AEI Summer Honors Program
AEI’s Summer Honors Program is a fully funded educational and career development opportunity for undergraduate students interested in public policy and politics. Each year, we bring together top students from around the country to discuss policy topics in small seminars, join daily lunches with policymakers and business leaders, and advance their careers through high-level networking opportunities.
The program gives students an unparalleled opportunity to spend one week immersing themselves in a particular public policy issue with leading scholars and practitioners in their fields. Instructors this year include AEI scholars Charles Murray, Fred Kagan, John Yoo and Michael Strain teaching about everything from democratic capitalism, to the Constitution, to the Middle East, and more.
The application deadline is March 15, 2017. Applicants must be undergraduates expecting to graduate in winter 2016 or later. International students are eligible to apply. Students planning to take other jobs or internships during the summer are also eligible and encouraged to apply.
For more information email summerhonors@aei.org
2017 AEI Summer Honors Program Schedule:
Stipend: $250 plus travel voucher, housing costs, and meals on class days.
- Week 1 (May 29-June 2, 2017) +
- Option A: Democratic Capitalism: Principles & Practices with Dr. Michael Strain. This course will examine many of the complex aspects of domestic macroeconomic policy. Participants in this session will come away with a deeper understanding of the role of economic policy and a newfound respect for the complex decisions that policymakers must face.
- Option B: The Building Blocks of Human Flourishing with Dr. Charles Murray. This course will take a critical look at contemporary culture and society, tracing their origins through decades of radical and incremental change, including an examination of the cultural differences between economic classes.
- Week 2 (June 5-June 9, 2017)
- Option A: Empire for Liberty: Strategy-making in America with Thomas Donnelly. This course will examine American “strategic culture” – the influences behind when and how the U.S. uses its military power. Taking a historical approach, the course includes an interactive experience at Gettysburg and a student-led exercise to formulate a strategy for the 21st century.
- Option B: Understanding the Middle East Challenge with Dr. Michael Rubin. The Middle East is one of the most discussed, yet least understood, regions of the world. Starting with the origins of Islam in Mecca and continuing to the present day, this course will allow participants to go beyond the headlines and come to know the people, groups, and ideologies that shape the contentious region.
- Week 3 (June 19-June 23, 2017)
- Option A: The Constitution: Original Meanings and Modern Times with John Yoo. This course explores the Constitution through an examination of its framing and subsequent interpretation. It will focus on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, federalism and the separation of powers, and individual liberties. It will conclude with an examination of some of the recent controversies to reach the Supreme Court.
- Option B: War & Decision Making with Dr. Fred Kagan. This course provides students with a rare opportunity to study war and military action in a classroom setting. Students study classical military theorists, from the Greeks to Clausewitz, and connect them to our most challenging conflicts through contemporary military analysis.