Professor of practice Melanie Anne Egorin joined the UVA Batten faculty this fall. A health policy expert, she most recently served as assistant secretary for legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, she was the principal advisor to the HHS secretary and the liaison for members of Congress and their staff across the broad range of issues handled by the department.
In her short time at Batten, Egorin has already created several opportunities to expose students to the process of real-world policy-making, some of which include bringing former colleagues from Capitol Hill to Grounds to connect with the Batten community. We spoke with her to ask about what she has been doing.
What kinds of engagement activities have you planned this semester to help students broaden their understanding of what it is like to work on the Hill?
What is unique about Capitol Hill is that there is a high level of experiential learning that happens. New staffers learn by working with and watching the people who are more seasoned do the job.
In this vein, we created an opportunity for students to watch the live broadcast of a congressional hearing on a timely topic: the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the firing of the CDC director. As we watched the hearing in the Batten student lounge, I narrated what was happening. Primarily, I focused on explaining the process, the unique nuances of the Hill, and the roles of members and staff. The students were able to experience watching it first-hand–without it being filtered through the media–and to ask questions in real time to help them better understand what was going on during the hearing.
During a break in the HELP hearing, we were able to switch over to watch a different committee do a markup of a legislative bill. This allowed students to see another type of work that happens on the Hill and some of the different roles committees, members, and staff all play.
Throughout the event, students could drop in and out as it worked for their schedule. We were set up in the student lounge in Garrett, so it was convenient and flexible. I see these opportunities for Batten students beyond my courses to learn alongside me. These pockets of learning complement the classroom experience; I find them different and fun, and I think the students did too, as they were eager to do it again.
As you bring practitioners to Grounds to speak to and meet with students, how can that help with students’ understanding?
Last Friday, Speaker Johnson’s health policy advisor Drew Keyes and former Ways and Means health staff director Brian Sutter came to have lunch with us. The group included some of the students from LPPS 6710: Congress 101, which I teach with professor Gerry Warburg, as well as professor Tim Layton, a leading health economics scholar, and some of his students from LPPP 3559: Trade-offs in Healthcare Policy.
Although our guests and I are from different political parties, we have deep respect for one another, and our interactions reflect that. The dialogue was unemotional, without ideological battles, and reflected the productive relationships we’ve nurtured over years of working together. Batten students asked thoughtful questions about the negotiations process and policy issues.
Layton had lots of questions for the policymakers on the practical application of theoretical work like his. Professor SoRelle Gaynor, a political scientist and former Hill staffer whose research interests include partisan communication, joined us too and shared her observations from an academic perspective. We talked about how people approach ideas. Students, faculty, and our guests from the Hill were energized by the conversation.
Afterwards, Tim shared, “I really liked that the students were able to see that the folks who actually make policy get along really well and are able to talk with one another easily about policy areas they disagree on; they can find common ground and actively work to help achieve one another’s goals.”
You are an experienced mentor. In the class you are developing–tentatively titled “How to Get Coffee”–do you expect to share strategies on how to build and maintain professional relationships that you and your mentees have found to be successful?
This idea for this course is coming out of questions that Batten students have asked during office hours and lessons I’ve learned from years of mentoring: How do you build connection? How do you ask insightful and thoughtful questions? How do you not waste people’s time?
In D.C., “coffees” are not just meeting someone for a coffee but a form of professional connection and interconnectedness throughout your career. At every opportunity, work to stay connected with people, share knowledge, and keep up relationships. One day, you could be working with a person on the same side of the table; on another day, you could be across the table. The relationships that you build will help to sustain dialogue, which is incredibly valuable in helping you be effective.
I hope that students will be able to think broadly about who they want to talk to and why, and that they will begin to develop the skills necessary to make the connection and to know what to do (and what not to) to grow the relationship. I also want students to think about what they have to offer during these conversations and to the larger policy community.
Egorin plans to hold more Hill-to-Batten informal lunches throughout the academic year. In the coming weeks, Mike Henry, Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s chief of staff, will be on Grounds to have lunch with Batten students and meet with 2nd year MPP students in her class.
In Spring 2026, Melanie Anne Egorin will teach LPPP 3230: Public Policy Challenges of the 21st Century with Craig Volden; LPPP 5500, her networking short course; and LPPP 7750, the MPP Capstone course.
