Undergraduate
The Kinder Institute’s undergraduate programs are designed to promote rigorous, communal inquiry into the history, theory, and practice of constitutional democracy in the United States and around the globe. We envision this happening first and foremost in the classroom, and our new B.A. in Constitutional Democracy in the College of Arts & Science was created to encourage students to engage in an in-depth study of the history of democracies across centuries and continents. We also want students’ exploration of these subjects to expand far beyond the classroom walls, and we have designed a number of programs with this goal in mind: a FIG community for first-year MU students, a summer program in Washington, D.C., week- and yearlong study abroad opportunities at University of Oxford, a January intersession study abroad course at University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and an extracurricular academic fellowship program for Mizzou undergrads of any and all majors.
NEW UNDERGRAD RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
Set to launch in Spring 2026, the Derailing Empire project, led by Kinder Institute Professor of British History Rob Fletcher and MU History PhD Student Sam Spurgin, is accepting applications for four undergraduate researchers to assist with examining the social history of rail in the United States. Accepted students will spend three consecutive semesters as part of the team and will receive a $1,000 stipend each semester, along with course credit in Fall 2026 and Spring 2027.
Full details about the application process and the project itself are in the call-for-applications below.
The deadline to apply is Friday, October 31, and any questions can be directed to Sam Spurgin, spspqf@missouri.edu.
B.A. IN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
The Kinder Institute’s B.A. in Constitutional Democracy not only engages Mizzou undergrads in a close, interdisciplinary examination of the ideas and events that are central to understanding the founding of the United States but also provides students with an opportunity to trace the reverberation of these ideas and events over time and around the globe. How and why have the philosophical ambitions and historical practice of constitutional democracy changed over time? What are the institutions and who are the figures that have been most responsible for driving this change? How, over the course of its history, has U.S. constitutional democracy influenced—and been influenced by—foreign nations? These are just some of the many questions that students can explore through the major, which consists of required common curriculum courses and concentrated upper-level electives in Constitutional Democracy, History, Black Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Philosophy, Public Affairs, Economics, and more.
KINDER INSTITUTE DEMOCRACY LAB FIRST-YEAR FIG
The Kinder Institute Democracy Lab, formerly the Kinder Institute Residential College, allows first-year Mizzou students interested in politics and history to begin forming a scholarly community right when they get to campus. All participants take courses together during the fall and spring semesters with Kinder Institute faculty and participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities associated with the program. Starting the application process is as easy as choosing “Kinder Institute Democracy Lab” on Slate as you’re going through the Mizzou admission process.
Scholarships for the 2025-26 Kinder Institute Democracy Lab cohort are now closed and will re-open for the following academic year in October 2025.
Contact Kinder Institute Director of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Thomas Kane, KaneTC@missouri.edu, with any questions.
STUDY AT OXFORD
Since Director Jay Sexton’s arrival in Columbia, the Kinder Institute has devoted resources to developing programs that provide MU undergraduates with the opportunity to study in the UK. Since Spring 2018, students have been crossing the Atlantic to spend Spring Break at Oxford’s Corpus Christi College. The spring course into which the trip is embedded is on hiatus in 2024-25 but will be back in Spring 2026. The following year, we launched a program that sends one MU undergraduate per year to Corpus where they spend three terms as a fully-embedded student of history. Applications for the yearlong fellowship are due each April. Contact Dr. Thomas Kane, Kinder Institute Director of Undergraduate Studies, KaneTC@missouri.edu, to find out more about that program and application process.
We’ll add a third opportunity to this list with the 2025 launch of our Oxford Summer School, a study abroad program developed in partnership with the Honors College and Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute through which up to 20 MU Honors students will undertake a uniquely immersive four-week program of study each July in the U.K., pursuing a bespoke curriculum delivered by Oxford faculty, living and dining in the halls of Corpus Christi College, and benefiting from real insider access to the university’s buildings and resources.
Anyone with questions about the new summer school can contact Dr. Billy Coleman, Kinder Institute Associate Director, at colemanw@missouri.edu
SOCIETY OF FELLOWS
The Kinder Institute’s flagship undergraduate initiative, the Society of Fellows is an academic fellowship program through which students of all majors come together to forge an intellectual community dedicated to studying and drawing connections between the ideas and events of the American founding and the present state of constitutional democracy in the U.S. and abroad. The program kicks off each August with a three-day residential conference at the historic Tiger Hotel in downtown Columbia and continues throughout the school year with a series of lunch and dinner discussions with MU faculty and guests of the Kinder Institute.
Applications for the 2025-26 cohort of the Kinder Institute’s Society of Fellows are now closed.
KINDER SCHOLARS D.C. SUMMER PROGRAM
The Kinder Scholars D.C. Summer Program provides rising MU juniors and seniors with a rare chance to wed theory and practice by spending the summer in the nation’s capital taking a 3-credit hour seminar on U.S. constitutional history while also interning four days a week at an organization whose mission complements their academic coursework and post-college interests.
Applications for the 2025 Kinder Scholars D.C. Summer Program have now closed. 2026 applications will open at the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester.
MINOR & CERTIFICATE IN AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
Any student enrolled at Mizzou is eligible to apply to receive the Kinder Institute’s Minor or Certificate in American Constitutional Democracy. With a truly interdisciplinary curriculum that weaves together the study of history, political science, philosophy, economics, and more, both degrees were designed to provide students with expansive, diverse courses of study in the philosophical foundations and historical development of constitutional democracy not only in the United States but also around the globe.
JOURNAL ON CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
Founded by Anurag Chandran, a member of the inaugural classes of the Society of Fellows and Kinder Scholars Program, the Journal on Constitutional Democracy is a student-run, scholarly publication organized each year around a new theme. Now structured as a two-semester, three-credit hour class with an Honors option, the Journal not only lets staff members conceptualize and patiently execute an article-length, academic writing project of their own devising but also gives them experience in the worlds of copyediting, layout and design, and promotion. All current and past members of the Kinder Institute’s Society of Fellows are eligible to take the Journal course, with seats also open for Constitutional Democracy majors.
RACE & POLITICS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Immerse yourself in the culture of South Africa over winter break! Spend 10 days in Cape Town with other MU students exploring the history and ongoing legacies of racialized rule. Led by Dr. Merve Fejzula and Dr. Matthew Frierdich, you will examine the nexus between race and politics in the history of South Africa through seminars, guest lectures and tours.
Applications for the “Race & Politics in South Africa” January 2025 intersession study abroad program have closed and will re-open for next year in Fall 2025.
ASH SCHOLARS
A joint venture of MU’s Honors College and Office of Undergraduate Research, the ASH Scholars program brings faculty-led research opportunities that are typical of STEM fields to students studying in the arts, social sciences, and humanities.
The Kinder Institute’s first ASH team spent 2023-24 examining the history and legacy of the Santa Fe Trail, a project that culminated in a student-produced ten-part podcast series and a day of public-facing educational events. Our next team, which launched in Fall 2024, will spend the next two years exploring and engaging the public in consideration of the history of the Declaration of Independence in the lead-up to its 250th anniversary.
CONSTITUTIONAL LITIGATION
A regular, three-credit hour spring course, Constitutional Litigation (CNST_DEM/POL_SC 4231) walks students step-by-step through the history and process of federal constitutional adjudication, from the contours of federal courts as laid out in Article III, through how the present-day Supreme Court goes about choosing its docket.
As part of the curriculum, students spend Spring Break in D.C. exploring the course’s subject matter in context through touring the U.S. Supreme Court and other sites of relevance.
Applications for the Spring 2025 Constitutional Litigation seminar and trip have closed. 2026 applications will open at the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester.