About News News Subscribe Leadership Racial Justice and Equity Social Psychology Advocacy Democracy Education Social Entrepreneurship Facet Area of Focus - News Ian H. Solomon Craig Volden Brian N. Williams Christine Mahoney Benjamin Castleman Kirsten Gelsdorf Gerald Warburg Gabrielle Adams Philip Potter Daphna Bassok Jay Shimshack Lucy Bassett Andrew S. Pennock John Holbein David Leblang Allan Stam Raymond C. Scheppach Sarah Turner Sophie Trawalter Christopher J. Ruhm Timothy L. Davis Bala Mulloth Sebastian Tello Trillo Eileen Chou Jeanine Braithwaite Jennifer Lawless Jill Rockwell Todd S. Sechser Alexander Bick James H. Wyckoff Peter Johannessen Steve Hiss Daniel W. Player Gerard Robinson Laura Toscano Michael D. Williams Noah Myung William Shobe Brooke Lehmann Harry Harding James R. Detert Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi Jeff Chidester Kyle S. H. Dobson Larry Terry Margaret Foster Riley Molly Lipscomb Abigail Scholer Adam Leive Allison Atteberry Andrew Simon Brad Carson Brendan J. Boler Derek Wu Frederick P. Hitz Galen Fountain Gerald Higginbotham Isaac Mbiti Michele Claibourn Sally Hudson Tim Layton Xiao Wang Adam Roux Amanda Crombie Andy Ortiz Ashley Jardina Brooke Ray Charles J. Rush Charles J. Rush Diane Biesecker George Foresman Jieun Pai Justin H. Kirkland Kimberly Jenkins Robinson Melissa Thomas-Hunt Pam Cipriano Paul Becker Tim Layton (-) Benjamin Converse (-) Paul S. Martin Facet People - News School Engineering Social Innovation @ UVA Facet UVA Partner - News Racial Justice and Equity Research and Commentary Accolades Facet News Type - News Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more Feb 01, 2021 Martin Luther King Jr.’s Moral Call to America Leadership Advocacy Racial Justice and Equity In honor of Black History Month, three members of the Batten community who participated in the School’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations reflect on the activist’s legacy. Learn more Oct 22, 2020 Faculty Spotlight: From College Drop-Out to Action-Minded, Award-Winning Professor Leadership Advocacy Racial Justice and Equity Batten's Paul Martin teaches a course aimed at improving experiences for first-generation students at UVA, while also participating in a wide range of activities for the betterment of the Charlottesville community. READ IN UVA TODAY Apr 10, 2020 Batten's Paul Martin Receives All-University Teaching Award Leadership Martin, who came to UVA as a visiting professor in 2004 in the Department of Politics, then joined the Miller Center of Public Affairs, and became a member of the start-up team when the Batten School was created in 2008, has been lauded for his unrelenting commitment to cultivating his students to be thoughtful citizen-leaders. READ IN UVA TODAY Aug 21, 2019 University Faculty Learn How to Live More Connected Lives by Confronting Difficult Past Democracy Racial Justice and Equity This past June, Batten professors Lucy Bassett and Andrew Pennock participated in the University’s Teaching Race at UVA seminar. Launched in the summer of 2018, the seminar which is an initiative of the Office of the Provost grew out of a desire to deepen faculty’s understanding of the University’s and greater Charlottesville’s complicated history with race. Learn more Jun 04, 2019 Batten Professor and Student Play a Pivotal Role in UVA's Successful New Tour for First Gen Students Education University of Virginia President Jim Ryan has said one of his missions is that UVA “opens wide the door to opportunity for first-generation, low and middle-income students.” A group of students embraced that spirit even before Ryan joined the University last year and this past semester, opened their arms to local first-generation students with a day of programing tailor-made for them by current first-gen students at UVA. Learn more Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more
Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more
Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today
Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more
Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post
Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist
Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more
Feb 01, 2021 Martin Luther King Jr.’s Moral Call to America Leadership Advocacy Racial Justice and Equity In honor of Black History Month, three members of the Batten community who participated in the School’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations reflect on the activist’s legacy. Learn more
Oct 22, 2020 Faculty Spotlight: From College Drop-Out to Action-Minded, Award-Winning Professor Leadership Advocacy Racial Justice and Equity Batten's Paul Martin teaches a course aimed at improving experiences for first-generation students at UVA, while also participating in a wide range of activities for the betterment of the Charlottesville community. READ IN UVA TODAY
Apr 10, 2020 Batten's Paul Martin Receives All-University Teaching Award Leadership Martin, who came to UVA as a visiting professor in 2004 in the Department of Politics, then joined the Miller Center of Public Affairs, and became a member of the start-up team when the Batten School was created in 2008, has been lauded for his unrelenting commitment to cultivating his students to be thoughtful citizen-leaders. READ IN UVA TODAY
Aug 21, 2019 University Faculty Learn How to Live More Connected Lives by Confronting Difficult Past Democracy Racial Justice and Equity This past June, Batten professors Lucy Bassett and Andrew Pennock participated in the University’s Teaching Race at UVA seminar. Launched in the summer of 2018, the seminar which is an initiative of the Office of the Provost grew out of a desire to deepen faculty’s understanding of the University’s and greater Charlottesville’s complicated history with race. Learn more
Jun 04, 2019 Batten Professor and Student Play a Pivotal Role in UVA's Successful New Tour for First Gen Students Education University of Virginia President Jim Ryan has said one of his missions is that UVA “opens wide the door to opportunity for first-generation, low and middle-income students.” A group of students embraced that spirit even before Ryan joined the University last year and this past semester, opened their arms to local first-generation students with a day of programing tailor-made for them by current first-gen students at UVA. Learn more