Faculty & Staff Directory

Michele Claiborn

Michele
Claibourn

Director of Equitable Analysis, The Equity Center; Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Data Science
Equity Center & Garrett Hall

Michele Claibourn is Director of Equitable Analysis for The Equity Center at UVA and an assistant professor of public policy and data science at the University of Virginia. 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.

Read full bio
Jonathan Colmer

Jonathan
Colmer

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Jonathan Colmer is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Virginiaand the Co-Founder and Director of the Environmental Inequality Lab. Colmer is an environmental economist who also works in the area of growth and development economics. His research combines data with insights from economic theory and environmental science to better understand how economic activity and the environment influence one another.

Read full bio
Bevin Etienne

Bevin
Etienne

Assistant Professor of Commerce and Public Policy

Bevin Etienne is assistant professor of commerce and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. 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.  

Read full bio
Molly Lipscomb

Molly
Lipscomb

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics; Director of the Center for Social Innovation

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. 

Read full bio
Christine Mahoney

Christine
Mahoney

Professor of Public Policy and Politics; Chief Innovation Officer

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

Read full bio
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.

Read full bio
Jay Shimshack

Jay
Shimshack

Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Jay Shimshack is a professor of public policy and economics 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. 

Read full bio
William Shobe

William
Shobe

Research Professor Emeritus of Public Policy

William Shobe is research 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.

Read full bio
Sophie Trawalter

Sophie
Trawalter

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

Sophie Trawalter, Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Professor of Public Policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and 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.

Read full bio
Brian Williams

Brian Williams is a 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.

Read full bio