Politics professor Todd Sechser and media studies professor Siva Vaidhyanathan will direct the two newest labs for interdisciplinary research sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Democracy Initiative.

Congress is back from its August recess, and lawmakers face public demands for action on issues as varied as health care, infrastructure, gun safety and trade. Legislators face at least one set of “must pass” agenda items: 12 spending bills that need to be enacted into law by Oct. 1 or the federal government will shut down.

Chloe Gibbs, an assistant professor of public policy and education and faculty at EdPolicyWorks, has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Foundation program.

The complex endgame of negotiations between the major powers and Iran underscores the limited options states have to combat nuclear proliferation, something with which U.S. policy planners are going to have to learn to live.

Batten Professor Gerry Warburg discusses the extraordinary encyclical issued by Pope Francis this week and how it holds great promise for an issue that affects all life on our fragile planet.

Research into public policy diffusion has exploded in the last 20 years. Scholars and thinkers have published hundreds of studies tracking the spread of policies from government to government. With countless dollars and thousands of hours invested, could it be that their studies are wrong? That’s what Batten School Professor Craig Volden seeks to find out.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) recently announced that “Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers” by Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman won the prestigious Gladys M. Kammerer Award for best book on U.S. national policy. 

Each year, many students fail to enroll in college, enroll in institutions where they are not positioned for success or drop out before earning a degree. These students often have the academic skills needed and have access to affordable college options, but still face barriers to success.

Batten School Senior Lecturer Randall Lutter was recently awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the economic value of improvements in cognitive performance attributable to breastfeeding.

On Wednesday evening, Hale and Stam shared these life lessons with students as a part of Housing and Residence Life’s 24th edition of the Last Lecture Series. An annual spring tradition, the Last Lecture invites the University’s  finest faculty members to impart their wisdom and knowledge to students as if it is their very last opportunity to do so.