Charles Holt and William Shobe published an article in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization on “Elements of emission market design: An experimental analysis of California’s market for greenhouse gas allowances.” Their work uses experiments to look at how features of the California cap and trade program work to limit greenhouse gas emissions. They find that holding limits on owning allowances reduces efficiency, that the price containment reserve sale rule has no significant effect on market performance, and that the lowest bid rule has no effect on outcomes.

Mahoney has two articles forthcoming this fall. Her research with Frank Baumgartner (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) will appear in the Journal of Politics, exploring “Partners in Advocacy: Lobbyists and government officials in Washington.” Her research with Heike Klüver (University of Bamberg) on “Measuring Interest Group Framing Strategies in Public Policy Debates” will appear in the Journal of Public Policy. Mahoney was recently named to C-Ville Weekly magazine’s "The Power Issue: 15 under 40" list.

Volden published an article in PS: Political Science and Politics on “The Communication of Ideas Across Subfields in Political Science.” Along with colleagues Erin Graham (Drexel University) and Charles Shipan (University of Michigan), Volden focused on diffusion scholarship articles and found that there is greater integration of research when scholars use similar terminology, publish in a common set of journals and use similar methodological approaches.

Leadership in American Politics

ERIC PATASHNIK, professor of public policy and politics, and Alan Wiseman, Vanderbilt University, offered concluding remarks on the challenges facing leadership studies today: defining what leadership means, examining what good leaders do and understanding constraints within the context of political offices that can inhibit transformational leadership.

CRAIG VOLDEN organized a conference on Leadership in American Politics with Jeff Jenkins, professor of politics, hosted at the University of Virginia Miller Center. Over the course of the two-day conference, scholars discussed the ways in which leadership can be effectively taught and studied. “Americans feel like there’s a gap between leadership and policy challenges facing politicians in Washington,” Volden said. “There’s an array of academic literature about what goes on in politics, but scholars haven’t always been explicit about leadership in their studies. So for this conference, we asked scholars to talk about the political institutions they know best, but also to gear their work toward a better understanding of leadership within those institutions.”

Excellence in Teaching

This year, three Batten faculty and two Batten graduate students were recognized for their excellence in the classroom and as colleagues:

CHARLES HOLT received the Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award. His colleagues noted: “Charlie is truly unique in what I think is the most valuable quality in our environment: Charlie is a team builder.”

ERIC PATASHNIK received the University Jefferson Scholars Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching, which recognizes faculty members across the University who have selflessly endeavored to instill in their students the virtues of scholarship and love of learning.

CRAIG VOLDEN received an All-University Teaching Award. As one student nominee noted: “Volden’s ability to inspire his students, engage them in their own education, and push them to go further and reach their full potential has resulted in driven, bright and involved students looking to help shape the future of policy.”

Students RYAN BUGAS (MPP '14) and RYAN SINGEL (MPP '14) received awards for their work as graduate teaching assistants. Bugas was the Batten School’s All-University GTA Award nominee, and Singel received the Batten School’s inaugural internal GTA Award.