A new task force at the University of Virginia will gather, solicit and prioritize recommendations about racial equity, UVa President Jim Ryan announced Wednesday. Among the three members selected was Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy Dean Ian H. Solomon.

On June 2, Dean Ian Solomon shared his personal reflections on this moment of national crisis and conflict.

Batten professor Andy Pennock spoke with a panel of alums representing federal, state, and local government for last week’s edition of Batten’s Expert Chat Series.

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.

In the most recent Batten Expert Chat, Jameson Norton, CEO of the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and Outpatient Clinics, explains that the building blocks of strong leadership include teamwork, resilience, commitment, and communication.

Batten teams up with the Center for Politics and several public service-focused departments at UVA – including the Miller Center for Public Affairs, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, and the UVA Career Center – to quickly design and launch a five-week virtual summer internship program.

Recent Batten alums are making their mark across the sectors and around the globe. Of those seeking positions, 99% of graduates from Batten’s Bachelor of Arts degree program and 96% of those who graduated from the Master of Public Policy degree program secured a career destination within six months of graduating.

Music has always been at the core of Chloe Cohen, who will become a “Double-Hoo” after earning her master’s degree from the Batten School next month.

From celebrating last season’s UVA’s basketball championship with friends to starting a network for Hispanic and Latinx students at Batten, Brian Zuluaga says he’ll never forget his time as a UVA student.

For the past four years, no one at UVA has embodied the student-athlete ideal more than Jocelyn Willoughby. An All-ACC performer in basketball, she needed only three years to earn a bachelor’s degree, after which she entered Batten's Master of Public Policy program. The ACC’s leading scorer this season, Willoughby became the first Cavalier selected in the WNBA draft since 2010.