Eileen Chou began her tenure as interim dean of the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy on Aug. 3, succeeding Ian Solomon.
Chou joined the UVA Batten faculty in 2012 and has served as associate dean for academic affairs since 2023; she is also a UVA Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership Professor of Public Policy. An award-winning scholar of organizational behavior, she studies the psychological and organizational mechanisms that shape leadership, cooperation and decision making.
In this Q&A, Chou reflects on what makes the UVA Batten community so special, how her path into behavioral science has shaped her leadership approach and her vision for the school during this new chapter.
Q. What inspires you about the UVA Batten community, and why do you think the school’s mission is so critical today?
A. What inspires me most about the UVA Batten community is its people. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Batten at its best in so many different moments, from the excitement of welcoming a new class to the pride of watching our graduates cross the stage. I’ve seen colleagues work together to bring new ideas to life, support one another through professional successes and personal challenges and go the extra mile for one another. In my own classroom and behavioral lab, I’ve watched students wrestle with LEGO pieces, make difficult resource allocation decisions and grapple with messy datasets to understand complex problems, only to discover that the toughest leadership and public policy challenges rarely have perfect solutions. They require collaboration, humility, curiosity and a willingness to learn from one another.
That spirit is what makes UVA Batten so special. It is the foundation of our teaching, our research, our engagement and our community. It is also why I have so much confidence in our future and why our mission has never been more important.
We live in a time when public policy challenges are increasingly complex, and trust in institutions is being tested. More than ever, we need leaders who can think critically, engage across differences and make decisions grounded in evidence. We also need to generate new knowledge that helps policymakers and communities better understand and address those challenges. That is exactly what UVA Batten strives to do every day, and I am incredibly proud to be part of that work.
Q. What drew you into the field of behavioral science, and how has that research shaped the way you think about leadership?
A. My story is quite a personal one. I honed my observation skills as a first-generation immigrant, arriving in the United States at age 11 and trying to learn a new culture and a new language. Being a good behavioral scientist was, in many ways, part of survival. You learn to read a room, notice what’s left unsaid and shape environments that gently nudge people toward better outcomes. It wasn’t until years later that I realized there was an entire field devoted to understanding why people think, decide and behave the way they do.
That early experience still shapes how I think about leadership today. Behavioral science has taught me that people rarely respond to systems and institutions in the ways we assume they will, and that good leadership starts with paying close attention to what people need, what motivates them and what they’re navigating that isn’t always visible on the surface. It also requires a willingness to test assumptions, learn from evidence and adapt when the facts point in a different direction.
And that is also why I’m so inspired by UVA Batten’s mission. We believe that leaders are made, not born; that leadership is defined not by the title or power you hold, but by the choices you make, the relationships you build and the impact you have on others. These are skills that can be developed and strengthened over a lifetime. That’s one of the greatest privileges of my career: helping others continuously develop throughout their lives.
Q. If you weren’t in academia, what career path might you have pursued instead?
A. I’m not sure. By the age of five, I had already decided that I wanted to be a professor. At the time, all I knew was that I loved teaching and the idea that I could somehow stay in school forever. Over time, I discovered that being a professor offered so much more than I could have imagined. I get to ask questions that matter, generate new knowledge, share what I learn with others, and help others become the best versions of themselves. And yes, I still appreciate the fact that I never really had to leave school.
Q. You’re stepping into this role as Batten’s first female interim dean. Would you like to share any thoughts about that?
A. Yes, I am UVA Batten’s first female interim dean. I’m also the first Asian and the first immigrant to serve in this role. Those are all true, and I recognize that they carry meaning for many people.
As I think about our students, past, present and future, and the impact they will have on the world, I feel reassured. They are the ones who will help build the future that my son and his kindergarten friends will inherit. My hope is that we’re moving toward a future where these are no longer things we point out because opportunities are so inclusive that those firsts no longer feel remarkable.
Q. What’s something most people at UVA Batten would be surprised to learn about you?
A. The one and only time I sang karaoke, Las Vegas experienced a citywide blackout. I believe it was a coincidence, but with a sample size of one, I can’t fully rule out causation. I’m not taking any chances.
Q. As you step into the interim dean role, what’s your vision for UVA Batten during this period?
A. My vision for the school is to uphold what we stand for. We create, disseminate and translate knowledge that informs policy and practice, and we develop the next generation of public leaders. Those two parts of our mission are deeply connected and they are what make UVA Batten such a special place.
I also believe that even the strongest institutions should never stop learning. We’ll continue looking for thoughtful ways to strengthen our teaching, expand the impact of our scholarship and better support our students, faculty and staff. We have an extraordinary foundation, and I’m excited to build on it together.
