Scholarship supports Batten students pursuing work in social entrepreneurship

Today, the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy announced the 2018-19 student recipients of the Royster-Lawton Scholarship Fund. The fund, generously established in 2016 by UVA alumna Jill Royster and her husband Drew Lawton, supports students in Batten’s undergraduate and accelerated Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree programs who are pursuing work in social entrepreneurship.

“Drew and I are passionate about helping develop today’s leaders, those who want to drive both business and societal change,” said Royster. ”Through this scholarship, we hope to create a pathway for Batten students to exercise leadership on a broad range of topics that contribute to purposeful, long-term success.”

The 2018-19 Royster-Lawton Scholarship Fund recipients are:

• Margaret Cherry of Stafford, Va. Cherry is a member of Batten’s accelerated MPP Class of 2019. She’s currently interning with the City of Boston’s Office of Private Partnerships.
• Jane Hammaker of Rockville, Md. Hammaker is a member of Batten’s accelerated MPP Class of 2019. She’s currently interning with the United Nations Economics and Social Affairs Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) based in New Delhi, India.
• Dillon Wild of Richmond, Va. Wild is a member of Batten’s accelerated MPP Class of 2019. He’s currently interning with Voices for Virginia’s Children in Richmond.

This is the second consecutive year the Batten School has awarded student scholarships from the Royster-Lawton fund. The Batten School is committed to fostering social entrepreneurship by providing a transformational learning environment that inspires and prepares the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to make sustainable change in the world. The Batten School is also home to Social Entrepreneurship at UVA (SE@UVA), which creates opportunities for students across Grounds to learn about social entrepreneurship through experiential classes, workshops, speakers, concept competitions, global field experiences and internships.

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About the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy: The University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy is authoring a new model of public policy education. Of the 250-plus schools of public policy and administration in the U.S., the Batten School has the distinction of being the only one explicitly committed to teaching leadership—how it works, why context matters in decision-making and which actions lead to tangible results. The School’s programs inspire students to act vigorously, effectively and ethically on behalf of the common good.