Visiting Faculty and Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government (CCCG) seeks exceptional scholars, at any stage of their careers, with innovative research projects and who seek to advance their research through meaningful scholarly exchange, to benefit from the dynamic intellectual community of the CCCG and, throughout their time at the CCCG, to make significant contributions via scholarly publications, innovative teaching, and participation in the programming and events at the CCCG.

Visiting Faculty

Visiting Faculty at the CCCG play a central contributing role in the Center’s distinctive academic community. Visiting Faculty pursue advanced research projects on issues and topics that align with the intellectual parameters of the Center. Key features of the CCCG visiting faculty experience is the engagement with an interdisciplinary set of University faculty colleagues to discuss strategies for the enrichment of the project, opportunities to present and to evaluate one’s projects at various stages of development, and to participate in and to benefit from the Center’s robust academic programming. Visiting faculty appointments may be awarded for the academic year or for one semester (either fall or spring). Visiting appointments for shorter periods may also be possible for senior scholars.

Fellowship stipends can be paid directly to a Fellow’s home institution. Visiting faculty appointments may include a housing allowance, access to the Center’s programming and events, and opportunities for manuscript workshops, research support, and engagement with faculty colleagues at the University. Applicants who require additional support beyond the fellowship stipend should seek supplementary funding in the form of external grants, sabbatical requests, or other sorts of contributions from their home institutions.

Postdoctoral Fellowships at the CCCG

The Center hosts up to two early career scholars as postdoctoral fellows per year. Postdoctoral fellows have completed their Ph.D. within the past five years in a discipline and field related to the intellectual mission of the CCCG. These are residential fellowships requiring relocation to the Notre Dame area. Recipients may be awarded fellowships for a period of one to three years.

CCCG postdoctoral fellowships are intended to advance the scholarly work and professional development of recently-awarded PhDs in significant ways. Academic and professionalization benefits include structured mentorship, teaching-training, and a unique research environment featuring engagement with senior scholars as interlocutors and the enrichment and development of one’s research.

Due to the quality of its mentorship and the opportunities within the academy that are typically made available to postdoctoral scholars, the CCCG has a proven track record of success placing its postdoctoral fellows at excellent academic institutions including Hillsdale College and the University of Texas.

During their fellowship, postdoctoral scholars are expected to develop and to publish their research at a qualitative level that may be regarded as a substantial scholarly contribution and to contribute each semester to the Center’s curricular offerings (usually the core course for the Constitutional Studies Minor) and the University’s profile as a preeminent research university. Teaching opportunities may also include the creation and teaching of one of the Center’s innovative 1-credit courses.

Postdoctoral fellowships include competitive salary, benefits, and the assignment of professional work space. Internal grants for research materials and publication or travel costs may also be available.

Predoctoral Research Associates at the CCCG

The Center also awards predoctoral research associate appointments to advanced post-baccalaureate scholars considering graduate school. Predoctoral research associates benefit from exposure to a wide range of research topics and issues, research methodologies, and the evolution of research from initial concept to finished publication. Young scholars in this role are expected to fully immerse themselves into the academic life of the CCCG (this includes its program of colloquia, seminars, and events) in order to expand their intellectual parameters, to discern their academic and professional strengths, to develop insights and skills necessary for success in academic pursuits, and to assist them with preparations for the doctoral application process and the initial years of graduate work.

Predoctoral research associates conduct rigorous academic research on projects of interest to the CCCG. This includes research in notable areas of importance to the Center (political theory, constitutional history, American patterns of jurisprudence and jurisprudential theory, American civil liberties, religious liberty, and constitutional principles). They also contribute to the Center’s robust programming and events. in various ways. Research and programmatic assignments incorporate the predoctoral research associate’s research interests as well as emerging opportunities for them to contribute to publication on significant topics in American constitutionalism.

Duties and responsibilities also include special research and programming projects, such as the role and preservation of modern civil discourse and preparation for educating and celebrating the 250th anniversary in 2026 of the birth of American democracy in the Declaration of Independence. Predoctoral research associates also benefit from structured mentoring and supervision under the CCCG Director, Professor Vincent Phillip Muñoz, a senior scholar in his field, and Dr. Donald L. Stelluto, the Center’s Co-Director.

Questions about visiting faculty appointments, postdoctoral fellowships, or predoctoral research associateships should be directed to the Center’s Co-Director, Dr. Donald L. Stelluto, Jr.