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To boost graduating students who want to continue their education, Christopher Newport University has forged a new admissions partnership with the University of Virginia’s renowned Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
Christopher Newport graduates from the Department of Leadership and American Studies (LAMS) will be eligible to apply to the Batten School with a fee waiver and the promise of a substantial guaranteed fellowship for two years as they pursue a master’s degree.
Christopher Newport is one of the Batten School’s 10 new admissions partners, a group that includes stellar academic institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Furman and Hampden-Sydney. They will be joined by rising policy leaders who are staff members of groups such as the American Enterprise Institute and Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
"Christopher Newport students will benefit and two outstanding institutions, CNU and UVa, will benefit from this partnership," says Dr. Lynn Shollen, associate professor and LAMS department chair. "What really has us excited, though, is the benefit for the wider world that will result when these Christopher Newport-University of Virginia graduates begin their careers serving the greater good."
LAMS immerses students in the study of leadership, American life, history and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective and prepares graduates for lives of significance. It is also an integral part of Christopher Newport’s unique President’s Leadership Program, an educational experience that empowers students to recognize their leadership potential and develop personal and social responsibility for the betterment of self and society.
That distinctive program is one of the factors that led to the CNU-UVa partnership. “The Batten School was created to educate and train the next generation of inspired policy leaders,” says Jeff Chidester, Batten's executive director of external affairs. “To advance that mission, we felt that we needed to be more proactive in building relationships with institutions with high-caliber potential applicants, those we believe will thrive not only at Batten, but will be leaders of consequence in the policy world in the long run.”
Christopher Newport students and alumni who want to know more about the new partnership should contact Shollen (s.shollen@cnu.edu), or Courtney Leistensnider (CNU ’16), admissions coordinator at the Batten School, at crl4sn@virginia.edu.