Dole Fellowship Application & Process

The Dole Institute of Politics Fellowship program was implemented in the Spring of 2005. It is designed to bring political practitioners together with students to create a greater appreciation for and understanding of our political system.

Each semester, the Dole Institute names two Fellows, usually one Republican and one Democrat. (Note: We also actively encourage journalists to apply for our fellowships.) Each Fellow has three principal duties:

1. To lead a study group on a tightly focused topic on politics, governance, the media, etc., designed with the Dole Institute staff.

2. To participate in student activities and to be available to provide individual or small group meetings as requested.

3. To be actively involved in the activities of the Dole Institute for the semester.

Fellows are expected to have extensive experience, most often on the national or international level. They may be or have been elected political leaders, government officials, foreign leaders, campaign operatives or consultants, policy makers or political journalists. If you have been a key participant in the process you have the qualifications we seek.

Each Fellow leads a study group on a focused topic for 7-8 weeks, same time/day each week. A study group is a not for credit, no outside reading, no test, opportunity to learn from political practitioners. Normally, the fellow will bring in guests to speak to their expertise for most sessions. We have three goals in mind: have a focused, informative and appealing topic; give the participants an opportunity to hear from a variety of expert guests; and provide a student engagement component that will create practical experience for students in your topic area. This component could be creating the outline of a campaign plan, creating an advertisement, crafting a policy exercise, or any other suggestion that allows the students to put what they have learned into practice. This exercise requires only an hour or two of preparation outside the study group sessions.

Our Fellows and their guests truly enjoy their experiences; we pay all the expenses of the Fellows’ guests and feature some of the guests in evening feature programs.

We offer two forms of fellowships: with the full immersion approach, the Fellow resides in Lawrence for the bulk of the semester; we provide housing and pay a stipend. We also have worked out a way to provide fellowships to busy individuals who fly out to do the groups and office hours weekly with a stipend that's reduced to help us cover the additional expenses. This would only require roughly two days a week for the 7 weeks plus three other trips in the semester to promote your group. Fellows can fly in the day of their group and fly out the next day. We cover all expenses and Fellows are free to do other work from here as necessary.

We normally have 15-30 people at the Study Groups, usually a combination of students and adults. And while they are certainly open to the community they are designed for student interaction with the Fellows and their guests.

To Apply

To apply for a Fellowship we ask for three things:

1. A letter of application outlining why you would be a valuable resource to the students and the Dole Institute; please include a brief mention of key experience and areas of expertise as well as whether you are interested in our full immersion or part-time program. Please include all contact information and your social security number.

2. An updated bio, resume or CV.

3. A study group proposal outlining your topic, possible guests that you consider personal contacts and the student engagement component.

Typically we keep strong applications on file for the future if the Fellowships are filled; we do not return applications materials but we will respond to each application.

For more information on Dole Fellowships, including our Dole Visiting Fellow program (2-3 day commitment) contact the Dole Institute of Politics.
doleinstitute@ku.edu