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The Batten School’s Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), announced its first round of grant recipients. The Center, which launched in 2017, is a joint partnership between the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University and is co-directed by Batten professor, Craig Volden and Vanderbilt professor, Alan E. Wiseman.

On Friday, Nov. 16, The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy hosted an event: “Traditional Healing and Social Welfare.” Spearheaded by Batten Professor Jeanine Braithwaite, the event brought together scholars from the University of Venda and the University of Limpopo, both located in South Africa, to discuss the collaborative work being done in the social sciences on traditional healing and social welfare in South Africa.

This past month, Batten Professor Brian Williams established the Morris E. and Frances G. Williams Community Engagement Student Assistance Fund. The fund, which will be distributed by the Office of Student Services, aims to encourage student-led engagement efforts that enhance the town and gown relationship in Charlottesville and surrounding areas of Central Virginia.

On Wednesday morning, Nov. 14th, students, faculty, staff, and members of the community gathered in The Dome Room of The Rotunda for a panel discussion titled “Mobilizing for the ERA: Lessons from the Past and Present.” The event was part of a 10-day statewide tour aimed at educating Virginians on the absence of gender equality in the U.S. Constitution and highlighting bipartisan statewide support for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Last April, Baylee Eby (MPP '15) launched Dreamer & Co, a social impact company whose mission is to provide job skills and a steady income to young women in the Horn of Africa.

On Monday, Nov. 12, Batten students gathered in the Great Hall of Garrett Hall for a post-election wrap-up led by Batten’s Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL). This was not a typical Batten Hour with the exception that food was served. Rather, the event was reminiscent of a game of musical chairs. Every eight minutes, students moved to a new table, where CEL Director Craig Volden, Operations Director Greer Kelly, CEL researchers and interns, along with Professor of Practice of Public Policy Gerald Warburg, discussed the implications of last Tuesday's midterm election results.

In celebration of “National First-Generation College Celebration Week,” the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, along with the broader UVA community, is recognizing its first-gen students, the challenges they face, and bringing awareness to the resources available to them.

Future MPP Student, Jocelyn Willoughby, Lawn Resident Juggles Basketball, Books and Service.

This semester, Robert Bruner, David Smith and David Leblang teamed up to teach “The Financial Crisis Ten Years Later: Politics, Markets and Institutions.” All three professors have done significant individual research on the crisis and the factors that contributed to it. Together they were able to create a course that is much more than the sum of its parts.

Professors Christine Mahoney and Philip Potter were selected as UVA’s only nominees from a University-wide applicant pool.

On Saturday afternoon, Nov. 3, the Virginia Film Festival screened the documentary film Charlottesville during a premier event hosted by the Batten School and UVA Center for Politics. The film, created by the Center for Politics and Community Idea Stations, focuses on the violent white supremacist demonstrations that occurred at UVA and Charlottesville in August 2017. As part of the festival’s focus on racial conflict in America, the premier came at an apt time.

Earlier this week, Social Entrepreneurship @UVA (SE@UVA), an initiative of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, welcomed Lisa Hamilton of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to kick off the annual SE@UVA Speaker Series. The event was attended by members of the Presidential Precinct and 21 participants in the Global Leadership Forum, comprised of emerging leaders from 16 different countries.