Center for Effective Lawmaking

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Jacob Lollis

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…

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Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Mackenzie Dobson

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…

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Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Eileen Chou

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,…

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The CEL’s 2026 Award for Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking
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The CEL’s 2026 Award for Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking

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. Miler (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…

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Advancing the Study of Effective Lawmaking: Highlights from CEL’s 8th Annual Research Conference
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Advancing the Study of Effective Lawmaking: Highlights from CEL’s 8th Annual Research Conference

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 remarks…

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Meet our Program Specialist for State Legislatures: Caroline Clements

Meet our Program Specialist for State Legislatures: Caroline Clements The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to introduce Caroline Clements as our new Program Specialist for State Legislatures. In this role, she will work to discover ways to promote good governance at the state level. Prior to joining the CEL, Caroline worked at a boutique public affairs and communications firm in Nashville. In 2023, Caroline graduated magna cum laude from Swanee: The University of the South, where she studied political science with a focus on law, justice, and national…

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2025: A Year in Review

2025: A Year in Review As 2025 draws to a close, we at the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) wanted to take the time to reflect on our accomplishments this year. These included, but were not limited, to the following:Updating our Legislative Effectiveness Scores for the 118th Congress (including for issue areas) and sharing our congressional New Member Guide with every newly elected member of the House and Senate, as well as at regularly held briefings and sessions with congressional staff.Announcing the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores, with individual reports on California, Georgia, Illinois, Montana,…

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Center for Effective Lawmaking 2025 Annual Report

Center for Effective Lawmaking 2025 Annual Report The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is celebrating another successful year with the release of our annual report. Founded in 2017 as a joint venture between the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University, the Center’s trusted methodology and analyses have been cited in hundreds of news articles and widely used by lawmakers and their staffs, scholars, and many others around the country who care about effective lawmaking.Highlights over the last year include:Updating our Legislative Effectiveness Scores for…

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Highlights from the New 118th Congress Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores

Highlights from the New 118th Congress Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores By Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, Co-Directors, Center for Effective LawmakingWednesday, November 19, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce the release of the Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) in each of 21 different issue areas for the 118th Congress (2023-25). These categories are based on issue area codes from the Comparative Agendas Project with bill issue codings drawn from www.congress.gov. The methodology that we employed to construct these issue-based scores is the same as…

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2025-2026 Small Grant Awards Announced

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…

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