By Madeleine Thompson

The Center for the Study of American Democracy (CSAD) will offer scholarships to students interested in researching democracy in America during the summer. Tom Karako, director of CSAD and assistant professor of political science, said he has high hopes for the program, which will follow other Kenyon models, including the Summer Science Scholars and Socio-Legal Studies programs. Karako believes the program will add to the already diverse summer options on campus.

Under development since CSADs inception, the scholarships will be funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which, in addition to other private donors, provided the money to establish CSAD in 2008. Its an opportunity for students to take part in what has really become this community of scholars on the Kenyon campus over the summer, Karako said. The idea here is to encourage the kind of student-faculty partnerships and summer scholarship on some topic, theme or text relating to American democracy. Its a broad mandate.
Though there have been no applicants so far, Karako expects ample interest in the program. I think well get a lot of interesting applications for the simple fact that its a unique opportunity to spend six weeks intensely looking at something, he said. Youre outside of the usual semester, therefore, theres a lot more flexibility to really dig into something.
Similar to the process of participating in the science or legal studies program, students will submit an application proposing a project after contacting a professor they would like to work with. Its very open-ended, Karako said. It encourages students to pick what theyre interested in so long as its somehow related to American democracy.
The scholarship will provide recipients with a $3,500 stipend, summer housing on campus and a $500 research budget. Students will be encouraged to submit the required final paper to an undergraduate journal and will present their findings in a public talk during the fall semester, according to the CSAD website. Applications are due on Dec. 1.

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