Summer Research Fellows

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About the Available Fellowships

The Center for Freedom and Western Civilization will sponsor up to 13 students for Summer Fellowships to pursue faculty-mentored summer research projects focused on themes related to the Western heritage of freedom, culture, and civilization (see the Center's website). We offer two sorts of fellowships. 

James Madison Fellowships

The James Madison Summer Fellowships are for students pursuing projects on or off campus under the guidance of Colgate professors. Fellows receive a stipend of $6,000 for the summer; current freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors may apply. Applications will be approved on a rolling basis in February 2026, with a final deadline in April 2026. Application materials for the James Madison fellowships should include: 1) a cover letter explaining the research question, its significance, and the method of inquiry (about 350 words), 2) an unofficial transcript. The sponsoring faculty member should send a brief 1-paragraph email to the directors confirming their sponsorship. (Faculty sponsors of Center Fellowships receive a $2,500 honorarium). 

International Security and Intelligence Programme (ISI)

Emmanuel College, Cambridge University
We will also sponsor up to two students who have applied directly to the summer program and who are accepted. Learn more about program information, dates, and application instructions. Students sponsored by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization to attend receive full program fees and airfare to participate in the program. This program is best suited to current juniors and seniors. To be considered for sponsorship, students must present official acceptance into the ISI program. 

How to Apply

Applications are now closed and will reopen in February 2026.

Materials should include:

  • A cover letter explaining the research question, its significance, and the method of inquiry (about 350 words)
  • A letter from a Colgate faculty member, confirming that he or she will supervise the student’s research project; this includes assistance with its design, on-going advice as the research takes place, and final assessment (sponsors of Center Fellowships receive a $2,500 honorarium)
  • An unofficial transcript

Questions and submissions should be sent to Robert Kraynak at rkraynak@colgate.edu and Carolyn C. Guile at cguile@colgate.edu.

2025 Summer Fellows and Faculty Sponsors

CFWC 2025 Fellows dinner group shot

James Madison Fellow

“Russia's Patronage of Global Authoritarianism”

Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Graybill, professor of Russian & Eurasian Studies

 

James Madison Fellow

“The Education of Alexander the Great”

Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

James Madison Fellow

“Deterrence and Diplomacy: South Korea’s Response to a Nuclear North and a Divided Indo-Pacific”

Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Assessing the Military-Industrial Complex: Do Defense Contracts in Wartime Serve National Security or Business Interests?”

Faculty Sponsor: Ed Fogarty, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Rhetoric and Power: Exploring the Expansion of Executive Authority in the Bush and Trump Administrations”

Faculty Sponsor: Annie Benn, assistant professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Role of Umbrae (ghosts/shades) in Lucan’s Poem on Civil War, Pharsalia”

Faculty Sponsor: Geoffrey Benson, associate professor of the Classics

James Madison Fellow

“Media Ecosystems and the Asymmetric Rise of the Populist Right in Europe”

Faculty Sponsor: Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“A Comparative Study of Reformed, Pentecostal, and Catholic Theologies”

Faculty Sponsor: David Dudrick, George Carleton Jr. Professor of Philosophy

James Madison Fellow

“Freedom vs. Security: Reconciling Civil Liberties and Nuclear Strategies”

Faculty Sponsor: Fred Chernoff, Harvey Picker Chair of International Relations

James Madison Fellow

“Affective Polarization, Partisanship, and Democracy: The Rising Threat of Lone-Wolf Terrorism”

Faculty Sponsor: Danielle Lupton, associate professor of political science

 

James Madison Fellow

“Reviving Trust in American Journalism through the Proper Use of Polling”

Faculty Sponsor: Matt Luttig, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Environmentalism in the US and Australia: The Role of Constitutional Foundations, Free Enterprise, and Individual Freedom in Shaping and Implementing Environmental Policies”

Faculty Sponsor: Priscilla Van Wynsberghe, associate professor of biology

James Madison Fellow

“Economic Freedom and Labor Dynamics in Great Britain's Industrial Revolution”

Faculty Sponsor: Chad Sparber, W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics

International Security & Intelligence (ISI) Summer Program Recipient 

International Security & Intelligence (ISI) Summer Program Recipient 

2025 Summer Fellows Dinner

The Center for Freedom and Western Civilization hosted a dinner for the 2025 Summer Fellows, their sponsors, and members of the External Advisory Board May 6 at the Colgate Inn.


 

2024 Summer Fellows and Faculty Sponsors

2024 James Madison Summer Fellows and their faculty sponsors at the Colgate Inn on April 22.

James Madison Fellow

“Freedom and Safety of the Press in Reporting on Russia and Dangerous Regimes”

Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Graybill, professor of Russian & Eurasian Studies

James Madison Fellow

“Debates about Economic Policies at the American Founding and Their Relevance Today”

Faculty Sponsor: Fred Chernoff, professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Great Power Conflict Between China and the US in Africa”

Faculty Sponsor:  Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Reception of Suetonius and Roman Historians in Eighteenth Century Political Thought”

Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

James Madison Fellow

“Free Speech and Hate Speech at the European Court of Human Rights”    

Faculty Sponsor: Ed Fogarty, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Politics of Clean Water:  Policies, Institutional Structures, and Human Rights”           

Faculty Sponsor: Sam Rosenfeld, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Rhetorical Strategies of US Presidents in State of the Union Addresses”    

Faculty Sponsor: Alexander Karn, associate professor of history

James Madison Fellow

Faculty Sponsor: “Just War Theory and Practice in Eastern Orthodox Christianity”  

Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Developments in US National Security Policies in the South China Sea”     

Faculty Sponsor: Frances Wang, assistant professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Challenge of AI to the US Judiciary and Legal Profession”

Faculty Sponsor: Hibi Pendleton, senior lecturer in philosophy

James Madison Fellow

“Secularism in the French Republic”  

Faculty Sponsor: Jill Harsin, professor of history

2024 James Madison Summer Fellows Dinner

The 2024 James Madison Summer fellows attended a dinner April 22 with their faculty sponsors, the outgoing 2023 fellows, and members of the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization’s forums and External Advisory Board members at the Colgate Inn.

Past Fellows

2023 Summer Fellows and Faculty Sponsors

James Madison Fellow

“Julius Caesar and the Western Military Tradition”

Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

James Madison Fellow

“Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy”

Faculty Sponsor: Ed Fogarty, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Moral and Political Philosophy of Cicero”

Faculty Sponsor: Robert Kraynak, professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Development of the Supreme Court’s Power of Judicial Review”

Faculty Sponsor: Stanley Brubaker, professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Metaphysical Realism in Medieval Philosophy: A Comparison of Western and Islamic Traditions”

Faculty Sponsor: Joseph Stenberg, assistant professor of philosophy

James Madison Fellow

“U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa: The Challenge of Authoritarian Actors for Democracy”

Faculty Sponsor: Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“The Ethics of Human Desire: A Study of Levinas, Gerard, and Lacan”

Faculty Sponsor: David Dudrick, George Carleton Jr. Professor of philosophy

James Madison Fellow

“The Spatial Imprint of Fascism in Vichy France”

Faculty Sponsor: Carolyn Guile, associate professor of art and art history

James Madison Fellow

“The Life of Virtue in Maimonides and Aristotle”

Faculty Sponsor: Benjamin Stahlberg, senior lecturer in religion

James Madison Fellow

“Technology and State Propaganda in Russia”

Faculty Sponsor: Masha Hedberg, assistant professor of political science

James Madison Fellow

“Content Moderation by Big Tech: Internet Policy Formation in the United States”

Faculty Sponsor: Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

2023 James Madison Summer Fellows Presentations and Reception

The 2023 Summer Fellows presented their summer research projects at a reception at the Colgate Inn on Oct. 14, 2023. Robert Kraynak, Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, hosted and moderated the event.

2022 Summer Fellows

James Madison Fellow

"US Military Intervention in Latin America: A Reflection of American Ideals?"

James Madison Fellow

"Eros and Philosophy: A Comparison of Plato, Freud, & Marcuse"

James Madison Fellow

"Analyzing Cultural Heritage Policy through the Example of Ukraine"

James Madison Fellow

"Polarization and Democratic Consensus in America"

James Madison Fellow

"The Origins of Christianity: A Historiographical and Philosophical Investigation of the Resurrection Narratives of the Gospels"

James Madison Fellow

"Democracy Building in Nigeria"

James Madison Fellow

"The Visigoths and the End of the Western Roman Empire"

James Madison Fellow

"Ancient Roman Poetry: Bucolic Love Themes"

2021 Summer Fellows

James Madison Fellow

"The Saudi Path to Modernization"

James Madison Fellow

"Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic"

James Madison Fellow

"Just War Theory and Practice"

James Madison Fellow

"Architectural Patronage and Civic Virtue in Renaissance Florence"

James Madison Fellow

"The Transformation of Religious Freedom"

James Madison Fellow

"How to Define the Presence of Absence: A Study of the Memorialization of 9/11"

James Madison Fellow

"Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag Experience of Good and Evil"

James Madison Fellow

"Academic Freedom in the American University"

James Madison Fellow

"Aristotle, Nietzsche, and the Nature of Truth"

James Madison Fellow

"Translations of Greek & Roman Poetry"

James Madison Fellow

"The Critique of Identity Politics"

James Madison Fellow

"Reception and Sources of Dante's Divine Comedy"

2020 Summer Fellows

James Madison Fellow

"Immigration and American Citizenship - The Founders View and Beyond"

James Madison Fellow

"Albert Camus' Plague and the Existential and Religious Responses to Natural Disasters and Suffering"

James Madison Fellow

"Are There Two Edmund Burkes?"

James Madison Fellow

"Interpreting Thucydides  Peloponnesian Wars: A Critical Assessment of International Relations Scholarship"

James Madison Fellow

"Architecture and Culture during the Venetian Plagues of 1576 and 1630"

James Madison Fellow

"Weber and Tocqueville on American Political Culture: The Protestant Ethic and Democratic Morality"

James Madison Fellow

"Democratic Development: DeTocqueville v. Acemoglu and Robinson"

James Madison Fellow

"Gothicists: Ruskin, Pugin, and Gothic Architecture in Upstate NY"

James Madison Fellow

"Dostoevsky as a Religious and Political Thinker"

James Madison Fellow

"The Origin of Historiography: Herodotus and Sima Qian"

James Madison Fellow

"Survey of Western Christian Just War Theory Compared to Islamic Notions of JWT & Governance"

James Madison Fellow

"Political Systems and Pandemic Responses: A Comparative Study"

2019 Summer Fellows accordion

James Madison Fellow

“Study of archaeology in Italy on the roots of classical civilization”

James Madison Fellow

“Study of the foreign policy of the American founders”

James Madison Fellow

“Study of the American and French revolutions through the eyes of Alexis de Tocqueville and the American founders”

James Madison Fellow

 “Study of fake news in the French and American constitutional systems

James Madison Fellow

“Study of immigration and assimilation to the cultures of Western societies”

Stone Summer Fellow

“Study of climate change and its impact on Western security in the Arctic region”, in connection with the CEVRO Institute in Prague, Czech Republic

2018 Summer Fellows Accordion

James Madison Fellow

“John Jay: American Founder and Progressive Federalist”

Stone Summer Fellow

“Faith and Community: How Israeli Christians View Zionism and the Jewish Nation.”

2017 Summer Fellows

James Madison Summer Fellow, 2017

Drew did a summer research project on the political theory of the American founders, focusing on the natural law and natural rights ideas of the founding period.

Influences Of American Founding poster project.
Kyle Dillon gives a presentation

James Madison Fellow, 2017 

Kyle worked on an important topic: the role of theology in higher education, comparing the ideas of John Henry Cardinal Newman with Thomas Jefferson and Colgate University’s Baptist founders. He did some of his research for Colgate’s Bicentennial History on the relation of its liberal arts program to its theological and religious mission. 

Kyle Dillon '18 poster from summer fellowship

James Madison Fellow, 2017 

Matt completed a summer internship project on Adam Smith’s writings – a comparison of the Theory of Moral Sentiments with the Wealth of Nations on the question of human nature. Are there two Adam Smiths?

Richard Stone Fellow, 2017 

Ryan completed a research paper on the writings of Leo Strauss and the Recovery of Classical Political Philosophy in Plato and Aristotle. Ryan also attended a week-long conference at the Von Mises Institute in Atlanta, Georgia on the ideas of the famous Austrian free-market economist.

Ryan Zoellner '20 poster from summer fellowship

2016 Summer Fellows

 

James Madison Fellow

Man stands in front of his poster project and smiles.

Jake was tasked with writing an original research thesis concerning the political theory behind America's Founding Fathers, in particular, that of Alexander Hamilton. His thesis focused on the theoretical and religious aspects of Hamilton and the ebbs and flows of both of these sides throughout Hamilton's life and writings. Jake also attended a conference at the CEVRO Institute in Prague, Czech Republic to study classical liberalism with students and faculty from around the world.

Alexander Hamilton Poster project.

Richard Stone Fellow

A women smiles and looked at the camera and is wearing a burgundy dress.

Through this fellowship, Jenny explored the effects of a liberal education and a peaceful society. Via the theories/philosophies of classic philosophers (such as Aristotle and Cicero) as well as those of classical modern philosophers (Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke), Jenny sought a conclusion on the best means of educating a society to create the most effective citizens for a democracy.

The poster project of Jenny Robinson