Posts Tagged with
Center for Effective Lawmaking

george hadijski headshot

George Hadijski is the Senior Program Associate at the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), a joint partnership between the Batten School and Vanderbilt University. He is responsible for increasing the use of CEL’s research by lawmakers, their staffs, and their influencers. 

Craig Volden at DC

The co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking -- Craig Volden of the Batten School and Tom Wiseman of Vanderbilt University -- held a briefing in DC recently with staff members of the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus to share their insights into what it takes to become an effective lawmaker. 

congressional staffers capitol hill cel

In an op-ed published in The Messenger, Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman of the Center for Effective Lawmaking write that without proper career training for congressional staffers, expertise gaps on Capitol Hill will continue to be problematic. 

Fred Gui

Fred Gui is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy working with the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Fred's research interests include American political institutions, interest groups, state and local politics, and racial and ethnic politics.

Cosponsored by the Center for Effective Lawmaking

Laurel Harbridge-Yong’s teaching and research focuses on partisan conflict and the lack of bipartisan agreement in American politics. Her research examines why Congressional parties prioritize partisan conflict, focusing on both institutional changes and public preferences for bipartisanship.

Capitol Hill

Despite perceptions that Congress is dominated by partisan interests, a new study from the Center for Effective Lawmaking -- co-directed by Batten professor Craig Volden -- finds that legislators who draw in cosponsors from both sides of the aisle are more effective. 

The Capitol

Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-VA, and Don Bacon, R-NE, and Sens. Gary Peters, D-MI, and John Cornyn, R-TX, top their respective lists of the most effective Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the recently completed 117th Congress (2021–23), according to the latest round of legislative effectiveness scores compiled by the Center for Effective Lawmaking released March 20.

Among the freshman members who attended elite colleges, five hold degrees from Harvard University. (Image Janniswerner/IStock Editorial via Getty Images)

How often are the educational backgrounds of Congressional legislators and candidates vetted, and how much do degrees matter? Craig Volden, Batten School professor and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, talked with USA Today about Congress members’ educational backgrounds and how a degree correlates to effectiveness as a legislator. 

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) leaves a closed-door GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol January 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Image Drew Angerer via Getty Images) 

Facing investigations after lying about whether he graduated college, worked on Wall Street, founded a charity, owned rental property, and descended from Holocaust survivors, Republican Rep. George Santos of New York may find it more difficult than the typical freshman lawmaker to deliver results.