UMich School of Public Policy dean confirmed as Fed board member and supervision vice chair  

The Dean of the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy was earlier this month confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a vice chair for supervision and a member of the Federal Reserve board of governors.

During his tenure at the Fed, Michael S. Barr will take an unpaid leave of absence from the university. He retains his appointments in public policy and law and plans to return to the faculty after serving his term on the board of the central banking system.

UMich will name an interim dean and commence a search for a permanent replacement in his absence.

Barr will hold the position of vice chairman of supervision for four years, and his term on the Federal Reserve Board ends on January 31 2032. 

At UMich, he is Frank Murphy Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, the Roy F. and Jean Huphrey Proffitt Professor of Law at the university’s law school, where he taught financial regulation and international finance. He is also founder and faculty director of UMich’s Center of Finance, Law and Policy.

Barr was confirmed to his appointment on the board of the Federal Reserve by a two-thirds majority in the Senate. He served in the Obama administration, and during the Clinton administration served as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin’s special assistant, as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury, as special adviser to President Bill Clinton, and as a special adviser and counselor on the policy planning staff at the U.S. Department of State.