Faculty & Staff Directory

Colin Achiles

Colin
Achilles

Associate Director, Center for Effective Lawmaking

Colin Achilles is the Associate Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), a joint partnership between the Batten School and Vanderbilt University. He is the manager of day-to-day operations at CEL. 

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Leora Friedberg

Leora
Friedberg

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy; Chair, Department of Economics
Monroe 257 (appointment only)

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor and Vice Chair at UVA's Department of Economics. Her focus is on labor economics, including research on social security, aging and retirement economic impacts.

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Fred Gui

Fred
Gui

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Effective Lawmaking
Garrett Hall L028

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.

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george hadijski headshot

George
Hadijski

Program Associate, Center for Effective Lawmaking

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. 

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Charles
Holt

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Charles Holt is a professor of economics and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the A. Willis Robertson Professor of Political Economy at the University of Virginia. Holt is also the current Director of the Experimental Economics Laboratory at Virginia, where he develops and programs the web-based VeconLab experiments that are widely used for teaching and research with over 90,000 participant logins per year.

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Justin Kirkland

Justin
H.
Kirkland

Professor of Politics and Public Policy
S162 Gibson Hall

Justin H. Kirkland is a professor of politics and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.  Kirkland specializes in American politics, legislative politics, and subnational politics. His research focuses on understanding the relationship between public opinion and legislative behavior, institutional rules and legislative outcomes, and methods for analyzing legislative choices.

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Jennifer Lawless

Jennifer
Lawless

Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics and Professor of Public Policy
264 Gibson Hall

Jennifer L. Lawless is the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics and professor of public policy at the University of Virginia and at the Batten School. Lawless is also a Senior Fellow at UVA's Miller Center. Her research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics.

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Edgar Olsen

Edgar
O.
Olsen

Professor Emeritus of Economics
Monroe Hall 250

Ed Olsen is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Virginia, where he has served as chairman of the economics department and was heavily involved in the creation and development of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Olsen's teaching and research has focused on public policy issues, especially concerning the welfare system. Within this broad area, his research specialty is low-income housing policy.

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John Pepper

John
Pepper

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

John V. Pepper is a professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and a professor of economics in the Department of Economics at the University of Virginia. His work examines identification problems that arise when evaluating a wide range of public policy questions including such subjects as health and disability programs, welfare policies (e.g., SNAP), and drug and crime policies.

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Jay Shimshack

Jay
Shimshack

Professor of Public Policy and Economics

Jay Shimshack is a professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Shimshack's research focuses on environmental regulation, environmental economics, corporate social behavior, and applied microeconomics for public policy. 

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Sarah Turner

Sarah
Turner

University Professor of Economics, Education and Public Policy
Olsson Hall, Room 217

Sarah Turner is a University Professor of economics, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Souder Family Endowed Professor. Much of her research focuses on post-secondary education, where she explores the intersection of education and economics policies.

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Gerald Warburg

Gerald
Warburg

Professor of Practice of Public Policy
Garrett Hall 102

Gerry Warburg is a professor of practice of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to Batten, he worked with Congress for several decades, serving as a legislative assistant to members of leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

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