News

christine mahoney
Jan 17, 2025

UVA Batten Leads Major Appalachian Initiative Through a $20 Million Federal Grant

UVA Batten, under the guidance of Chief Innovation Officer Christine Mahoney, will facilitate a broad range of economic development and environmental resilience projects in Appalachia through a recently announced federal grant for almost $20 million. The funding will bolster the ongoing work of local governments, universities and non-profits on initiatives including childcare centers, healthy housing, community centers, telehealth hubs, river stewardship and more in multiple localities in Southwest Virginia.

Michael Shonrock
Jan 14, 2025

Batten Hour: The Work of Federal Leaders

Batten students and staff joined the director of the Federal Executive Institute, Michael Shonrock, on Monday for the first Batten Hour to kick-off the Spring semester. A key takeaway he shared was that a chief trait of values-based leaders is that they are nice to others. 

Grace Makin MPP '25
Jan 10, 2025

Batten Student Highlight: Grace Makin (MPP '25)

Meet Grace Makin, MPP ‘25 and community engagement chair of the Batten Graduate Council. She leads efforts to plan monthly service opportunities for all Batten students with local organizations, including last semester's projects with Habitat for Humanity and the Boys and Girls Club. 

collage of photos from the Alex Bick class
Dec 04, 2024

Class Simulation Puts Students at the Center of a Tense Global Drama

A natural disaster in Taiwan quickly escalates into an international crisis, bringing the world to the brink of war. This was the scenario given by Associate Professor Alexander Bick to his class, “Strategic Decision-Making" — one example of the experiential learning opportunities offered to our students to prepare them to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. 

Potter at NSP&DI ribbon cutting
Dec 03, 2024

Phil Potter: A Humble Heavy Hitter in National Security

Phil Potter's leadership, knowledge of the intelligence world and commitment to public service, including as founder of UVA Batten’s National Security Policy Center, has culminated in his appointment as the inaugural director of the newly launched National Security Data and Policy Institute, a project of UVA and the Department of Defense. 

Sadie Rogerson and Emma Nardone
Dec 02, 2024

Two Alumna Get Real-World Experience in Humanitarian Policy

Two recent UVA Batten graduates had a rare opportunity last summer to support one of the country’s leading organizations working on global hunger. Sadie Rogerson and Emma Nardone were selected to participate — with full funding — in a pilot of the UVA Batten Humanitarian Collaborative Fellowship program.

bocanegra and La Vigne
Nov 20, 2024

Ending Gun Violence Starts with Understanding

Eddie Bocanegra with the U.S. Department of Justice, and Nancy La Vigne of the National Institute of Justice of the United States joined Assistant Professor Kyle S.H. Dobson for a panel discussion about policy solutions to gun violence.

post-elex analysis ashley jardina
Nov 07, 2024

2024 Post-Election Analysis with UVA Experts

UVA Batten Associate Professor Ashley Jardina joined several other UVA political experts on a panel this morning at Garrett Hall for a post-election analysis. The event was co-hosted by Batten, the Karsh Institute of Democracy and the Miller Center, and was moderated by Batten Dean Ian H. Solomon. 

cover of CEL report 2024
Nov 06, 2024

Center for Effective Lawmaking: 2024 Annual Report

The Center for Effective Lawmaking is marking an extremely successful year with the release of its annual report. Founded in 2017 as a joint venture between UVA Batten and Vanderbilt University, the center’s trusted methodology and analyses have been cited in hundreds of news articles across the U.S., and widely used by lawmakers and their staffs.

Garrett Hall at Sunset

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