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Boler Facet People - News Center for Effective Lawmaking Miller Center Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Faculty In Action Accolades Featured Research Facet News Type - News Jun 16, 2025 UVA Batten Helps Students Take Top Honors in Prestigious Competitions For the third year in a row, students enrolled in UVA Batten’s experiential course, Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making, have won top honors in the Bain & Company Women’s Case Competition at UVA. Participants from the course have also won, for the second year in a row, the 2025 Deloitte Undergraduate Case Competition. Learn more Jun 10, 2024 How Effective are America’s State Legislators? Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science The Center for Effective Lawmaking has compiled a massive database to measure the effectiveness of nearly every state legislator in the U.S. Based on the center's trusted methodology developed a decade ago to rank the effectiveness of members of Congress, the project is the first to collect this kind of data at the state level in a comprehensive fashion. Learn more Jun 06, 2024 Batten Hosts Back-to-Back Political Science Conferences Domestic Policy & Politics The UVA Batten School is excited to co-host the national State Politics and Policy Conference this weekend, bringing together some 140 political science researchers from across the country to share their recent findings on a wide range of topics. Immediately following, Batten hosts the annual conference of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint project with Vanderbilt University. Learn more Feb 11, 2024 Effective Lawmaking in Virginia: Past, Present and Future This week’s Batten Hour featured Bill Howell, former Speaker of the House of Delegates, and David Toscano, former House Minority Leader, in a discussion about how the legislature is addressing past, present and future policy challenges. Their discussion was moderated by Craig Volden, professor of public policy and politics and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Learn more Jul 25, 2023 Improving Expertise of Congressional Staff Domestic Policy & Politics In an op-ed published in The Messenger, Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman of the Center for Effective Lawmaking write that without proper career training for congressional staffers, expertise gaps on Capitol Hill will continue to be problematic. Learn more May 31, 2023 Bipartisanship the “secret sauce” for effective lawmaking, despite rising polarization in Congress Domestic Policy & Politics Democracy Despite perceptions that Congress is dominated by partisan interests, a new study from the Center for Effective Lawmaking -- co-directed by Batten professor Craig Volden -- finds that legislators who draw in cosponsors from both sides of the aisle are more effective. Learn more Mar 20, 2023 Highlights from the New 117th Congress Legislative Effectiveness Scores Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-VA, and Don Bacon, R-NE, and Sens. Gary Peters, D-MI, and John Cornyn, R-TX, top their respective lists of the most effective Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the recently completed 117th Congress (2021–23), according to the latest round of legislative effectiveness scores compiled by the Center for Effective Lawmaking released March 20. Learn More Jan 21, 2023 George Santos' college education is a myth. Is he the only one lying? We checked. How often are the educational backgrounds of Congressional legislators and candidates vetted, and how much do degrees matter? Craig Volden, Batten School professor and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, talked with USA Today about Congress members’ educational backgrounds and how a degree correlates to effectiveness as a legislator. Learn more Jan 10, 2023 Investigations, Distrust, and Stigma: Why George Santos May Not Get Much Done in Congress Facing investigations after lying about whether he graduated college, worked on Wall Street, founded a charity, owned rental property, and descended from Holocaust survivors, Republican Rep. George Santos of New York may find it more difficult than the typical freshman lawmaker to deliver results. Learn more Oct 27, 2022 The Center for Effective Lawmaking Meets with Delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament Democracy Batten School Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, Craig Volden, met with a delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in early September to discuss lawmaking effectiveness. Learn more Aug 04, 2022 Research: Congressional town halls signal and support effective lawmaking Domestic Policy & Politics In an article for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Alan E. Wiseman write that Representatives and Senators who engage constituents through town halls can enhance their lawmaking effectiveness in Congress. Learn more 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 Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Next page Next › Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Jun 16, 2025 UVA Batten Helps Students Take Top Honors in Prestigious Competitions For the third year in a row, students enrolled in UVA Batten’s experiential course, Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making, have won top honors in the Bain & Company Women’s Case Competition at UVA. Participants from the course have also won, for the second year in a row, the 2025 Deloitte Undergraduate Case Competition. Learn more
Jun 10, 2024 How Effective are America’s State Legislators? Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science The Center for Effective Lawmaking has compiled a massive database to measure the effectiveness of nearly every state legislator in the U.S. Based on the center's trusted methodology developed a decade ago to rank the effectiveness of members of Congress, the project is the first to collect this kind of data at the state level in a comprehensive fashion. Learn more
Jun 06, 2024 Batten Hosts Back-to-Back Political Science Conferences Domestic Policy & Politics The UVA Batten School is excited to co-host the national State Politics and Policy Conference this weekend, bringing together some 140 political science researchers from across the country to share their recent findings on a wide range of topics. Immediately following, Batten hosts the annual conference of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint project with Vanderbilt University. Learn more
Feb 11, 2024 Effective Lawmaking in Virginia: Past, Present and Future This week’s Batten Hour featured Bill Howell, former Speaker of the House of Delegates, and David Toscano, former House Minority Leader, in a discussion about how the legislature is addressing past, present and future policy challenges. Their discussion was moderated by Craig Volden, professor of public policy and politics and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Learn more
Jul 25, 2023 Improving Expertise of Congressional Staff Domestic Policy & Politics In an op-ed published in The Messenger, Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman of the Center for Effective Lawmaking write that without proper career training for congressional staffers, expertise gaps on Capitol Hill will continue to be problematic. Learn more
May 31, 2023 Bipartisanship the “secret sauce” for effective lawmaking, despite rising polarization in Congress Domestic Policy & Politics Democracy Despite perceptions that Congress is dominated by partisan interests, a new study from the Center for Effective Lawmaking -- co-directed by Batten professor Craig Volden -- finds that legislators who draw in cosponsors from both sides of the aisle are more effective. Learn more
Mar 20, 2023 Highlights from the New 117th Congress Legislative Effectiveness Scores Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-VA, and Don Bacon, R-NE, and Sens. Gary Peters, D-MI, and John Cornyn, R-TX, top their respective lists of the most effective Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the recently completed 117th Congress (2021–23), according to the latest round of legislative effectiveness scores compiled by the Center for Effective Lawmaking released March 20. Learn More
Jan 21, 2023 George Santos' college education is a myth. Is he the only one lying? We checked. How often are the educational backgrounds of Congressional legislators and candidates vetted, and how much do degrees matter? Craig Volden, Batten School professor and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, talked with USA Today about Congress members’ educational backgrounds and how a degree correlates to effectiveness as a legislator. Learn more
Jan 10, 2023 Investigations, Distrust, and Stigma: Why George Santos May Not Get Much Done in Congress Facing investigations after lying about whether he graduated college, worked on Wall Street, founded a charity, owned rental property, and descended from Holocaust survivors, Republican Rep. George Santos of New York may find it more difficult than the typical freshman lawmaker to deliver results. Learn more
Oct 27, 2022 The Center for Effective Lawmaking Meets with Delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament Democracy Batten School Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, Craig Volden, met with a delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in early September to discuss lawmaking effectiveness. Learn more
Aug 04, 2022 Research: Congressional town halls signal and support effective lawmaking Domestic Policy & Politics In an article for The Hill, Batten's Craig Volden and co-author Alan E. Wiseman write that Representatives and Senators who engage constituents through town halls can enhance their lawmaking effectiveness in Congress. Learn more
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