Today, the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy announced the 2019-20 student recipients of the Bocock and Hitz Public Service Fellowship. Established in 2012 by a generous gift from Mary Buford and Fred Hitz, the Bocock and Hitz Public Service Fellowship Fund supports outstanding students in Batten’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree programs who are committed to effecting positive change through careers in public service.

“My mother was a professor of nursing at the University of North Dakota, and she served as associate dean of the School of Nursing for a number of years,” said Volden. “So, I grew up with an example of what it meant to be a valued professor and an academic leader. Although I thought of pursuing other paths along the way, this one felt very natural to me as I finished college and started into graduate school.”

The University of Virginia has been recognized for Social Entrepreneurship @UVA’s commitment to fostering innovation and empowering the next generation of future changemakers and citizen leaders.

This week, Batten hosted the first Batten Hour of the year featuring brief remarks from Dean Ian H. Solomon followed by a roundtable conversation with the dean, students, and faculty, providing an opportunity for the Batten community to get to learn more about the new dean, both professionally and personally.

Daphna Bassok is professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia and associate director of EdPolicyWorks, a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Her research focuses on early childhood education policy and efforts to improve early childhood education at scale, particularly policies aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce.

Ben Castleman is an associate professor of public policy and education at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on policies and strategies to improve postsecondary educational and workforce outcomes for individuals from lower-income and historically-marginalized communities. His current work focuses on innovations to increase economic mobility among lower-wage adults, including digital- and health-skills training programs; state-funded career and technical education; and competency-based education models for working adults.

John Holbein is an associate professor of public policy, politics, and education at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Holbein studies political participation, political inequality, democratic accountability, political representation, and education policy.

Chris Hulleman is an associate professor of education and public policy at the Batten School. Hulleman conducts research on educational interventions grounded in theories of social and personality psychology, motivation, and human development. Most recently, his work has focused on examining the extent to which helping students find relevance to their lives in their coursework increases learning and interest.

Dan Player is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research focuses on issues in education policy. His work has examined questions such as how teacher ability is recognized and rewarded in schools, whether teacher performance predicts turnover, and how teachers respond to working conditions.

Beth Schueler is an associate professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Schueler studies education policy, politics, and inequality with a focus on efforts to improve low-performing K-12 schools and districts.