General Information
The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy will award undergraduate research fellowships for projects to be begun in the summer of 2025 and completed during the 2025-2026 academic year. Students may receive grants of up to $3000 for research expenses. All full-time Penn undergraduate students enrolled in any school who wish to undertake research pertinent to any dimension of democracy, its practice or theory, as well as the related themes of citizenship and constitutional government, are eligible to apply. Grants may be combined with funding from other programs. Applicants are expected but not required to conduct research that will contribute to the writing of a Senior Essay or the completion of an independent study course during the 2025-2026 academic year. Work may involve travel to libraries, archives, field or interview sites, or other institutions. All applicants must be in-residence during the 2025-2026 academic year; there will be no online or virtual component.
All grant recipients are required to enroll in the 2025-26 Andrea Mitchell Center undergraduate seminar, which meets every other week in the fall and monthly in the spring, and which serves as a venue both for the scholarly study of the meaning of democracy and for students to present their ongoing research to the class and receive feedback. The seminar culminates in a late April conference at which students present their work. As members of the Mitchell Center, grant recipients are of course welcome to attend the Mitchell Center’s other workshops and lecture series, which typically feature leading scholars and public figures from around the world.
Application Process
- Please prepare the following documents as PDFs. Transcripts must be non-secured versions; secured versions prevent us from reading your application and thus will cause your application to be refused.
- Research Statement. A statement not exceeding 500 words describing the aims and rationale for the research project related to some dimension of “Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism” that you wish to undertake. Indicate as concretely as possible your preliminary research plans. Budget.
- A preliminary budget of your research expenses. Appropriate items include research travel, housing, food, and phone costs, book and document costs, fees to use archives, survey costs, etc.
- Transcript. An UNSECURED copy of your Path@Penn transcript (print a PDF or take a screenshot from your browser window).
- C.V. or Resume.
- Letter of Recommendation. You will be required to request a supporting letter of recommendation on your behalf from your faculty research advisor, indicating the role the Advisor will play in supervising your research in the summer of 2025 and completed during the 2025-2026 academic year. The letter should make clear the nature and extent of your contribution in formulating and carrying out the project. Letters are due no later than March 15. In addition, you will be required to request a supporting letter of recommendation on your behalf from your faculty research advisor, indicating the role the Advisor will play in supervising your research in the summer of 2025 and completed during the 2025-2026 academic year. The letter should make clear the nature and extent of your contribution in formulating and carrying out the project. Letters are due no later than March 7.
Please send applications in Word or PDF format to mitchell-center@sas.upenn.edu.
Supervisors should send their letters of endorsement separately.
Details:
Research Offering Type
Grant, Independent Research
Location
USA, Latin America
Undergraduate School
College, Engineering, LPS, Nursing, Wharton
Source
Penn
Contact Information
Ibrahim Bakri
bakrii@sas.upenn.edu
Associate Director of the Andrea Mitchell Center