Faculty & Staff Directory

Lucy Bassett

Lucy
Bassett

Professor of Practice in Public Policy; Co-Director, UVA Humanitarian Collaborative

Lucy Bassett is a professor of practice in public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.  Bassett is 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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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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Kirsten Gelsdorf

Kirsten
Gelsdorf

Professor of Practice in Public Policy; Co-Director, UVA Humanitarian Collaborative
Garrett Hall

Kirsten Gelsdorf is a professor of practice in public policy and Co-Director of the UVA Humanitarian Collaborative in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. 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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Ben Hartless

Ben
Hartless

Assistant Director of Information Technology
Garrett Hall L029

Ben Hartless is the assistant director of information technology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. 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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David Leblang

David
Leblang

Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics and Professor of Public Policy

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 Randolph Compton Professor of Public Affairs at UVA's Miller Center. Leblang is a scholar of political economy with research interests in global migration and in the politics of financial markets.

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Naseemah Mohamed

Naseemah
Mohamed

Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies

Naseemah Mohamed is an assistant professor of African American and African studies at the University of Virginia. Her interdisciplinary research examines the relationships among education, media, technology, global politics, and violence in 20th-century.

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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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