Faculty

Lucy Bassett

Lucy
Bassett

Associate Professor of Practice of Public Policy; Co-Director, UVA Humanitarian Collaborative
Garrett Hall L032

Lucy Bassett is an associate professor of practice of public policy at the Batten School and an expert in children, caregivers, and communities in humanitarian and development contexts. Over her 15 year career, Bassett has worked with governments in low- and middle-income countries to expand access to quality education, nutrition and social protection services, particularly for poor and marginalized children and families.

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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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Kirsten Gelsdorf

Kirsten
Gelsdorf

Professor of Practice of Public Policy; Director of Global Humanitarian Policy
Garrett Hall 103

Kirsten Gelsdorf is a professor of practice of public policy at the Batten School and the Director of Global Humanitarian Policy. Gelsdorf has 19 years of experience working in the humanitarian sector, most recently serving as the Chief of the Policy Analysis and Innovation section at the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Charles_Holt_H.jpg

Charles
Holt

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Charles Holt is a professor of economics and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the A. Willis Robertson Professor of Political Economy at the University of Virginia. Holt is also the current Director of the Experimental Economics Laboratory at Virginia, where he develops and programs the web-based VeconLab experiments that are widely used for teaching and research with over 90,000 participant logins per year.

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David Leblang

David
Leblang

Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics and Public Policy

David Leblang is a professor of public policy at the Batten School, the Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, and the Randolph Compton Professor of Public Affairs at UVA's Miller Center. Leblang is a scholar of political economy with research interests in global migration and in the politics of financial markets.

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Edgar Olsen

Edgar
O.
Olsen

Professor Emeritus of Economics
Monroe Hall 250

Ed Olsen is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Virginia, where he has served as chairman of the economics department and was heavily involved in the creation and development of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Olsen's teaching and research has focused on public policy issues, especially concerning the welfare system. Within this broad area, his research specialty is low-income housing policy.

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John Pepper

John
Pepper

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

John V. Pepper is a professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and a professor of economics in the Department of Economics at the University of Virginia. His work examines identification problems that arise when evaluating a wide range of public policy questions including such subjects as health and disability programs, welfare policies (e.g., SNAP), and drug and crime policies.

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Jay Shimshack

Jay
Shimshack

Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Jay Shimshack is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Shimshack's research focuses on environmental regulation, environmental economics, corporate social behavior, and applied microeconomics for public policy. 

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Sarah Turner

Sarah
Turner

University Professor of Economics, Education and Public Policy
Olsson Hall, Room 217

Sarah Turner is a University Professor of economics, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Souder Family Endowed Professor. Much of her research focuses on post-secondary education, where she explores the intersection of education and economics policies.

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