Graduate Education
The Center supports Notre Dame graduate students in a variety of ways, seeking to train future scholars, teachers, lawyers, judges, and public intellectuals who understand the principles of constitutional government and the American constitutional tradition.
Ph.D. Program in Constitutional Studies
In particular, we provide funding, mentorship, and robust extracurricular programming to Political Science PhD students in the Constitutional Studies subfield. For more information about the Ph.D. program in Constitutional Studies, please visit the Political Science department website.
Current Constitutional Studies PhD students Graduate Student Placements
Extracurricular Programming and Intellectual Community
In addition to our work with Constitutional Studies PhD students, the CCCG engages with a wide range of Notre Dame PhD students (in Political Science, History, Philosophy, Theology, and beyond), as well as Notre Dame Law School students. Through these efforts, we seek to foster an interdisciplinary intellectual community of graduate students who share interests in political philosophy, law, public policy, culture, and religion.
Graduate students in our network are invited to weekend colloquia, private meetings with guest speakers, workshops (on teaching, academic publishing, etc), social gatherings, and other events that promote serious intellectual engagement, professional development, and relationship building within the Political Science department and beyond.
To join our graduate student listserv and receive invitations to private CCCG events for graduate students, please email CCCG Associate Director Tyler Castle (tcastle2@nd.edu).
Off-Campus Opportunities
Beyond Notre Dame, the Center seeks to connect graduate students to relevant opportunities to further their intellectual and professional development. We also provide targeted funding to support participation in academic programs, conferences, and research projects.
Learn more about these opportunities
“I have been very fortunate to participate in the CCCG's programming this semester. Being able to meet with senior scholars such as John Witte, Don Drakeman, and Charles Kesler gave me the opportunity to ask them personal questions and receive honest and invaluable advice. Wojciech Giertych's seminar on ‘Aquinas and the Human Law’ really challenged me intellectually in terms of what I thought and still think about the abortion debate. Additionally, Jay Bhattacharya was an extremely kind and humble person with whom it was great to have a serious conversation about the current state of medicine in America. Each of these programs this semester contributed greatly to both my intellectual and professional development.”
“[After participating in a graduate student colloquium on Daniel Mark’s The Nature of Law,] I feel fully qualified to teach an undergraduate course on Philosophy of Law now.”
“The CCCG’s ‘Vocation of Teaching’ series and the ‘Academic Book Publishing’ events provided excellent advice on vital skills for young scholars, which I found especially valuable because there are not many other opportunities to hear about these topics in the graduate program.”