Faculty

George Foresman

George
Foresman

NSPC Executive Director & Senior Advisor

George Foresman has over three decades of leadership experience in government and business. While serving as Virginia’s homeland security secretary, Foresman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

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Galen Fountain

Galen Fountain is a lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Previously, he served for nearly two decades as Clerk of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and prior to that as Counsel to the Senate Committee on Small Business. 

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Leora Friedberg

Leora
Friedberg

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy; Chair, Department of Economics
Monroe 257 (appointment only)

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor and Vice Chair at UVA's Department of Economics. Her focus is on labor economics, including research on social security, aging and retirement economic impacts.

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Xiao Wang

Xiao
Wang

Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic; Assistant Professor of Law and Public Policy

Xiao Wang (MPP '09) is director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and assistant professor of law and public policy at the University of Virginia. Wang worked as a litigator at Williams & Connolly and Wilkinson Stekloff, where he led investigations or litigation on behalf of Mars, Under Armour, and the National Football League. He has led appeals before state courts, federal circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Wang writes about federal courts, constitutional law, and law and religion.

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Gerald Warburg

Gerald
Warburg

Professor of Practice of Public Policy
Garrett Hall 102

Gerry Warburg is a professor of practice of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to Batten, he worked with Congress for several decades, serving as a legislative assistant to members of leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

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Dr. Cameron Webb

Cameron
Webb

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences, Assistant Professor of Public Policy by Courtesy

Dr. Cameron Webb is an assistant professor of medicine, assistant professor of public health sciences, and director, health policy and equity in the School of Medicine; he is also assistant professor of public policy by courtesy at the University of Virginia. Webb has devoted his career to helping others, as a physician, professor of medicine, advocate for equity in healthcare and, most recently, as senior advisor to the White House Covid-19 response team. 

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Michael Williams

Michael
D.
Williams

Associate Professor of Surgery and Public Policy

Michael D. Williams is an associate professor of surgery and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Williams is interested in, among other things, comprehensive, apolitical analysis of current and proposed health policy for citizens and policymakers.

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Brian Williams

Brian
N.
Williams

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L044

Brian Williams is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Director of the Public Engagement in Governance: Looking, Listening and Learning Laboratory (the PEGLLLLab) at UVA. His research centers on issues related to demographic diversity, local law enforcement, and public governance, with special attention devoted to the co-production of public safety and public order.

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Timothy Wilson

Timothy
Wilson

Professor of Psychology and Public Policy

Timothy Wilson is a professor of psychology and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Sherrell J Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Wilson has conducted research showing the limits of introspection as a source of self-knowledge, the dangers of engaging in too much introspection about why we do what we do, the difficulty in predicting our future emotional reactions, as well as the pleasures we can derive from “just thinking.” He has also conducted research on applications of social psychology to address social problems.

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Derek Wu

Derek
Wu

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics
Garrett Hall L007

Derek Wu is an assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Wu’s research interests lie in labor and public economics, with focusing on poverty and inequality, the effects of government programs, and the economics of education.

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James Wyckoff

James
H.
Wyckoff

Professor of Education and Public Policy

Jim Wyckoff is a professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Memorial Professor of Education and Policy. Wyckoff focuses on issues of teacher labor markets, teacher preparation, recruitment, assessment and retention. His current research examines how teacher assessment and evaluation systems influence the quality of teaching, especially in traditionally low performing classrooms. 

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