Programs

The Institute for Constitutional History 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, Mary Sarah Bilder, Gerhard Casper, Paul Finkelman, Risa Goluboff, Dennis Hutchinson, Vicki Jackson, Linda Kerber, Richard Kohn, Larry Kramer, Martin Lederman, William Leuchtenburg, Michael McConnell, Charles McCurdy, Mark Noll,  Richard Pious, Jack Rakove,  Harry Scheiber, Aviam Soifer, Mark Tushnet, William Wiecek, and Gordon Wood,  range from “The Founding Era” to “Topics in 20th Century American Constitutional History". The 12th Annual Residential Summer Research Seminar, co-sponsored by the Stanford Law School Constitutional Law Center (June 26 - July 2, 2011), discussed "Academic Freedom, Free Speech and the First Amendment" and featured Professors David Hollinger (History, University of California at Berkeley) and David Rabban (University of Texas School of Law).
• Short-term Graduate Seminars in constitutional studies, held in New York or Washington, DC, conducted by visiting scholars and devoted to specialized topics.  Most recently, Professors Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegal taught our Spring 2011 seminar, entitled, "Rights in Conflict." In fall 2010, Philip Bobbitt and Richard Pious offered “Terrorism: Constitutional, Historical and Social Science Perspectives” at the New-York Historical Society, and Mark Tushnet led a seminar on “The Hughes Court” at the George Washington University Law School. James Surowiecki and John Fabian Witt led the spring 2010 seminar on “The Constitution and the Economy,” and Keith Whittington offered “The Politics and History of Judicial Review in the United States.”  Akhil Reed Amar and James Oakes taught the fall 2009 seminar on "Lincoln and the Constitution." The spring 2009 seminar on "The Constitutional Law of Presidential-Congressional Relations" was offered by Richard Pious . Mark Tushnet led the fall 2008 seminar, which focused on "The Rights Revolution in the 20th Century." Other recent seminars have explored  the complex early history of the 14th Amendment (led by Jonathan Lurie in fall 2006) and the uses of judicial biography(led by Melvin Urofsky in spring 2007). In fall 2007, William Leuchtenburg offered a seminar on "The Presidency and the Supreme Court in the Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt." Professor Michael Les Benedict taught our spring 2008 seminar, entitled "The People and the Judges: Constitutional Politics and Judicial Review in American History."  Our upcoming Fall seminar will be taught by Professors Thomas Bender and David Golove of New York University and is entitled, "The Constitution: A Cosmopolitan Examination." 
• 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, and was led by Sandra Van Burkleo. The topic was "New Approaches to Teaching the Constitution." Our second annual workshop, "The Constitutional Convention," was offered from July 6–11, 2008, at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in association with Emory Law School and the Georgia Humanities Council. Sally Hadden conducted the workshop. In August 2009, Christian Fritz led our third workshop, “The Constitutional Legacy of the American Revolution,” which took place at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Yale Law School was the host for our fourth workshop, “Processes of Constitutional and Legal Change,” in July 2010.  David Fontana and Steven Teles presided. In summer 2012, a workshop will be held at  Stanford Law School and will be co-sponsored by its Constitutional Law Center.
• Symposia and Research Colloquia in the New York and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas that bring together faculty and students from a wide range of disciplines to discuss their work in Constitutional Studies.
• 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.