Meet Our Graduate Affiliates: Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau Tuesday, September 1, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to introduce Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau as two of our newest Graduate Affiliates.Browne is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia studying American political institutions and research methodology. Her research interests include state politics, policy diffusion, and quantitative methodology. Prior to attending the University of Virginia, Browne was a Policy Fellow with the Correlates of State Policy Project for the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. She also…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Jacob Lollis The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Jacob Lollis as one of our newest faculty affiliates. Jacob Lollis is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, where he studies American political institutions, with a focus on representation, legislative behavior, and effective lawmaking. His current research examines the consequences of descriptive representation, the dynamics of bipartisanship, and the conditions that facilitate effective lawmaking in the U.S. Congress. Dr. Lollis earned his…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Mackenzie Dobson The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Mackenzie Dobson as one of our newest faculty affiliates, having recently been one of our graduate research affiliates. Mackenzie R. Dobson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research centers on bipartisan collaboration, effective lawmaking, and political representation in American legislatures. She studies how legislators build relationships across party lines, how those relationships shape policymaking and legislative success across policy areas, and how reform efforts, including those aimed…

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Eileen Chou Thursday, August 20, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to welcome Eileen Chou to our Board of Advisors.Dr. Chou is the interim dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, leading a multidisciplinary faculty of scholars and practitioners committed to creating new knowledge, developing ethical and effective leaders, and advancing solutions to humanity’s greatest policy challenges.An award-winning scholar of organizational behavior, Dr. Chou studies the social, psychological, and organizational mechanisms that shape leadership,…

CEL on 1440 Explores Wednesday, July 29, 2026Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Craig Volden of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia was a guest on 1440 Explores to discuss why Congress has become dysfunctional and unpopular over the years – and how the reality of passing legislation is far different from the Schoolhouse Rock! “I’m Just a Bill” cartoon.In the video titled “How America Broke Congress,” hosted by 1440 Editor-in-Chief Sony Kassam, Professor Volden gives a brief history of Congress and…

Craig Volden, Alan Wiseman, Johnnie Kaberle, Chris Bertram, Bettina Poirier, Tom Kahn, and Chad Chirico (from left to right). Photo by Andrew Colford. Roadmap to the Budget Process Monday, July 27, 2026On Thursday, July 16, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) co-hosted a panel discussion on Capitol Hill with American University’s Program on Legislative Negotiation (PLN) and the Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) entitled “Roadmap to the Budget Process.” Panelists highlighted core budget issues and their role in the authorization and appropriation processes. The importance of negotiation in budgetary matters was also a…

How Do Women and Men Respond to More Women in the Legislature? A Study of Bill Introductions and Effectiveness Wednesday, July 8, 2026 In this newly published paper in Political Research Quarterly, Emma Schroeder (Texas Christian University) examines how increasing numbers of women in state legislatures influence the legislative behavior of women and men, using bill introduction data and legislative effectiveness scores from 49 U.S. state legislatures. She finds that in upper chambers with more women, women serve as the primary sponsors of fewer bills than men. However, when both primary sponsorship…

The CEL's 2026 Award for Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking Wednesday, July 1, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2026 Award for the Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking. The recipients of this year’s award are Charles R. Hunt (Boise State University) and Kristina C. Miller (University of Maryland and CEL Faculty Affiliate) for their article in the Journal of Politics, “How Modern Lawmakers Advertise Their Legislative Effectiveness to Constituents.”In the paper, the authors explain how in a complex information environment, members of Congress…

Group photo outside the UVA Colonnade Club (Photo by John Robinson, Batten School). Advancing the Study of Effective Lawmaking: Highlights from CEL’s 8th Annual Research Conference Tuesday, June 30, 2026Charlottesville, VA – On Monday, June 22nd, 2026, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) hosted its 8th annual research conference at the University of Virginia (UVA). The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from around the country to share their latest research findings and to discuss trends in effective lawmaking in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. The morning opened with…

Congressional Bipartisanship Scores by Member and Issue Area, 1983–2024 Monday, June 15, 2026Although bipartisanship has often been considered a cornerstone of effective lawmaking, researchers have struggled to measure it consistently across time and issue areas, making it difficult to build off of each other's work and have constructive conversations about the topic. In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Mackenzie Dobson, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee (and CEL Graduate Affiliate), and Jacob Lollis, Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati, take a step toward solving that…