An Invitation to apply for the position of
Founding Dean
For
The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at
The University of Virginia
THE SEARCH
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As part of its strategic plan and as an expression of its Jeffersonian heritage, the
University of Virginia has created the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public
Policy. The School is made possible by an extraordinary $100 million gift from Mr.
Frank Batten.
The University seeks a dean who will found and lead a nationally distinguished school,
charting a new direction for the field of public policy and leadership education. A
founding Dean has considerable latitude for invention and the Search Committee seeks a
visionary Dean, with a grip on the history of the field and a passion for its future.
The mission of the Batten School is to educate leaders, with substantive knowledge and
analytical skills, who understand the responsibilities and opportunities of service to the
public and who can help bring about transformational change. The School expects to
educate students who will lead in their roles as private citizens, as leaders in the private
sector, as not for profit executives, as social entrepreneurs and as public officials and
elected officeholders.
The School will make a substantial contribution to public policy deliberation on the great
domestic and international issues of the age. The Dean will have the opportunity to
stimulate and oversee the creation of new research centers in strategically chosen areas.
The Batten School will train students in critical leadership skills and in the analytics and
the substance of policy. The Dean and the faculty will inspire its students to act
vigorously, effectively, and ethically on behalf of the common good. Batten graduates
will leave the University well prepared to exercise leadership– in their communities, in
their professions, in the world at large.
The Dean will recruit and lead a distinguished faculty who are researchers, educators, and
practitioners. The faculty will be committed to understanding the use of rigorous
analysis, the subtle understanding of political, social and economic context and the
exercise of creative personal and organizational leadership to initiate change in an
increasingly diverse world. The Provost will charge the Dean and the faculty with the
creation of an innovative curriculum and the use of an engaged and demanding pedagogy
that challenges students and reflects the School’s unique mission.
The Dean will integrate the Batten School into the wider University community and forge
effective partnerships with other campus programs and units.
The University seeks a Dean who has a national reputation in public policy, leadership or
an immediately relevant field, and who can bridge the worlds of public leadership
practice and academic scholarship and research. The Dean should have a PhD or similar
terminal degree and should have leadership experience in the academy. Additional
experience in public or civic service is an advantage. In all cases, the University seeks
candidates who come from a successful career in the academy, distinguished in research,
teaching and service.
The Faculty Senate has approved the creation of the Batten School and a five-year BAMaster
of Public Policy Program. The program features innovative courses on strategic
leadership and management, policy history, and legal and moral reasoning in addition to
courses on policy analysis. Plans call for the creation of a Leadership Scholars program
that will be open to undergraduates from any major and a highly selective undergraduate
major in public policy with a concentration in domestic policy or global affairs. For
graduate students, the Batten School will offer a selective Master of Public Policy, and a
Post-Doctoral Program in Public Policy. For professional students, the Batten School
will establish an innovative one-year Master of Public Leadership degree as an executive
education program for emerging leaders in a wide variety or public and civic fields
including Medicine, Engineering, Law and Business, all programs where UVA has
strength. The specifics of these programs and their timelines (or even the adoption of
some of the later programs) remain for the founding dean to determine.
The founders believe that the Batten School should lead the next generation of innovation
in the field of public service research and education. The University seeks a visionary
Dean who will adopt UVA’s broad outlines for the Batten School and who will bring his/
her own leadership to the task of invention
KEY OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FOUNDING DEAN OF THE BATTEN
SCHOOL
Communicate the vision on and off campus, in the academy and the world of
practice.
The University will expect the founding Dean to model leadership, to articulate vividly
the underlying principles of the school, to engage with critical constituencies on campus
and to build the school’s emerging reputation in the field and in prominent worlds of
practice.
The School has the benefit of a great university as its foundation, of an extraordinary gift
and of a an important vision. It needs its founding dean to invent the elements of its
distinction and to make it real.
Build a distinguished, diverse founding faculty that attracts partners inside UVA
and builds reputation in the field.
The Batten School will make its early reputation through the appointment of its first
faculty. Such appointments carry enormous influence to shape the school. The founding
faculty will make the mission real, will send the early message, attract the first students,
create a culture of inclusion and diversity and establish the ethos. In the first two years,
the University will expect the dean to successfully conduct a half a dozen senior searches,
for distinguished figures, in targeted fields, in both leadership and policy studies.
Pick a few large issues for Batten School success.
The University expects the Batten School to have a national profile and to model public
issue leadership. By picking and tackling a few big issues, the University believes that
the School can establish its reputation and set the right level of ambition for both
scholarship and student recruitment. With a relatively small faculty, the School will need
partnerships. UVA has considerable strength in a wide array of public policy issues. The
new Dean should lead a strategic review, in concert with faculty and Deans across
campus, to identify the right issues, create the right incentives and construct highly
productive research and teaching partnerships.
Blend a practitioner and academic culture.
The founding dean will create the catalytic space to combine practice, personal
experience and theory into a single fused culture.
Virginia can lead the field by fusing academic rigor, leadership training and a
sophisticated understanding of all the elements of public policy.
Become the premier destination for students who choose civic or public leadership.
The School expects to educate students who will lead in their roles as private citizens, as
leaders in the private sector, as not for profit executives, as social entrepreneurs and as
public officials and elected officeholders.
In its early development, the Batten School will need a carefully constructed
undergraduate enrollment process on campus and a pipeline to NGO’s and government
agencies that directs the best and most diverse group of young people towards Virginia
for their professional Masters. It needs to build a skilled enrollment function matched to
an equally skilled placement office. Both are essential to a professional school. In the
excitement of picking strategic issues for investment and hiring a founding faculty, the
new Dean must remember the student mission and build an excellent, highly competitive,
enrollment and placement function.
Build an administrative team that can deliver on the School’s promise.
The Dean will need a responsive, entrepreneurial team. The School will need space,
staff, budgets, a faculty, a student body and an array of functions that most Deans and
schools can take for granted. At Batten, the Dean will need a small, energized, effective
team that can start, build and sustain the school.
CANDIDATE PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS
The Dean will be the chief academic and executive officer of the Batten School of
Leadership and Public Policy. Candidates must have an earned doctorate or equivalent
terminal degree and qualifications appropriate for appointment as a tenured full professor
at the University of Virginia as well as expertise relevant to U.S. public policy.
The best candidates will be equally committed to professional education for leadership
and to rigorous public policy research and will understand how the challenge of
implementation inevitably alters the task of analysis.
The Committee will strongly prefer candidates with the proven capacity to invent
complex and transformational solutions to pressing organizational or policy issues.
The Dean must have the proven capacity to communicate complex ideas to highly varied
audiences, to persuade reluctant constituencies and to inspire willing believers.
Leadership experience in the academy and/or in civic or public service is a singular
advantage for a candidate. The Committee strongly prefers candidates with track
records as effective organizational builders.
Candidates should have impressive experience and success as academic recruiters in their
departments or schools.
A Dean must have a demonstrated commitment to building an inclusive and diverse
student body and faculty.
A new Dean should have an interest in, and preferably experience with, innovative
curriculum design and the use of creative, sometimes experiential pedagogies.
The Dean should be an accomplished administrator, capable of assembling a strong team
and implementing a complex strategic agenda.
The successful candidate will be creative, flexible, visionary, and will excel at fostering
an inclusive and open intellectual and professional culture.
COMPENSATION
Compensation for this position will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications
and experience.
TO APPLY
To learn more about the University of Virginia, please visit: www.virginia.edu. The
University of Virginia has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to
assist with this important search. Electronic submission of inquiries, nominations,
referrals, and resumes with cover letters is preferred and should be sent in confidence to:
John Isaacson, President & Managing Director
ISAACSON, MILLER
334 Boylston Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02116
617.262.6500
Fax: 617.262.6509
E-mail: 3593@imsearch.com
Nancy Mundel, Senior Associate
ISAACSON, MILLER
334 Boylston Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02116
617.262.6500
Fax: 617.262.6509
E-mail: 3593@imsearch.com
In keeping with its commitment to build a culturally diverse community, the University
of Virginia encourages applications from women, people of color, and individuals with
disabilities.
APPENDIX
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
History and Mission
After leaving Washington, D.C. in 1809, Thomas Jefferson devoted himself to the
implementation of a state-wide system of education in Virginia. The capstone of such a
system would be his “academical village” of higher education. As a direct result of his
efforts, the University of Virginia was named and chartered in 1819 by the Legislature of
Virginia. Jefferson described the founding of the University, as "the last act of usefulness
I can render" to the new nation.
The University was conceived as a cradle of intellectual enlightenment, moral leadership,
and public service. Its founding documents call for it to produce the future statesmen,
legislators, and judges on whom the young nation’s prosperity and well-being would
depend.
Faculty, Staff and Students
The University of Virginia is known for its distinguished faculty and staff. There are
2,140 full-time faculty members and more than 10,000 staff.
The University attracts an exceptional and diverse student body, one that has been
described in many ways as “oriented toward the public.”. Almost 21,000 students attend
the University, including 13,636 undergraduates, 4,830 graduate students, 1,724
professional degree students and 644 enrolled in continuing education programs.
Admission to all programs is highly competitive. The most recent entering undergraduate
class (2007-08) of 3,248 was drawn from 18,046 first-year applicants.
- Among first-year students, 87% ranked in the top 10th of their secondary school
classes.
- The mean combined SAT score of the 2007-08 entering class was 1307.
Schools & Degrees
The University of Virginia is made up of eleven schools in Charlottesville (including the
Batten School), plus the College at Wise in southwest Virginia. The University offers 51
bachelor's degrees in 47 fields, 83 master's degrees in 66 fields, six educational specialist
degrees, two first-professional degrees (law and medicine), and 57 doctoral degrees in 55
fields. In addition, the University of Virginia Health System is a nationally renowned
academic medical center.
Finances and Endowment
The University is supported financially by student tuition and fees, significant state
appropriations, and the generosity of loyal alumni, parents, friends, philanthropies and
partners.
The total University budget for FY 2007-2008 is $2.1 billion, with $1.1 billion
attributable to the Academic Division, $930 million attributable to the Medical Center
and $33 million attributable to the University’s College at Wise. Total sponsored
research funding in 2006-2007 was $333 million. Philanthropic support totaled $302
million in 2006-2007. The total market value of the University’s endowment is
approximately $4.417 billion. The University is one of only two public universities with
top bond ratings from all three debt-rating agencies: Standard & Poor's (AAA), Fitch
Investors Service (AAA), and Moody's Investors Service (Aaa).
Governance
The President is the Chief Executive officer of the University. The University's governing
body is the Board of Visitors, the members of which are appointed by the governor for
four-year terms. A student member is elected by the Board for a one-year term. The
Board establishes general education policy; elects the President, Vice Presidents, and
members of the faculty and fixes tuition and other fees. Two Executive Vice Presidents
report to the President, one is the Provost to whom the deans report directly, and the other
is the Chief Operating Officer of the University.
THE FRANK BATTEN SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC POLICY
History of the Batten School Initiative
The Batten School emerged from nearly10 years of inquiry and planning beginning with
a long-term planning initiative, known as Virginia 2020. In this process, the University
of Virginia identified and studied, through large commissions composed of faculty and
staff, four areas where it needed to improve: science and technology, the arts, public
service, and international initiatives. The members were struck, during this process that
the University of Virginia—the American university with the deepest public service
tradition—has lacked a professional school dedicated to the public interest. The 2020
commissions called for the University to re-emphasize the importance of public service in
the context of its own history.
In early 2003, the then Provost, Gene Block appointed a 14 member faculty committee,
co-chaired by David Breneman, Dean of the Curry School of Education, and Arthur
“Tim” Garson, then Dean of the Medical School, to consider the 2020 study, and the
status of public policy programs at other leading U.S. research universities. The
Breneman-Garson committee, which included faculty form across the university,
surveyed the field of public policy education and examined the strengths and strategic
assets of the University. The Committee’s May 23, 2005 report, which took into account
feedback received from five external reviewers drawn from the faculty of top public
policy schools, recommended the creation of a program in Public Policy and a
distinguished School if private funds could be raised for this purpose.
An Extraordinary Gift
Several months after the Breneman-Garson committee recommended the establishment
of a new school, Provost Block and Mr. John O. Wynne, a leading figure on the
University’s Board of Visitors (BOV) met with Mr. Frank Batten, who expressed
willingness to entertain a full proposal for a School. The proposal for the School of
Leadership and Public Policy emerged after several months of further development and
review both in-house and with the aid of prominent figures in the field. In early April
2007, University President Casteen and Mr. Batten met and a gift agreement was signed
to create the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
Scale and Integration
The University has planned the Batten School to be comparable in size to other
prominent public policy programs at other major public research universities. The
planners assume a faculty of roughly 18 full time equivalents, with joint appointments
that will increase total size. In addition to having their own research assistants, the
planners expect the School to hire teaching and research assistants from other university
units, creating additional synergies among public policy, professional education, and the
academic disciplines.
A vision emerging from a dynamic field
The University Board members and officials who have developed the Batten School
believe that it grows directly from the excellent work in the field, but contains its own
distinctive vision.
In the view of the Batten planners, the original professional schools that prepared
graduates for public service emerged in a precise historical context. Much as business
schools taught business administration, schools of public service taught public
administration. Graduates were expected to join important public agencies, federal, state
and local, to “professionalize” the civil service. The university administrators of the time
believed that a more rigorously prepared public servant was what was most needed in
public life. The nation had a stable political consensus. It had emerged victorious in
world war and was economically dominant, what was needed in public life was
competent administration.
In the late 1960’s a group of innovators, believed that elected and appointed officials
often erred in policy choice. They required a more sophisticated frame. The movement
owed much of its enthusiasm to the fields of economics and quantitative political science
which had emerged with increasing prominence and power in both the public and private
economy.
In the ensuing generation, most schools of “public administration” became far more
research intensive and took on the mantle of “public policy.”
The movement has matured, has developed impressive research and teaching and like
most mature movements has encountered some of its own limitations. The nation’s
economy, its politics, its intellectual life, even its demographics are now entwined
globally. Everything from special education to global warming now has a dense social
network of professional and citizen involvement that deeply influences the result. Policy
makers, more often than not, operate in highly partisan settings and much of the most
innovative work now occurs in independent sector networks. The context for policy has
become more complex and the users more diverse.
The Batten School, in its careful examination of the field, has evolved what it hopes will
be the next generation of innovation. It assumes, like most schools of public policy, that
policy emerges in a context, that there is no neutral, “maximized” solution, independent
of the setting. It looks broadly to “leadership” to marry innovative policy to a dynamic
context. It believes that students can learn context, policy analysis and leadership and
that the components of skill can be taught. It acknowledges that leadership, in the end,
even in groups, is personal and does require, like all great teaching, a great learner to
respond.
It presumes that a simultaneous focus on leadership and policy, on the “how” and the
“what,” will stimulate new opportunities for research, in policy, and in organizational and
political effectiveness.
A few founding principles
In the broadest sense, the Batten School has the same threefold mission as the rest of the
university: teaching, research, and public service. What is distinctive is how it will
discharge that mission.
The university’s citizens, who have contributed to the Batten definition, formulated a few
simple beliefs about leadership and public policy that they seek to incorporate into this
innovative form of a public service school.
The role of policy analysis
The last generation’s work on policy analytics has developed a rigorous and eminent
field, powered by very fine research. The Batten School intends to build on the last
generation of reform work. It will participate fully in the field of public policy analysis,
both in research and in teaching. It will create research centers around a set of strategic,
large, public policy issues and build academic partnerships across the University. It
intends to join the existing schools of policy as a resource to the nation and it intends to
excel.
Towards a usable definition of leadership
In organizations, in communities, and in movement networks, the “hard work” of
leadership is both personal and organizational. The common good requires that we
act. Leadership is the method we deploy.
Leadership is a social, not just a personal, effort. It relies on the personal character of leaders but also on the distributed strength of groups and communities. It assumes that
citizens can all lead and can all follow. In some settings, we distribute leadership. In
some, we focus it. In all, leadership is action, sometimes accomplished with more or less
grace and skill.
Effective leaders are innovators and social entrepreneurs, not mere incremental
thinkers. Some leading thinkers about public policy encourage others to be content with
incremental progress with an end in mind. But often we can do far better, especially in
policy sectors (e.g., health care, K-12 education) where society is operating well below
its potential. Through internships, workshops, and classroom experiences, Batten School
students will learn to recognize and seize opportunities for rapid social change. They will
understand both the value and the risks of expansive thinking.
Leadership skill can be taught but leadership must be learned. The mix of intellect
and experience are essential to leadership learning. Leadership rests on both a particular
psychological orientation and on a specific set of skills. Leaders who lack selfunderstanding
do not know who they are or where to go, while leaders without key skills
will be unable to accomplish their missions should they reach their destinations.
Finally, Leadership is action. It is the “how” of public endeavor. The graduates of the
Batten School should emerge from their curriculum and their pedagogy with a bias for
action.
The mix of practitioner and academic
Most schools of public service have professors of practice. They have become more
common and are widely perceived as useful. Because Batten is conceived as the
marriage of policy and context, in both teaching and research, and because leadership is
the glue, the hard test of practitioner wisdom acquires a greater importance. It brings into
the school the precise tests that policy training meets in world of public work.
There is no one career path to transformational leadership.
Politicians and public officials should be leaders. Not for-profit executives play a critical
role. Every student, no matter what their career choice, has a civic role to play and can
exercise public leadership. Leadership training will be conceived not as an alternative
educational pathway but as an extension of and integral to whatever path students might
choose.
Public Service
The School will serve the broader community through outreach and public action. The
School will serve as a laboratory for the development of innovative policy solutions and
as a platform for sustained dialogues, strategic partnerships, technical assistance, and
consultancies with government leaders, organizations, and stakeholders both locally and
around the globe. It will seek to co-sponsor initiatives with other Schools, Centers, and
Institutes within the university, working to change and improve public policy at the local,
state, and federal levels.
It will choose a few, “big problems” of national or international consequence, build
faculty and student strength around these strategic issues and make a contribution,
locally, nationally, or globally, depending on the range and power of the issue.
Programs
Batten School students will learn not only how to define problems, analyze options, and
confront trade-offs, but how to build public support for preferred solutions. Graduates of
the School will be equipped to analyze complex social and technological issues using
both quantitative and qualitative methods, to work in a variety of organizational settings,
and to maintain their composure and moral vision under the most demanding conditions.
The specifics of these programs and their timelines (or even the adoption of some of the
later programs) remain for the founding dean to determine.
Programs for Undergraduate Students
The School will engage University undergraduates through several leadership-building
programs.
Five-Year Master of Public Policy Program (BA/MPP). This accelerated master’s
program will permit talented undergraduates to obtain the MPP in five years rather than
the normal six. This program has already been approved by the Faculty Senate and has
enrolled it first class of 30 students. The program is only open to current UVA
undergraduates, who apply for admission in the third year and, if accepted, begin the
program in the fourth year. Students graduate with their classes to receive the bachelor’s
degree on schedule. After graduation, they perform a summer public service internship,
and then return to Grounds for a final year of study. The program will include both
Domestic and International Policy Tracks. University Professor David Breneman has
been appointed to serve a three-year term as Director of the BA/MPP program, and Eric
Patashnik, Associate Professor of Politics, is serving a three-year term (eligible for
renewal) as Associate Director of the program, beginning August 25, 2006.
Leadership Scholars Program. This undergraduate concentration program would be
open to undergraduates from any major. Students would receive a concentration (or
possibly a minor) in leadership and public policy after completing a series of classes
related to effective leadership in a democratic society.
Undergraduate Major in Public Policy and Leadership (Domestic and International
Tracks). The School will establish a selective undergraduate majors program. Students
would be admitted initially to the College of Arts and Sciences and apply during their
second year at the University, as students now do for admission to the McIntire School.
Programs for Graduate Students
Initially, the Batten School would offer the following three graduate programs:
Master of Public Policy. This two-year master’s program is primarily geared for students
with one to four years of work experience who seek leadership careers as executives,
policy analysts, managers, advocates, and planners in government and with non-profit
and private firms engaged in public-private partnerships. In addition, accelerated, jointdegree
programs (e.g., MPP/ JD, MPP/ MBA, MPP/MPH, MPP/MA in urban and
environmental planning) could be established. Such coordinated programs would likely
be in strong demand given the strength of the University’s professional schools. Unlike
the five-year BA/ MPP program, the two-year MPP would be open to students from any
university.
Master’s in Global Affairs. This degree is offered for students who seek foreign service
and related international policy careers with government, NGOs, and international
consulting firms. The content of this degree will be developed by the Dean of the Batten
School and faculty with relevant expertise.
Post-Doctoral Program in Public Policy. This small, residential non-degree program in
public policy would strengthen the research base of the School and provide the human
capital for externally funded research projects. It will also help to attract and retain firstclass faculty in the School. The program would be open both to students who earned
their doctorates at Virginia and to post-doctoral students form other research universities.
Together with the Governing America in a Global Era (GAGE) program run by the
Miller Center, this program would make U.Va. one of the nation’s leading institutions for
post-doctoral research in the substance, methods, history, and larger context of public
problem solving.
Program for Professional Students
Master of Public Leadership (MPL) degree. The School will establish a new master’s
degree, not currently offered at any other major U.S. research university, for mid-career
professionals (who generally will have at least five years of experience) who wish to
receive intellectual broadening and advanced leadership training. This program would be
open to students with at least five years of work experience who may already have
advanced degrees in law, business, medicine, nursing, architecture, and other fields, and
who seek to hone their leadership skills and deepen their commitment to public service,
broadly defined. The University currently imagines this degree as an executive education
program. The degree has not yet been approved by the Faculty Senate and will require
careful development.
Administration and Governance
The Dean will be the chief academic and executive officer of the Batten School of
Leadership and Public Policy. Reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost,
Dr. Arthur (Tim) Garson, the Dean will be expected to provide the strategic leadership
necessary to achieve national and international standing for the School, to recruit and
build a distinguished faculty, to oversee the creation of public policy research centers,
and to help set the priorities and vision for the School during its formative period.
Other key administrative positions are projected as follows (thought these may change
depending upon the dean’s plans): An Associate Dean for Academic Affairs would be
chiefly responsible for curricular development and for promoting the quality of the
School’s academic programs. The School will have a skilled administrative staff
including: an Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, a Director of Career and Alumni
Services, a Business Manger, an Admissions and Student Recruitment Officer, Internship
Placement Officers, and support staff. The School will have the authority to make tenure
decisions (subject to regular University P&T Committee, Provost, and BOV approval).
The Dean will appoint a Board of Advisors to offer guidance to the School and promote
its academic reputation. Members of the Board might include a diverse group of
distinguished leaders and national experts in public affairs education. It may also include
prominent leaders and policymakers who are UVA alumni and wish to help support the
new School. This Advisory Board can play a supportive role in a future accreditation
process.
As with all Schools at the University, the Batten School will likely establish its own
Foundation, with staff to handle fund raising and alumni relations. Given the initial
founding gift, however, this need will probably not be a high priority for the first five
years of the School’s existence.
Learning Outcomes/ Student Evaluation Metrics
The central goal of the degree programs in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and
Public Policy is to prepare leaders who will shape the public policies of the future in
domestic and/or international spheres. The University will expect a founding Dean to
establish student learning metrics that can be evaluated carefully over time, living the
responsibility that it teaches. |
