In a press release Tuesday, Ian Solomon, dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, announced he would be stepping down as dean, effective Aug. 2.
Solomon joined Batten in September 2019 as the school’s third dean, and in 2024, the University appointed him to serve a second, five-year term. His departure cuts his second term as dean short, as he is leaving to become the president and chief executive officer of Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The RFB is a private charitable foundation and according to its mission statement, works to advance “social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.” The foundation works towards these goals through grantmaking and mission-aligned investing to support people finding solutions to the world’s problems, the statement writes.
RFP President Emeritus Stephen Heintz retired as the foundation’s seventh president in the spring. In an email Tuesday to the Batten community, Solomon said joining the RFB represents a “call to service.”
“For me, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund … represents a call to service at a pivotal moment. For decades, RBF has played an influential role in advancing peacebuilding, democracy, environmental sustainability, and the arts,” Solomon wrote. “With RBF’s consequential CEO retiring after 25 years and many of its priorities under pressure in a volatile world, I am drawn to help navigate the organization’s next chapter.”
Eileen Chou, Batten associate dean for academic affairs and Batten Family Bicentennial Teacher-Scholar Leadership professor of public policy, will serve as interim dean beginning Aug. 3, according to the release.
“Thanks to Dean Chou’s collaborative leadership and Batten’s culture of shared governance, the school is in exceptionally capable hands,” Solomon wrote in a Tuesday email to the Batten community.
The press release also said that though Solomon exits the role as dean Aug. 2, he will serve as special advisor to interim University Provost Brie Gertler until Sept. 1. In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover explained this means he will advise Gertler as Chou transitions into the role as interim dean. Solomon’s email to the Batten community also stated he will serve in this role with the same “energy” from his team as dean.
“During my remaining time as dean, my focus will be on ensuring a smooth transition and continuing to serve with the same energy, commitment, and affection that I have sought to bring every day since 2019,” Solomon wrote. “Associate Dean Chou will officially assume the duties of interim dean on Aug. 3, 2026, and I will be available locally to support the transition in an advisory capacity until early September."
According to the announcement of Solomon’s reappointment in 2024, he expanded the Batten school’s enrollment, recruited “outstanding faculty” and strengthened “the school’s overall foundation to ensure a successful future.” In 2020, 82 undergraduates received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy and Leadership. In 2024 — at the time of his reappointment — the undergraduate graduating class had 98 students.
More specifically, the 2024 announcement said he launched initiatives including the Bridge to Batten program — which supports first-year, economically disadvantaged students interested in the “world of policy” through seminar classes and advising — and the BattenX program for adult students.
In his Tuesday email to the Batten community, Solomon expressed his gratitude for the school and reflected on the accomplishments of its students, faculty, staff and alumni during his time as dean.
“Leaving a place I love is not something I do lightly,” Solomon wrote. “Together, we have built community, navigated challenges, and worked diligently to advance the important mission of developing leadership and generating knowledge to address the most pressing policy challenges in our diverse and divided world.”
Prior to joining the University, Solomon served in the U.S. Senate as legislative counsel to then-Sen. Barack Obama (D) from 2005 to 2008. He also served as the U.S. executive director of The World Bank from 2010 to 2013 and as vice president for global engagement at the University of Chicago from 2013 to 2016.
Earlier in his career, Solomon worked as an engagement manager for McKinsey and Company from 1995 to 1998 and was a law lecturer and visiting law lecturer at the University of Chicago and Yale University, respectively. He graduated with an atrium baccalaureatus — the equivalent of a Bachelor Arts — degree in social studies and afro-american studies from Harvard University in 1995 and with a Juris Doctor from Yale University in 2002.
As he leaves the University, Solomon wrote in his Tuesday email that he transitions “with confidence because Batten is in a position of strength.” He added that he will miss Batten students, faculty and staff but said he hopes to return often.
“So this is not goodbye. It is a farewell, for now, to a community that I love and will carry with me. Even as my professional address changes, I will remain a proud member of the Batten and U.Va. family,” Solomon wrote. “To that end, I will continue supporting Batten philanthropically, have offered to teach a course in the spring and hope to return often.”
Tuesday’s press release also noted the search for Batten’s next permanent dean will begin this fall. Glover added that Gertler will announce information regarding the search at a “later date.”
Lauren Seeliger is a news editor of the 137th term and enjoys covering U.Va. Health and University governance. Lauren is a fourth-year Behavioral Neuroscience student from Fairfield, Connecticut.
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