The Institute for Constitutional Studies currently offers a variety of programs that enhance the teaching of Constitutional Studies and encourage scholars to increase their involvement in the field:

• Intensive, multi-disciplinary Summer Research Seminars in constitutional studies for graduate students and junior faculty.  Seminars, run by outstanding academics such as Professors Akhil Reed Amar, Dennis Hutchinson, Vicki Jackson, Larry Kramer, William Leuchtenburg, Charles McCurdy, Richard Pious, Jack Rakove, Harry Scheiber, William Wiecek, and Gordon Wood, range from “The Founding Era” to “Topics in Twentieth Century American Constitutional History.”  The topic for the Summer Seminar in 2006 was "War Powers and the Constitution." The topic for 2007 was "Constitutionalism." From June 8-14, 2008, a seminar on "The Influence of Religion on Constitutional Thought" will be led by Judge Michael McConnell (Tenth Circuit United States Court of Appeals) and historian Mark Noll (University of Notre Dame). For more information click here.


• Short-term Graduate Seminars in constitutional studies, conducted by visiting scholars and devoted to specialized topics. Recent seminars have explored the complex early history of the 14th Amendment (led by Professor Jonathan Lurie of Rutgers University in fall 2006) and the uses of judicial biography (led by Professor Melvin Urofsky of Virginina Commonwealth University in spring 2007). In fall 2007, Professor William Leuchtenburg of the University of North Carolina led a seminar on "The Presidency and the Supreme Court in the Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt." Professor Michael Les Benedict will teach our spring 2008 seminar, entitled "The People and the Judges: Constitutional Politics and Judicial Review in American History."


• Interdisciplinary Summer Workshops for College Instructors who teach (or would like to teach) undergraduate courses on the Constitution. Our first workshop took place at the University of Albany (State University of New York) in July, 2007. The topic was "New Approaches to Teaching the Constitution." Our second annual workshop, "The Constitutional Convention," will be offered from July 6-11 at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in association with Emory and the Georgia Humanities Council. The workshop will be led by Professor Sally Hadden of Florida State University and faculty members from Emory Law School. Click here for more details. Future workshops will be conducted in other regions of the country.


• Symposia and Research Colloquia in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that bring together faculty and students from a wide range of disciplines to discuss their work in Constitutional Studies.


• A Doctoral-level Concentration in Constitutional Studies—a unique cooperative venture in which several Washington area universities, part of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan area, share faculty and student resources to support a Ph.D. concentration in Constitutional Studies.

  A brochure describing the Institute's various programs and activities is also available.
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