DETROIT - Four former U.S. senators, a former Detroit mayor, as well as business, community, education and nonprofit leaders, will serve on a bipartisan, 18-member advisory board for the newly established Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School.

The advisory board met for the first time today, Wednesday, June 17.

Launched in March, the Levin Center at Wayne Law honors Carl Levin, Michigan's longest-serving U.S. senator, who recently retired after completing 36 years in the Senate. Levin serves as chair of the center and as the law school's distinguished legislator in residence. Through academic programming, training, and scholarship, the center will seek to equip lawyers, legislators and leaders with an understanding of how effective oversight can lead to meaningful change in public policy and institutional behavior.

Chairing the board is Eugene Driker, Wayne Law class of 1961, a founding member at the Detroit law firm of Barris, Sott, Denn and Driker and a former member of the WSU Board of Governors.

Other members of the board are:

• Ismael Ahmed, senior advisor to the chancellor and associate provost for metropolitan impact at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, former director of the Michigan Department of Human Services and co-founder of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.
• N. Peter Antone, founder and principal of the Antone Casagrande & Adwers PC immigration law firm.
• Dennis W. Archer, former mayor of Detroit, chairman and CEO of Dennis W. Archer PLLC and chairman emeritus of Dickinson Wright PLLC.
• Louis Brown, an attorney and director of Christ Medicus Foundation CURO, a national Catholic health care ministry.
• Former U.S. Sen. Dr. Tom A. Coburn, R-Okla., a physician.
• Former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., founder and CEO of The Daschle Group, A Public Policy Advisory of Baker Donelson, and board chair of the Center for American Progress.
• Cynthia Ford, who serves as a director of The McGregor Fund, Forgotten Harvest, Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation, DMC Legacy Board, The Belle Isle Conservancy and The Detroit Zoological Society.
• Eleanor Hill, a law partner with King & Spaulding LLP, former federal prosecutor and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Paul Hillegonds, an attorney and CEO of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund and former Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives.
• Daniel Levin, an attorney and chairman of The Habitat Co., a real estate development and management company.
• Cyril Moscow, a law partner with Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP and a former attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.
• Jim B. Nicholson, president and CEO of PVS Chemicals Inc.
• Aaron A. Payment, chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
• Former U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former governor of West Virginia.
• Former U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, senior fellow of the Bipartisan Policy Center and chairman and CEO of Olympia Snowe LLC.
• Gary Torgow, Wayne Law class of 1982, chairman and founder of Talmer Bancorp Inc. and founder of the Sterling Group, a Michigan-based real estate, development and investment company.
• Reginald M. Turner, member of the Clark Hill PLC law firm.

Carl Levin will teach his first class, Tax Policy Seminar: Role and Impact of Congressional Oversight on Abusive Tax Strategies, at the law school this fall. He will co-teach the class with Wayne Law Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk and Wayne Law Adjunct Professor Stephen Cappellino.

The center also will hold a conference in October in Washington, D.C., honoring the 40th anniversary of the Church Committee and examining ongoing issues related to congressional oversight of the intelligence community and classified information. The conference will be co-sponsored by Levin and former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who established The Lugar Center, a nonprofit public policy institution in Washington, D.C.

This summer, the Levin Center also is planning an oversight boot camp for congressional staff members in Washington, D.C., to promote more bipartisan, fact-based investigations.

For more information about the Levin Center, and to read more about the members of the advisory board, visit law.wayne.edu/levincenter