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.

Applications are now open for our Spring 2025 Constitutional Litigation seminar, our January-session study abroad trip to South Africa, our Summer 2025 Kinder Scholars D.C. Summer Program, and our inaugural 2025 Oxford Summer School. Use the program tabs below or the upcoming deadlines sidebar to access application materials.

2025 KIUS UNDERGRAD CONFERENCE: DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

After a tremendously successful inaugural run last March, the Kinder Institute Undergraduate Society’s student-run conference is back in 2025, this time tackling the theme of “Democracy in Action.” The conference will be held on March 15, 2025, and the executive committee is currently accepting paper proposals from undergraduates of any major who are interested in presenting (January 15, 2025 deadline). All details are in the call for papers linked to below.

Questions can be directed to Conference Chair Autumn Slingerland, avsyqq@missouri.edu, and Co-Chair Connor Everhart, cmeqcm@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.

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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 will officially open on October 1, though potential candidates should feel free to preview the application below and begin preparing materials ahead of that.

All students who select “Kinder Institute Democracy Lab” or “Kinder Institute Democracy Lab-Honors” on Mizzou’s admissions preference form on Slate are eligible to apply for a KIDL scholarship. Students who apply by the December 1 early deadline will be notified of their application status before the new year, and those who apply by the January 15 regular deadline will hear back no later than mid-February.

Contact Kinder Institute Director of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Thomas Kane, KaneTC@missouri.edu, with any questions.

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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.

Applications for our inaugural Oxford Summer School will run through the International Center, with a deadline of November 1, 2024, and anyone interested in starting an application can do so here.

Anyone with questions about the new summer school can contact Dr. Billy Coleman, Kinder Institute Associate Director, at colemanw@missouri.edu

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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 2024-25 Society of Fellows are now closed and will re-open in Spring 2025.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 are now open, with a priority scholarship application deadline of September 23 and a regular deadline of October 10. Prof. Matt Frierdich, who will be leading the January 2025 trip and Spring 2025 class, will host an info session at 2pm on Tuesday, September 10 in Memorial Union N52. Students will apply through the MU International Center and can start their applications here.

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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.

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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.