Summer Research Fellows

��ϴ�� 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 (). 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. . 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.

James Madison Fellows

Jeremiah Bauer ’26

“Russia's Patronage of Global Authoritarianism”
Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Graybill, professor of Russian & Eurasian Studies

James Conrad ’25

“The Education of Alexander the Great”
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

Alexander Di Napoli ’26

“Deterrence and Diplomacy: South Korea’s Response to a Nuclear North and a Divided Indo-Pacific”
Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

Benjamin Haber ’25

“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

Emma Hanlon ’27

“Rhetoric and Power: Exploring the Expansion of Executive Authority in the Bush and Trump Administrations”
Faculty Sponsor: Annie Benn, assistant professor of political science

MG King ’27

“The Role of Umbrae (ghosts/shades) in Lucan’s Poem on Civil War, Pharsalia”
Faculty Sponsor: Geoffrey Benson, associate professor of the Classics

Jordan Maxham ’26

“Media Ecosystems and the Asymmetric Rise of the Populist Right in Europe”
Faculty Sponsor: Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

Amy Meng ’26

“A Comparative Study of Reformed, Pentecostal, and Catholic Theologies”
Faculty Sponsor: David Dudrick, George Carleton Jr. Professor of Philosophy

Olivia Pascione ’26

“Freedom vs. Security: Reconciling Civil Liberties and Nuclear Strategies”
Faculty Sponsor: Fred Chernoff, Harvey Picker Chair of International Relations

London Pettibone ’27

“Affective Polarization, Partisanship, and Democracy: The Rising Threat of Lone-Wolf Terrorism”
Faculty Sponsor: Danielle Lupton, associate professor of political science

Peyton Taylor ’27

“Reviving Trust in American Journalism through the Proper Use of Polling”
Faculty Sponsor: Matt Luttig, associate professor of political science

Callen Tortolani ’26

“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

Alice Walton ’26

“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 Recipients

Sawyer Brown ’25

William Keiser ’27

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 James Madison Fellows

2024 JM Summer Fellows Dinner group photo

Alec Bresler, ’24

“Freedom and Safety of the Press in Reporting on Russia and Dangerous Regimes”
Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Graybill, professor of Russian & Eurasian Studies

Jane Garrity, ’25

“Debates about Economic Policies at the American Founding and Their Relevance Today”
Faculty Sponsor: Fred Chernoff, professor of political science

Michael Jones, ’26

“Great Power Conflict Between China and the US in Africa”
Faculty Sponsor: Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

Thomas Nemec, ’26

“The Reception of Suetonius and Roman Historians in Eighteenth Century Political Thought”
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

Robert (Jerry) Pfeifer, ’25

“Free Speech and Hate Speech at the European Court of Human Rights”
Faculty Sponsor: Ed Fogarty, associate professor of political science

Ciara Sanders, ’26

“The Politics of Clean Water: Policies, Institutional Structures, and Human Rights”
Faculty Sponsor: Sam Rosenfeld, associate professor of political science

Steven Torre, ’25

“Rhetorical Strategies of US Presidents in State of the Union Addresses”
Faculty Sponsor: Alexander Karn, associate professor of history

Talia Troy, ’25

Faculty Sponsor: “Just War Theory and Practice in Eastern Orthodox Christianity”
Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

Sarah van Dyke, ’25

“Developments in US National Security Policies in the South China Sea”
Faculty Sponsor: Frances Wang, assistant professor of political science

Alexa Watson, ’26

“The Challenge of AI to the US Judiciary and Legal Profession”
Faculty Sponsor: Hibi Pendleton, senior lecturer in philosophy

George Wilson, ’25

“Secularism in the French Republic”
Faculty Sponsor: Jill Harsin, professor of history

James Madison Fellows

Jamie Anderson ’24

“Julius Caesar and the Western Military Tradition”
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Tober, assistant professor of the Classics

Andrew Audas ’25

“Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy”
Faculty Sponsor: Ed Fogarty, associate professor of political science

Matt Calenzo ’24

“The Moral and Political Philosophy of Cicero”
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Kraynak, professor of political science

Michael Hanratty ’24

“The Development of the Supreme Court’s Power of Judicial Review”
Faculty Sponsor: Stanley Brubaker, professor of political science

Mostafa Mohamed ’23

“Metaphysical Realism in Medieval Philosophy: A Comparison of Western and Islamic Traditions”
Faculty Sponsor: Joseph Stenberg, assistant professor of philosophy

Fabrizio Montisci ’24

“U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa: The Challenge of Authoritarian Actors for Democracy”
Faculty Sponsor: Dominika Koter, associate professor of political science

Kevin Nguyen ’24

“The Ethics of Human Desire: A Study of Levinas, Gerard, and Lacan”
Faculty Sponsor: David Dudrick, George Carleton Jr. Professor of philosophy

Claire Prall-Freedman ’23

“The Spatial Imprint of Fascism in Vichy France”
Faculty Sponsor: Carolyn Guile, associate professor of art and art history

Louis Rosuck ’24

“The Life of Virtue in Maimonides and Aristotle”
Faculty Sponsor: Benjamin Stahlberg, senior lecturer in religion

Andy Weinstein ’24

“Technology and State Propaganda in Russia”
Faculty Sponsor: Masha Hedberg, assistant professor of political science

Margo Williams ’23

“Content Moderation by Big Tech: Internet Policy Formation in the United States”
Faculty Sponsor: Valerie Morkevičius, associate professor of political science

James Madison Fellows

Joel Alfaro MAT

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

Changwen Fang ’25

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

Jordan Hurt ’24

“Analyzing Cultural Heritage Policy through the Example of Ukraine”

Eli Gould ’23

“Polarization and Democratic Consensus in America”

Dean Kardas ’24

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

Ridley Lindstrom ’24

“Democracy Building in Nigeria”

Ilyas Talwar ’24

“The Visigoths and the End of the Western Roman Empire”

Tate Wright ’23

“Ancient Roman Poetry: Bucolic Love Themes”

James Madison Fellows

Blythe Berk ’23

“The Saudi Path to Modernization”

Carson Durdel ’22

“Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic”

Jackson Gillum ’21

“Just War Theory and Practice”

Madeline Graham ’22

“Architectural Patronage and Civic Virtue in Renaissance Florence”

Jillian Holliday ’23

“The Transformation of Religious Freedom”

Peter LeRoux ’21

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

Kevin Reim ’22

“Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag Experience of Good and Evil”

Fiona Saunders ’22

“Academic Freedom in the American University”

Matthew Silver ’22

“Aristotle, Nietzsche, and the Nature of Truth”

Ian Swain ’22

“Translations of Greek & Roman Poetry”

Duncan Wieland ’22

“The Critique of Identity Politics”

Jieyi (Jenny) Wu ’23

“Reception and Sources of Dante's Divine Comedy”

James Madison Fellows

Anjali Barrett ’22

“Immigration and American Citizenship - The Founders View and Beyond”

Nicholas Blake ’21

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

Michael Caron ’21

“Are There Two Edmund Burkes?’

Isabelle Dunning ’21

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

Yireh (Raina) Jung ’23

“Architecture and Culture during the Venetian Plagues of 1576 and 1630”

Will Nagle ’20

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

Connor Scannell ’21

“Democratic Development: DeTocqueville v. Acemoglu and Robinson”

Samuel Stuttard ’20

“Gothicists: Ruskin, Pugin, and Gothic Architecture in Upstate NY”

Ted Totojani ’23

“Dostoevsky as a Religious and Political Thinker”

Han (Sherlock) Shi ’21

“The Origin of Historiography: Herodotus and Sima Qian”

Ryan Zoellner ’20

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

Yang Zhang ’21

“Political Systems and Pandemic Responses: A Comparative Study”

���ϴ�����

���ϴ����� the Available Fellowships

James Madison Fellowships

International Security and Intelligence Programme (ISI)

How to Apply

2025 Summer Fellows and Faculty Sponsors

James Madison Fellows

Jeremiah Bauer ’26

James Conrad ’25

Alexander Di Napoli ’26

Benjamin Haber ’25

Emma Hanlon ’27

MG King ’27

Jordan Maxham ’26

Amy Meng ’26

Olivia Pascione ’26

London Pettibone ’27

Peyton Taylor ’27

Callen Tortolani ’26

Alice Walton ’26

International Security & Intelligence (ISI) Summer Program Recipients

Sawyer Brown ’25

William Keiser ’27

Past Fellows

2024 James Madison Fellows

Alec Bresler, ’24

Jane Garrity, ’25

Michael Jones, ’26

Thomas Nemec, ’26

Robert (Jerry) Pfeifer, ’25

Ciara Sanders, ’26

Steven Torre, ’25

Talia Troy, ’25

Sarah van Dyke, ’25

Alexa Watson, ’26

George Wilson, ’25

James Madison Fellows

Jamie Anderson ’24

Andrew Audas ’25

Matt Calenzo ’24

Michael Hanratty ’24

Mostafa Mohamed ’23

Fabrizio Montisci ’24

Kevin Nguyen ’24

Claire Prall-Freedman ’23

Louis Rosuck ’24

Andy Weinstein ’24

Margo Williams ’23

James Madison Fellows

Joel Alfaro MAT

Changwen Fang ’25

Jordan Hurt ’24

Eli Gould ’23

Dean Kardas ’24

Ridley Lindstrom ’24

Ilyas Talwar ’24

Tate Wright ’23

James Madison Fellows

Blythe Berk ’23

Carson Durdel ’22

Jackson Gillum ’21

Madeline Graham ’22

Jillian Holliday ’23

Peter LeRoux ’21

Kevin Reim ’22

Fiona Saunders ’22

Matthew Silver ’22

Ian Swain ’22

Duncan Wieland ’22

Jieyi (Jenny) Wu ’23

James Madison Fellows

Anjali Barrett ’22

Nicholas Blake ’21

Michael Caron ’21

Isabelle Dunning ’21

Yireh (Raina) Jung ’23

Will Nagle ’20

Connor Scannell ’21

Samuel Stuttard ’20

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��ϴ�� the Available Fellowships