A weeklong Policy Leadership Advocacy by Youth, or PLAY, Program held at the Frank Batten Schol of Leadership and Public Policy introduced nearly 50 high school students from Charlottesville and the surrounding areas to the world of public policy and leadership.

Dean of the Batten School, Ian Solomon, will host a conversation with the President of Hollins University, Mary Dana Hinton. President Hinton and the Dean will discuss the past, present and future of women in leadership and higher education.

How can we ensure that teams can fulfill their full cognitive potential?  This paper explores how team members can be motivated so that, collectively, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

The Pilot and Legacy Awards, named in honor of the Batten School’s late founder, Frank Batten, Sr., are the most prestigious student-nominated awards for graduating Master of Public Policy students and students graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and Leadership.

General Nakasone will deliver the commencement address during the school’s first in-person Academic Regalia Ceremony since 2019, set to take place at James Monroe’s Highland on Saturday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Batten School honored Sesame Workshop President Sherrie Rollins Westin with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership. Each year on Jefferson’s birthday, UVA and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello award the medals for exemplary achievement in fields the former president admired.

Sherrie Rollins Westin, president of Sesame Workshop and a 1980 graduate of UVA, has been named this year’s recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership, an award selected by the Batten School.

The Batten alum and former captain of the UVA women’s volleyball team is not afraid to discuss moments of deep uncertainty in her flourishing law career — and she encourages current students to go easy on themselves.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from George Washington University, Batten student Cam Morales (MPP ’22) landed a job with renowned international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he worked as a public policy specialist. While the work was immensely satisfying, he felt like something was missing. That led him on the path to the Batten School’s unique graduate program.

In this edition of Batten Reports, get to know Batten's new dean, Ian H. Solomon, explore the intricacies of curating a leadership curriculum, and learn about how Batten faculty represent the ideals of truth, citizenship, and the power of knowledge.