James Madison Graduate Fellowships

James Madison Graduate Fellowship

The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation supports educators desiring to become outstanding teachers of the American Constitution. Both prospective and current students in the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are eligible to apply for this fellowship to fund their degree. Join dozens of current James Madison Fellows in our MA in American History.

 

Applications Open: Monday, September 17, 2023
Next Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024

Portrait of James Madison by Gilbert Stuart
  • $24,000 Fellowship

About the Fellowship

Logo for the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation

The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation offers $24,000 James Madison Graduate Fellowships to individuals desiring to become outstanding teachers of the American Constitution at the secondary school level. Junior Fellowships support aspiring teachers while senior fellowships are awarded to current teachers.

As funding permits, the Foundation plans to offer one fellowship per state per year. Applications for 2024 Fellowships will open on Constitution Day, September 17, 2023. The deadline to submit the 2024 application is March 1, 2024.

Gilder Lehrman: An Approved Partner

The Gettysburg College–Gilder Lehrman MA in American History is an approved degree program for the James Madison Fellowship. Prospective and current students can apply for this fellowship; many of our students have already received this distinction. You can fulfill the terms of this fellowship by both:

  • Completing the four-week Summer Institute on the Constitution held by the James Madison Fellowship Program, for which they receive six credits, AND
  • Taking two courses in our program on the Constitution, the Revolutionary Era, and/or the Early Republic.

Additional Fellowship Details

Eligibility Requirements

Who Can Apply?

Fellowship applicants compete only against other applicants from the state of their legal residence. To be eligible to apply for a fellowship, you must:

  • Be a US citizen
  • Be a teacher, or plan to become a teacher, of American history, American government, or civics classes where you will teach topics on the Constitution at the secondary school level (grades 7–12)
  • Possess a bachelor’s degree or plan to receive a bachelor’s degree no later than August 31 of the year in which you are applying

Professional Teaching Obligation

Teaching Obligations for Fellowship Recipients

After receiving the master’s degree, each Fellow must teach American history, American government, or civics where you will teach topics on the Constitution in grades 7–12 for one full year for each academic year of funding received under a fellowship, preferably in the state from which you were awarded the fellowship.

Junior Fellowships

Eligibility and Expectations for Junior Fellows

Junior Fellowships are awarded to outstanding college seniors and college graduates without teaching experience who intend to become secondary school teachers of American history, American government, or civics classes where you will teach topics on the Constitution in grades 7–12. Junior Fellows are expected to complete graduate study within two academic years of full-time study.

Senior Fellowships

Eligibility and Expectations for Senior Fellows

Senior Fellowships are awarded to outstanding current teachers who are required to complete graduate study within five calendar years of part-time study.

Frederick Douglass-James Madison Fellowship

Eligibility for the Frederick Douglass-James Madison Fellowship

Frederick Douglass-James Madison Fellowship is a privately funded graduate fellowship offered to a person of color who is a United States citizen and a secondary-level teacher or prospective teacher of American history, American government, or civics to earn a master’s degree studying the Constitution.

Constitutional Coursework

Constitutional Coursework Requirements

The Fellow’s proposed plan of graduate study should contain substantial constitutional coursework. Fellows are encouraged to choose institutions that offer courses that closely examine the origins and development of the US Constitution, the evolution of political theory and constitutional law, the effects of the Constitution on society and culture in the United States, or other such topics directly related to the Constitution. Whatever institution and whichever degree a Fellow selects, at least 12 semester credits (or 18 quarter credits) of constitutional study must be part of the Fellow’s program. Six of these semester credits are earned by the Fellow at the Foundation’s Summer Institute on the Constitution in Washington, DC.

Fulfilling the Coursework Requirement

Fulfilling the Constitutional Coursework Requirement in our MA Program

Some examples of recent courses that Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA students have used to satisfy this requirement include:

  • The American Enlightenment with Prof. Caroline Winterer
  • Women in the American Revolution with Prof. Carol Berkin
  • The American Revolution with Prof. Denver Brunsman
  • Democracy in the Early Republic with Prof. Andrew Robertson

For those students applying to the James Madison Fellowship, please contact onlinecourses@gilderlehrman.org for inquiries about graduate constitutional courses at the Gilder Lehrman Institute in the near future.

Summer Institute on the Constitution

Summer Institute on the Constitution

A major component of the James Madison Fellowship Program is successful completion of the four-week Summer Institute on the Constitution held in Washington, DC. Fellows attend the Institute after they have matriculated in a graduate program and commenced coursework.

The academic focus of the Institute is a graduate course entitled “The Foundations of American Constitutionalism.” Taught by constitutional scholars, this course is a study of the principles, framing, ratification, and implementation of constitutional government in the United States.