Presidential Fellows Program
Overview
The Presidential Fellows Program features several components including written and oral assignments; virtual programming; and an in-person conference. The program takes pride in its combination of strong academic work and practical experiences for your careers—the former is often an extension of the quality work you already undertake at your home school and the latter driven by your interactions with your mentors, peers, and conference speakers.
The research paper is the cornerstone of your Fellowship. You will work on it throughout the program and will have several opportunities to receive feedback from your peers and mentors. Part of this review process includes a three-minute speech about your topic in a small group. Listed below is a brief description of the assignments and when they are due. In-depth information and all requirements for the assignments are provided on the “Assignments” page of the Current Fellows section of the CSPC website.
Please keep in mind, all assignments must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document.
September 29th, 2023 – Paper Proposal
Instructions located in the “Research Paper Assignment Packet.”
Please submit to Sydney Johnson - sydney.johnson@thepresidency.org
October 18, 2023 – Three-Minute Speeches
During the October virtual session, you will be divided into groups based on your proposed research paper topic to discuss that topic and present your paper proposal. During this session, you will prepare and deliver a three-minute speech to present the proposal for your paper.
December 1, 2023 – Research Paper Outline
Instructions located in the “Research Paper Assignment Packet.”
Submit an outline of your research paper to mentors for review (copy Sydney Johnson on your submission email)
January 19, 2024 – First Draft of Research Paper
Instructions located in the “Research Paper Assignment Packet.”
Submit the first draft of your research paper to mentors for review (copy Sydney Johnson on your submission email)
March 1, 2024 – Final Research Paper
Instructions located in the “Research Paper Assignment Packet.”
Please submit to Sydney Johnson (copy your mentors on your submission email)
Use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
CSPC understands that A.I. can be a useful tool in academic settings, and we support students in the journey to understand the benefits and limitations of A.I. language models. While the research paper must be the original work of the author and Fellows are prohibited from using A.I. to draft any portions of their papers, Fellows are permitted to use generative A.I. tools, like ChatGPT, to assist with more limited tasks including creating reading lists, identifying useful academic sources, and correcting grammar errors. All users should be aware of the limits of A.I. tools that have been found to make up information (including fake news stories from seemingly legitimate sources) or provide inaccurate results. Plan to double-check any information or resources provided by an A.I. tool.
During the conference, there will be an op-ed exercise where Fellows will use A.I. to create a first draft of an op-ed based on your respective research papers by inputting that text into the language model. Fellows will then use the expertise they have developed in writing their papers to edit and refine the first draft to arrive at a final product. We hope this exercise enables Fellows to engage in a deeper conversation about how A.I. can be used and when its use is appropriate.
The virtual program sessions are an opportunity for you to engage with your peers as well as participate in discussions with subject matter experts and practitioners. This year, the theme for the virtual sessions is Elections. All virtual sessions will be held on Zoom and take place at 6:00 p.m. EST. The schedule is as follows:
September 21, 2023 - Program Overview and Fellows Introduction
This will be a chance to meet your peers and ask any questions you have about the program.
October 18, 2023- Peer Review Session
You will be broken up into smaller groups where you will present your three-minute speech and receive feedback on your proposals (due September 29)
November 16, 2023- “History of the United States Electoral System”
December 1-16, 2023- Individual Check-In Meeting
January 24, 2024- Peer Review Session
Another opportunity to receive feedback from your peers after you submit your first draft on January 19
February 15, 2024- “Who Can Vote in the United States?”
April 17, 2024- “United States Influence on Elections Abroad”
Mentorship
As a participant in the CSPC Fellows Program you will have the opportunity to be matched with a mentor. The main responsibility of a mentor is to assist the Fellows in the development and research of their papers. Mentors can be great sources of information, both on your papers, and on future careers. Our mentors include academics, professionals, alumni of the Fellows Program, and CSPC staff.
Mentor Matching- Once CSPC receives each Fellow’s two-page paper proposal, the proposed paper topics are sent to the volunteer mentors. The mentors then decide which topics match their areas of expertise and select their Fellows.
Mentor Communication- Mentors are kept apprised of the Fellowship timeline by CSPC and are accessible to their Fellows via e-mail or phone throughout the year. Fellows are responsible for making initial contact in the fall and are expected to keep the lines of communication open with e-mail updates. Please keep in mind that the Mentors are busy individuals, please give them time to respond to questions and inquiries. On rare occasions, a Mentor may become too busy to complete his or her duties. Please let CSPC staff know as soon as possible if this is the case.
One of the highlights of the Fellows program is the Presidential Fellows Leadership Conference. This year the conference will be held:
March 13-20, 2024, for international students
March 16-20, 2024, for domestic students
The conference will take place in person in Washington, D.C. In the multi-day conference, you can expect several opportunities to engage on today’s most pressing challenges while interacting with national policymakers and leading experts. To better understand the types of programming you would enjoy participating in, we will send out a poll that will include several options of topics and themes for you to give feedback on.
The conference is also where Fellows will receive awards for their research papers. Five awards are given out annually for outstanding research papers. The award-winning papers are published in the Fellows Review alongside other additional exceptional Fellows papers. Additional information about each award can be found in the “Research Paper Assignment Packet.”
The David M. Abshire Award for Most Outstanding Paper by an International Fellow- $1,000 Prize
The Robert A. Kilmarx Award for Best Military, Intelligence, or National Security Strategic Analysis - $1,000 Prize
The Donald B. Marron Award for Best Historical Analysis - $1,000 Prize
The James R. Moffett Award for Most Original Paper on the Modern Presidency or Congress - $1,000 Prize
The Richard H. Solomon Award for the Most Original Paper on Foreign Policy or Diplomacy - $1,000 Prize