Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy

Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy

Garrett Hall at the University of Virginia, home of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Type	Public
Parent institution	University of Virginia
Endowment	$130 million
Dean	Allan Stam
Location	Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Website	www.batten.virginia.edu

The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy (also known as the Batten School) is one of the University of Virginia’s graduate schools. The school offers classes and degree programs in Public Policy and Leadership. The School, established in 2007, is closely aligned with many of the University's schools, including the architecture, business, education, engineering, law, and medicine schools, as well as with programs in politics, economics, and applied ethics.

The Frank Batten School, located in Charlottesville, Virginia was established in 2007 by a $100 million gift from University of Virginia alumnus, Frank Batten. A part of the University's strategic plan, the Batten School was designed to be an expression of U.Va.'s Jeffersonian heritage. Frank Batten's vision for the school was to create an institution that "focused on developing leaders who understand the responsibilities and opportunities of public life and have a bias for action.” The School is housed at the center of the University's grounds in Garrett Hall, next to Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda and The Lawn.Harry Harding, previously the dean of the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, was selected as the school's founding dean in January 2009. Garrett Hall went through a multimillion-dollar renovation while under Dean Harding. The project was completed in the summer of 2011. In May of 2014, the University announced that University of Michigan professor and national security and international relations policy expert, Allan Stam, was slated to become Batten's second dean. Stam began his term July 1st of that year.