In preparation for UVA’s Global Week 2021, we thought we would highlight some of the ways Batten prepares students for careers in global policy and international development. From the Global Policy Center to academic courses, read on for ways to get involved with this important policy area at Batten!

Global Policy Center

The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy established the Global Policy Center (GPC) in 2015 as a space to enhance and broaden the research, service, and educational missions of the Batten School and the University of Virginia. The Center’s mission is to partner with scholars, practitioners, students and communities to work together towards overcoming critical humanitarian and development challenges around the world. They believe that by helping to bridge the gap between scholars and practitioners, between research and application, between theory and practice, that we can make an impact TOGETHER through the UVA Humanitarian Collaborative.

Academic Classes

Batten courses are taught by distinguished scholars and practitioners who are committed to supporting students’ academic success. Courses are designed to broaden students’ understanding of global issues, while equipping them with the skills they need to thrive in the modern workplace. Below is a sample of our recent course offerings at the undergraduate and graduate level.

• LPPS 3295: Global Humanitarian Crises Response
  • Taught by a former United Nations official with two decades of experience working in humanitarian aid, this course will look at critical questions defining global humanitarian action and policy and the foundations, dilemmas, and operational realities of providing humanitarian aid will be explored. 
• LPPS 3290: Social Innovation in Emerging Markets: India and Southeast Asia
  • This is an introductory course, aimed at exposing students to modern Indian and South Asian society, culture, business and policy through a variety of materials. The course may be particularly important due to the rising stature and importance of India and more generally, South Asia, in the global economy. 
• LPPL 3480: Leadership in American Policy toward China
  • This course will examine the role of individual leaders shaping American policy toward China, from Communist Revolution to the present in addition to the domestic and foreign factors shaping decisions. 
• LPPP 3559: New Course in Public Policy and Leadership - Education and Conflict
  • This introductory course will explore various relationships between education and conflict—education in conflict zones, propaganda, military training, nationalist curricula, etc.— through a series of case studies of real-world examples as well as policy and theoretical literature on these topics. 
• LPPS 4260: Politics of Development
  • How can we understand patterns of human development around the world? More specifically, how does politics affect health, prosperity and security? Through this course, you will become a critical consumer of explanations for human development and you will learn how to propose and evaluate development initiatives with a keen understanding of the importance of political factors.
• LPPP 5559: New Course in Public Policy and Leadership - Global Climate Change: Rising to the Challenge
  • Global climate change and our societal response are one of the most urgent but contentious debates of our time. In a single semester, this course will cover the most salient aspects of the crisis, from the science of climate change, to national and international scientific assessment, to the continuing campaign of climate denial. The course is taught by a former senior U.S. State Department negotiator. 
• LPPS 6715: Leadership in U.S. Foreign Policymaking
  • This graduate seminar examines how contemporary US foreign policymakers proceed under pressures of competing interests. How are Washington policy options shaped for foreign aid, development, trade, and security issues? What leadership skills do crisis management and effective advocacy require? What constitutes best practices for nongovernmental organizations and policy entrepreneurs? How are national interests defined and pursued in Washington?
• LPPP 7040: Foreign Policy Failure: Case of US policy to China
  • Within a few years of the Tiananmen Crisis of 1989, US & Chinese leaders launched efforts to build a more stable & cooperative relationship. By the 2016 American presidential election there was a growing consensus in the US that many strategies had failed. What went wrong?
• LPPS 7060: Redesigning US China Policy
  • Under both Presidents Trump & Biden, the U.S. has abandoned its previous "engagement" policy toward China. The U.S. agenda has expanded beyond trade, human rights, & Taiwan to include balancing the many aspects of China's rising national power. A relationship that once aspired to partnership has become competitive and even confrontational. This course will ask how the U.S. can best manage the world's most consequential international relationship.

Upcoming Events with Global Week

The Batten School is one of many departments across Grounds that is partnering for the UVA Global Week 2021. There is a full week of amazing programs, but we’ve highlighted the Batten sponsored events below:

• October 25 - The Crisis in Afghanistan: Historical, Political, and Personal Reflections
  • Batten School Professor of Public Policy and Politics Allan Stam leads a discussion on the crisis in Afghanistan with Batten alum Saha Khaterzai (MPP '14) and Anne Richard, Distinguished Fellow and Afghanistan Coordination Lead at Freedom House.
• October 26 - 21st Century Civil Protest: A Case Study of the Nigeria #EndSars Protest
  • Six 2021 Mandela Washington Fellows will present on and facilitate a virtual discussion around the focus, structure and impact of Nigeria’s grassroots #EndSARS campaign, which targets a special police unit implicated in widespread human rights violations but has catalyzed a broader call for social justice among African youth across the continent.
• October 29 - International Development and Humanitarian Aid Career Program
  • Students interested in careers in international development and humanitarianism: this virtual event is for you! Come learn from alumni in the field of global development about career paths, important skills needed in this field, and how to "break in" to a job or internship in this sector.