Faculty & Staff Directory

Colin Achilles

Colin
Achilles

Associate Director, Center for Effective Lawmaking

Colin Achilles is the Associate Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), a joint partnership between the Batten School and Vanderbilt University. He is the manager of day-to-day operations at CEL. 

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Gabrielle Adams

Gabrielle
Adams

Associate Professor of Public Policy, Business Administration, and Psychology
Garrett Hall L004C

Gabrielle Adams is an associate professor of public policy and business administration at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and in the Darden School of Business’s Leadership and Organizational Behavior area. Adams studies the processes and dynamics that give rise to ‘good’ decisions, policies and conditions in organizations.

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Shawn Anderson

Shawn
Anderson

Assistant Director of Student Services
Garrett Hall

Shawn Anderson is the Batten School's Assistant Director of Student Services and is responsible for advising undergraduate and graduate students in their co-curricular and service-related endeavors, as well as organizing school-wide student programming. Anderson is currently working towards a doctorate in Higher Education Administration at the University of Virginia, where his key focus is student development.

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Allison Atteberry

Allison
Atteberry

Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy; DIRECTOR, CENTER ON EDUCATION POLICY AND WORKFORCE COMPETITIVENESS

Allison Atteberry is an associate professor of education and public policy and director of EdPolicyWorks, a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Atteberry conducts research on teacher- and school-level interventions designed to improve the quality of instruction experienced by historically underserved students.

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Lucy Bassett

Lucy
Bassett

Associate Professor of Practice of Public Policy

Lucy Bassett is an associate professor of practice of public policy at the Batten School and an expert in children, caregivers, and communities in humanitarian and development contexts. Over her 15 year career, Bassett has worked with governments in low- and middle-income countries to expand access to quality education, nutrition and social protection services, particularly for poor and marginalized children and families.

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Daphna Bassock

Daphna
Bassok

Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy

Daphna Bassok is the Batten Bicentennial Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Virginia and associate director of EdPolicyWorks, a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Her research focuses on early childhood education policy and efforts to improve early childhood education at scale, particularly policies aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce.

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Brendan J. Boler

Brendan
J.
Boler

Assistant Professor of Public Policy

Brendan Boler is an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Boler specializes in management consulting, high-performance coaching, and talent assessment and selection. He has extensive experience within the fields of management consulting and banking, having worked at Accenture, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. 

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Richard Bonnie

Richard
Bonnie

Professor of Law, Medicine, and Public Policy; Director of Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy
580 Massie Road, Room WB 179D

Richard J. Bonnie is a professor of public policy at the Batten School and Director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. ­­He teaches and writes about health law and policy, bioethics, criminal law, and public policies relating to mental health, substance abuse and public health.

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Jeanine Braithwaite

Jeanine
Braithwaite

Lecturer
Professor of Public Policy (Retired)

Jeanine Braithwaite is a professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to joining the Batten School, she was a senior economist at the World Bank, specializing in social protection policy and poverty analysis. She has also worked at the International Monetary Fund and U.S. Census Bureau, providing technical assistance to the U.S.S.R. and newly-independent former Soviet republics.

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Eliza Broaddus

Eliza
Broaddus

Assistant Director of Development
2420 Old Ivy Road, Advancement Office 258

Eliza Broaddus is the Assistant Director of Development at the Batten School. In this role, Eliza oversees Batten’s annual fund which provides philanthropic support for the School’s priority areas including student scholarships, student internships, and faculty research. Eliza serves as a liaison to the Batten Alumni Advisory Board and enjoys working closely with board members on alumni engagement initiatives and alumni philanthropy. She also oversees event strategy and strategic stewardship for the development office.

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Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi

Jazmin
Brown-Iannuzzi

Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Policy

Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi is an associate professor of psychology and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Brown-Iannuzzi's research seeks to understand why social group disparities may persist and, in some cases, grow.

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Anne Butz

Anne
Butz

LCSW
STAFF PSYCHOTHERAPIST AT THE BATTEN SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC POLICY

Anne Butz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who graduated with her Masters in Social Work in 1999. She has worked predominantly in the public sector, providing individual and group therapy in community mental health settings throughout Central Virginia. She's also worked for the commonwealth providing regulatory oversight of a variety of behavioral health programs for a little over a decade. Anne's areas of interest and experience include: adjustment issues, depression, anxiety, advocacy, trauma, and coping with chronic illness. 

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Rick Campanelli

Rick Campanelli is a lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Campanelli has an extensive career in public service and the private sector as well as experience in senior leadership and management. Campanelli has been legal counsel in the areas of healthcare, information privacy and security, and civil and First Amendment rights. He is the Center for Christian Study Director of Graduate Ministries for the Law and Darden Christian Fellowships.

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Anne Carter Mulligan

Anne
Carter Mulligan

Director of Undergraduate Admissions
Garrett Hall 106

Anne Carter Mulligan joined Batten in January 2019 as Director of Undergraduate Admissions. She’s held multiple roles in higher education, most recently as Director of Strategic Initiatives in Enrollment Management at Longwood University, where she led projects designed to enrich the student experience and provide a seamless path from recruitment to graduation.

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Benjamin Castleman

Benjamin
Castleman

Newton and Rita Meyers Associate Professor in the Economics of Education and Associate Professor of Public Policy

Ben Castleman is an associate professor of public policy and education at the Batten School and the founder and director of the Nudge4 Solutions Lab at UVA. His research focuses on policies to improve college access and success for low-income students. Several of his papers examine innovative strategies to deliver high-quality information about the college-going process to low-income students and their families, and to ease the process of students and families getting professional support when they need assistance

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James Cathro

James
R
Cathro

Director of Finance and Administration

James is the Director of Finance and Administration at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. A 2005 US Naval Academy graduate and 2016 Batten School alumnus, James initially worked in UVA’s Office of Financial Planning and Analysis after earning his Master of Public Policy. He happily returned to Batten as the Assistant Director of Budget and Finance in 2018. In his current role, James works through a diverse array of interesting challenges, helping facilitate everything from financial reporting to research administration to human resources actions. He also serves as a Commander in the Naval Reserve and was formerly an active-duty Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer in the US Navy.

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Eileen Chou

Eileen
Chou

Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Associate Professor of Public Policy

Eileen Chou, Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, researches the organizational, social, and psychological forces that shape individual and group behavior in organizational settings.

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Pam Cipriano

Pam
Cipriano

Professor of Nursing and Public Policy
CMNEB 2022

Pamela Cipriano is a professor of nursing and public policy at the Batten School. Cipriano served as dean of the UVA School of Nursing and the Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing through July 2022. Cipriano’s more than 40-year career in nursing is marked by a focus on improving the safety and efficiency of care by ensuring a healthy, safe, and supportive work environment and encouraging healthy behaviors to promote well-being.

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Michele Claiborn

Michele
Claibourn

Assistant Professor of Public Policy

Michele Claibourn is an assistant professor of public policy at the Batten School and Director of Equitable Analysis for The Equity Center at UVA.  Claibourn leads the Center’s community-engaged data science work in support of a more equitable and just region. She has directed or supervised multiple community-based research projects in the Charlottesville community, including racial equity studies for the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless.

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Benjamin Converse

Benjamin
Converse

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Psychology

Benjamin Converse is an associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Psychology. His research focuses on motivation, social judgment, problem solving and decision making. He teaches courses related to leadership and negotiations.

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Kevin Cope

Kevin
Cope

Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy

Kevin Cope is an associate professor of law and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor of law at UVA's School of Law. Cope’s research focuses on the measurement of legal and political phenomena. Substantively, he is most interested in the law and politics of international institutions, migration, and relationships between domestic institutional structure and international behavior. He is a faculty affiliate at the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics.

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Amanda Crombie

Amanda
Crombie

Assistant Dean for Academic Programs
Garrett Hall L054

Amanda Crombie is the Batten School’s Assistant Dean for Academic Programs and is responsible for academic advising, course scheduling and enrollment as well as curriculum management for the School.

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Leah Daniel is Batten’s Salesforce Manager. Prior to joining Batten, Leah was Senior Financial Analyst and Salesforce Administrator at UVA School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. She brings years of database management experience to Batten from her role as database manager at both the Darden School Foundation (1997-2003) and the UVA Law School Foundation (2004-2017). Leah holds a B.S. from the University of South Carolina.

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Tim Davis

Timothy
L.
Davis

Director of BattenX Leadership Coaching and Executive Development
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Garrett L002D

Tim Davis is an associate professor of public policy and the Director of Leadership Coaching and Executive Development for BattenX.  A clinical psychologist, Davis helps students, executives and teams increase their effectiveness by building resiliency, strengthening community and expanding self-awareness. At Batten, he teaches courses on team leadership, group dynamics and emotional resilience.  

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Jim Detert

James
R.
Detert

Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy

Jim Detert is a professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. Detert's research focuses on workplace courage, ethical decision-making and behavior, improvement-oriented voice (why people speak up or stay silent at work) and other leadership-related topics.

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Bevin Etienne

Bevin
Etienne

Assistant Professor, General Faculty

Bevin Etienne is an assistant professor and general faculty at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Etienne has extensive teaching and course development experience in the areas of sustainability, entrepreneurship, energy, and engineering design. He emphasizes the importance of capacity building in promoting sustainability and social entrepreneurship in developing countries as well as the role of open source in innovation and entrepreneurship.  

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Adam Felder

Adam
Felder

Director of Data Analytics

Adam Felder is Batten’s director of data analytics—a role designed to use data to help students, faculty, staff, and alumni. He also teaches a one-credit course in data analysis. Prior to joining Batten, he was the director of analytics at Atlantic Media in Washington, DC, writing the occasional article and helping several journalism-based sites gain prominence.

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Brian Ford

Brian
Ford

Senior HR Business Partner

As an HR leader with 20 years experience, Brian Ford currently is the Sr. HR Partner for the Batten School and McIntire School of Commerce. Prior to UVA, he led the Employee Experience function for the eastern US region at VMLY&R. In this capacity, he and his team drive culture, talent management and the overall employee experience for offices such as New York, Atlanta & Miami. Prior to VMLY&R, Brian was Chief People Officer at Fusion Media Group and had sr. leadership roles at Ogilvy, LG Electronics and Mercedes-Benz USA.

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George Foresman

George
Foresman

NSPC Executive Director & Senior Advisor

George Foresman has over three decades of leadership experience in government and business. While serving as Virginia’s homeland security secretary, Foresman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

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Galen Fountain

Galen Fountain is a lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Previously, he served for nearly two decades as Clerk of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and prior to that as Counsel to the Senate Committee on Small Business. 

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Leora Friedberg

Leora
Friedberg

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy; Chair, Department of Economics
Monroe 257 (appointment only)

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor and Vice Chair at UVA's Department of Economics. Her focus is on labor economics, including research on social security, aging and retirement economic impacts.

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Kirsten Gelsdorf

Kirsten
Gelsdorf

Professor of Practice of Public Policy, and Director of Global Humanitarian Policy
Garrett Hall 103

Kirsten Gelsdorf is a professor of practice of public policy at the Batten School and the Director of Global Humanitarian Policy. Gelsdorf has 19 years of experience working in the humanitarian sector, most recently serving as the Chief of the Policy Analysis and Innovation section at the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Lyangela Gutierrez

Lyangela
Gutierrez

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Postdoctoral Research Associate

Lyangela Gutierrez is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Gutierrez researches diversity and inclusion in organizations by identifying and addressing factors that impact racial and gender equity in organizations.

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Harry Harding

Harry
Harding

University Professor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L027

Harry Harding is university professor emeritus and professor emeritus of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, a senior fellow in the Miller Center of Public Affairs at UVA, and Adjunct Chair Professor in the College of Social Science at National Chengchi University in Taipei, where he holds a Yushan Scholarship. Harding is a specialist on Asia and U.S. - Asian relations.

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Ben Hartless

Ben
Hartless

IT Manager

Ben is the IT Manager at the Frank Batten School. Ben was born and raised an hour away in Lexington, Virginia where he worked at Washington and Lee University for thirteen years as a Technology Support Specialist. He also worked seven years at the Washington and Lee School of Law as the Director of Information Technology before beginning his new career at the Frank Batten School in Spring of 2020.

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Gerald Higginbotham

Gerald
Higginbotham

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Postdoctoral Research Associate

Gerald Higginbotham is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Higginbotham researches the role of culture and identity in education and politics, seeking to provide insight into how history functions as important context that shapes how individuals see themselves and others as well as how perceptions of history and its consequences are shaped by an individual’s attitudes and group memberships.

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Steve Hiss

Steve
Hiss

Director of Career Services and Alumni Engagement

A lifelong public servant, Steve’s interest in the Batten School not only stems from his own career in the public service, but also the former and current Batten students with whom he has worked in his position as the Commander of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Virginia.

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John Holbein

John
Holbein

Associate Professor of Public Policy, Politics, and Education
Garrett Hall 111

John Holbein is an associate professor of public policy, politics, and education at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Holbein studies political participation, political inequality, democratic accountability, political representation, and education policy.

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Charles_Holt_H.jpg

Charles
Holt

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Charles Holt is a professor of economics and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the A. Willis Robertson Professor of Political Economy at the University of Virginia. Holt is also the current Director of the Experimental Economics Laboratory at Virginia, where he develops and programs the web-based VeconLab experiments that are widely used for teaching and research with over 90,000 participant logins per year.

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Sally Hudson

Sally
Hudson

Assistant Professor of Public Policy

Sally Hudson is an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Hudson is a labor economist who studies recruiting and retention in the public sector. Her recent work analyzes teacher retention in hard-to-staff school districts and the effects of salary schedules on mid-career recruiting.

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Chris Hulleman

Chris
Hulleman

Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy

Chris Hulleman is an associate professor of education and public policy at the Batten School. Hulleman conducts research on educational interventions grounded in theories of social and personality psychology, motivation, and human development. Most recently, his work has focused on examining the extent to which helping students find relevance to their lives in their coursework increases learning and interest.

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Peter Johannessen

Peter
Johannessen

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L038

Peter Johannessen is an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Johannessen’s research explores how popular participation shapes the local policy-making process, including projects that focus on local electoral responsiveness and the design of participatory governance institutions in Brazil.

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Justin Kirkland

Justin
H.
Kirkland

Associate Professor of Politics and Public Policy
S162 Gibson Hall

Justin H. Kirkland is an associate professor of politics and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research focuses on understanding the relationship between public opinion and legislative behavior, institutional rules and legislative outcomes, and methods for analyzing legislative choices.

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Dana Laurens

Dana
Laurens

Assistant Director of Career Services & Alumni Engagement

Dana Laurens serves as National Deputy Director for Advocacy, Policy Engagement & Partnerships for Education Reform Now, a K-12 and higher education think tank in Washington, DC. In this role, Dana works with federal and elected officials to advance education policies to improve opportunities for all students.

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Jennifer Lawless

Jennifer
Lawless

Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics and Professor of Public Policy
264 Gibson Hall

Jennifer L. Lawless is the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics and professor of public policy at the University of Virginia and at the Batten School. Lawless is also a Senior Fellow at UVA's Miller Center. Her research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics.

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David Leblang

David
Leblang

Ambassador Henry Taylor Professor of Politics and Professor of Public Policy, Director of the Global Policy Center
Garrett Hall L028, Gibson S281

David Leblang is a professor of public policy at the Batten School, the Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, and the Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor of Public Affairs at UVA's Miller Center. His research focuses on global migration including refugee and migrant choice as well as the link between migration and observed international investment, remittance flows, and the spread of democracy.

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Brooke Lehmann

Brooke Lehmann is a lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. A national expert on the design, development, and reform of pediatric health/mental health services, special education and child welfare systems, her work addresses policies ranging from school-based health care to international crisis support for children and families.

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Craig Lindqvist

Craig
Lindqvist

Associate Dean for Administration
(434) 243-7528

Craig Lindqvist serves as the Associate Dean for Administration at the Batten School where he oversees the school's business affairs, planning, finances, personnel, technology, facilities, and other non-academic functions.

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Molly Lipscomb

Molly
Lipscomb

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Director of Social Innovation @ UVA

Molly Lipscomb is an associate professor of public policy and economics at the Batten School and the Director of the Center for Social Innovation at the University of Virginia.  Lipscomb’s research focuses primarily on environmental issues in developing countries and adaptation to lack of centralized health and sanitation services. 

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Jennifer Ludovici

Jennifer
Ludovici

NSPC Director of Operations and Research Initiatives

Jennifer Ludovici is the NSPC Director of Operations & Research Initiatives. She has over 18 years of experience in higher education administration in both the public and private sector. In her role at the NSPC, she focuses on faculty research collaboration, project coordination and program development as well as general operations and communications. Jennifer holds a post-graduate certificate in project management from UVA, and a BA/MEd in history and education from James Madison University.

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Christine Mahoney

Christine
Mahoney

Professor of Public Policy and Politics
Garrett Hall L020C

Christine Mahoney is a professor of public policy and politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.  She studies social justice advocacy, activism and direct action through social entrepreneurship.

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Brandy Marsh

Brandy
Marsh

Senior Business Services Specialist

Brandy Marsh is a Senior Business Services Specialist with the Frank Batten School. She joined Batten in 2020, bringing her administrative experience in various UVA and commercial roles to the team. Brandy specializes in all aspects of Workday financials and grant management. She's the proud parent of five awesome children and a lifelong resident of the Charlottesville area.

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Paul Martin

Paul
S.
Martin

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L037

Paul Martin is an associate professor at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Martin studies how and when political elites respond to the preferences of ordinary people; political participation and advocacy, how and when citizens become involved in the policy process; on the role of mass media; and on the origins and consequences of social capital .

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Isaac Mbiti

Isaac
Mbiti

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Isaac M. Mbiti is an associate professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research has focused broadly on African economic development with particular interests in examining the role of education policies such as free primary education and teacher performance pay programs. Mbiti's ongoing research projects in East and West Africa evaluate various policies that aim to improve the livelihoods of African youth through training programs.

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Naseemah Mohamed

Naseemah
Mohamed

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Global Policy Center
Garrett Hall

Naseemah Mohamed is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Global Policy Center at the University of Virginia. Her research is focused on the relationships amongst education, media, race, global politics, and violence in decolonial movements in Southern Africa in the 20th century. 

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Alexandra Moore

Alexandra
Moore

Director of Development

Alex most recently served at the Vice President of Philanthropy at the YMCA of Greater Richmond where she built a trusted high-performing team and delivered sustained philanthropic support of YMCA programming over the past 8 years.  Prior to the Y, Alex spent almost 5 years in university fundraising (and earned an MS in Sports Leadership) from VCU. She is an active board volunteer with the Children’s Museum of Richmond and is exceptionally motivated by the Batten School mission of supporting positive social change through knowledge generation and developing informed leaders capable of tackling our toughest challenges.

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Bala Mulloth

Bala
Mulloth

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L020A

Bala Mulloth is an assistant professor at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Mulloth is a globally oriented educator and entrepreneur and his work focuses on innovation and social entrepreneurship.

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Noah Myung

Noah
Myung

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Noah Myung is an associate professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is an experimental and behavioral economist with research interests in game theory, organizational economics, and financial economics. Myung's current research deals with equilibrium selection in coordination games as well as information sharing between competitors

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Kristine Nelson

Kristine
Nelson

Assistant Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs

Kristine Nelson is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to joining the Batten School in 2017, Kristine worked for four years at the School of Architecture as the Director of Graduate Admissions. Kristine has a B.B.A. from the College of William and Mary and an M.Ed. from the University of Georgia. Her work in higher education began in Residence Life at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Kristine is the academic advisor for all undergraduate Batten majors and minors as well as the first point of contact for International MPP students at the Batten School. Inspired by the mission of the Batten school as well as by the outreach and activism of the Batten students, Kristine has supported local campaigns, worked at the polls on election day, mentored adults seeking living wage employment, and supports holistic community development programs like Abundant Life Ministries. Kristine and her husband, Louis, have three children (two ‘hoos and one VCU Ram), as well as several chickens and ducks. 

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Brendan Novak

Brendan
Novak

Associate Director of Social Innovation @ UVA
Garrett Hall L020B

Brendan Novak is the Associate Director of the Center for Social Innovation, a research center housed at the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He helps manage the operations, research portfolio, and external activities of the Center. He received his B.A. in Economics and M.P.P. from the University of Virginia, and has experience in data analysis and policy evaluation at the state and federal level. 

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Edgar Olsen

Edgar
O.
Olsen

Professor Emeritus of Economics
Monroe Hall 250

Ed Olsen is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Virginia, where he has served as chairman of the economics department and was heavily involved in the creation and development of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Olsen's teaching and research has focused on public policy issues, especially concerning the welfare system. Within this broad area, his research specialty is low-income housing policy.

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Claire Oto

Claire
Oto

NSPC Senior Policy Analyst

Claire Oto is a policy researcher and writer at the NSPC. She also coordinates the Center’s internship program. Prior to joining Batten, she was a communications specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy.  Claire earned an M.P.P in Space and National Security from George Washington University and holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego.

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Mark Outten

Mark
Outten

Director of Information Technology and School Systems
Garrett Hall L015

Mark was most recently the Director of Technology for the Orange County Public Schools in Orange, VA, has over 20 years of education-related technology leadership and management experience, worked in private industry for a Hewitt Associates, and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He brings a wealth of strategic and practical education technology experience to Batten.

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Jieun Pai

Jieun
Pai

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Jieun Pai is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Pai researches social hierarchy and conflict resolution to provide insight into how people can satisfy their need for status in teams and organizations harmoniously. Her work challenges the assumption that status conflict is a battle over rank with winners and losers.

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Jay Pence

Jay
T.
Pence

Assistant Director of Facilities and Operations
Garrett Hall L031

Jay Pence is the Assistant Director of Facilities and Operations at the Batten School, where he manages the execution and planning of the school's event portfolio, facility and space planning, and day-to-day operations. Prior to his current role Jay has worked in various roles related to student services, campus recreation and law enforcement.

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Andrew Pennock

Andrew
S.
Pennock

Associate Professor of Public Policy

Andy Pennock is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He serves UVA as the faculty director of Batten’s MPP orientation program, on Batten’s curriculum committee, and as an elected member of the Executive Council of the Faculty Senate. Pennock’s academic research examines public policy in the global economy as well as the scholarship of teaching and learning

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John Pepper

John
Pepper

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

John V. Pepper is a professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and a professor of economics in the Department of Economics at the University of Virginia. His work examines identification problems that arise when evaluating a wide range of public policy questions including such subjects as health and disability programs, welfare policies (e.g., SNAP), and drug and crime policies.

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Daniel Player

Daniel
W.
Player

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L046

Dan Player is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research focuses on issues in education policy. His work has examined questions such as how teacher ability is recognized and rewarded in schools, whether teacher performance predicts turnover, and how teachers respond to working conditions.

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Philip Potter

Philip
Potter

Associate Professor of Politics and Public Policy and Director of the National Security Policy Center
S183 Gibson Hall, Garrett Hall L056

Philip Potter is an associate professor of politics and Founding Director of the National Security Policy Center at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is also a University Expert with the National Ground Intelligence Center, US Army INSCOM. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Politics and the Journal of Global Security Studies and is an Associate Principal Investigator for Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences (TESS). 

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Margaret Foster Riley

Margaret Foster
Riley

Professor of Law and Public Policy
580 Massie Road, Room WB347

Margaret Foster Riley is a professor of law and public policy at the Batten School, a professor of law at UVA's School of Law and has a secondary appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Riley has written and presented extensively about biomedical research, genetics, reproductive technologies, stem cell research, animal biotechnology, health disparities and chronic disease. She serves as chair of UVA’s Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee and as legal advisor to the Health Sciences Institutional Review Board, which is responsible for reviewing all human subject research at UVA involving medically invasive procedures.

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John Robinson

John
Robinson

NSPC Director of Academic Programs

John Robinson is the NSPC’s Director of Academic Programs. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses focused on national security, including Innovating for Defense, an experiential course that pairs student teams with sponsors from the Department of Defense (DoD) to solve real-world national security problems. His research interests include international security and naval affairs.

John holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Virginia, and a M.A. from the U.S. Naval War College.   

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Kimberly Jenkins Robinson

Kimberly Jenkins
Robinson

Professor of Law, Education and Public Policy

Kimberly Jenkins Robinson is a professor of law, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Robinson is a national expert who speaks domestically and internationally about educational equity, equal educational opportunity, civil rights and the federal role in education. Her work proposes innovative legal and policy solutions to ensure that all children receive equal access to an excellent education.

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Jill Rockwell

Jill
Rockwell

Senior Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services

Jill oversees the administrative units of student affairs, and career services, working with the other members of the student services team to strengthen students’ co-curricular and career-related experiences at the Batten School.

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Christopher Ruhm

Christopher
J.
Ruhm

Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Christopher J. Ruhm is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Ruhm’s recent research has focused on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life, and on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the growth and sources of drug poisoning deaths in the United States, the rise in obesity and the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health.

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James Savage

James
Savage

Professor of Politics and Public Policy

James D. Savage is a professor of politics and public policy at the Batten School and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. His research and teaching focus on comparative budgetary, fiscal, and macroeconomic policy, with an emphasis on the United States, the European Union, Iraq and Japan. He is particularly interested in the development of macrobudgetary rules, procedures, and institutions in these countries, and how they influence fiscal outcomes.

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Beth Schueler

Beth
Schueler

Assistant Professor of Education and Public Policy
Ruffner Hall 268

Beth Schueler is an assistant professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Schueler studies education policy, politics, and inequality with a focus on efforts to improve low-performing K-12 schools and districts.

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Todd Sechser

Todd
S.
Sechser

Professor of Politics and Public Policy
S182 Gibson Hall

Todd S. Sechser is a professor of politics and public policy at the Batten School and the Pamela Feinour Edmonds and Franklin S. Edmonds Jr. Discovery Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. Sechser is also a Senior Fellow at UVA's Miller Center. His research interests include coercive diplomacy, emerging technologies, nuclear security and political violence

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Tamera Shaw

Tamera
Shaw

Social Psychology Lab Manager

Tamera works with the APPLE and SCABL Labs in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and African & African American Studies from the University of Rochester. Her research interests surround the influence of racism, discrimination, prejudice on intergroup contact, racial identity, and belonging.

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Lauren Shepherd

Lauren
Shepherd

Chief of Staff to the Dean

Lauren Shepherd is coming to Batten from Teach For America where she most recently served as Managing Director, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of Executive Director Learning. Prior to that, she served as the Chief of Staff to the TFA Bay Area Executive Director and as Managing Director of Teacher Onboarding Strategy based out of San Francisco. Originally trained as a journalist, she has professional experience as a writer and reporter as well as many years involved in strategic and operational planning, project management, partnerships, and talent development.  Lauren graduated with an MPP degree from University of Chicago, an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri – Columbia, and BA in English from UVA. Passionate about education, policy, and the Batten School mission, Lauren is truly excited to work alongside Dean Solomon, faculty, staff, students, and others to support strategic and operational initiatives of the school.

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Linda Sherck

Linda
Sherck

Associate Director of Development

Linda has been working in higher education advancement since she moved to the Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina area in 1992 to earn her master’s degree in public relations from UNC-Chapel Hill.  She spent many years in alumni engagement at UNC and then as a fundraiser at Duke.  A number of circumstances coincided to bring her to Charlottesville in 2021 where she is thrilled to be working to secure resources to advance Batten’s mission and support the School’s amazing students and faculty. Originally from Michigan, she is now an empty-nester and is enjoying exploring all the beauty and fun activities that comes with living in wonderful Charlottesville.

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Jay Shimshack

Jay
Shimshack

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Jay Shimshack is a professor of public policy and economics as well as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Shimshack's research focuses on environmental regulation, environmental economics, corporate social behavior, and applied microeconomics for public policy. 

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William Shobe

William
Shobe

Professor of Public Policy; Adjunct Professor of Economics; Director, Center for Economic and Policy Studies, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service

William Shobe is a professor of public policy at the Batten School and the Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Shobe's current research includes emission market and auction design, environmental federalism, improved economic modeling of Virginia’s economy, state economic development incentives and state economic forecasting.

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Alexis Smith

Alexis Smith is the Academic Programs Coordinator and is responsible for providing effective academic support to the students at the Batten School by ensuring accuracy, integrity, and security of the student academic records. She manages the logistics of course registration, exams, course scheduling, and Batten X programs. Alexis is a first-generation college student who graduated from Radford University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. 

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Shelly Smith

Shelly
Smith

Associate Professor of Nursing and Public Policy

Shelly Porter Smith is an associate professor of nursing and public policy at Batten. Prior to her appointment at UVA, Smith mentored faculty scholars in legislative advocacy, proposal and grant writing, and authoring policy briefs and white paper as a Translational Research Fellow in Residence at VCU in addition to serving as director of nursing graduate programs.  Smith is a long-time preceptor to UVA nurse practitioner master's students, and part of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority’s nursing preceptor incentive program work group.

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Ian Solomon

Ian
H.
Solomon

Dean and Professor of Practice of Public Policy
Garrett Hall 200

Ian H. Solomon is dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where he leads a multidisciplinary faculty in creating new knowledge and developing leaders who can solve humanity’s greatest policy challenges. Trained as a lawyer, Solomon is a devoted student and teacher of both negotiation and conflict resolution.

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Allan Stam

Allan
Stam

University Professor of Public Policy and Politics
Garrett Hall L048

Allan C. Stam is a University Professor of public policy and politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research focuses on the dynamics of armed conflict between and within states. Stam has also worked on several survey-based projects including surveys conducted in Russia, Rwanda, India and the United States.

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Katie Straight

Katie
Straight

Assistant Director of Graduate Academic Programs
Garrett Hall LO52

Katie Straight joined Batten following 15 years of diverse, cross-sector non-profit, international NGO, and consulting experience. Her previous work in global development and poverty reduction was largely focused on stakeholder management and communications, capacity development, strategic program design, and impact evaluation. Straight is passionate about supporting adult learning, strategic and sustainable organizational growth, and organization-wide leadership development. In concert with her role as Assistant Director of Graduate Academic Programs, Straight serves as an adjunct lecturer of global development policy at Batten.

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Logan
Stundal

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Global Policy Center

Logan Stundal is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Global Policy Center/Humanitarian Collaborative at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on political violence, armed conflict, and the intersection of public health and conflict including the spread of disease in war zones.

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Elinor Tappe

Elinor (Ellie)
Tappé

Executive Director of Strategic Advancement

Elinor (Ellie) Tappé serves as Executive Director of Strategic Advancement where she helps shape and realize the strategic objectives of the Batten School. With a 25-year history in strategic planning and development, Ellie has held a variety of leadership roles in the corporate sector, as well as higher education and nonprofit. Her experience in philanthropy spans more than a decade and includes UC Berkeley, Larkin Street Youth Services and Urban Teachers.  

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Sebastian Tello Trillo

Sebastian
Tello-Trillo

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Sebastian Tello-Trillo is an assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He studies health policy in the U.S and Latin America, with a particular focus on understanding how policies affect individuals’ health behaviors and economic outcomes. 

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Larry Terry

Larry
Terry

Director of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVa and Lecturer of Public Policy

Larry Terry is a lecturer at the Batten School and Executive Director of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. His passion is research-based, outcome-driven programs and services that advance the priorities of the University of Virginia in serving the Commonwealth, forming lasting partnerships with citizens, and building vibrant, connected communities. 

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Melissa Thomas-Hunt

Melissa
Thomas-Hunt

John D. Forbes Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy
Garrett Hall L015

Melissa Thomas-Hunt is a professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the John Forbes Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business. Thomas-Hunt focuses on leadership, team dynamics, and negotiations and her research studies the factors that unleash, leverage, and amplify the contributions made by individuals, particularly women, underrepresented individuals, and numerical minorities. 

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Sophie Trawalter

Sophie
Trawalter

Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Associate Professor of Public Policy and Associate Professor of Psychology

Sophie Trawalter, Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, studies phenomena related to social diversity, specifically how people navigate intergroup contact and intergroup contexts, with a particular focus on how people develop competencies and learn to thrive in diverse spaces.

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Sarah Turner

Sarah
Turner

University Professor of Economics, Education and Public Policy
Olsson Hall, Room 217

Sarah Turner is a University Professor of economics, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Souder Family Endowed Professor. Much of her research focuses on post-secondary education, where she explores the intersection of education and economics policies.

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Craig Volden

Craig
Volden

Professor of Public Policy and Politics and Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking

Craig Volden is a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Politics. He studies the politics of public policy, with a focus on what policy choices arise within legislative institutions and within American federalism. He is founder and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

 

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Gerald Warburg

Gerald
Warburg

Professor of Practice of Public Policy
Garrett Hall 102

Gerry Warburg is a professor of practice of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to Batten, he worked with Congress for several decades, serving as a legislative assistant to members of leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

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Michael Williams

Michael
D.
Williams

Associate Professor of Surgery and Public Policy

Michael D. Williams is an associate professor of surgery and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Williams is interested in, among other things, comprehensive, apolitical analysis of current and proposed health policy for citizens and policymakers.

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Brian Williams

Brian
N.
Williams

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Garrett Hall L044

Brian Williams is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Director of the Public Engagement in Governance: Looking, Listening and Learning Laboratory (the PEGLLLLab) at UVA. His research centers on issues related to demographic diversity, local law enforcement, and public governance, with special attention devoted to the co-production of public safety and public order.

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Starrie Williamson

Starrie
Williamson

Assistant Director of Web Design and Development

Starrie Williamson is a native of the Mid-atlantic region of the United States and has worked at design agencies, educational software companies, and universities in Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Charlottesville, VA.

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Timothy Wilson

Timothy
Wilson

Professor of Psychology and Public Policy

Timothy Wilson is a professor of psychology and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Sherrell J Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Wilson has conducted research showing the limits of introspection as a source of self-knowledge, the dangers of engaging in too much introspection about why we do what we do, the difficulty in predicting our future emotional reactions, as well as the pleasures we can derive from “just thinking.” He has also conducted research on applications of social psychology to address social problems.

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Derek Wu

Derek
Wu

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics
Garrett Hall L007

Derek Wu is an assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Wu’s research interests lie in labor and public economics, with focusing on poverty and inequality, the effects of government programs, and the economics of education.

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James Wyckoff

James
H.
Wyckoff

Professor of Education and Public Policy

Jim Wyckoff is a professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Memorial Professor of Education and Policy. Wyckoff focuses on issues of teacher labor markets, teacher preparation, recruitment, assessment and retention. His current research examines how teacher assessment and evaluation systems influence the quality of teaching, especially in traditionally low performing classrooms. 

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Weishan Zhang

Weishan
Zhang

Lab Manager and Research Assistant

Weishan works with SoBaD and JADE Labs in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She earned her Post-Baccalaureate in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests lie in social psychology and behavioral science. 

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