This timeline highlights some of the many ties Gerald R. Ford has had with his alma mater, the University of Michigan.
1931
A resident of Grand Rapids, Gerald Ford—a student who struggled to make ends meet—entered the University of Michigan. Ford had $200 in his pocket—$100 for tuition and $100 to use for other expenses “for as long as I could,” he said. With no football scholarships then, his coach, Harry Kipke, found him a job waiting on tables for medical interns and cleaning the nurses’ cafeteria for three hours a day in the old main hospital.
1932–33
A gifted athlete, Ford played on the University's national championship football teams. He was voted the Wolverine’s most valuable player in 1934 and on January 1, 1935, played in the annual East-West College All-Star game in San Francisco, for the benefit of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children.
December 10, 1934
Ford was named to the East squad in the annual Shriner football game.
1935

Ford graduated from U-M with majors in economics and political science. Ford declined offers from two professional football teams, the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, and chose instead to take a position as a boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale University, hoping to attend law school there.
1937
Ford spent the summer at the U-M Law School.
October 16, 1948
Gerald and Betty Ford married on Oct. 15, 1948 in Grand Rapids, then he attended the University of Michigan-Northwestern University football game in Ann Arbor the next day. According to Ford’s autobiography, “A Time to Heal,” Ford was married two weeks prior to the November general election and was still campaigning for Congress—thus the couple was unable to take a traditional honeymoon. A day after the wedding, the Fords met with friends in Ann Arbor, where his best man, Jack Beckwith, threw a party for them.

March 24, 1950
Ford served as the featured speaker at the Big Ten College Young Republicans Conference in Ann Arbor, which was hosted by U-M Young Republicans. About 115 delegates from 10 colleges gathered to draft a youth Republican platform. This two-day conference attracted 2,500 spectators. Ford spoke on Saturday afternoon on "Republicanism in the United States."
Fall 1950
Ford spoke at the 26th annual conference of the Tenth District U-M Alumni Association meeting in Grand Rapids. Ford, a member of the association, answered questions regarding legislation in Washington. Representatives were present from clubs at Holland, Muskegon, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Big Rapids.
September 21, 1959
Ford was a featured speaker at the Fifth General Assembly Meeting of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Sciences. The event was held Sept. 18-25, 1959, in the Clements Library and was attended by more than 60 delegates and observers from about 15 countries. This was the first time that the council met outside of Paris. Ford spoke at the opening to extend the welcome on behalf of the U.S. government.

May 1964
The Michigan Historical Collections (now the Bentley Historical Library) contacted Ford about the donation of his papers to U-M.  He agreed to do so, and the first documents were placed on deposit in January 1965. Ford served in the House of Representatives from Jan. 3, 1949 to Dec. 6, 1973. He was re-elected 12 times, each time with more than 60 percent of the vote.
May 4, 1974
Ford, then United States vice president, gave the U-M commencement speech to 6,300 students. The transcripts of President Nixon’s Watergate tapes “do not exactly confer sainthood on anyone concerned,” said Ford, who also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Ford said he was proud “to be a citizen of a country which can openly debate the legal and moral fitness of its highest government leaders without riot or revolution, without reprisals or repression.”
September 15, 1976
Joined by his wife, Betty, Ford gave his presidential re-election campaign kick-off speech at a packed Crisler Arena. More than 15,000 people listened to Ford discuss his vision for the future, especially issues such as jobs, housing, education, crime and medical care. “It all adds up to the American dream,” Ford said.
December 1976
Harold Jacobson, former chair of the U-M Political Science Department, invited Ford to teach political science courses when his term as U.S. president ended. A White House spokesman said Ford was interested in teaching, but wanted to wait until he left the White House on Jan. 20, 1977.

December 1976
Ford signed a deed of gift, turning over his papers and other historical materials to the National Archives with the stipulation that they be housed in a presidential library to be built at U-M and a museum to be built in Grand Rapids—Ford’s hometown and the congressional district he represented from 1949–73.  Despite the separation, the library and museum are a single institution sharing one director.
December 19, 1976
First Lady Betty Ford received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Michigan.
January 1977
U-M Board of Regents approved the appointment of Ford as adjunct political science professor.
April 5–8, 1977
During a four-day visit to the U-M campus, Ford taught 10 political science and policy-making classes. This teaching visit was the first of many he made during the next decade. During one lecture on April 6, attended by reporters and 400 students at Rackham Auditorium, Ford said he favored presidential debates, candidates’ morals are legitimate public concerns and the Electoral College should be abolished.
June 19, 1979

Ford attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the Gerald R. Ford Library, 1000 Beal Ave., on the University’s North Campus. Nearly two years later on April 27, 1981, Ford attended the dedication ceremony.
May 12, 1981
Ford gave the keynote speech to 500 students and scientists at the International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment at Rackham Amphitheater. He called remote sensing, which monitors the Earth’s environment by airborne stations, primarily satellites, a promising and exciting technological development.
November 1982
Ford hosted a conference at the Ford Library on “The Presidency, Congress and Foreign Policy,” chairing a session featuring former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and Secretaries of State Dean Rusk, William Rogers and Alexander Haig. It was the first of many public events to be largely organized and funded by the Gerald R. Ford Library and the Gerald R. Ford Foundation.
February 1983

Ford and former President Jimmy Carter co-hosted the “First Presidential Library Conference on the Public and Public Policy,” sponsored by the Domestic Policy Association.  Subsequently the two former presidents returned to Ann Arbor to co-host the “Symposium on New Weapons Technology and Soviet-American Relations” (November 1984) and the “All-Democracies Conference” (December 1988).
May 1983
Ford was named an honorary chair of the Campaign for Michigan, a successful drive to raise $160 million for
U-M.
May 1988
The University established the President Gerald R. Ford Fellowships in American Government and Public Policy in honor of Ford.
May 1993
Ford introduced Carlos Salinas de Gortari, president of Mexico, who spoke at Rackham Auditorium on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  This address was part of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation’s William E. Simon Lecture Series.
October 1994
The University retired his football jersey, number 48, during halftime of the U-M-Michigan State University football game. "Other honors that have been bestowed on me were because of my work or my efforts," Ford said of his number retirement. “But in this case I am being honored by a school where I learned skills and discipline that I used for the rest of my life.”
August 1999
Ford supported the University’s stand in its admission process that takes account of an applicant’s race. His opinion piece was published in The New York Times Aug. 8, almost 25 years after the day he was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States.
November 18, 1999
The Regents unanimously approved the renaming of the School of Public Policy in honor of Ford. Their strong words of thanks brought the former president close to tears. “At no time in my lifetime would I have dreamed the name of Gerald R. Ford would be associated with a school of public policy at this great University,” he said. The school, which began in 1914 as the Institute of Public Administration, was one of the first programs of its kind in the nation.
April 2000

Ford hosted the conference “After the Fall: Vietnam Plus Twenty-Five” at the U-M Michigan League.  In conjunction with this conference, the Gerald R. Ford Library opened more than 35,000 documents relating to the Vietnam War from his years in office.
September 12, 2000
Ford attended the official naming ceremony of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Some guests included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Michigan Gov. John Engler.
September 18, 2003

Ford attended the site dedication for the new Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The new building will be at the northeast corner of State and Hill streets, serving as a gateway to Central Campus.
May 2004
President and Mrs. Ford were named honorary chairs of The Michigan Difference, a campaign to raise $2.5 billion for the University.
November 12, 2004

 
The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy celebrated its 90th anniversary when Ford kicked off the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Joan and Sanford Weill Hall that will house the school. Betty Ford, sons Jack, Mike and Steve, and daughter Susan, as well as Joan and Sanford Weill, attended the event held at the U-M Indoor Track Building. “This is a big honor for him to come back here,” said Steve Ford, who noted the ceremony elicited the same emotion as 10 years prior when the University retired his father’s football jersey—it nearly brought his father to tears.
June 2005

 
The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan presents Ford with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award.
October 13, 2006

 
Building dedication ceremony of Joan and Sanford Weill Hall scheduled. The faculty and staff moved into the new building in August 2006.

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