Casey Stafford is a grants manager on the Civic Engagement and Government team. He oversees the interdisciplinary efforts of the Detroit Working Group and grants management for the U.S. States and Native American Working Groups.

Prior to joining Ford in 2014, Casey’s work focused on educational access and success. He served as a consultant for various NGOs, as a grants and program manager at the University of Minnesota, and as managing editor of Reconsidering Development, an international development journal. Before returning to graduate school, Casey worked in higher education as the director of intercultural education at LCC International University in Klaipėda, Lithuania.

Casey has a PhD in comparative and international development education from the University of Minnesota, where his research focused on student activism and political action at Senegal’s largest university, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD). He also holds a master’s degree in educational policy from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Union University, in his home state of Tennessee.