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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.

The Batten School and UVA’s Applied Research Institute announced that the Honorable George W. Foresman will join the Batten School’s National Security Policy Center (NSPC) as a senior advisor. In this new role, Foresman will support U.S. national security leadership and engagement activities. Foresman’s hiring is part of larger partnership between the Batten School and ARI to elevate UVA as a leader in national security education, research, and outreach.

The University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the UVA Center for Politics today announced a new Batten School undergraduate course that will be taught by Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato and Center for Politics Chief of Staff Ken Stroupe this spring.

On Friday, Oct. 26, Batten’s Office of Student Services hosted the annual undergraduate leadership retreat at the Boar’s Head Resort.

Professor Gelsdorf was selected to support the United States Agency for International Development Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and Grand Challenges Canada in advising them on projects to be a part of their multi-million Fund for Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge. This Fund seeks to accelerate solutions that enable life-saving or life-improving assistance to reach the most vulnerable in conflict.

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan, who was officially inaugurated Friday, has formed a Strategic Planning Committee to solicit input and generate ideas for a new strategic plan for the University’s future.