2025-2026 Small Grant Awards Announced Thursday, November 13, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to present its 8th annual small grant awards and recipients. The awards are given to scholars who are researching topics that connect to the mission of the CEL to advance the generation, communication, and use of new knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and legislative institutions. This group of scholars will join previous grant recipients who have made insightful contributions to the study of lawmaking effectiveness. We are honored to support the awardees and look…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Melanie Egorin Thursday, November 6, 2025 The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to welcome one of our newest faculty affiliates, Melanie Egorin.Melanie Anne Egorin is a professor of practice in public policy at the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. A nationally recognized strategic and innovative health policy expert with over 25 years of experience, Dr. Egorin served most recently as assistant secretary for legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she was confirmed by…

CEL at APSA 2025 Tuesday, October 21, 2025Between September 11-14, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) attended the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) conference in Vancouver, Canada titled “Reimagining Politics, Power, and Peoplehood in Crisis Times”. The event allowed for more than 5,000 political scientists, scholars, and experts across the discipline to participate and showcase their works to the broader audience, with panels and presentations that included the following from CEL affiliates (and others):Accountability in Darkness: The Effects of Local Media Closures on Legislators - Kisoo Kim (University of…

The (Sometimes Untraceable) Origins of Policy Ideas in Congress: An Analysis of Seven Landmark Laws Research on lawmaking suggests legislative enactments are constructed in various ways. Although multiple approaches are documented in the literature, political scientists do not conclusively know which are used more often. In this paper published in Legislative Studies Quarterly - which was supported by a small grant award from the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL)  - Jeremy Gelman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno, examines how laws are created by studying…

CEL on CNN's Smerconish Monday, September 29, 2025Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University was a guest on CNN's Smerconish to discuss the published paper “On the Decline of Elite-Educated Republicans in Congress” and the educational divide in American politics. Professor Wiseman coauthored the paper with CEL Co-Director Craig Volden of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Associate Professor Jonathan Wai of the University of Arkansas, and it was published in the academic journal Perspectives on Politics.In the segment, Professor…

Meet our Research Affiliate: Kisoo Kim The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce our newest research affiliate, Kisoo Kim.Dr. Kim is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. His research examines how elections and political information hold representatives accountable in democratic systems. He uses econometric methods for causal inference to study how democratic institutions shape elected officials’ behavior, with a focus on legislators' policy positions and legislative productivity. He earned his Ph.D. from the Harris…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor as one of our newest faculty affiliates.Dr. Gaynor is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where she specializes in the U.S. Congress and political institutions. Her research focuses on congressional leadership, institutional reform, and partisan communication, and has been published in the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Electoral Studies, and other outlets. She is an author…

CEL on The Smerconish Podcast Monday, September 15, 2025Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University was a recent guest on The Smerconish Podcast to talk with host Michael Smerconish about the published paper “On the Decline of Elite-Educated Republicans in Congress” and the educational divide in American politics. Professor Wiseman coauthored the paper with CEL Co-Director Craig Volden of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Associate Professor Jonathan Wai of the University of Arkansas, and it was published in…