Latest News

In a special Batten Hour event for the national commemoration of Constitution and Citizenship Day, renowned constitutional scholar and author Paul Carrese delivered a clear message: The U.S. Constitution cannot endure without citizens who are schooled in civic principles and history and, importantly, prepared to practice civic virtues.

At a special Batten Hour this week, Dean Ian H. Solomon delivered his annual State of the School address, welcoming the school's largest-yet classes of BA and MPP students and also new faculty and staff. Batten's mission, he said, is what sustains his gratitude for the community. “Who better than the people here to be the new leaders for these times of uncertainty and change."

Rick Carlisle (COLL ’84), head coach of the Indiana Pacers, was the featured guest this week for the first Batten Hour of the fall 2025 semester. Speaking to a packed audience in the Great Hall, Carlisle talked about the values that have inspired him throughout his career, both on and off the court.

The Batten School is excited to welcome seven new leaders to the Batten Alumni Advisory Board. Elected by their peers, these alumni represent the core values of our school, each one dedicated to public service and evidence-based policymaking, and to helping sustain the Batten School’s mission for current and future students.

Reynolds (MPP ’24) is blending her worldly upbringing and educational background in international affairs and policy to pursue her third degree in Europe through the highly coveted Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarship. The program will take her to four European institutions, including The Hague, a global center of international law. “The community at Batten is truly its biggest strength, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of it.”

Joining the award-winning faculty of the UVA Batten School this fall, five new faculty members bring diverse research portfolios and substantial policy experience to enrich Batten’s growing community.

Two UVA students entering Batten's bachelor's program this fall — Owen Andrews and Kayla Kline-Polio — signed up to be orientation leaders over the summer to help make incoming first-year and transfer Hoos feel welcomed into the University community.

Thanks to generous giving from UVA alumni Richard and Donna Tadler over the past five years, more than 175 UVA Batten students have traveled to Southwest Virginia and engaged directly with community partners to understand, research, and design policy solutions to bolster economic and community development in the struggling region.

Heaney (MPP '22) is a cyber operations planner with the U.S. Department of Energy. Nominated by his superiors at the agency, he has received a CyberScoop 50 Award in the Most Inspiring Up and Comers category, which recognizes “information security trailblazers early in their careers who are on track to be leaders of tomorrow in cybersecurity.”

Molly Lipscomb, associate professor of public policy and economics at UVA Batten, has been invited by VoxDev to serve as a senior editor for a review of research around the world on sanitation infrastructure.

A group of more than 15 UVA Batten rising second-year graduate students and friends ventured to the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia this summer for a weekend of camping, rafting, and cementing their camaraderie. Said one: "I know the cohort has my back. I hope that the cohort knows I have theirs.”

Sarah Alexander (BA ’19) is the incoming president of the Batten Alumni Advisory Board (BAAB). A native of New Orleans, La., she grew up understanding how offshore energy development and coastal environmental restoration are intertwined, and has pursued that interest through her career in Congress and most recently with a D.C. public policy firm.