Harvard recommended Ford to the University of Michigan in their search for a new mathematics instructor, and he accepted the post.
His duties "consisted of a heavy load of teaching freshmen only, and in classes so large that students were using radiators as well as chairs and benches for seats.
He spent significant time with Ulisse Dini, whose work on divergent series he had closely followed earlier in Michigan.
[3] Ford sent his dissertation to the French Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées, which responded enthusiastically on the paper.
[3] He played a significant role in mathematics education in the US by co-writing a series of textbooks with Earle Hedrick that were widely used in secondary schools and colleges.
[1] Ford met his future wife Edith W. Banker when he was a senior and she a freshman at Oneonta State Normal School.
Immediately after Ford received his University of Michigan post, they married in October 1900 at her parents' farm in Ovid, New York.
[5][1] Ford's father and uncles were early investors in the Bundy Manufacturing Company in Binghamton, New York.
This company eventually became IBM, and their investments provided Ford the wealth for his significant charitable endeavors.