About News Batten's Warburg and Fellow University Experts Share Tips for 2021 Jan 28, 2021 Jane Kelly Batten's Warburg and Fellow University Experts Share Tips for 2021 Professor Warburg advises one of his students outside Garrett Hall. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)The first month of 2021 is nearly over, but that doesn’t mean your chance to make the new year a great one has ended. The University of Virginia is known for its outstanding faculty. UVA Today reached out to several of them, and a vice president, to ask for their advice for a happier, healthier 2021. Here, you will find a wide range of recommendations, from what those in public policy can do to make improvements in the new year to the importance of keeping joy, laughter and gratefulness in your life. Read on for those and other tips for the new year. • Gerald Warburg, Professor of Practice of Public Policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy How can effective and responsible leaders help us move forward? Crisis offers opportunity. Loss reminds us of those values we cherish. As at a funeral, when we grieve the attacks on our Capitol and the deaths of public servants, we also celebrate the core values that unite us. The nation is at a pivot point. The fever of fascism has been broken. This pivot offers our national community a crucial moment for reflection and renewal. For those of us who are called to teach the next generation of public policy leaders at the Batten School, this work has a clear North Star: Our mission is to renew our national institutions, to call on the wisdom of our founders, and to continue working toward a more perfect union. Young women and men who sign up for public service – and whose lives were at risk Jan. 6 during the U.S. Capitol riots – are central to this task. Like first responders in a disaster, they are the ones equipped with skills and courage needed as they run toward the fire, toward the danger, not away from it. In our public policy classrooms, this means rededicating ourselves to first principles. Examining our key government institutions with unflinching eyes. If they require reform, first build a stable bridge – one that can get from here to there in a bipartisan, sustainable fashion. Reject ideologues and demagogues who are good at tearing things down, but clueless about how to build a new foundation. Look hard at policy history – especially the recent past. At the Batten School, we teach leadership skills. We try to sharpen students’ tool kits, to equip them how to analyze social challenges, to determine which level of government – or the private sector – can best address the societal challenges, and then to weigh with facts and science the best, most realistic, achievable policy solution. This work is doable. I am optimistic we will succeed. My late father, Felix Warburg, was a veteran of both World War II and Korea. Born in Europe, he returned to Vienna with troops as a skinny 20-year-old U.S. Army intelligence officer in 1945. No one in his mother’s neighborhood survived Hitler’s madness. Dad’s takeaway was simple: “Every day is a gift.” He returned to Harvard with a new career direction: architecture. He dedicated himself to building homes for people. His indefatigable optimism in the face of unspeakable tragedy inspires us. It is a well of confidence to draw from in difficult times. We must hew to first principles. We must recognize that public policy challenges are difficult because public servants’ words and decisions are so consequential. We can do the hard work. Our nation is strong and the vast majority of our citizens are determined to work together for the common good. Read the Full Article in UVA Today Gerald Warburg Gerry Warburg is a professor of practice of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to Batten, he worked with Congress for several decades, serving as a legislative assistant to members of leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Read full bio Related Content Gerald Warburg Dispatches from the Eastern Front: A Political Education from the Nixon Years to the Age of Obama Research A naïve undergraduate is transported from a small California town to the intensely competitive world of Capitol Hill policymaking. Gerald Felix Warburg’s memoir is not just a story about four decades in Washington, although a life spent as a House of Representatives and Senate staffer, and as a lobbyist and professor, provides remarkable insight into the struggles, the strategies, and the people of the U.S. capital. Nonprofileration Policy Crossroads Research On October 1, 2008, Congress enacted a proposal that originated with President George W. Bush in 2005 to approve an unprecedented nuclear trade pact with India by removing a central pillar of US nonproliferation policy. Despite the numerous political challenges confronting the Bush administration, the initiative won strong bipartisan support, including votes from Democratic Senators Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Class of 2021: Terrell Jana ‘Always Sat in the Front Row’ News As he awaits the NFL Draft this week, Batten student and co-captain of the football team Terrell Jana (BA '21), looks back on his time at UVA, where he learned that athletes can shape public policy. Alum in Action: The Education of Malcolm Brogdon News The same intellectual drive that has enabled Batten alum Malcolm Brogdon (MPP '16) to raise his game on the court motivates him to learn about—and uphold—his family's legacy of activism. In an article for Sports Illustrated, Batten's Gerry Warburg talks about Brogdon's dedication as a student. Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Gerald Warburg Gerry Warburg is a professor of practice of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to Batten, he worked with Congress for several decades, serving as a legislative assistant to members of leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Read full bio
Dispatches from the Eastern Front: A Political Education from the Nixon Years to the Age of Obama Research A naïve undergraduate is transported from a small California town to the intensely competitive world of Capitol Hill policymaking. Gerald Felix Warburg’s memoir is not just a story about four decades in Washington, although a life spent as a House of Representatives and Senate staffer, and as a lobbyist and professor, provides remarkable insight into the struggles, the strategies, and the people of the U.S. capital.
Nonprofileration Policy Crossroads Research On October 1, 2008, Congress enacted a proposal that originated with President George W. Bush in 2005 to approve an unprecedented nuclear trade pact with India by removing a central pillar of US nonproliferation policy. Despite the numerous political challenges confronting the Bush administration, the initiative won strong bipartisan support, including votes from Democratic Senators Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Class of 2021: Terrell Jana ‘Always Sat in the Front Row’ News As he awaits the NFL Draft this week, Batten student and co-captain of the football team Terrell Jana (BA '21), looks back on his time at UVA, where he learned that athletes can shape public policy.
Alum in Action: The Education of Malcolm Brogdon News The same intellectual drive that has enabled Batten alum Malcolm Brogdon (MPP '16) to raise his game on the court motivates him to learn about—and uphold—his family's legacy of activism. In an article for Sports Illustrated, Batten's Gerry Warburg talks about Brogdon's dedication as a student.