The Spirit of '76 Undergraduate Fellowship Initiative

The Initiative exists to provide research and academic internship support for members of the Undergraduate Fellows Forum. For example, you may wish to visit a library at Harvard or Oxford or Cambridge to do research on your junior paper or senior thesis. Or perhaps there’s an uncompensated internship you’re interested in, and you’ll need financial support to make it happen. Thanks to the generosity of a member of the Class of ‘76 whose gift established the fund, we are able to provide funds to Undergraduate Fellows whose projects fall within the intellectual mission of the Madison Program.

Preference will be given to proposals for research support, internships, and academic conference support. If, however, you are interested in a different kind of opportunity, we are happy to give your request our consideration, provided it is an opportunity that has intellectual value.

Funding cycles will be available to active students in late August. To apply for funding, please visit the Student Activities Funding Engine and search for the Opportunities listed below.

Students should only have one active application per project. You may apply for funding from multiple funders via the same single application. Submitting multiple applications for the same project not only duplicates work for the advisers and departmental representatives evaluating the proposals, it can also jeopardize your funding eligibility.

*For proposals involving international travel, please allow 6-8 weeks for approval by the International Travel and Safety office. We advise submitting your travel request as soon as possible (even before you have all travel details confirmed), so that there is ample time for review before funds can be released.

• Spirit of '76 Undergraduate Fellowship Fund for Research & Internships (For JMP Undergraduate Fellows)

This fund is intended to support academic internships and scholarly research of the James Madison Program Undergraduate Fellows Forum members, doing work with the educational mission of the James Madison Program.

• Spirit of '76 Undergraduate Fellowship Conference Fund (For JMP Undergraduate Fellows)

This fund is intended to support members of the James Madison Program's Undergraduate Fellows Forum with travel, housing, and attendance at academic conferences as well as independent projects. In order to qualify for funding, you must demonstrate how the conference or independent study is directly related to your academic work. Priority is given to projects that address issues of American ideals and institutions. (Please visit the Office of Undergraduate Research's webpage for additional information on funding for academic conferences.)

• Spirit of '76 Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Study Abroad (For JMP Undergraduate Fellows)

This fund is intended to support the summer study abroad of James Madison Program Undergraduate Fellows Forum members doing work with the educational mission of the James Madison Program.

• Summer Senior Thesis Research Funding Spirit of '76 (For JMP Juniors Only)​

This fund is intended to support senior thesis research of the James Madison Program Undergraduate Fellows Forum members, doing work within the educational mission of the James Madison Program. This opportunity is available on SAFE in mid-January and is open to juniors preparing for thesis research over the summer.

• Winter Senior Thesis Research Funding Spirit of '76 (For JMP Seniors Only)​

This fund is intended to support senior thesis research of the James Madison Program Undergraduate Fellows Forum members, doing work within the educational mission of the James Madison Program. This opportunity is available to seniors doing thesis research over winter break or Wintersession.