About News News Subscribe Democracy Domestic Policy & Politics Leadership Ethics Health Policy International and Global Affairs Racial Justice and Equity Social Psychology (-) Political Science (-) Education Facet Area of Focus - News Craig Volden David Leblang Gabrielle Adams Jennifer Lawless Facet People - News EdPolicyWorks: Center for Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness School of Education and Human Development UVA Center for Politics UVA Humanitarian Collaborative School of Nursing Miller Center School of Law College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences McIntire School of Commerce School Engineering School of Medicine (-) Center for Effective Lawmaking Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Accolades Facet News Type - News Jul 08, 2022 Volden Wins Honor for Paper That Highlights How Women Policymakers Thrive Political Science Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Rachel Augustine Potter were recognized for their research exploring the effectiveness of female agency leaders. They discuss the "glass walls" effect and the potential implications of their findings. Learn more May 24, 2022 To Run or Not to Run? Not Enough Women Consider Political Office in the First Place. Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science Racial Justice and Equity A new report by Batten School Professor Jennifer Lawless highlights the gender gap in political ambition. The research declares that “politics remains a game for men.” Learn more Jun 17, 2021 Faculty Spotlight: Improving the Way We Make Laws, with Science Political Science Batten Professor Craig Volden no longer designs spacecraft—instead, he’s engineering a metric to combat political gridlock. Learn more Jun 07, 2021 Volden: Experienced Staff Promote Effective Lawmaking Political Science According to research from Batten's Center for Effective Lawmaking, retaining experienced legislative staff is crucial to Congress doing its job better. In an op-ed for The Hill, center co-directors Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman say that when it comes to congressional staff, we get what we pay for. Read in The Hill Mar 25, 2021 Volden: Committee Chairs Continue Their Lawmaking Decline Political Science Leadership Committee chairs have long been considered power brokers for lawmaking, but according to research from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, their lawmaking effectiveness is diminishing. In an op-ed for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and Vanderbilt University's Alan E. Wiseman write about the trend. Read in The Hill Mar 17, 2021 The “Do-Something” Members of the 116th Congress: Legislative Effectiveness Study from the Batten School and Vanderbilt University Identifies Member Success in Advancing Bills Political Science Leadership Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., along with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and retired Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., were the most effective Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the recently completed 116th Congress (2019–20), according to new research from Batten's Center for Effective Lawmaking. Learn more Jan 29, 2021 Batten Faculty and Students Elevate UVA's Virtual January Term Offerings Education Leadership Batten Professor David Leblang's "Pandemics Beyond the Headlines: COVID-19" and Professor Gabrielle Adams' "Leadership in Athletics" were among the standout virtual course offerings from UVA this January. Contributions from Batten's Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming and Batten student Terrell Jana (BA '21) brought an experiential lens to some of today’s critical issues, preparing students to meet future challenges. READ IN UVA TODAY Dec 07, 2020 Focus on Cabinet Nominees' Effectiveness and Expertise, Not Just Ideology Political Science Leadership As President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees have been named, much of the discussion has been about their ideological leanings. In an article for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and Vanderbilt University's Alan E. Wiseman, co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, outline why these ideological discussions are too narrow a focus. Read In The Hill Sep 18, 2020 Members of Congress are Specializing Less Often. Volden and Wiseman Say That Makes Them Less Effective. Democracy Political Science Batten’s Craig Volden and Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman, co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, find that members of Congress are becoming less specialized and in turn, less effective. How do we encourage more expertise and reverse the trend? Read in The Washington Post Aug 05, 2020 Scoring Effectiveness in Congress Political Science What makes someone an effective lawmaker? Surprisingly, until Batten’s Craig Volden and Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman began discussing that question a little over a decade ago, we didn’t have a clear answer. Learn more Apr 17, 2020 Coronavirus policies spread quickly across the U.S. Are cities and states learning — or just copying? Political Science As the novel coronavirus has spread across U.S. cities and states, so have public policies aimed at stopping the pandemic. Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Charles R. Shipan examine how some states have learned from others’ policy successes, while others simply copy their neighbors or even compete against them, and why that matters. Read in The Washington Post Mar 06, 2020 Productive Politicians Fare Better in Primaries Political Science Leadership Now that Super Tuesday is behind us, voters can look forward to another primary in the spring – this time for Congressional candidates. As a professor of public policy and politics at the Batten School and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, Craig Volden has studied what factors make for a successful candidate and drawn some conclusions about this state’s congressional delegation. Listen on WVTF Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Next page Next › Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Jul 08, 2022 Volden Wins Honor for Paper That Highlights How Women Policymakers Thrive Political Science Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Rachel Augustine Potter were recognized for their research exploring the effectiveness of female agency leaders. They discuss the "glass walls" effect and the potential implications of their findings. Learn more
May 24, 2022 To Run or Not to Run? Not Enough Women Consider Political Office in the First Place. Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science Racial Justice and Equity A new report by Batten School Professor Jennifer Lawless highlights the gender gap in political ambition. The research declares that “politics remains a game for men.” Learn more
Jun 17, 2021 Faculty Spotlight: Improving the Way We Make Laws, with Science Political Science Batten Professor Craig Volden no longer designs spacecraft—instead, he’s engineering a metric to combat political gridlock. Learn more
Jun 07, 2021 Volden: Experienced Staff Promote Effective Lawmaking Political Science According to research from Batten's Center for Effective Lawmaking, retaining experienced legislative staff is crucial to Congress doing its job better. In an op-ed for The Hill, center co-directors Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman say that when it comes to congressional staff, we get what we pay for. Read in The Hill
Mar 25, 2021 Volden: Committee Chairs Continue Their Lawmaking Decline Political Science Leadership Committee chairs have long been considered power brokers for lawmaking, but according to research from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, their lawmaking effectiveness is diminishing. In an op-ed for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and Vanderbilt University's Alan E. Wiseman write about the trend. Read in The Hill
Mar 17, 2021 The “Do-Something” Members of the 116th Congress: Legislative Effectiveness Study from the Batten School and Vanderbilt University Identifies Member Success in Advancing Bills Political Science Leadership Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., along with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and retired Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., were the most effective Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the recently completed 116th Congress (2019–20), according to new research from Batten's Center for Effective Lawmaking. Learn more
Jan 29, 2021 Batten Faculty and Students Elevate UVA's Virtual January Term Offerings Education Leadership Batten Professor David Leblang's "Pandemics Beyond the Headlines: COVID-19" and Professor Gabrielle Adams' "Leadership in Athletics" were among the standout virtual course offerings from UVA this January. Contributions from Batten's Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming and Batten student Terrell Jana (BA '21) brought an experiential lens to some of today’s critical issues, preparing students to meet future challenges. READ IN UVA TODAY
Dec 07, 2020 Focus on Cabinet Nominees' Effectiveness and Expertise, Not Just Ideology Political Science Leadership As President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees have been named, much of the discussion has been about their ideological leanings. In an article for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and Vanderbilt University's Alan E. Wiseman, co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, outline why these ideological discussions are too narrow a focus. Read In The Hill
Sep 18, 2020 Members of Congress are Specializing Less Often. Volden and Wiseman Say That Makes Them Less Effective. Democracy Political Science Batten’s Craig Volden and Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman, co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, find that members of Congress are becoming less specialized and in turn, less effective. How do we encourage more expertise and reverse the trend? Read in The Washington Post
Aug 05, 2020 Scoring Effectiveness in Congress Political Science What makes someone an effective lawmaker? Surprisingly, until Batten’s Craig Volden and Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman began discussing that question a little over a decade ago, we didn’t have a clear answer. Learn more
Apr 17, 2020 Coronavirus policies spread quickly across the U.S. Are cities and states learning — or just copying? Political Science As the novel coronavirus has spread across U.S. cities and states, so have public policies aimed at stopping the pandemic. Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Charles R. Shipan examine how some states have learned from others’ policy successes, while others simply copy their neighbors or even compete against them, and why that matters. Read in The Washington Post
Mar 06, 2020 Productive Politicians Fare Better in Primaries Political Science Leadership Now that Super Tuesday is behind us, voters can look forward to another primary in the spring – this time for Congressional candidates. As a professor of public policy and politics at the Batten School and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, Craig Volden has studied what factors make for a successful candidate and drawn some conclusions about this state’s congressional delegation. Listen on WVTF