Scholar named dean at UVa’s Batten School

China scholar Harry Harding will become the first dean of the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten Sr. School of Leadership and Public Policy.

In his first year as dean, Harding will be expected, among other things, to review the school’s public policy degree programs and recruit the first class of students for the school’s two-year master’s in public policy program.

“The University of Virginia is fortunate to have attracted a dean of Harry Harding’s caliber to become the founding dean of the Batten School,” University of Virginia John T. Casteen III said. “He brings with him a record of great accomplishment as well as an outstanding track record as a scholar, teacher and administrator who embraces a global view of the world and who understands the critical issues our students will face when they leave us to become global citizen-leaders.”

Harding begins his term July 1.

Harding served for 10 years as the dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

He received his bachelor’s in public and international affairs from Princeton University in 1967 and his master’s and doctorate in political science from Stanford University.

Before becoming dean of the Elliott School at GWU, Harding was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution from 1983 until 1994.

Harding, a prolific writer, is vice chairman of the board of the Asia Foundation, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations and counselor to Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk advisory and consulting firm.

The Batten School is the first new school to be established at the University in more than five decades. It is the result of a $100 million gift from longtime university supporter Frank Batten Sr., a 1950 graduate of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Batten, retired chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications Inc. in Norfolk, has said there is an urgent need to develop entrepreneurial leaders who can bring about transformational change.

“Talented public leaders are needed from a range of professional backgrounds. It is critical to get younger people excited about the responsibilities and opportunities of public service in all its manifestations,” he has said. “The earlier in their careers that exceptional students begin to think of themselves as future public leaders who can promote a better society, the greater the likelihood they will become such leaders.”

The Batten School offers an accelerated, five-year public policy program. The program is open to university students from all undergraduate majors.

The first class of 26 students will graduate in May. The second class of 30 students will receive master’s of public policy degrees in 2010.

The deadline for UVa students to apply for the third class is Feb. 20.