Graduate Programs
Graduate students represent both the future of higher education and the emerging research leaders in their fields. To promote and sustain the study of constitutional democracy not only at the University of Missouri but on campuses around the globe, the Kinder Institute has a number of programs in place to support the scholarly work and professional development of talented graduate students in the Departments of History and Political Science.
In recent years, our Ph.D. students have received numerous notable accolades, ranging from fellowships from the New York Public Library, University of Virginia, Huntington Library, American Antiquarian Society, and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at University of Pennsylvania; awards and award nominations from the Missouri Conference on History and the John Whitmer Historical Association; and publications in leading journals such as Journal of the Early Republic and American Nineteenth Century History. And our M.A. students have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees in history and political science at institutions including Boston University, Penn State University, Stanford, and University of Missouri.
M.A. in Atlantic History & Politics
The Kinder Institute’s one-year M.A. in Atlantic History and Politics, which examines the connections and conflicts among the diverse peoples of the Atlantic basin, including the Americas, Africa, and Europe, officially launched in Fall 2020.
The M.A. covers a broad sweep of time, from the dawn of European empires through the age of revolutions and the more recent “American century,” and situates the development of modern nation-states, including the United States, in relation to the broader exchange of ideas, goods, and power across the Atlantic world. The program begins with a month of study at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, after which students return to Columbia for the fall and spring semesters to complete the remaining 21 of the degree’s required 30 credit hours of coursework.
Applications to be a part of the 2025-26 M.A. in Atlantic History & Politics cohort will open in September 2024, with rolling review beginning mid-January 2025, and ending mid-April. Candidates interested in being considered for a gradership must apply by the January review date.
J.D./M.A. in Atlantic History & Politics Dual Degree
The MU College of Arts & Science, Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, and MU School of Law offer an integrated program in which students may obtain both an M.A. degree in Atlantic History & Politics and a J.D. degree from the School of Law.
Students who enroll in the J.D./M.A. in Atlantic History & Politics Dual Degree program will enjoy the strengths of two outstanding programs at the University of Missouri. The School of Law offers students rigorous study in the theory and practice of law, with a student-faculty ratio that provides multiple opportunities for faculty engagement, while the M.A. allows students to examine the connections and conflicts among the diverse peoples of the Atlantic basin, including the Americas, Africa, and Europe, from the dawn of European empires, through the age of nation-states, and into the more recent “American Century.” The M.A. also includes a monthlong study abroad program at University of Oxford (Corpus Christi College), through which students earn the first nine credit hours required to complete the degree.
Applications to be a part of the 2025-26 J.D./M.A. in Atlantic History & Politics cohort will open in September 2024.
Ph.D. and M.A. Fellowships
The Institute seeks to establish a thriving community of graduate researchers in history and political science whose work transcends disciplinary boundaries in advancing the study of political thought, history, and institutions in the U.S. and throughout the Atlantic World. To support this endeavor, we offer a wide range of fellowships for incoming M.A. and Ph.D. candidates, as well as current doctoral students in the MU Departments of History and Political Science, that provide time for research, give students experience with academic programming, and help them gain teaching experience both in the college classroom and in summer enrichment programs for high-achieving high school students.
Research & Travel Grants
In order to contribute to advancing the work of the next generation of professors and public scholars, the Kinder Institute Grants Committee will consider graduate student requests for funding to support research on an ad hoc basis during the academic year (September 1 – April 15).
Designed for M.A. and Ph.D. students with unmet funding needs, awards range from $500-$2,000 and can be applied to: travel to conferences at which a student is presenting their work, archival research and data collection, and hiring undergraduate research assistants. Note that the set award for conference travel is $500 and that, due to limited funds, not all applications can be funded, and even those that do receive committee support may not be funded in full
Seminars & Conferences
In addition to graduate coursework, the Kinder Institute offers M.A. and Ph.D. candidates myriad opportunities to share research with leading faculty in their fields and to start building interdisciplinary professional networks, including through presentations at Kinder Institute-sponsored conferences and seminars. Graduate students will also occasionally have opportunities to apply for funded conference organization assistantships.