experiences in selected industrial and developing countries. She recently co-authored studies comparing experiences in China and India, and examined challenges to economic growth in Puerto Rico.

She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the secretary/treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), and in 2006–08 was an elected member of the American Economic Association (AEA) Executive Committee. Collins served as a senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers during 1989–90 and chaired the AEA Committee on the Status of Minority Groups during 1994–98.