 |
|
||||||
Each summer, the Claremont Institute brings together for a few weeks some of the best and brightest young conservatives in America. These Publius Fellows meet each day with Claremont Institute Senior Fellows and with distinguished visiting scholars to study American political thought and American politics. In both intensive daily seminars and relaxed and lively evening symposia, fellows discuss with public-spirited compatriots a treasure-trove of great American readings-from the Founding to the Civil War, the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and the critical disputes between liberalism and conservatism in our time. Throughout their stay, fellows also work with editors and writers of The Claremont Review of Books to cultivate the American art of political writing.
Those accepted to the program are usually college seniors, recent college graduates, or graduate students, who will likely distinguish themselves in the fields of scholarship, journalism, or public policy. The two-week fellowship includes a $1000 stipend, travel expenses, lodging, and meals. This year's program will be held in Rancho Mirage, California, from July 1 to July 15.
The 2005 Publius Fellows:
Karin Agness is a senior at the University of Virginia completing a degree in American Studies. She is the founder of the Network of Enlightened Women, an organization which fosters the education and leadership of conservative university women. She is also a columnist for The Virginia Advocate. She has interned in the office of Senator Lugar and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington D.C. and participated in several political campaigns. After graduation Karin intends to pursue a law degree.
Teresa Mia Bejan is currently completing a year at Oxford studying Philosophy and Politics. She is a University Scholar at the University of Chicago and will graduate as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 2006. After graduation, Teresa will continue her study of political theory and pursue an academic career as a professor and political essayist.
Duncan Currie is currently a reporter for the Weekly Standard magazine, where he has, over the past year, written on such diverse topics as Cuban politics, the 2004 election, missile defense, and U.S.-Japan relations. He graduated from Harvard University in 2004 with a B.A. in American History. Mr. Currie has also worked at National Review magazine and the Manhattan Institute.
Ethan Davis will graduate this year from Amherst College with a degree in Political Science, for which he has completed an honors thesis on Alexander Hamilton. He has worked with Justice Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and with Representative Bill Thomas. Mr. Davis has also served as an editorial page intern with the Washington Times, and with the Governor Jeb Bush reelection campaign. Ethan intends to pursue either law school or a career in political journalism.
Lawrence VanDyke recently completed his final year at Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and Advisor to the Executive Board of the Harvard Law School Federalist Society. He was also a 2003 Blackstone Fellow with the Alliance Defense Fund. For several years prior to that, he was Vice President of his family's Montana-based construction company. Mr. VanDyke also holds a M.A. in Construction Engineering Management, a B.S. of Civil Engineering, and a Bachelors in Theology. He has plans to begin with the Washington, D.C. office of the Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher law firm in the fall of 2005, but in the long term is interested in a federal or state public service career.
Thomas Meaney has written for The New Criterion, The New York Sun, the Toronto Globe and Mail, Commentary Magazine, and The Claremont Review of Books. He also writes regularly for the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and has worked at the New York Times Review of Books. Mr. Meaney holds bachelors degrees in Classics and English from the University of Chicago, where he was the managing editor of the Chicago Criterion and a member of the Law School's Edmund Burke Society.
Charles Mitchell is a graduate of Bucknell University, with degrees in Economics and History, and a minor in Political Science. His role as president of the Bucknell Conservatives group and as editor-in-chief of The Counterweight was featured as the cover story of the New York Times Magazine in 2003. Charles has since been active in politics, appearing on a number of television media shows and in major newspapers, including as vice-chairman of the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania and an intern at the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Mitchell is currently a program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
Steven Muscatello is currently a Center for Legal and Judicial Studies intern with the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., where has written on intrusive government regulation. Steven has previously worked with the Bowditch and Dewey law firm in Massachusetts and was a reporter for the MetroWest Daily News. He is a graduate of Assumption College, with a B.A. in English and a minor in Political Science.
Patrick Spero is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is completing his dissertation on Pennsylvanian politics from 1750-1800. Mr. Spero holds a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in History from James Madison University. He has contributed to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, authoring entries for almanacs and holidays. Patrick also served as a press secretary for a Massachusetts congressional campaign during the summer of 2004. Besides his academic work, Patrick is the founder and CEO of Conservative Condiments, which in 2004 produced the novelty political item, Bush Country Ketchup.
Joseph Postell is a doctoral graduate student in political science at the University of Dallas, where he has been awarded a number of fellowships, including the Hatton Sumners and H. B. Earhart Fellowships. He holds a M.A. in Politics from the University of Dallas, as well as bachelors degrees in political science, history, and philosophy from Ashland University. He has delivered papers at several academic conferences. Postell plans to become a professor and writer, focusing on constitutional law and civil rights.
Clinton Taylor is an attorney and a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Stanford University. Clinton also holds a B.A. in political science from Yale and a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma. He has been a contributor to National Review Online and The American Spectator Online on such subjects as airline security and foreign affairs. He received a Boren Graduate Fellowship to study in Bolivia in 2001. He was also a visiting student at St. Antony's College, Oxford, an intern with Senator Don Nickles, a note editor and contributor to the Oklahoma Law Review, as well as an Associate Editor for Light and Truth magazine at Yale.
Todd Walters is currently a Research Associate at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a teaching assistant in the Department of Political Science at Tufts University. While an undergraduate at Tufts University, he worked at Fidelity Investments and Cravath, Swaine, and Moore, LLC, a New York City law firm. Last summer, he was a Research Assistant for the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at the Harvard School of Public Health. Todd is primarily interested in international law and American foreign policy, in which he is considering a graduate degree.
