Donovan Rolle (BA ‘21) is an Executive Strategy and Project Management Analyst in Deloitte's Government and Public Service sector. His true passions are creating inclusive environments and any and everything sports. During his time at UVA, Donovan interned and worked with clubs to strategize on ways to make Batten, UVA, and Charlottesville more inclusive. He also played football, coached, and interned doing sports policy research for the NFL Players Association. As a Darden Future Years Scholar, Donovan plans to return to Charlottesville in a few years to attend UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Erin Melly (MPP ‘22) is an Economist at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. In this role, she utilizes data to identify potential manipulation, anti-competitive behavior, and other anomalous activities in electricity markets. Erin earned a Master of Public Policy from Batten. During her time at Batten, Erin was a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and Federal Service Intern for USAID where she worked on an electrification project in the Philippines region. Prior to her time at Batten, Erin was a Research Associate at a think tank, studying tax policy, paid family leave, and labor mobility. Erin received her B.A. in Economics and Sustainable Development from Columbia University in 2018. At Columbia, Erin was a Division I Cross Country and Track and Field athlete, where she was a three-time Academic All-American and Ivy League Champion in Cross Country.

Juliana McCormick (BA ‘18) currently serves on the Teach For America National Team, where she works to mitigate the national teacher shortage as a Recruitment Manager. Her interest in education crystallized while in Batten, leading her to join the Teach For America Corps upon graduating. There, she taught 300+ DC middle schoolers English while earning her Master of Science in Education at Johns Hopkins. Following her tenure in U.S. classrooms, she had the privilege of teaching in Spain through the Fulbright Program.

Jahvonta Mason (BA ‘17) is currently a Law Clerk for a Judge who sits on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Prior to clerking, Jahvonta served as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Jahvonta received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2021 where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Moot Court Board.  Before law school, Jahvonta taught 9th grade English at the Casablanca American School in Casablanca, Morocco.  Jahvonta graduated from UVA in 2017 with a B.A. in Leadership & Public Policy and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies.

Ned Flanagan (BA ‘22) is currently a Program Associate with the Latin America and Caribbean team at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington D.C. Before starting at UVA, Ned spent a semester studying Spanish and traveling in Bolivia and Peru then went on to volunteer at an aid center for deported migrants and asylum seekers along the U.S./Mexico border in Nogales, Mexico. With deep interests and experience in humane migration, citizen security, and sustainable development, Ned has also interned for organizations including the United Nations International Organization for Migration, InterAction, and Results for America. Ned graduated from UVA with highest distinction in 2022 with a B.A. in Leadership & Public Policy and Global Development Studies, along with a minor in Latin American Studies.

Anne Butz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who graduated with her Masters in Social Work in 1999. She has worked predominantly in the public sector, providing individual and group therapy in community mental health settings throughout Central Virginia. She's also worked for the commonwealth providing regulatory oversight of a variety of behavioral health programs for a little over a decade. Anne's areas of interest and experience include: adjustment issues, depression, anxiety, advocacy, trauma, and coping with chronic illness. 

Alex most recently served at the Vice President of Philanthropy at the YMCA of Greater Richmond where she built a trusted high-performing team and delivered sustained philanthropic support of YMCA programming over the past 8 years.  Prior to the Y, Alex spent almost 5 years in university fundraising (and earned an MS in Sports Leadership) from VCU. She is an active board volunteer with the Children’s Museum of Richmond and is exceptionally motivated by the Batten School mission of supporting positive social change through knowledge generation and developing informed leaders capable of tackling our toughest challenges.

Lauren Shepherd is coming to Batten from Teach For America where she most recently served as Managing Director, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of Executive Director Learning. Prior to that, she served as the Chief of Staff to the TFA Bay Area Executive Director and as Managing Director of Teacher Onboarding Strategy based out of San Francisco. Originally trained as a journalist, she has professional experience as a writer and reporter as well as many years involved in strategic and operational planning, project management, partnerships, and talent development.  Lauren graduated with an MPP degree from University of Chicago, an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri – Columbia, and BA in English from UVA. Passionate about education, policy, and the Batten School mission, Lauren is truly excited to work alongside Dean Solomon, faculty, staff, students, and others to support strategic and operational initiatives of the school.

Jennifer Ludovici is the NSPC Director of Operations & Research Initiatives. She has over 18 years of experience in higher education administration in both the public and private sector. In her role at the NSPC, she focuses on faculty research collaboration, project coordination and program development as well as general operations and communications. Jennifer holds a post-graduate certificate in project management from UVA, and a BA/MEd in history and education from James Madison University.

Weishan works with SoBaD and JADE Labs in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She earned her Post-Baccalaureate in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests lie in social psychology and behavioral science.