Latest News

Marlena Becker (BA ’21) shares how she helped redesign Batten Builds to start better addressing the needs of the Charlottesville community.

Batten's Kurien Thomas (BA '21) and fellow UVA student Sasha Duckworth started a company called “Pick-Me-Up” that uses text messaging and virtual support groups to help users with their mental health.

Air pollution can have serious consequences for a person’s quality of life. Inhaling high concentrations of “fine particulate matter,” or particles approximately 40 times smaller than a grain of sand, has been linked to cancer, heart disease, and even death Jonathan Colmer told an online audience last week.

In the U.S., the coronavirus crisis has thrust a typically wonky debate—the effectiveness of mail-in voting—into the political spotlight. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, this week again warned that expanding the use of mail-in ballots could give Democrats an edge in the November elections. Now, a study from Batten’s John Holbein and Brigham Young University political scientist Michael Barber suggests there’s little historical evidence to support that fear.

In 2017, a group of UVA deans and other members of the University community offered recommendations in the wake of the Unite the Right rally. Three years later, Risa Goluboff, dean of the law school, spoke with Dean Ian Solomon about what the group learned and how our nation has evolved.

“Making sure students know there is a team of people who can and want to help is fundamental to success. Connecting student services, academic advising, and career services creates an equitable support structure,” says Steve Hiss, director of career services and alumni engagement at UVA Batten.

Last week, on the third anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, three witnesses spoke on a panel moderated by Batten’s dean, Ian Solomon. Now famous around the world, the rally spanned two days and brought white supremacists and counter-protestors together in a violent clash that killed one demonstrator and injured many others.

In the United States, youth mental illness is on the rise. Young people are increasingly likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition and even to die by suicide. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation, turning it into “a pandemic of its own,” Batten lecturer Brooke Lehmann told an online audience during the latest edition of Batten Expert Chats.

This week marked the third anniversary of the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, VA. Ms. Heyer was a young woman peacefully demonstrating against crowds of white supremacists who had come to this college town with firearms and Nazi slogans to intimidate people, incite violence and, according to some participants, foment a race war.

Almost a year ago, a group of 19 high school juniors visited the University of Virginia as part of Hoos First Look, a student-run program that gives first-generation and low-income students an all-expenses-paid orientation visit.

Many Americans take the stability of their food supply for granted, but the pandemic has revealed domestic and global weaknesses in our food systems, one Batten professor argues.

The University of Virginia’s Racial Equity Task Force today released its report, titled “Audacious Future: Commitment Required,” outlining 12 key initiatives to improve racial equity at UVA.